麻豆约拍

Mothers, daughters, fathers feature large on the Culture Studio today.

Jung Chang rose to international fame when she published Wild Swans, her true story of three generations of Chinese women. She's back now with a new book, a biography of the Dowager Empress Cixi. And she's in the Culture Studio to tell us all about that remarkable woman.

Fathers in fiction are a varied bunch - often distant, sometimes cruel, and sometimes not there at all. Biographer Selina Hastings and novelist Candia McWilliam are appearing together at the Boswell Book Festival this weekend to discuss fictional fathers. Before that they discuss with Janice the fathers that are revealed in their own writing and in fiction down the centuries.

Rites is the latest production from the National Theatre of Scotland. It examines the practice of female genital mutilation in the UK and beyond. Director Cora Bissett and actor, Paida Mutonono, tell Janice how they made a compelling piece of theatre out of such difficult subject matter.

Paul Abbott created one of television's most memorable fathers - Shameless' Frank Gallagher. Now he's back with a new TV series, No Offence. He tells us all.

And Paul Whitelaw reviews this week's big TV comedy releases.