Front Row - Miranda Hart on her comic persona

With Kirsty Lang. Comedian Miranda Hart discusses how far her TV persona is based on her real self, whether her real mother bears any resemblance to her sitcom mother, played by Patricia Hodge, and why she is happy to be considered mainstream rather than edgy. The Thai film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives won the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Festival, and arrives in British cinemas this week. Kate Muir reviews. This week the shortlisted authors for the BBC National Short Story Award talk to Front Row about their individual entries, before each story is broadcast on Radio 4. Today Sarah Hall discusses her story, Butcher's Perfume, about a gritty Cumbrian family of horse-owners with a fearsome reputation. How do you conjure up the ancient Greeks for modern viewers and readers? As part of the BBC's Ancient Worlds season, Simon Armitage sailed in the footsteps of his personal hero, Odysseus. This week, historian Robin Lane Fox - adviser to Oliver Stone on the 2004 film, Alexander - searches out the origins of Greek myths. Meanwhile, Natalie Haynes' book, The Ancient Guide To Modern Life, compares then and now, Aristophanes with Tony Blair, whilst Bettany Hughes' book, The Hemlock Cup, reinvestigates Socrates. Front Row asked all four how they re-imagine the people and gods of ancient Greece, drawing on evidence, cliché and sheer imagination. Producer Rebecca Nicholson.