Ben Quilty was one of Australia's most famous painters when he entered into an unusual friendship with a condemned man, Myuran Sukumaran, a convicted drug smuggler on death row in Indonesia. He was a member of a group of imprisoned Australians known as the Bali Nine. Ben was invited to teach Myuran how to paint, as a way to help him cope with his sentence, and he soon started to reveal an artistic talent. The two men gradually developed a close connection, but it was severed by a firing squad. First broadcast 2018.

Mexican artist Julia Lopez is now a world-renowned painter, but she very nearly didn't discover her talent at all. She grew up as a farm labourer in rural Mexico, and found work as a maid after moving to Mexico City. But one day her life changed, when she was scouted by the famous artist Frida Kahlo to become a model. It wasn’t long before she picked up the paintbrush herself. Outlook's Clayton Conn has the story. First broadcast 2018

For nearly 30 years, Mark Landis donated scores of artworks by famous artists to museums all over the United States. He was feted as a philanthropist. But all of them were forged - by Mark himself. Because he never took any money from the museums, he hasn't committed a crime under US law. Jo Fidgen asked why he did it. First broadcast 2015.

Presenter: Jo Fidgen

Picture: Ben Quilty and Myuran Sukumaran

Credit: Andrew Quilty

Mike Farmer and Robert Ward have spent decades travelling the world in pursuit of meteorites. Their awe-inspiring and insatiable hunt led to fortune – but also unexpected danger. It's a story of cowboys, cargo pants and some of the most coveted rocks on earth. This episode was released on the 23rd of February 2019.

Presenter: Saskia Edwards

Producer: Maryam Maruf

Image: Silhouette of a man watching a meteor shower over Italy

Credit: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images

In her 30s Kiran Dembla was a full-time stay-at-home mum living in the Indian city of Hyderabad. She spent her days cooking and cleaning and caring for her children. Kiran always had the sense that something was missing, she describes feeling a 'blankness', but it was only when she discovered that she had a blood clot in her brain that she decided to do something about it.

The medication she was taking was causing her to put on weight so she joined the gym. That decision set her on the path to completely transforming her life - these days she's a celebrity trainer and a star bodybuilder. But it hasn't been an easy road - cultural and family expectations have often been at odds with her own aspirations.

Any comments please email us on [email protected]

Picture: Kiran Dembla

Credit: Radesh Photography

Presenter: Emily Webb

Producers: Fiona Woods and Nikita Mandhani

John Shepherd is a self-taught electronics whizz. From a young age he was fascinated by science and electricity. He'd spend his days collecting discarded radio and tv sets and re-fashioning them into new devices. He used his skills for an unsual pursuit - he wanted to reach out to potential extra-terrestrial life. This was the 60s, the space race was in full swing and there was a collective fascination with alien life and UFOs. But how do you start a conversation with an alien? Initially he transmitted binary tones in an attempt to make contact. But he later settled on a different way to communicate, he started broadcasting reggae, afrobeat, jazz, and more, the ‘universal language’ of music. There's a Netflix documentary about John's story called John Was Trying to Contact Aliens.

Any comments please email us on [email protected]

Presenter: Emily Webb

Producer: Andrea Kennedy

Picture: John Shepherd

Credit: Courtesy of John Shepherd

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon is a British chemical weapons expert whose work in Syria has attracted global attention. But working in a warzone is dangerous and not only has Hamish had to smuggle himself into countries, he's faced bombs, bullets and even the Islamic State group in order to investigate and document chemical warfare. Hamish has written a book called Chemical Warrior: Saving Lives on the Front Line of Modern Warfare.

Presenter: Emily Webb

Producer: Thomas Harding Assinder

Picture: Hamish de Bretton-Gordon

Credit: Hamish de Bretton-Gordon

Shane McCrae is an award-winning African-American poet and writer whose work often addresses the black experience in the US. Poetry for him was a way of making sense of his difficult and abusive upbringing. As a child, Shane was raised by his white maternal grandparents in a deeply racist household. His grandmother taught him the Nazi salute, told him that he “tanned very easily” and that he was living with her because his black father didn’t want him. But when Shane was a teenager, he would learn the truth about the racial prejudice and deception that divided him from his father Stanley.

Shane's latest collections of poetry are called Sometimes I Never Suffered and The Gilded Auction Block.

Any comments please email us on [email protected]

Presenter: Emily Webb

Producer: Maryam Maruf

Picture: Shane McCrae as a child

Credit: Courtesy Shane McCrae

Rob and Jason Holmes were first recruited as undercover agents when they were children. They were in Atlantic City on the lookout for black market goods - like replica designer clothes, sunglasses, watches. Their employer was their private detective dad and their fee was ice cream. Now they take on some of the world’s biggest counterfeiters. It’s all raids, Russian gangs, and (fake) Rolexes. This episode was first released on 10th November 2018.

Presenter: Emily Webb

Producer: Maryam Maruf

Image: Rob (L) and Jason (R) Holmes in their youth

Credit: Rob and Jason Holmes

Guatemalan grandparents Favio "El Lobo" Vasquez and his wife Maria Moreno first met on the disco dance floor over 30 years ago. Despite being from rival dance groups they ended up falling in love and have been dancing together ever since. But earlier this year, after the death of their daughter, dance helped them in ways they could never have imagined. As they were raising their daughter's two young children and struggling to pay the bills, they decided to enter an online dance competition. They had to enter separately but Favio won and the video of him dancing went viral - it was even trending higher than Manchester United! They've been telling Outlook's Clayton Conn their story.

Presenter: Clayton Conn

Producer: Deiniol Buxton and June Christie

Picture: Favio Vasquez and Maria Moreno

Credit: Favio Vasquez and Maria Moreno

Writer Xiaolu Guo grew up in 1970s China, in a tiny village by the East China Sea. She'd been left there to live with her grandparents, and didn't know where her parents were. When they returned to collect her age seven, it began a lifetime of change - and a reckoning with China's history, from the feudal era to the Cultural Revolution.

Presenter: Jo Fidgen

Producer: Laura Thomas

Picture: Xiaolu Guo

Credit: Xiaolu Guo

Canadian Julie Lalonde looked to all the world to be a fearless warrior for women's rights. Her job involved telling political and military leaders, mainly men, how to behave but every time she stood on stage she was terrified because she was being stalked by a former lover. She talks to Jo Fidgen about enduring a harmful obsession that lasted more than a decade and how she found the strength to go public.

She's written a book called Resilience is Futile.

If you’ve been affected by any of the issues in this episode, you can find details of organisations offering information and support at this address: bbc.co.uk/actionline.

Presenter: Jo Fidgen

Producer: Tom Harding Assinder

Picture: Julie Lalonde

Credit: Brendan Brown