01/10/2011

Sarfraz Manzoor and his guests writers Adam Mars Jones and Susan Jeffreys and art critic Bill Feaver review the cultural highlights of the week including The Debt. The Debt is John Madden's remake of a 2007 Israeli thriller which tells the story of a Mossad mission to abduct a Nazi war criminal from East Berlin in 1965 to face trial in Israel. The three agents who travel to Berlin are hailed as heroes on their return - having apparently succeeded - but 30 years later cracks begin to appear in the official story and the trio are forced to confront their past. Stars Jessica Chastain, Helen Mirren and Sam Worthington. Tom Lubbock was the Independent's chief art critic until his untimely death earlier this year. Fifty of the weekly essays which he wrote for the paper have been published in a book - Great Works: 50 Paintings Explored. Frank Oz makes his debut as a theatre director with a production of Saul Rubinek' s play Terrible Advice at the Menier Chocolate factory in London. Jake (Scott Bakula) and Stanley (Andy Nyman) are best friends, so are Delila (Sharon Horgan) and Hedda (Caroline Quentin). Jake is dating Hedda, Stanley is dating Delila - then Jake gives Stanley some advice... Frank Stella is one of the most important and influential American artists of the last fifty years. Frank Stella: Connections at the Haunch of Venison gallery in London assembles paintings from 1958 to the present day. Christos Tsialkos's best-selling novel The Slap has been adapted for television. Sophie Okonedo and Jonathan La Paglia star in this tale of tensions between eight characters linked by ties of blood and frienship in suburban Melbourne. Producer: Torquil MacLeod.