Andrew takes a look at the art of French impressionist, Edouard Manet as the Royal Academy prepares for a major retrospective of his work. Mark talks to Academy Award winner Kathryn Bigelow about the controversy surrounding her latest film 'Zero Dark Thirty'.

Tom Dyckhoff presents a special design themed edition of the show this week. He takes a look at the latest 'hacking' craze, where online design communities interact to reinvent and create new objects. The show also learns about the impact of football on 50 years of men's fashion to coincide with the National Museum of Football's 'strike a pose' exhibition.

Andrew takes a look at the work of 17th century Spanish baroque painter Bartholome Esteban Murillo, as an exhibiton about the profound influence of his close friend and patron Justino de Neve opens at the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Alan Yentob talks to Jonathan Miller as he returns to British theatre after a six year break to stage a production of Rutherford and Son.

Alastair takes a look back on the work of American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein as Tate Modern gets ready for a major retrospective. Cerys Matthews is at the National Theatre Wales as they get ready for the premiere of De Gabay, a unique performance based around the lives of the Somali community in Cardiff.

Tom Dyckhoff takes a look at architectural solutions to affordable housing in this time of crisis. As the weather sta rts to becomewetter and the risk of flooding increases, Beatrice Galilee travels to Holland to find out how the Dutch have dealt with the problem.

Andrew Graham-Dixon is at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire. The house is holding an exhibition of works by the Scottish artist and sculptor William Turnbull.

Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle talks to Mark Kermode about his new thriller Trance, which stars James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson and Vincent Cassel. He also discusses the highs and lows of his film-making career, which includes Trainspotting, 28 Days Later and Slumdog Millionaire, and reveals how his working-class, left-wing upbringing helped shape his vision for the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Novelist Jay McInerney explores the life and writing of F Scott Fitzgerald, whose masterwork The Great Gatsby has just been filmed for the fifth time. Fitzgerald captured the reckless spirit of New York life in the roaring twenties - the flappers, the parties, the bootleg liquor, the inevitable reckoning, and the hangover to come. In Gatsby, he created a character who reinvented himself for love - just as Fitzgerald would, not once, but twice. Fitzgerald never wrote an autobiography. He left us something better - letters. Romantic, arrogant, humble letters; letters to editors, publishers, lovers, or friends. These letters reveal the inner thoughts of a man whose real life was never far from the fiction he wrote.

Now in its 245th year, and with 12,000 submissions, the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition is the largest open art exhibition in the world. In this Culture Show special, art critic Alastair Sooke asks what makes someone an artist and why do they do it? He hears from curators, art dealers, and of course the artists themselves. From Sunday painters to international contemporary artists, from traditional landscapes to giant sculptures made from bottle tops, the Summer Exhibition is the British art scene laid bare.

The Culture Show has had unique behind-the-scenes access to Rankin's latest exhibition.

Miranda Sawyer meets Maxine Peake, who is performing Shelley's The Masque of Anarchy.

Morgan Quaintance examines the careers of Ibrahim El-Salahi and Meschac Gaba.

Film following designer Thomas Heatherwick, whose works include the 2012 Olympic cauldron.

Alastair Sooke and Dr Bendor Grosvenor explore the art in Venice, both old and new.

Art critic Alastair Sooke heads to the new Leonardo da Vinci exhibition in Edinburgh.

Sue Perkins explores the highs and lows of being a woman in the world of stand-up comedy.

Sue Perkins goes behind the scenes at the Traverse Theatre, now in its 50th year.

Investigative journalist Jacques Peretti ventures into the world of YouTube.

Tom Dyckhoff explores the biggest public library in Europe, opening in Birmingham.

Alastair Sooke meets portrait artist Jonathan Yeo.

Northern Soul marked the birth of late-night dance culture in Britain. Paul Mason, economics journalist and once a regular at the famous 'all-nighters' at Wigan Casino, discovers the origin of this underground music scene and why it continues to inspire such devotion. Many of the songs that eventually became Northern Soul classics were once rejected or unreleased. Recorded in the 1960s by African-American artists attempting to replicate the successful Motown sound, these discarded tracks would later be rediscovered and revered by white working-class dancers and music fans in the north of England. Paul Mason tells the extraordinary story of Northern Soul and the dance culture that sprang up around it, influencing musicians, choreographers and filmmakers and growing into a global phenomenon.

Malcolm Gladwell is about to publish a book. He's done it four times before, and whenever it happens huge things occur: Millions of copies get sold, world leaders take note, catchy phrases infiltrate our language and millions of us are moved by his inspiring stories and big powerful ideas. Jon Ronson goes head to head with The Tipping Point author in his New York home to talk about his latest work. 'David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants' seeks to shake our faith in what it means to have the upper hand. In it Gladwell argues we get advantage and disadvantage the wrong way round. Being dyslexic, losing a parent in childhood, being bombed, shot at, marginalized... can all be turned to good, according to his latest optimistic tome. In this candid and revealing confrontation, one thing comes clear... Giants beware: underdogs can surprise you when they make good the advantages that stem from a traumatic start.

The Culture Show reviews the six shortlisted books for Britain's most prestigious award for nonfiction and asks which book will win the coveted prize. The list has never been more eclectic or thought provoking, spanning poetry to politics, taking in our relationship with Roman Britain but also modern Afghanistan, even raising questions about how we commemorate our war dead and why we need bumblebees. The reviewers this year are all former judges of the prize including literary critic and author Diana Athill and journalist Jim Naughtie. Meanwhile publisher Jamie Byng explains why it's never been a more exciting time for nonfiction and gives his verdict on which book deserves to win.

For those who remained in London during the Second World War, the Blitz was a terrifying time of sleeplessness, fear and loss, but some of London's literary set found inspiration in the danger and intensity. With the threat of death ever present, nerves were tested and affairs began; it was an absolute gift for a writer seeking new material. Presenter James Runcie tells the story of novelists Graham Greene, Henry Green and Elizabeth Bowen, and American poet Hilda Doolittle, who revelled in the creative and personal freedom they discovered even as the bombs rained down. The programme reveals how these writers distilled the surreal and often frightening atmosphere of the time into some of their finest work

More than 40 million people follow Lady Gaga on Twitter. Can they possibly be wrong? For her fans, the Little Monsters, Gaga is not just a star - she is a mother figure and a fellow sufferer. As her long-awaited third album ARTPOP is released, Gaga meets Miranda Sawyer for an exclusive interview, to talk about pop, art, fans, and her need, and ours, for applause.

Alan Yentob, in a bid to understand fashion designer Paul Smith, challenges him to choose the objects which sum up his life. Smith's Covent Garden office is an Aladdin's cave of objects - piles of toys, stacks of racing bikes, gifts from fans, hundreds of books. But there is a method to the strange world of Paul Smith. Growing up determined to be a racing cyclist, his dreams ended, and began, with a crash that led to him meeting his future wife Pauline Denyer, a fashion graduate. With her guidance, he developed his own quirky take on British tailoring which catapulted him to success in the 1980s and made him a cult figure in Japan. Today, he is one of the biggest names in fashion with shops in 74 countries around the world, including China and the Middle East. Smith attributes much of his success in life to his father, who taught him the importance of humour and communication. In this age of the corporate buyout, Alan Yentob asks if this is why Paul Smith is still the master of his own brand.

Why has a kids TV show about an eccentric man with a box that can travel anywhere in time and space become the BBC's longest running TV drama - and one of Britain's biggest brands? On its 50th anniversary, lifelong fan Matthew Sweet argues you ignore Doctor Who at your peril. It may be a piece of children's television, but he believes it's one of the most important cultural artefacts of modern Britain. Put simply, Doctor Who matters. In this hour-long Culture Show special, BBC Two's flagship arts programme explores with wit, authority and affection, why Doctor Who has become entrenched in British life. Matthew Sweet traces the 50 years of extraordinary social change and uncertainty that sent generations of children scuttling behind the sofa. How did a pepper pot, the Nazis and a sink plunger result in the scariest adversaries of our time - the Daleks? Sweet argues how in turn the show became a cultural force in its own right, influencing music, design and storytelling - whether pioneering electronica (Delia Derbyshire), or giving the unknown Douglas Adams a crucial break. Matthew meets both famous faces as well as cast, crew and Doctors past and present (from current Doctor Matt Smith to Richard Martin, the maverick director who first brought the Daleks to screens in 1964) to find out how Doctor Who has changed our culture.

In 1964 the Mary Poppins film premiered in Hollywood to world acclaim. But one person loathed it. She was PL Travers, the author of the books. To coincide with the release of Saving Mr Banks, this Culture Show special presented by Victoria Coren Mitchell explores the dark and complex life of the writer. Her twenty year battle with Walt Disney, the strange adoption of her child (he was one of twins) and how the film version overshadowed her writings but made her rich. With contributions from Emma Thompson, Cameron Mackintosh and PL Travers's granddaughter.

Exploring the historic walled city of Derry Londonderry, the first UK City of Culture, poet and author Nick Laird looks back at a year of dramatic spectacle and asks how art has healed decades of sectarian violence. Meeting Frank Cottrell-Boyce, author of the London 2012 opening ceremony, he is dazzled by the Return of Colmcille, Boyce's spectacular imagining of the return of the city's patron saint. At Picturing Derry, a photo exhibition of work by local amateurs and professionals from all over the world, he considers the legacy of Bloody Sunday and celebrates a city that is no longer defined by The Troubles. And as a measure of its new openness, the international traditional music festival The Fleadh, comes north of the border for the first time.