Front Row - 13/05/2009

As electro-punk group Gossip prepare to release their fourth studio album, Music for Men, singer Beth Ditto talks about the band's rapid rise to fame since the 2006 album Standing in the Way of Control, and discusses her role as a modern feminist icon. Philip Seymour Hoffman stars in Synecdoche, New York, the directorial debut from Charlie Kaufman, screenwriter of Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich. How are so-called Factual Entertainment programmes, such as Britain's Got Talent and Top Gear made? Are scenes ever created for entertainment purposes? How much do audiences know or care? Political expenses are in the news at the moment, but what financial costs can performers claim? Mark Lawson discusses this with actor and writer Michael Simkins.