The Interview

“They used to ask champions like Kobe [Bryant] and Tom Brady, ‘which championship is your favourite?’ - and they would say ‘the next one’. The next one, that's what they wanted. Life is a journey, and they say it's better than the destination… but I don't believe that there is a destination. Your destination is a hundred years from now when we're not here, so just keep going - you just keep pushing, keep challenging.”

Hannah Mullane speaks to American entrepreneur Mike Repole.

The 57-year-old New Yorker’s journey to the top of the US beverage industry had a very humble beginning at a supermarket in Queens, where he’d stack shelves as a teenager.

In 1999, he co-founded Glaceau, the manufacturer behind Vitaminwater. The business grew rapidly, and just 8 years later, he made headlines when it was sold to Coca Cola in a deal worth over 4 billion US dollars.

But despite the huge windfall, Repole opted against retiring. Instead he went on to launch new business ventures, partnering with some of the biggest names in sport, including Kobe Bryant and Tom Brady.

As of 2026, Forbes has estimated his wealth at 2.5 billion US dollars.

Thank you to the Business Daily team for their help in making this programme.

Presenter: Hannah Mullane

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(Image: Mike Repole. Credit: Getty)

“While we see great development in infrastructure, in economic opportunities, and we see development in also the area of education and health. We see major deterioration in security, rule of law, and also deterioration on rights, space for civil society has been shrinking. That is worrying. There cannot be trade-off between economic development or infrastructure and people's rights or even people's safety.”

Dingindaba Buyoya speaks to Mo Ibrahim, the billionaire philanthropist and founder of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, which measures how well African governments serve their people.

Ibrahim warns that progress in infrastructure and economic opportunity across Africa cannot compensate for declining rights and worsening security.

He challenges military leaders who promised to make their countries safer, and questions whether the economic gains they claim to have delivered under their rule can last.

He also argues that African leaders are increasingly taking their cues from powerful figures elsewhere in the world, reflecting a wider global shift towards strongman politics.

The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with human rights lawyer Shami Chakrabarti, Ugandan diplomat Olara Otunnu, and dancer Carlos Acosta.

You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presenter: Dingindaba Buyoya

(Image: Mo Ibrahim. Credit: Getty)

“It's a cultural thing. There's an aspect of this that's a Silicon Valley belief that what's invented in California has a special status. I implored colleagues to bring people in from other industries. And people said to me ‘well they can't imagine how powerful AI is, and they can picture what we're doing’ and there's really a sense that the people in the Bay Area are a special group with some special franchise to understand and deal with this technology.”

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(Image: OpenAI logo. Credit: EPA/Shutterstock)

“Dysfunction is a challenge but a strength as well, because it's made us have to find unique ways to utilise our instruments and work together. So it's sort of been a guiding light in some ways, the limitations of the band, but we are in this place where musically where we don't know what is about to happen. It can fall apart or it could become something extraordinary. And that's the beauty of U2 - the lack of orthodoxy and formality and predictability.”

Mark Savage meets legendary Irish rock band U2.

The group was formed at Mount Temple Comprehensive in Dublin back in 1976, with the current line-up of vocalist Bono, guitarist The Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr., coming together just two years later.

Within a decade, they had gone from local post-punk band to one of the world’s biggest rock acts. They enjoyed a string of global hits such as "Pride (In the Name of Love)", "With or Without You", and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", and lined up alongside the likes of Elton John, Queen and David Bowie to perform at Live Aid in 1985.

Now, as they mark their 50th anniversary with the release of their 16th studio album, Carnaval de Luz, U2 are recognised as one of the biggest-selling musical acts of all time, with estimated record sales north of 170 million.

But despite enjoying global success across five decades, getting it right doesn’t always come easy.

Presenter: Mark Savage

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(Image: U2. Credit: Getty)

“The environmental impacts of food waste are absolutely devastating. If it were a country, food waste would be the third-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions after the USA and China - and that's because a landmass larger than China is used every year to grow food that's never eaten.”

Leanna Byrne speaks to Olio co-founder and CEO Tessa Clarke.

Olio helps millions of people around the world give away unwanted food and household items instead of throwing them away. It’s a simple process, where users list unwanted food, clothes, furniture, books, and toiletries on the app for people nearby to then get in touch and arrange collection.

Having started life barely a decade ago in the form of a WhatsApp group set up to reduce waste in a small corner of suburban London, Olio has since grown into an app used daily in around 50 countries all over the world.

With over 150 million meals and 17 million household items already shared, hundreds of thousands of tonnes of CO₂ emissions and billions of litres of water in the process saved, the movement has even been recognised by the United Nations as a scalable solution for combating climate change.

In this interview, Clarke talks about how it grew into a global movement, and why changing human behaviour may be key to tackling climate change.

Thank you to the Founders team for their help in making this programme.

Presenter: Leanna Byrne

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(Image: Tessa Clarke. Credit: Getty)

“I can't pronounce the local language, but if it's kind of translated into English, it becomes ‘the eternal glaciers’. And to have something on a mountain that has that cultural history, and has been so important for local belief, and local culture, to disappear. It's a culture heritage disappearing.”

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(Image: Klaus Thymann, Credit: BBC)

Right now, your washing machine is subject to more safety rules than AI. Every carton of milk that you see in the grocery store is subject to safety rules and inspection. Or think about the aeroplanes we get on - you can get on a plane in London, you can fly to Athens or New York. Either way, that plane has been certified so that it’s considered safe by the aircraft regulators in both countries. We know how to do this for other products. We should build on that knowledge and start to think about how to apply it to AI.”

Will Bain speaks to Brad Smith, Microsoft President and Vice-Chairman, about adapting to AI.

The 59-year-old American joined the global technology giant in 1993 as part of its legal team. Over the next two decades, he worked his way to the top of the corporation and became President in 2015 before taking on the additional role of Vice-Chairman six years later.

As one of the most influential figures in the global technology industry, Smith has spent decades working alongside world leaders, governments and regulators, helping to navigate some of the most complex challenges facing the digital age, from cyber security and data privacy to market competition and the growing power of big tech.

Smith observes AI’s rapid development closely, and although he understands the many opportunities it will create, he also supports regulation.

Thank you to the Big Boss Interview team for their help in making this programme.

Presenter: Will Bain

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(Image: Brad Smith Credit: Zed Jameson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Rebecca Kesby speaks to Israeli film-makers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor. Abraham and Szor gained international attention last year with their self-distributed film, No Other Land, made in collaboration with two Palestinian film-makers. The film, which won the 2025 Academy Award for best documentary feature, recorded the forced displacement of Palestinian families from their homes in the occupied West Bank.

The pair’s latest critically-acclaimed documentary, Naza, investigates civilian casualties from Israel's ongoing military operations in Gaza.

Naza is the word used by Israeli forces to describe collateral damage. The film includes the testimonies of 24 unidentified Israeli military and intelligence officers, and they explain how artificial intelligence was used to identify possible targets in Gaza during the war, which was triggered by the deadly Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023.

Its premiere at the Venice international film festival saw the documentary win the special jury prize and also receive a record-breaking 25-minute standing ovation.

However, the film has angered many people back home, including Israel's culture minister, who has called for Abraham and Szor to be stripped of their citizenship over what he called "treason against the state".

(Image: Rachel Szor and Yuval Abraham Credit: Marilla Sicilia/Getty Images)

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Presenter: Rebecca Kesby

“When we suffered under apartheid, those were immoral laws, they institutionalised racism. Where could we go for relief? And I yearned for a better system of law based on values.”

The daughter of a bus driver, Navi grew up in segregated South Africa witnessing racial and gender discrimination on a daily basis. Determined to become a lawyer she spent decades representing political prisoners of the apartheid era and was the first non white woman to be appointed to South Africa’s high court.

She went on to represent the victims of the Rwanda genocide as a judge on the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal and was elected to the International Court of Justice. She also chaired a UN commission investigating human rights violations in Gaza.

The Nobel committee said the award recognises Pillay’s lifetime of work, praising her commitment to universal legal principles and her firm moral compass.

The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with the president of the ICRC, Mirijana Spolaric and the former Australian prime minister minister Julia Gillard, plus many others.

(Image: Navi Pillay. Credit: Reuters)

“There's a toxic narrative around displacement which has been politicised and part of the fund is to re-humanise and make the connection because those people who have the great fortune to be housed, to be in nations that are free of conflict at the moment, we're being asked to be displaced from our humanity. And so art, the foundation of art is to allow people to make pathways of connection to remind us that we have more in common with people who are displaced than we realise.”

Katie Razzall speaks to double Oscar-winning actor Cate Blanchett.

The 57-year-old Australian, best-known for her roles in Hollywood blockbusters such as Elizabeth, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, has long used her public profile to champion humanitarian causes around the world.

A decade ago, Blanchett was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency. Two years later, she addressed the UN Security Council drawing attention to Rohingya refugees fleeing violence and persecution in Myanmar.

Last year, Blanchett helped launch the Displacement Film Fund, an initiative supporting filmmakers who have experienced displacement, as well as films exploring the lives of those forced to flee their homes.

Five filmmakers were awarded grants through the fund, each telling individual stories of displacement from places including Ukraine, Somalia and Iran. One of the filmmakers, Hasan Kattan, joined Blanchett for this interview to talk about his experience of fleeing Syria.

Thank you to the Newsnight team for their help in making this programme.

Presenter: Katie Razzall

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(Image: Cate Blanchett. Credit: Getty)