This Cultural Life

The artist and sculptor Sir Anish Kapoor talks to John Wilson about his career and cultural influences. Renowned for his innovative, often monumental works, Kapoor gained international recognition in the late 1980s. He represented Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1990 and won the Turner Prize the following year. His public artworks include Cloud Gate in Chicago, the Orbit sculpture next to the London Arena, commissioned to mark the 2012 Olympics, and the 110m-long structure of giant rings and connecting wires known as Temenos in Middlesborough. In 2025 a piece called Butchered, a collaboration with Greenpeace, was installed on to an active Shell oil rig in the North Sea as a protest against the fossil fuel industry. The Hayward Gallery in London is one of several cultural institutions around the world that is hosting major exhibition of the work of Anish Kapoor in 2026.
Producer: Edwina Pitman

The writer Frank Cottrell-Boyce talks to John Wilson about his cultural influences and career. He started out as a screenwriter on the television soaps Brookside and Coronation Street, before publishing his debut children's novel Millions in 2004. The book won the prestigious Carnegie Medal and a screenplay version was made into a film by Danny Boyle. He also wrote five films for the director Michael Winterbottom, including Welcome To Sarajevo and Twenty Four Hour Party People. In 2012, Frank renewed his creative partnership with Danny Boyle as the writer of the opening ceremony of the London Olympics. After many bestselling children’s books including Framed, Cosmic and The Astounding Broccoli Boy, in 2024 he was appointed as the Children’s Laureate.
Producer: Edwina Pitman

John Wilson talks to the actor and musician Kiefer Sutherland. The son of Canadian actors Donald Sutherland and Shirley Douglas, he first made his mark in the 1980s and 90s with films including Stand by Me, The Lost Boys, Flatliners and A Few Good Men. His television portrayal of federal agent Jack Bauer in the crime series 24 became his signature role and earned him major awards, including an Emmy and a Golden Globe. He later starred in the political drama series Designated Survivor, playing an American president. Alongside his acting Kiefer Sutherland has also pursued a career as a singer songwriter, releasing a series of country-rock albums and performing live tours.
Producer: Edwina Pitman

Australian-born artist, filmmaker and speculative architect Liam Young discusses his work and cultural influences with John Wilson. Young creates imaginary future worlds through films and art installations to provoke discussion about present-day social and environmental issues – including climate change, energy, migration, and technology. His films, including Planet City and The Great Endeavour, have been shown at the Venice Biennale and museums including MOMA and the Smithsonian and the Barbican Centre in London has staged a major exhibition of his work called In Other Worlds. He holds guest professorships at universities including Princeton, MiT and Cambridge. In the commercial sector, Liam Young works as a consultant to major brands and the film industry on designing visions of the future.
Producer: Edwina Pitman

Award-winning actor Kristin Scott Thomas talks to John Wilson about her career and cultural influences. After a breakthrough role in the Evelyn Waugh film adaptation of A Handful Of Dust, she became a global star with Four Weddings and a Funeral in 1994. Two years later, was Oscar nominated for The English Patient directed by Anthony Minghella. Her screen roles in the years since have included Gosford Park, The Horse Whisperer and more recently Rebecca and on television, Slow Horses. She has just made her debut as a director and screenwriter with My Mother’s Wedding, inspired by her real life family story.
Her extensive theatre credits include Chekhov’s The Seagull, for which she won an Olivier Award, and she played The Queen in Peter Morgan's drama The Audience. Kristin Scott Thomas has also enjoyed a distinguished stage and film career in France, where she was awarded the Legion of Honour in 2005. In 2014 she was made a Dame for services to drama.
Producer: Edwina Pitman