Profile

Health Secretary, Steve Barclay, spent his gap year serving with the Royal Fusiliers. Now he finds himself in the line of fire from striking health workers, in a long-running dispute over pay. His job is to somehow find a solution to the row, without adding to the Treasury’s headaches.

Can this rugby-loving sky-diver rise to the challenge? Adrian Goldberg talks to family and friends to find out why some Whitehall officials tremble under his forensic questioning – and why he’s been likened to popular TV detective, Columbo.

Presenter: Adrian Goldberg

The naturalist, broadcaster, author and campaigner has announced he is taking a three-month sabbatical from his TV work to give himself some ‘brain space’.

After rising to prominence in the 1980s as a presenter on the BBC children's TV programme The Really Wild Show, Chris Packham has spent nearly four decades exploring and explaining the natural world on our screens. Along the way he's written books, fronted numerous environmental campaigns, and also raised awareness of living with Asperger's Syndrome.

Mark Coles hears from Chris Packham's family, friends and colleagues about his life and career.

Presenter: Mark Coles

Nan Goldin has been documenting her life through photography since her teens, revealing and intimate portraits exploring issues from sex and drug addition to domestic violence and parenthood. Laura Poitras's film celebrating Nan's work, 'All the Beauty and the Bloodshed' has been nominated for an Oscar.

Mark Coles looks at the life of the acclaimed artist, whose addiction to prescription opioids made her determined to hold Purdue Pharma and their owners the Sackler family accountable for the US Opioid addiction crisis. The campaign resulted in galleries and museums around the world cutting financial ties with the Sacklers, because of their link to the prescription opioid OxyContin.

Presenter: Mark Coles

After suffering a fall that has left him paralysed, the playwright, screenwriter and author has begun sharing his thoughts with the world from his hospital bed.

Born in suburban Bromley to an English mother and a Pakistani father, Hanif Kureishi turned to the arts to escape his everyday surroundings growing up. He became one of the most celebrated writers of his generation.

Mark Coles hears from Kureishi's friends, family and old colleagues, as he explores the life and career of the man whose works include The Buddha of Suburbia and My Beautiful Laundrette.

Presenter: Mark Coles

As the threat of teacher strikes looms over schools in England, Mark Coles looks at the life and career of Education secretary and Conservative MP for Chichester, Gillian Keegan.

Friends and colleagues reveal how coming of age in Liverpool during the 1980s shaped her political views, leading her to a successful international career in business before entering politics.

Presenter: Mark Coles

Paul Nowak has taken up his post as General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress at a time when workers across multiple sectors are striking for better pay deals to help with the cost-of-living crisis. It's the worst period of industrial unrest since the 1980s.

Nowak, who's from Merseyside, has spent his entire adult life fighting for workers' rights. How will the TUC negotiate with a government which says pay rises are unaffordable and inflationary, and which now plans to tighten the rules on strike action?

Adrian Goldberg investigates Paul Nowak's life - which includes a career off the picket line as an amateur musician.

Presenter: Adrian Goldberg

It's hard to remember that the actor who plays straight-talking cop Catherine Cawood in crime drama Happy Valley, set to return on New Year's Day, was once ditzy barmaid Raquel in Coronation Street.

From musicals to soaps to hit drama series, Sarah Lancashire has had a long and varied career on her way to becoming one of the Britain's best loved actors.

Presenter: Mark Coles

People across the country will be turning to TV chefs this week to help plan the festivities - and, arguably, nobody does Christmas better than Nigella.

Mark Coles takes a look at the life of Nigella Lawson, the daughter of a famous Chancellor of the Exchequer who became the Queen of Christmas cooking.

Friends recall their favourite memories, many of them culinary. And journalist Gilly Smith, author of Taste and the TV Chef, explains why Nigella has become a global food star.

Presenter: Mark Coles

As nurses strike and the Health Service faces winter pressures, Mark Coles looks at the life and career of Shadow Health Secretary and Labour MP for Ilford North, Wes Streeting.

Friend and colleagues reveal how childhood poverty and a cancer diagnosis have shaped the views and aspirations of the man tipped to be a future leader of the Labour party.

Presenter: Mark Coles

Oliver Dowden, the MP for Hertsmere, has worked closely with four Prime Ministers, David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and now Rishi Sunak, one of his best friends in parliament. He's made his mark quietly, mainly behind the scenes - but as Culture Secretary during the pandemic, he managed to secure extra funding to support the arts.

As Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, some might argue Oliver Dowden is now the second most powerful person in government. He's been given the key job of organising the government response to the current wave of strike action.

Away from work, Dowden is a patriot, a monarchist and a man who enjoys pub lunches and walks in the countryside with his family and pet dog, Betsy.

Adrian Goldberg speaks to friends and colleagues who give us an insight into a man whose nicknames run from Olive to The Undertaker.

Contributors

George Osborne, Chair, British Museum; Former Chancellor of the Exchequer.

PRODUCTION TEAM

Presenter: Adrian Goldberg