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This week on Writers and Company, host Eleanor Wachtel talks with England's Alan Bennett. Famous for his wit, his diaries and his award-winning plays - from The Madness of King George to The History Boys - his latest book, Untold Stories, is his most personal ever.

This week on Writers and Company, host Eleanor Wachtel wraps up the special series from England with two voices with a working class perspective - up-and-coming playwright David Eldridge, and veteran film-maker Ken Loach.

This week on Writers and Company, host Eleanor Wachtel talks with Irish playwright Conor McPherson. The author of The Weir and Shining City has a new supernatural success with The Seafarer. One of the characters in The Seafarer who shows up at a Christmas Eve card game is in fact the devil in a more sympathetic portrayal than usual. This episode also includes excerpts from an interview with screenwriter and playwright Christopher Hampton about his play and film, Dangerous Liaisons.

Eleanor speaks with English playwright, screenwriter and director Sir David Hare about writing the screenplay for Denial - a new film starring Rachel Weisz - and turning the spotlight on his own life in a revealing memoir.

This week, Eleanor Wachtel speaks with English playwright and screenwriter, Peter Morgan. Two years ago, Helen Mirren won the best actress Oscar for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in the movie, The Queen. And Forest Whittaker won best actor for his role as the Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin, in The Last King of Scotland. Less conspicuous was the man who wrote both movies - Peter Morgan. His latest play, Frost/Nixon will be released as a movie in December.

Eleanor Wachtel speaks with the English playwright and director, David Hare. From post-war disillusion in Plenty to the invasion of Iraq in Stuff Happens and The Vertical Hour, David Hare has always remained socially engaged. His newest play is The Power of Yes: A Dramatist Seeks to Understand the Financial Crisis. Most of David Hare's plays and books of essays have been published by Faber & Faber. His films are available on DVD.

Eleanor Wachtel speaks with English playwright and novelist Michael Frayn. From his award-winning farce, Noises Off, to Copenhagen, his provocative encounter between physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg; from the tragi-comic, Headlong to his latest novel, Spies, Frayn is witty and intelligent.

Part I: An interview with master of language, American poet W.S. Merwin - he has a new book of stories that captures a lost France. Merwin does a reading at the Toronto International Festival of Authors. Part II: An interview with England's most successful playwright, Alan Ayckbourn.

This week on Writers and Company, part one of a series on London theatre. Host Eleanor Wachtel talks with playwright, screenwriter and director Christopher Hampton. From Dangerous Liaisons to The Quiet American, his work displays a lively intelligence and a classic vision.

British writer and wit, Alan Bennett. One of the original members of Beyond the Fringe, Bennett is now known for his play and film The Madness of King George, and for his utterly engaging book, Writing Home.

Eleanor Wachtel interviews English playwright and director David Hare live onstage. From postwar disillusion in Plenty, to Oscar Wilde in The Judas Kiss, Hare is a man of political ideas and romantic passion.