Synopsis

With Matthew Sweet.

The work of many writers from Hemingway to Beckett has long suggested a connection between residing in another country and creative thinking, and Matthew hears new psychological research that would appear to bear this out.

In a rare interview, writer Caryl Phillips discusses his latest novel In The Falling Snow, which tells the story of Keith - born in the 1960s to immigrant West Indian parents - and his relationship with his father and teenage son. Now a professor of English at Yale University, Phillips examines how these different generations perceive Britain: the older generation with a notion of Britain inherited from empire, Keith's generation growing up contesting Britain's identity and the young generation with a new proprietorial glee.

In 2006, the Hancock museum in Newcastle closed its doors and began a 26 million-pound project to redesign and partly rebuild the museum's buildings so as to make a suitable home for the ambitious Great North Museum. As it re-opens, Matthew examines the contents of the new galleries and discusses the extent to which the museum defines a sense of Northern identity.

And Matthew talks to the author of a new biography of film director Otto Preminger. The book examines the life and work of the film director almost as famous for his on-set tantrums as his finished films, and argues that this unashamedly commercial should also be taken seriously as an artist.