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The Man Booker Prize winning author John Banville also writes crime fiction under the name Benjamin Black. His latest novel as Benjamin Black is ‘The Black-Eyed Blonde’ (Mantle), Ìýwritten in the voice of Raymond Chandler’s enduring detective Philip Marlowe. He explains how his love for Chandler began in his early teens, and the very different writing processes of Banville and Black.

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Phil Daniels is one of our most versatile actors, and has appeared on film, TV and the stage. His latest role is ‘Citizen’ in ‘The Knight of the Burning Pestle’ by Francis Beamount, a Jacobean Comedy featuring a play within a play. Phil tells Ian how the character strives create a play about ordinary working people and also discusses his iconic spoken word performance in Blur’s ‘Parklife'.

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The writer and academic Sarah Churchwell explores the play within a play device, also known as the ‘Mise en abyme’. We hear how the ‘Mise en abyme’ helps writers interrogate power and authority. Sarah also examines the framing device used in Baz Luhrmann’s recent film adaptation of ‘The Great Gatsby’. Fitzgerald’s great novel is the subject of Sarah’s latest book ‘Careless People’ (Virago).

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Lesley Sharpe stars as Helen in a new production of Shelagh Delaney’s ‘A Taste of Honey’. Lesley celebrates Delaney’s ability to dramatise what she saw around her, and talks about what she made possible for other Northern writers.

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