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This is Freddie Flintoff’s life in full, in his own words, through the moments that made him. Told in short scenes, Fred zeroes-in on the crucial instances that shaped his career and life – some highly celebrated, others less well-known, private, away from the cameras, but pivotal in shaping the man he is.
From prehistory to the modern era, our coastline had shaped Britain, not only physically but socially, economically and culturally. Far from being at the margins of national interests, the coast has been at the heart of the British people’s most important endeavours and central to era-defining national events. For thousands of years the coastline has been both Britain’s frontier and its connection to the wider world. Exploring key coastal themes throughout British history and introducing some of the most significant, intriguing and quirky places that express the pivotal role our coastal heritage has played, archaeologist and presenter Ben Robinson looks to our coastline to tell not only the stories of our past, but also of our present.
As human beings, we’re fascinated by elite human performance. And if it derives from nefarious means? Arguably that’s even more alluring – just look at the Enhanced Games, the sporting free-for-all where doping is allowed that will take place in 2026. The lengths athletes, and their support teams, go to in search of peak performance is unsettling, dangerous and captivating. Just as intriguing is how the anti-doping authorities combat, or attempt to combat, the cheats. Blood tests, urine tests, examination of fitness data, monitoring social media a la Big Brother in an effort to determine where the athlete’s training. Is it in a country that doesn’t have an accredited testing lab nearby? The alarm bells ring. It’s good versus evil, but who’s winning? Through the lens of case studies through the history of doping in sport, ‘Dope’ examines the landscape of sport and doping in the modern era.
This is the forgotten tale of MI6’s top spy in Nazi Germany and his bid to stop the Second World War. In the world of espionage, where the accounts of renowned spies often dominate the narrative, this is a rare gem – an untold story of a completely unknown spy. Baron William de Ropp, a Baltic German aristocrat, wasn’t just any ordinary spy; he was MI6’s top-secret agent in Nazi Germany from 1931 to 1939, managing to escape Berlin just before war broke out. This unsung hero had direct access to Adolf Hitler and an inside track on the Nazi regime. His reports, shrouded in secrecy, had the power to shape British policy toward Germany in a pivotal period of history. ‘The Spy and the Devil’ is a riveting tale of espionage, intrigue, and the untold impact of one man’s secret mission on the course of history.
Over the past seventy years, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, Unilever and other consumer goods makers have harnessed single-use plastics to turbocharge their profits. They’ve poured billions of dollars into convincing us we need disposable diapers, cups, bags, bottles, shampoo in sachets and plastic-packaged ultra-processed foods. We were never clamouring for any of these items, but this shift towards disposability has fundamentally transformed our daily habits. While at first we shaped plastics, somewhere along the way, plastics took over and began shaping us. Like any addiction, our plastic habit has consequences. It is damaging our climate and biodiversity and we are only just starting to understand its effect on our own health. In investigating how we got here, ‘Consumed’ arms us to make better decisions about where we go next.
Football’s data revolution has only just begun. The arrival of advanced metrics and detailed analysis is already reshaping the modern game. We can now fully assess player performance, analyse the role of luck and measure what really leads to victory. Now the race is on between football’s wealthiest clubs and a group of outsiders, nerds and rule-breakers, who are turning the game on its head with their staggering innovations. Winning is no longer just about what happens out on the pitch, it’s now a battle taking place in boardrooms and on screens across borders with the world’s brightest minds driving for an edge over their fiercest rivals. Christoph Biermann has moved in the midst of these disruptive upheavals, talking to scientists, coaches, managers, scouts and psychologists in the world’s major clubs, traveling across Europe and the US and revealing the hidden truths behind the beautiful game.
If you could write a letter to your younger self, what would it say? ‘Letter To My Younger Self’ is back with another incredible selection of letters from well-known figures. In this edition, interviewer Jane Graham asks one simple question to a wide range of women from the worlds of entertainment, politics, food, sport, literature and business. This collection of 50 of the most moving, inspiring and honest letters includes Fearne Cotton on battling imposter syndrome, Billie Piper on feeling burnt out, Dame Kelly Holmes on not giving up, Nancy Sinatra on marrying young and so much more.
This is Freddie Flintoff’s life in full, in his own words, through the moments that made him. Told in short scenes, Fred zeroes-in on the crucial instances that shaped his career and life – some highly celebrated, others less well-known, private, away from the cameras, but pivotal in shaping the man he is.
On 20 August 1612, ten people from Pendle were executed before a vast crowd at Lancaster’s Gallows Hill. The condemned and their associates had endured six months of accusations, imprisonment and torture; their treatment was such that one of the group died in Lancaster Castle’s dungeons, while awaiting trial. Today, a thriving tourism industry exists in and around Pendle, the former home of the so-called witches, yet virtually everything we know about the case originates from a single source: Thomas Potts’ ‘Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches’, hurriedly published in 1613 and distinctly skewed in favour of the prosecution. Now, Carol Ann Lee brings a fresh perspective to the story by approaching it as true crime. Her research leads to revelatory discoveries, transforming our knowledge of those shadowy figures behind ill-famed names, and the terrible events that befell them.
Empowering and energetic, ‘The Right Sort of Girl’ is a coming-of-age story of identity. Trying to navigate her Indian world at home and the British world outside her front door, Anita Rani was a girl who didn’t fit in anywhere. She shares with us the lessons she wishes her 16-year-old self could have known then: you do not need to bleach your skin; be your own superhero; you are Indian enough; you don’t need to compromise on your own happiness; and that there is no such thing as the right sort of girl.
If you could write a letter to your younger self, what would it say? More than 10 years ago, ‘The Big Issue’ began asking people that and since then, some of the most brilliant and successful people from the worlds of entertainment, politics, food, sport and business have had their letters published in the magazine. This collection of 100 of the most incredible letters includes Paul McCartney writing on how he found inspiration, Olivia Colman on overcoming confidence problems, Mo Farah on the importance of losing, Arianna Huffington on knowing your motivations, Jamie Oliver on trusting your instinct and many, many more, including Rod Stewart, Margaret Atwood, Buzz Aldrin, Tracey Emin, Michael Palin, Melanie C, Dionne Warwick and Ewan McGregor.