The Film Programme

Matthew Sweet meets with Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger to talk action heroes, male masculinity, and 19th century poetry. Star of The Birds and Marnie, Tippi Hedren, discusses her troubled relationship with Alfred Hitchcock.And Mark Gatiss selects another of his favourite biopics - Stephen Frear's Prick Up Your Ears, a study of playwright Joe Orton and his doomed relationship with his lover, Kenneth Halliwell. Producer: Craig Smith.

Matthew Sweet meets with Jeremy Renner to discuss his role as the lead in The Bourne Legacy. We take a trip back in time with Austin Vince from The Adventure Travel Film Festival. Academic Melanie Williams champions an early kitchen sink drama from 1957, Woman in a Dressing Gown. And Mark Gatiss is back for the summer to pick 4 of his favourite biopics - first up, Lewis Gilbert's Carve Her Name With Pride, starring Virginia Mckenna. Producer: Craig Smith.

Matthew Sweet and guests look back at the film career of Ivor Novello, one of the most popular British entertainers of the 20th century. With contributions from actor Simon Callow, composer Neil Brand, academic Lawrence Napper, and former criminal Frankie Fraser. Producer: Craig Smith.

New figures show that UK cinema ticket sales increased again last year, by 61% in the past decade. What have we been watching in 2012? Francine Stock discusses with industry analyst Charles Gant and cinema owner/manger Kevin Markwick. Plus your favourite films. Industrial devastation becomes a thing of beauty in Antonioni's Red Desert from 1964. Director Mike Hodges, who made Get Carter, appreciates Antonioni's striking use of colour. And the search for Sugarman, a new documentary about a mysterious singer-songwriter from the 1970s who unwittingly wrote an anthem for the anti-apartheid movement. Producer: Craig Smith.

Francine Stock talks to Christopher Nolan about The Dark Knight Rises.Nigel Havers recalls Chariots of Fire, while film composer Neil Brand deconstructs that famous Vangelis score. Writer Iain Sinclair and artist Andrew Kotting discuss their pedalo odyssey, Swandown. Producer: Craig Smith.

Francine Stock talks to Steven Soderbergh about his latest film, Magic Mike, starring Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey, as male strippers in Miami. He also discusses the reasons why he's quitting the film business.Three generations of film critics - Peter Bradshaw of the Guardian, blogger Charlie Lyne, and student Hattie Soper - discuss the changing nature of their work. The film Margaret, starring Anna Paquin, Matt Damon and Mark Ruffalo, received rave reviews upon its release last year, but only played at one cinema in central London. As it's released on DVD, the director Kenneth Lonnergan talks about the difficulties in making the film, and why it received such a limited run. Producer: Craig Smith.

Francine Stock meets with Welsh actor Rhys Ifans, who explains why he's adopted an English accent for his role as the villain in The Amazing Spiderman. As the Wellcome Trust and the BFI launch a scheme to encourage more scripts set in the world of biology and medicine, critic Tim Robey and script editor Katy Leys discuss the scientist in film. Director Bobcat Goldthwait on what's eating America in his new film, God Bless America. Actor Willem Dafoe discusses his role in The Hunter, as a mercenary searching for the Tasmanian Tiger.Producer: Craig Smith.

Francine Stock talks to veteran director William Friedkin about his new film, Killer Joe, starring Matthew McConaughey as a Texan cop and assassin for hire.Critics Robbie Collin and Jamie Dunn report from Britain's oldest film festival in Edinburgh.Journalist Anthony Baxter explains why he remortgaged his house to make a documentary about Donald Trump's golf course on the east coast of Scotland. The independent director behind such films as Welcome to the Dollhouse, Happiness, and Palindromes, Todd Solondz, discusses his latest, Dark Horse. Producer: Craig Smith.

Francine Stock meets with actor, screenwriter and puppeteer, Jason Segel to discuss his new film The Five Year Engagement and the box-office success, The Muppets. Critic Scott Jordan Harris dissects Carol Reed's IRA drama from 1947, Odd Man Out, starring James Mason. Director Nadine Labaki on her new film, Where Do We Go Now?, which puts the religious tensions between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon under the microscope. Veteran British director Stephen Frears talks about his gambling comedy, Lay the favourite, starring Bruce Willis and Rebecca Hall. Producer: Craig Smith.

Francine Stock meets with David Cronenberg to discuss his latest Cosmopolis, starring Robert Pattinson. The man behind Chariots of Fire, director Hugh Hudson, on his ill-fated film from 1985 - Revolution, starring Al Pacino. Director Regan Hall and dramatist Roy Williams on Fast Girls, a film about four girls vying for medal glory on the running track. Producer: Craig Smith.

Simon Pegg talks to Matthew Sweet about his latest comedy, A Fantastic Fear of Everything. Producer Stephen Woolley and Catherine Bray of FilmFour join them to celebrate British humour in film - how much does what makes us laugh define who we are as a nation? And why do American audiences still look to British performers to provide them with some element they can't quite manage to grow at home?From Chaplin to Carry On, from Monty Phython to Sacha Baron Cohen - we look at the fine comic tradition that Simon Pegg embodies.Producer: David Braithwaite.

Francine Stock meets with Charlize Theron to discuss her role in two films out this week - Prometheus and Snow White and the Huntsman. It's been one of the most hyped films of the year, but does Ridley Scott's Prometheus deliver? Critic Tim Robey is here with his verdict. Neil Brand is behind the piano to study the use of music in films based on fairy tales. Tom Lawes, owner of the Electric Cinema in Birmingham, has made a documentary called The Last Projectionist. He discusses the dying trade of the 35mm projectionist. Producer Craig Smith.

Francine Stock reports from the 65th Cannes Film Festival, speaking to jury member Alexander Payne, director of Moonrise Kingdom Wes Anderson, and Ken Loach whose latest, The Angels' Share, is his 11th film in competition for The Palme d'Or. In this updated repeat of Thursday's programme, we hear about the winners of the much coveted prizes.Producer: Craig Smith.

A celebration of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, considered by many to be Britain's Citizen Kane. With contributions from director Martin Scorsese, editor Thelma Schoonmaker, and filmmaker Kevin Macdonald. Presented by Francine Stock. Produced by Craig Smith.

Francine Stock meets with Jonny Lee Miller to discuss his role in Tim Burton's Dark Shadows. Screenwriter Paul Laverty talks about his Bolivian epic, Even the Rain, starring Gael Garcia Bernal. Nigel Havers looks back at his time in Borneo with a wild Nick Nolte. Julie Delpy on 2 Days in New York, and why she wants to direct Woody Allen in her next film. Producer: Craig Smith.

Fifty years on, Sir Tom Courtenay in conversation with presenter Francine Stock looks back at his first film role in Tony Richardson's The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.Neil Brand is behind the piano to study the music of the British New Wave. Critic Sandra Hebron discusses two psychological dramas of a different kind - Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat, and Dirk Bogarde in Reiner Fassbinder's Despair. Producer: Craig Smith.

Francine Stock meets with Tom Hiddleston to discuss his role in The Avengers Assemble. Directors Will Sharpe and Tom Kingsley discuss their much praised micro-budget film Black Pond, starring Chris Langham. Janet McTeer reveals who she modelled herself on for the role of a man in Albert Nobbs. Critic Scott Jordan Harris reports from Ebertfest in Illinois. Producer: Craig Smith.

Francine Stock meets with Emily Blunt to talk about her new film, an adaptation of Paul Torday's best-seller, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. Director Kevin MacDonald makes the case for Bob Marley as one of the most important cultural icons of the 20th century. Juliette Binoche talks about her new film, Elles, an exploration of modern day prostitution in Paris. Producer: Craig Smith.

In a special edition of the programme, Matthew Sweet travels to Port Talbot in Wales to meet one of its most famous sons, Michael Sheen. He discusses The Gospel of Us, the film version of his biblical passion play performed amongst the local community last Easter. The actor also takes Matthew on a tour of the town that produced two other stars of the big screen - Richard Burton and Anthony Hopkins.

Francine Stock meets with filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino to discuss This Must Be The Place, starring Sean Penn as a jaded rock star on a hunt for the Nazi who persecuted his father.Morten Tyldum discusses his much praised Norwegian thriller, Headhunters.As Headhunters is set to be given the Hollywood treatment, critics Tim Robey and Catherine Bray discuss the complex business of remakes.And Four Weddings and a Funeral director Mike Newell professes his love for Jean Renoir's classic POW drama, La Grande Illusion.Producer: Craig Smith.