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Mel Gibson reviewed and Pianist Mitsuko Uchida

Mark Lawson reviews Mel Gibson in action thriller 'How I Spent My Summer Vacation'; pianist Mitsuko Uchida; Maxine Peake discusses her varied career on stage and screen.

With Mark Lawson.

Mel Gibson returns to the screen this week in How I Spent Last Summer, in which he plays a career criminal arrested by the authorities in Mexico and sent to a tough prison where he learns to survive with the help of a 9-year-old boy. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews the film (called Get the Gringo for its US release) which Gibson co-wrote.

Today, Japanese born classical pianist, Dame Mitsuko Uchida is awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal - one of the highest honours in classical music. Created to commemorate the centenary of Beethoven's birth in 1870, it counts Brahms, Delius, Elgar, Stravinsky, Britten, Bernstein, Alfred Brendel; Simon Rattle; Pl谩cido Domingo and Daniel Barenboim among previous recipients.

Maxine Peake discusses returning to the role of Martha, an ambitious barrister, in a second series of Silk, the advantages of working in both TV and theatre and why Kate Bush's music helps her approach Strindberg.

We pay tribute to Maurice Sendak, the US author of the best-selling children's book Where the Wild Things Are, who has died aged 83

Producer Claire Bartleet.

Available now

30 minutes

Clip

Chapters

  • How I Spent Last Summer

    Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews How I Spent Last Summer.

    Duration: 04:24

  • Mitsuko Uchida

    Interview with Japanese born classical pianist, Dame Mitsuko Uchida.

    Duration: 11:41

  • Maxine Peake

    Interview with actress, Maxine Peake.

    Duration: 07:03

  • Maurice Sendak

    We pay tribute to Maurice Sendak, the US author of the best-selling children's book Where the Wild Things Are, who has died aged 83.

    Duration: 05:13

Broadcast

  • Tue 8 May 2012 19:15

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