Main content

Liam Neeson; Dancing Mad Hatters; Author Christian Jungersen; Assassin's Creed

Liam Neeson on monsters and priests; Mad Hatters dancing with white rabbits; author Christian Jungersen on genocide and workplace bullying; Assassin's Creed.

Actor Liam Neeson starts the new year with two new films. In Martin Scorsese's Silence he plays a Jesuit priest who relinquishes his faith and in A Monster Calls, the treelike monster. He talks to Samira Ahmed about both, as well as being a late blooming action hero and watching the Reverend Ian Paisley preach.

How do you write about mass murder, holocausts, war crimes and how ordinary people reach a point when they kill their neighbours, and torture their former friends? The Danish author Christian Jungersen approaches this subject by setting his novel "The Exception" in an office - The Danish Centre for Information on Genocide - and documenting the behaviour of the women who work there.

In 2014, ZooNation Dance Company performed the first full-length hip hop production at the Royal Opera House in London with their take on Lewis Caroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland where the familiar characters are recast as patients at a mental health institution. ZooNation's Artistic Director Kate Prince talks about re-staging The Mad Hatter's Tea Party for the Roundhouse in London and how she incorporated advice from the mental health charity Time to Change.

A film version of Assassin's Creed is about to go on nationwide release but can this video game favourite make the leap onto the silver screen when so many have failed?

Available now

30 minutes

Liam Neeson

Liam Neeson
Liam Neeson and Samira Ahmed
Silence is in cinemas nationwide from 1 January 
Main image shows Liam Neeson in Silence

The Mad Hatter's Tea Party

The Mad Hatter's Tea Party
The Mad Hatter's Tea Party is on at The Roundhouse in London and runs until 22 January

Christian Jungersen

Christian Jungersen
The dramatization of Christian Jungersen's The Exception is on Radio 4 on 2, 3 and 4 Jan at 2.15 pm as part of Radio 4’s Reading Europe series

The Assassin's Creed

The Assassin's Creed
The Assassin's Creed is in cinemas nationwide from 1 January

Broadcast

  • Fri 30 Dec 2016 19:15

BBC Arts Digital

BBC Arts Digital

The best of British culture live and on demand.

Inspire

Inspire

A season discovering where artists find inspiration and helping listeners get creative.

Podcast