The Culture Show is back and will be featuring many of the highlights from the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. In this episode, Mark Kermode meets film director David Cronenberg and his lead actor Robert Pattinson to talk about their new movie Cosmopolis. Martin Amis discusses class, character and his latest novel, while Yoko Ono makes a bid to get the whole world smiling. There is a a performance from the acclaimed Pina Bausch dance company, and Andrew Graham-Dixon joins Michael Landy and Bob and Roberta Smith to discover what happens when a gallery is transformed into a classroom and the artists take charge of the lessons.

In this episode, comedian Alexei Sayle joins art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon at Tate Liverpool for an exhibition of later works from three of the greatest painters of the last 150 years: Turner, Monet and Twombly. Mark Kermode interrogates director William Friedkin about his new blackly comic film Killer Joe. Miranda Sawyer travels to the Eden Project in Cornwall to talk Matilda, musicals and megalomania with Tim Minchin. We have an exclusive extract from a lovingly restored print of Alfred Hitchcock's debut feature film with live music specially composed by Daniel Patrick Cohen; and James Runcie meets Richard Ford to explore the borderline between the ordinary and the criminal in his haunting new novel Canada.

This week The Culture Show comes from London's East End, where Andrew Graham-Dixon takes a photo tour of a changing landscape with Newham's famous son and legendary snapper David Bailey. Alan Yentob has a rainy encounter with controversial architect Renzo Piano, the mastermind behind Britain's tallest skyscraper The Shard. Mark Kermode meets the actor with over seventy films to his credit, Willem Dafoe, to talk about his latest movie The Hunter. Ground-breaking all-male dance company Tomorrow's Men perform; and Sarfraz Manzoor tees off with Booker prize-shortlisted author Nicola Barker whose new comic novel The Yips unearths the giddy world of golf.

Mark Kermode is in Bexhill-on-Sea, the setting for a new sculpture from artist Richard Wilson which recreates the final scene in cult movie The Italian Job. Miranda Sawyer meets Plan B to talk about his latest album, and Brooklyn-based choreographer Elizabeth Streb rehearses with her dancers for a pop-up performance around London's landmarks. Tom Dyckhoff takes a tour of London's Olympic architecture, and we join thousands as they witness Stonehenge brought to life by a spectacular installation of fire.

Mark Kermode takes part in a movie marathon of short film screenings, Hansel of Film, a relay race of short film screenings taking place around the UK. Alastair Sooke looks at the transformation of disused oil tanks into a sleek new art space at Tate Modern. Also, Cerys Matthews shares her passion for poetry with Fiona Shaw and gets a sneak preview of Peace Camp, a series of unique living artworks across the UK coastline from Northern Ireland to Cornwall.

Mark Kermode meets Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan to talk about his take on the caped crusader. Blur are back and Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon talk about their new songs and how they feel about headlining at Hyde Park - the closing ceremony for the Olympics. Mat Fraser explores our desire to be Superhuman with a new exhibition at The Wellcome Institute. And, no strings attached - why puppets are back in a very big way.

Sue Perkins presents the first of three Culture Show programmes from The Edinburgh Festival, featuring all the best in theatre, dance, literature, music and comedy from the Fringe, International, Art and Book Festivals. She meets Mark Thomas to discuss his new comedy show Bravo Figaro about his tempestuous relationship with his dad.

Sue Perkins presents a second helping of The Culture Show from the Edinburgh Festival and meets author Kirsty Gunn and music legend Nile Rodgers. Also featured tonight, the 25th anniversary of So You Think You're Funny, the Edinburgh comedy competition which has uncovered stars from Dylan Moran to Peter Kay. Artists including David Hockney, Paul Gaugin and Sir Peter Blake swap paint for wool in an exhibition of contemporary tapestries, and we take a look at Speed of Light - a spectacular mass participatory event in which walkers and endurance runners ascend Arthur's Seat and illuminate the iconic mountain.

Sue Perkins presents a final helping of hits from this year's Edinburgh Festival including an interview with Howard Jacobson about his new novel Zoo Time and a look at the art of Dieter Roth.

Andrew Graham-Dixon explores the new Bronze exhibition at the Royal Academy. Clemency Burton-Hill reports on The People Speak, a dramatized book reading curated by Colin Firth and Anthony Arnove, which tells an alternative and inspiring history of Britain and features actors including Juliet Stevenson, Celia Imrie and Rupert Everett. Also, Mark Kermode talks to Oliver Stone about his latest crime thriller Savages.

Harry Potter is one of the most successful publishing phenomena of our time, selling 450 million copies. Its success has transformed author JK Rowling from an impoverished single mother into one of Britain's richest women. Since The Deathly Hallows was published in 2007, Rowling's fans have been desperate to know what she was going to do next. The answer is The Casual Vacancy, a novel for adults with some very grown-up themes. The expectation and pressure are enormous.

Mark Kermode reviews award-winning French comedy film Untouchable in the company of Goldie. Tim Samuels looks at the odds on this year's Man Booker Prize shortlist and Alastair Sooke surveys the first edition of Frieze Masters - a selection of work, old and new, from over 90 of the world's leading galleries.

Tom Dyckhoff presents an architecture-themed show and looks at the six buildings shortlisted for 2012's Stirling Prize. At the other end of the spectrum, he also assesses the buildings nominated for architecture's wooden spoon - The Carbuncle Cup. Olly Wainwright looks at what young new architects are up to in this time of recession and Charlie Luxton explores the growing trend for self-build homes.

Gus Casely-Hayford presents the programme, featuring a review of independent fantasy film Beasts of the Southern Wild, which was a hit at the Cannes and Sundance festivals. Plus, New York artist Rashid Johnson holds his first solo exhibition in London, and a look at Blackta, a new play at the Young Vic about the highs and lows of making it as a black actor.

Mark Kermode talks to director Sam Mendes about his latest film, Skyfall - the 23rd outing of the James Bond series. Featuring contributions from Skyfall stars Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem and Dame Judi Dench, this Culture Show Special also reflects on Mendes' prolific career in both film and theatre. From directing Dench in the West End at just 24 years of age, to sweeping the board at the Oscars with his debut movie American Beauty, Mendes has always done things his way. Celebrated for his visual elegance and ability to coax great performances from his actors, the director reveals why he wanted to take on Bond and what surprises lie in store for Skyfall audiences around the world.

Mark Kermode talks to Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes about his latest film Skyfall - the 23rd outing of the James Bond series. Featuring contributions from Skyfall stars Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, and Dame Judi Dench, this week's Culture Show Special also reflects on Mendes' prolific career in both film and theatre. From directing Dench in the West End at just 24 years of age to sweeping the board at the Oscars with his debut movie American Beauty, Mendes has always done things his way. Celebrated for his visual elegance and ability to coax great performances from his actors, the director reveals why he wanted to take on Bond and what surprises lie in store for Skyfall audiences around the world.

Andrew Graham-Dixon is at the National Gallery's first major exhibition of photography to explore the influence of painting and fine art traditions on the work of some our leading photographers. Investigative journalist John Sweeney has made two acclaimed documentaries about The Church of Scientology. So, we asked him to join Mark Kermode to review The Master, the latest movie by Paul Thomas Anderson, which chronicles the life of the charismatic leader of a religious cult.

The Culture Show comes from the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, home to an exhibition of work from legendary American photographer Ansel Adams. Mark Kermode meets Academy Award winner Ben Affleck to talk about his new movie Argo. Based on real events, the film tells the remarkable story of an attempt to spring six Americans from Iran in the late 70s by faking a Hollywood science fiction movie.

Andrew Graham-Dixon goes stateside to meet Tom Wolfe. After eight long years, the great chronicler of American society returns with a new novel Back to Blood, which promises to do for Miami what Bonfire of the Vanities did for New York. Thirty years since First Blood, Lindsay Johns makes an impassioned argument to rehabilitate Rambo, arguing that he is not a grunting bonehead but an existential everyman and the perfect hero for our troubled times.

The show comes from the Tate Modern on London's Bankside, home to A Bigger Splash, a new exhibition taking a new look at the relationship between performance and painting. Alastair Sooke meets Elena Palumbo, muse and model for Yves Klein, to find out what it was really like to be a 'living paintbrush' for one of the most influential avant-garde artists of the post-war period.

Andrew Graham-Dixon travels to New York to meet best-selling novelist Lee Child as his hugely popular Jack Reacher thrillers start their Hollywood incarnation this December with Tom Cruise in the title role. American singer-songwriter Beck is about to release a new album with a twist. He is bringing out a songbook of vintage-styled sheet-music that he wants others to perform and interpret. Michael Smith finds out if this is a new trend for our listening habits, or a comment on our disposable download culture.

Andrew Graham-Dixon looks back over the best of the year in art. Highlights include a major show from Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, whose dazzling body of work creates a unique world of colour, pattern and shape. Also, Florence Welch, a pop star who brings the great themes of the Renaissance into the 21st century, joins Andrew for a tour of the National Gallery to share some of the art that inspires her.

This week on The Culture Show Mark Kermode looks back over the best of the year in film. Just some of the highlights from our coverage of 2012's cinema releases include an interview with one of the great auteurs of modern cinema, David Cronenberg, and his lead actor Robert Pattinson.

Presenter Andrew Graham-Dixon previews the art of French impressionist, Edouard Manet as the Royal Academy prepares for a major retrospective of his portraiture. Mark Kermode meets Academy Award winner Kathryn Bigelow to talk about the controversy surrounding her latest film 'Zero Dark Thirty'. Based on real events, the film charts the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden and his death during a Navy S.E.A.L. operation in 2011. Author, Margaret Drabble meets her old university friend novelist, Bernadine Bishop, whose latest book 'Unexpected Lessons in Love' explores friendship and loss as a woman battling with cancer is confronted with a newborn grandson she didn't know existed.

Tom Dyckhoff presents this design themed edition of the Culture Show, which examines the latest 'hacking' craze - where online design communities interact to reinvent and create new objects. As artists are now able to download and 'open-source' design tweaks, is the 'Great Designer' poised to disappear?