Suella Braverman, the current home secretary and former attorney general, has found herself making the headlines for all the wrong reasons in the last few weeks.

Presenter Edward Stourton finds out about the life and career of Suella Braverman, the Harrow born barrister who came from first generation migrants.

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Dallas

James O’Brien/LBC Radio

National Conservatism

Succession - the dark comedy following an American media family - has won 13 Emmys, 5 Golden Globes and a BAFTA. As it draws to a close, we take a look at the life of its creator, a British writer who has co-written some of the best television of the last 20 years including Peep Show, The Thick of it and Fresh Meat.

From the border town of Oswestry, Shropshire to the toast of Manhattan and LA, Jesse Armstrong has had an extraordinary journey.

Mark Coles hears from his family, friends and colleagues (including Chris Morris, Isy Suttie, Paterson Joseph, David Mitchell and Susan Soon He Stanton), finding out how Armstrong was able to write such rich worlds that bring the pain and absurdity of life in such a colourful fashion.

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The Hollywood Reporter

Succession

Peep Show

The Thick Of It

Presenter: Mark Coles

Enter the murky world of one of the most dominant men in Russia. From selling hotdogs to running a private army and meddling in the US elections, from Syria to Ukraine- who is this man in the shadows?

One of the most powerful figures you may not have heard of - Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Once a hotdog seller in St Petersburg, this former prisoner has risen to become a friend of Putin and his private army is now one of the main Russian players in the invasion of Ukraine.

Along the way he has catered to celebrities at his top end restaurant, allegedly run a centre for internet trolls, been accused of meddling in the US elections and financed a mercenary army - the Wagner group - based worldwide.

But is his time up? As the situation for his mercenaries gets worse in Ukraine, Prigozhin has started lashing out publicly at the Russian state.

Could this be the last course for the man once named 'Putin's Chef'?

Presenter: Mark Coles

This weekend the controversial President of Turkey faces one of the most important elections ever for his country and the wider Middle East region. But how did the son of a Black Sea coastguard rise to live in a thousand-room palace? And how will he cope with one of the biggest political challenges of a career spanning more than twenty years?

Mark Coles hears from Turkish and British guests who know Recep Tayyip Erdogan well. And for more on the Turkish leader, the two part series, Empire of Erdogan, is available on BBC iPlayer.

Presenter: Mark Coles

South African opera star Pretty Yende is performing her biggest gig yet at the Coronation. She was personally selected by the King to sing at the service in Westminster Abbey.

Growing up in the small rural town of Mpumalanga, Yende’s passion for opera began when she saw a British Airways advertisement featuring the Flower Duet by Delibes. She asked her teacher about it, who advised her to join the school choir.

Abandoning her initial plans to become an accountant, Pretty Yende went on to study at La Scala in Milan before making her Metropolitan Opera debut in New York in 2013, in the role of Adèle in Rossini's Le Comte Ory. A last-minute substitute, Yende had only weeks to prepare for the part. She tripped as she went out on stage, but picked herself up and carried on, going on to receive a standing ovation.

Mark Coles talks to family and friends about one of the rising stars of opera.

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Presenter: Mark Coles

The country girl who won the heart of a prince: Queen Consort, Camilla, will be crowned Queen at the Coronation of King Charles III at Westminster Abbey.

Presenter: Jonny Dymond

The Russian journalist and Cambridge-educated historian Vladimir Kara-Murza has been a long-time opponent of President Putin's regime. A dual national who also holds a British passport, he was instrumental in getting the Magnitsky Act passed in now over 30 countries, in a campaign led by financier Bill Browder. The legislation enables governments to sanction Russians engaged in corruption or human rights abuses. He has been a thorn in the side of Putin ever since. More recently he has also spoken out against Russia's war in Ukraine.

He was poisoned in Russia, and almost died, twice, in 2015 and 2017, suffering long-term health consequences. Yet he returned to Moscow from the US last year, because he didn’t think he had any right to call people onto the streets into action in Russia if he was sitting safely in America.

But as he wrote from prison: 'the night is darkest before the dawn, but what do you know, the dawn may be just around the corner.' His friends however fear for his life.

Presenter Mark Coles speaks to some of those who know him best: Bill Browder, the head of the global Magnitsky Justice Campaign; University of Cambridge historians Dr Clare Jackson and Prof Hubertus Jahn; fellow Russian opposition figure Vladimir Milov, and the BBC's former Moscow correspondent Sarah Rainsford.

Producers: Arlene Gregorius and Georgia Coan

Physicist Dr Nicola Fox, who grew up in Hertfordshire, is the new head of science at the US space agency NASA. Only the second woman to hold the post, Dr Fox is a world-renowned expert on the Sun, who'd previously overseen one of the most important missions to study its scientific mysteries.

In her new role, Nicola Fox will be responsible for hundreds of NASA projects, including returning humans to the Moon and exploring Mars. Outside of work, she enjoys karaoke... and fashion with a space theme.

Mark Coles speaks to Nicola Fox’s friends, family and fellow scientists about how she landed ‘the best job on the planet’.

Presenter: Mark Coles

Alvin Bragg, Manhattan's district attorney, is making history and headlines by bringing criminal charges against Donald Trump. It's the first time a former American President has been indicted.

The first African-American to hold the office of New York District Attorney, Alvin Bragg is the single child of middle class parents. He was born and brought up in Harlem, although he attended an elite private school on New York's Upper West Side before going to Harvard to study Law. Despite his private education, Bragg was no stranger to the danger on the city's streets in the 1980s; he had guns pointed at him by both the police and a suspected drug dealer.

Adrian Goldberg speaks to friends and colleagues of Alvin Bragg about his rise to the job of district attorney in his home town, and how he'll manage the historic case against Donald Trump.

Presenter: Adrian Goldberg

Newly-elected leader of the SNP, Humza Yousaf, has become First Minister of Scotland at the age of just 37.

The Glaswegian showed community spirit from a young age, fundraising for charity and broadcasting for community station Radio Ramadan, before a political awakening that led to a speedy rise up the ranks of his party and into office.

Humza Yousaf has taken on some difficult government briefs, as well as some flak, but now he faces the challenge of a political lifetime: healing divisions in the SNP, improving public services and trying to deliver the party's dream of independence.

Mark Coles talks to friends, family and colleagues to try to find out more about the first ethnic-minority leader of a devolved government.

PRODUCTION TEAM

Presenter: Mark Coles