Don't Log Off

Alan Dein crosses the world via Facebook and Skype, hearing the real life dramas of random strangers.

Today, people tell stories about grappling with issues of identity. A disabled woman from the Ukraine talks about ethnic tensions as crisis grips the country, keeping an audio diary of her reflections as the situation develops.

Alan also hears from a young woman in Moscow who discusses the difficulties of being gay and mixed race in Russia.

Meanwhile, a young Bolton man whose family originate from Pakistan recounts his horror after being shot at during his last visit there, reflecting on how it has informed his views on nationality.

Producer: Laurence Grissell.

Alan Dein crosses the world via Facebook and Skype, hearing the real life dramas of random strangers.

In this first programme of the new series, Alan discovers some moving stories of couples under pressure.

Alan builds up a relationship with Hank and Norma in Arkansas, USA following them over the course of a difficult year as harp-playing Hank draws on his own near-death experience to deal with Norma's breast cancer. As Hank puts it: "I worked hard to survive, and I deserve my companion in life..."

Alan also tracks the fortunes of a young couple in love, trying to make a go of it despite the fact one lives in southern Italy and the other in Slovakia.

Plus a veteran of the first Gulf War - now a long distance lorry driver - recalls how he salvaged his own relationship after it faltered as a result of long absences from home.

Via Facebook and Skype Alan Dein connects to the lives of strangers across the globe to hear their stories. The tumultuous events of the Arab spring have reached an uncertain conclusion in Egypt. Now, with Friday night curfew drawing close, Alan hears a diversity of experience. From Shady who has found a new life in the revolutionary protests of January 25th 2011 ,a sleeper awoken from his days as a football fanatic, waiting for the next seismic event to Rasa who defies the curfew to maintain her sanity. Elsewhere in Alexandria a newly qualified doctor, Doaa, reflects on the passing of her father and her new responsibilities.

Producer: Mark Burman.

Alan Dein continues his night time conversations with internet strangers, discovering the lives behind the profiles of people he randomly meets through Facebook and Skype.

This week he speaks to people living and working away from home. A nurse in Germany awaits the arrival of battle-injured troops, a disabled Romanian longs for the arrival of the family's first car, and an Icelander asks Alan if he should put a rose on his girlfriend's grave.

Producer: Sarah Bowen.

Alan Dein hears the story of Bryan from the US and Anna from Russia who met online - using Google Translate.

Bryan doesn't speak Russian and Anna doesn't speak English - they conduct their communication entirely via the online translation tool.

Alan has been following the story for Don't Log Off for over a year, speaking to Bryan on Skype on numerous occasions. Since they first spoke, Anna decided to move to the US with her two children. She sells her house in Russia and takes just three suitcases to set up home with Bryan. The couple's understanding of each other's languages remains minimal.

She arrived in the US in July this year - and the couple had 90 days to get married or Anna would have to leave the country. The wedding date is set for 21st September - but then, suddenly, it's called off... because Anna has concerns.

Alan decides to travel to Boise, Idaho to see how things work out...

Producer: Laurence Grissell.

Alan Dein crosses the world via Facebook and Skype, hearing the real life dramas of random strangers as Don't Log Off comes to Saturday mornings for the first time.

And in this first programme, Alan speaks to a range of people looking for escape - in a range of honest and moving encounters which take him right around the globe. He hears from a female human rights activist in Saudi Arabia trying to flee the country after hearing her life is in danger - and a Marilyn Manson fan yearning to escape Russia.

There are lighter moments, too, as Alan speaks to a Japanese man about his dashed hopes of a career singing love songs and a Ugandan hoping for a happy ending to his romance with a woman in Finland.

Hooked up to a computer into the early hours of the morning, Alan crosses continents online - inviting anyone and everyone to talk to him. He never knows who he will be speaking to next or what secrets they will reveal.

Producer: Laurence Grissell.

Alan Dein crosses the world via Facebook and Skype, hearing the real life dramas of random strangers.

Tonight, stories about the power of belief. Alan hears the epic story of a Peruvian man who believes that a Canadian visa will persuade his Belarusian ex-wife to come back to him, an American woman tells of her relationship with a Muslim which raised eyebrows in the Midwest and a Canadian man talks about speaking to the spirit of his late father.

Producer: Laurence Grissell.

Alan Dein crosses the world via Facebook & Skype, hearing the real life dramas of random strangers.

Tonight, he hears a moving story of widowhood from 60 year old Jennie in the Australian Bush. The line is so bad that Alan decides to send her a digital recorder so that she can record herself in quality. What emerges is a bittersweet and intensely personal story but one which also touches on key events in Australia in the post-1945 era, including the Vietnam War and the catastrophic Darwin Cyclone.

She also uses the recorder to capture some of the abundant bird life in her remote and rural part of Queensland.

Producer: Laurence Grissell.

Alan Dein holes himself up in a studio through the night and invites the online world to talk to him. Knowing nothing about the people he is about to talk to, he settles down for an evening of intriguing, random encounters.

In this second programme, he crosses the world via Facebook & Skype and hears the stories of people in the process of healing. A woman pursues new love when her husband's infidelity begins days after their wedding, a Ghanaian healer tries to cure a woman through prayer over the phone, and a barrister struggles to regain his speech after being stabbed and beaten with a machete in an Anguillan restaurant.

Producer: Sarah Bowen.

Alan Dein crosses the world via Facebook and Skype, hearing the real life dramas of random strangers.

Hooked up to a computer well into the early hours of the morning, Alan circumnavigates the globe online inviting anyone and everyone to talk to him. He never knows who he will be speaking to next or what secrets they will reveal.

In the first programme, Alan hears stories of connection and separation. He connects with a man in Cairo as a gunfight rages outside, a French woman nervously awaiting a meeting with her estranged father and a Brazilian man mystified at the disappearance of an online lover.

Producer: Laurence Grissell.