Author: BBC Radio 4

Andrew Marr talks to the MP Denis MacShane about the political situation in France. It's 30 years since the election of the country's first socialist president, Francois Mitterrand. The People's Pledge is campaigning for a referendum on the UK's membership of the EU, and its founder Ruth Lea argues that it's time to disregard the wishes of Brussels. The Turkish artist Kutlug Ataman explores the spirit of Mesopotamia in his latest works, where his films of water defy national boundaries. And the so-called 'godfather' of the Young British Artists, Michael Craig-Martin, showcases the art of drawing, from his original sketches using tape forty years ago, to the computer-generated drawings of today. Producer: Katy Hickman.

Andrew Marr explores how far empathy, or the lack of it, can explain cruelty. Simon Baron-Cohen proposes turning the focus away from evil or specific personality disorders, and to understand human behaviour by studying the 'empathy circuit' in the brain. Gwen Adshead, a forensic psychotherapist at Broadmoor Hospital and the crime writer Val McDermid question whether this would help in their line of work, and the philosopher Julian Baggini tries to pin down what we mean when we talk about the self.

Producer: Katy Hickman.

Andrew Marr talks to the theatre director Greg Doran about the literary detective work involved in his production of Cardenio - a play he's described as Shakespeare's Lost Play re-imagined. Nicola Shulman turns to the court of Henry VIII to explore the influence of Thomas Wyatt's poetry. While Neil Astley brings together contemporary poets from around the world in an anthology dedicated to 'Being Human'. And as the Guardian launches a new website for book reviews by readers, its literary Editor, Claire Armitstead says there will always be a place in newspapers for the professional critics.

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

Andrew Marr talks to the theatre director Greg Doran about the literary detective work involved in his production of Cardenio - a play he's described as Shakespeare's Lost Play re-imagined. Nicola Shulman turns to the court of Henry VIII to explore the influence of Thomas Wyatt's poetry. While Neil Astley brings together contemporary poets from around the world in an anthology dedicated to 'Being Human'. And as the Guardian launches a new website for book reviews by readers, its literary Editor, Claire Armitstead says there will always be a place in newspapers for the professional critics.

Producer: Victoria Brignell.

Andrew Marr's guests include the neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris, who argues that science ought to influence human morality rather than religion; the writer Masha Gessen who describes the extraordinary story of the Russian maths genius Grigori Perelman who solved a mathematical problem that had remained inscrutable for a century but refused to take the credit - or the million dollar prize; Adam Rutherford, geneticist and journalist on decoding the genome and being human and the Revd Lucy Winkett of St James's Piccadilly, London on how the religious sensibility can contribute to the 'good society'.

Producer: Elaine Lester.

Tom Sutcliffe talks to Anne Dudley about the new opera, The Doctor's Tale, which with a Monty Python-esque absurdity tells the story of a devoted doctor, who just happens to be a dog. The writer Elif Batuman follows the footsteps of her Russian literary heroes, to see whether their lives and work can influence her own. While the BBC's former Moscow correspondent, Martin Sixsmith takes in a thousand years of Russian history. And David Runciman asks 'Can Democracy Cope?' with what is happening around the world, and looks back to the works of Tocqueville and Nietzsche to help make sense of the state of democracy today. Producer: Katy Hickman.