Profile

Beloved Britpop band Pulp have released their first new music in almost a quarter of a century, the single 'Spike Island'.

Their talismanic frontman Jarvis Cocker has always been the band's star turn, with his second-hand 70s style, mesmeric stage presence and biting lyrics.

Following some difficult early years in his hometown of Sheffield, Cocker formed the band in 1978, but had to wait over a decade before breaking through on the crest of the Britpop wave in the mid-90s. The band released some of the most memorable and well-loved songs of the era, including 'Common People' and 'Disco 2000'.

But his very public bottom-baring protest against Michael Jackson at the 1996 Brit Awards thrust him even more firmly into the public's imagination, and the fame he had craved for so long quickly took a darker turn.

Mark Coles speaks to some of the most important people in Jarvis's story, including current and former bandmates Candida Doyle, Nick Banks and Richard Hawley, and his sister Saskia.

Presenter: Mark Coles

Stephen Smith profiles the actor Lesley Manville, winner of a second Olivier theatre award. From growing up in Hove to her long-time collaboration with film-maker Mike Leigh, Manville has a reputation as the complete professional. With contributions from Mike Leigh, Director Rob Icke, Actor Tim McCullan, former teacher Julia Clarey, Observer critic Susannah Clapp and friend Rebecca Blond.

Presenter: Stephen Smith

Steve Witkoff started out as a New York lawyer, until a late night encounter with Donald Trump in a sandwich shop inspired him to move into real estate. Known as "Smoking Steve", he has amassed a property empire worth millions, become friends and golf buddies with Trump, and has now been appointed as his Middle East Envoy and go-to international negotiator and trouble shooter.

To his critics he's dangerously unqualified and out of his depth. To his supporters, he's the straight-talking fresh pair of eyes needed to resolve deeply entrenched conflicts.

Presenter: Mark Coles

Jack Thorne is co-author of Netflix drama Adolescence. But this is far from his first rodeo, over a 20 year career, his writing has appeared in many iconic British dramas, from Shameless and This is England '86 to His Dark Materials. He started out as a playwright and hasn't lost his love for theatre, having written West End box office hit, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Jack is known in the industry for his compulsive work ethic, political edge and capacity for empathy.

Stephen Smith speaks to the people close to Jack, including early collaborator and Oscar-winner Daniel Kaluuya, actor Morven Christie, and Jack's dad, Mike Thorne.

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Jonathan Powell, the UK’s National Security Adviser, is used to operating behind the scenes: he’s spent decades working as a diplomat, negotiator and mediator. Recent events in the US and Ukraine have thrust him into the spotlight. After the fiery Oval Office meeting between President Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky, Powell has been credited with advising Ukraine and ensuring that lines of communication were kept open. He travelled to Kyiv to meet Zelensky and played a key role in fashioning a plan for a ceasefire and the steps that might follow.

Powell began his career in the foreign office before becoming Tony Blair’s chief of staff. He was crucial to the negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement which helped bring peace to Northern Ireland. Since then, he’s worked on resolving conflicts and crises all over the world in places like Colombia, Mozambique and Libya.

Mark Coles talks to his friends, family and former colleagues to find out how this veteran negotiator became one of the most important figures shaping British foreign policy.

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Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall has one the toughest tasks in Labour’s domestic programme: tackling the burgeoning welfare bill.

Next week, the government is expected to announce reforms to the welfare system. There is unease over the plans within the party, with some Labour MPs saying they fear drastic cuts could push vulnerable people into poverty. The move could split the party and put Liz Kendall in a difficult position.

A grammar school girl, Kendall went on to study history at Cambridge, where she liked to revise while sunbathing and listening to Wham. She became MP for Leicester West in 2010, and ran for Labour leader in 2015, but came away with just 4.5% of the vote. Now on Keir Starmer’s front bench, her supporters say she’s not afraid of a fight and willing to take on some of the party’s sacred cows.

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As the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas is the bloc's top diplomat. So when EU leaders gathered in Brussels this week to thrash out a new defence plan for Ukraine, Kallas was in the thick of things.

Before taking up the EU role she was Prime Minister of Estonia, the nation's first female leader. She was born in 1977 in the Estonian capital Tallinn, then part of the Soviet Union, into a family bound up with her country’s centuries-old struggle for independence. A Russia hawk and fierce critic of Putin, she is already on the Kremlin’s wanted list.

Mark Coles has been talking with her friends and political allies to understand how Kaja Kallas came to be called "Europe's Iron Lady".

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He’s the former corporate lawyer, who has a pilot's licence and loves music, but has never before been a government minister.

Friedrich Merz was born in the west German town of Brilon in 1955 into a prominent conservative, Catholic family. He joined the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) while still at school, before going on to study law.

Merz then worked as a lawyer and judge for a few years, but he always had his eye on politics.

He was elected to the European Parliament in 1989, and his journey to the top has been a winding one.

Sidelined by Angela Merkel before she became chancellor, he quit parliament entirely to pursue a lucrative series of corporate jobs and was written off as yesterday's man.

But with the CDU topping the ballot in Germany's elections earlier this year, he is now on the brink of clinching the job he has coveted for so long.

In a programme originally broadcast last month in the aftermath of Merz's election victory, when the prospect of a CDU coalition with the far-right AFD - now off the cards - was still a possibility, and Donald Trump's fiery meeting with President Zelensky was fresh in everyone's memory, Stephen Smith set out to find out how Merz bounced back.

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His 14 year-stint at the top of European politics has earned him a distinguished record of domestic and international achievements.

Mark Rutte, born in The Hague in 1967, embarked on a career in business after leaving university and held several positions at Unilever.

His career in Dutch politics started in 2002, and four years later – as leader of the VVD party – he became prime minister.

During his tenure, he steered the Netherlands through times of significant national and global upheaval. From economic crisis, to the coronavirus pandemic.

And now, as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s 14th Secretary General, he faces his next challenge – leading Europe’s response to recent Russia-US talks over Ukraine.

Mark Coles takes a closer look at Mark Rutte.

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Having helped mastermind Labour's renewal in the 1980s and 1990s, one of British politics best-known figures has just embarked on his latest role.

And, it's a long way from Hartlepool, in the post-industrial North-East of England, where he first became an MP.

Born in 1953, Peter Mandelson started on the road to party politics as a researcher at the Trades Union Congress. After a stint as a TV producer, he left to take up the role of Labour's director of communications, but his real ambition was a place in Parliament.

Even his sternest critics accept he is a slick political operator and a good networker, but he’s a controversial figure – with a big challenge ahead.

Stephen Smith takes a closer look at the UK’s new ambassador to the US, and the man once dubbed the "Prince of Darkness".

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