Front Row - 27/11/2009

Arts news and reviews with Kirsty Lang. Big Top is a new TV sitcom on the trials and tribulations of life in a travelling circus, starring Amanda Holden, Tony Robinson and Ruth Madoc. It's aimed at all the family - and will be broadcast early in the evening. Critic Stephen Armstrong and Kirsty Lang review the series and discuss the fine art of creating a successful pre-watershed comedy. Hollywood actor Robert Englund found fame as a friendly alien in the hit science fiction TV series V. But he's probably most famous for playing Freddy Krueger - a hideously disfigured man who haunts the dreams of his young victims - in the series of films, A Nightmare On Elm Street. In his new autobiography he discusses how he coped playing one of film's most terrifying monsters, the cult status he achieved and his passion for stage-acting. The BBC National Short Story Award celebrates the best of the contemporary British short story. Two of this year's judges, Will Young and Tom Sutcliffe, announce the five stories shortlisted for this year's award - and Kirsty Lang talks to one of the five shortlisted authors. Widely considered to be the first true hip hop record, Sugarhill Gang's Rapper's Delight charted in the UK 30 years ago in December 1979. Kevin Le Gendre examines the record's importance to the genre and its lasting legacy today.