Profile

Aretha Franklin has won hearts - and 18 Grammy awards - with her astonishing voice. But this week a bust up with another iconic singer revealed her spikier side. Always a sensation on stage, there have been struggles off it. Mark Coles talks to people who grew up with and have worked with the Queen of Soul.

Welsh rugby union star Sam Warburton has been given perhaps the game's most prestigious role - captain of the British & Irish Lions - for a second time. Mark Coles talks to those who know him, as he prepares to lead the team against the mighty All Blacks.

On Profile this week, we look at the life and career of new US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson.

He flew to Moscow this week to urge Russia to abandon its support for Syria's President Assad following the chemical weapons on a town in northern Syria earlier this month.

It seems he came away empty handed, with Donald Trump warning that relations between Russia and the US were now at "an all-time low".

So who is Rex Tillerson ?

Mark Coles gets to grips with Tillerson's past : his formative years in the Scouts, his time as a drummer at university, the four decades spent at oil and gas giant ExxonMobil where he ended up as CEO and his controversial business ties with Russia which now hang over his new role as America's top diplomat.

Becky Milligan profiles Gibraltar, the tiny British Overseas Territory on the southern tip of the Iberian coast which made headlines this week. First, Spain raised its 300-year-old claim on the territory in draft guidelines for Brexit negotiations. Then Michael Howard, a former Conservative Party leader, appeared to suggest Britain would go to war to keep it. So what is the story of 'the rock'?

Producer: Smita Patel.

University Challenge contestant Eric Monkman has become a social media sensation thanks to his intense delivery and incredible general knowledge, with "Monkmania" sweeping the nation. But just how did he come to know so much? And do we - in an age when we're supposedly sick of experts - need a hero like Monkman? Mark Coles finds out.

Catherine Corless has made headlines around the world for exposing the horrifying story of a mass grave of almost 800 infants at a former institution for unmarried mothers run by nuns. Corless has been described as "Ireland's Erin Brockovich"; an ordinary woman and amateur historian who, in her dogged pursuit of the truth, took on the Catholic Church, the Irish government and members of her own community - and won. The case has shaken Ireland and provoked very difficult questions about how women and children were treated at Catholic institutions in the past.

Presenter: Becky Milligan

The Chancellor, Philip Hammond, made a U-turn on his Budget this week. Just seven days after announcing a rise in National Insurance Contributions for some self-employed people, the policy was reversed. It's been portrayed as a huge political setback for the man nicknamed 'spreadsheet Phil'

Producer: China Collins.

Who is Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador at the heart of a massive global controversy?

Sergey Kislyak - Russia's convivial Ambassador to Washington - has been in the eye of a media storm since it emerged that members of the Trump administration had undisclosed meetings with him in the run up to the 2016 US election. Kislyak is a career diplomat, having spent 35 years working for the Soviet and Russian governments.

He has previously kept a low profile, favouring lavish dinners over media appearances to get his message across. But the recent controversy over the Trump administration's relationship with Russia has forced him into the spotlight.

Mark Coles speaks to people who have worked with him and followed his career to get under his skin and find out where his career might go now that he's become such a controversial figure.

Producer: Ben Crighton.

Cressida Dick - the newly-appointed Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police - is the first woman to lead the force in its 188-year history. Dick's career has been exceptional, but not without controversy. She was gold commander in the control room in the aftermath of the 2005 London bombings and was at the helm when the innocent Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead by police at Stockwell tube station. Her appointment as Commissioner is a comeback of sorts; in 2014 she quit the police to take up a job at the Foreign Office.

Producer: Ben Carter.

Brought up by a single mum in Finsbury Park, North London, Naomie Harris now finds herself nominated for an Oscar for her role in Moonlight and this week received an OBE from the Queen. She's had a career playing strong, tough women; killing zombies in Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later and playing a modern, kick-ass Moneypenny in the latest James Bond films. She's not new to fame, she started acting at a young age and first appeared on TV at the age of nine but, as you'll hear, that lead to her being bullied at school. Guests include her drama teacher Anna Scher and theatre director Simon Godwin.