Earlier this week, Loretta Lynch was sworn in as the new US Attorney General. Brought up in North Carolina the daughter of a Baptist minister father and a mother who picked cotton as a young girl, Lynch is the first black woman to hold the position of the nation's top law enforcement official. Harvard-educated Lynch worked at several private law firms and has been a federal prosecutor, winning high-profile cases against corrupt New York lawmakers, sex traffickers and mafiosi. But there has been ...
May 02, 2015•14 min
Mark Coles profiles Aidan Turner, the Irish actor who stars in Poldark, the BBC's most successful drama for a decade. Turner has won legions of fans as the brooding, scythe-wielding Cornish hero in the classic costume drama remake. Producers: Ben Crighton and Chloe Hadjimatheou.
Apr 25, 2015•14 min
With five World Championship titles already under his belt, Ronnie 'The Rocket' O'Sullivan will compete in Sheffield this weekend hoping to secure a sixth. He is seen by many as the greatest snooker player in history. O'Sullivan arrived on the professional snooker scene when he was just a teenager, and immediately caused a storm. His talent was never in doubt. When on form, he is unbeatable. But his public battles with alcoholism, drugs and depression have plagued him throughout his career. Whic...
Apr 18, 2015•14 min
We learned this week that Jane Horrocks, Jim Broadbent and Fearne Cotton are to voice a new run of the hit children's TV series Teletubbies. It's estimated that around a billion children in over 120 countries have watched Teletubbies but there have been no new episodes since 2001, and the imminent return of Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa and Po has made news around the world. But who, or what, are the Teletubbies? And why have they proved such an enduring cultural phenomenon? Presenter: Becky Milli...
Apr 11, 2015•14 min
This week Comedy Central announced that South African comedian Trevor Noah is to take over from Jon Stewart as host of The Daily Show. It was a surprise to many that a relative unknown was set to take on one of America's leading talk shows, but Noah's star has been rising fast in recent years. Already a well-known face on British TV and radio, thanks to his award-winning Edinburgh Fringe show back in 2012, the 31-year-old has certainly shown the confidence to take on one of TV's biggest jobs - c...
Apr 04, 2015•14 min
On Thursday evening seven party leaders will meet in an ITV studio for the much-anticipated general election debate. Some of them are - it's fair to say - rather less well known than others. Many viewers - in England, at least - will not know all that much about Leanne Wood, the Plaid Cymru leader. So, on Profile this week, Mark Coles has been finding out what makes her tick. Producer: Gemma Newby.
Mar 28, 2015•14 min
Italy's famous couture couple Dolce & Gabbana have fallen out with Elton John over off-colour comments they made about IVF babies and gay families. But they have no shortage of fans. Becky Milligan profiles the characters behind one of the world's greatest - and most valuable - fashion empires. Producer: Chloe Hadjimatheou.
Mar 21, 2015•14 min
Mark Coles profiles the DUP's leader at Westminster, Nigel Dodds, one of a number of possible post-election kingmakers. Dodds, furious to find his party excluded from the leaders' debates, is now being watched carefully to see which - if any - other parties he might support in coalition. Nigel Dodds is conservative and religious. He is opposed to gay marriage and abortion and believes Britain would be better off outside of the EU. But does that really tell us where he might put his support? Prod...
Mar 14, 2015•14 min
Iraqi army and militia forces are fighting to take back Tikrit from the so-called Islamic State. Pulling the strings on the Iraqi side is an Iranian: Major-General Qassem Suleimani, the 'shadow commander' who has been described as the single most powerful operative in the Middle East. As the leader of the foreign branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guards - the Quds Force - Suleimani has emerged as Iran's leading foreign strategist. He has been arming and training Bashar al-Assad's military in Syria ...
Mar 07, 2015•14 min
After a rocky campaign launch, the Green leader Natalie Bennett has been in the headlines this week. Mark Coles hears how she moved from journalism in provincial Australia to British politics, and has combined a love of cricket with feminist campaigning. How is she likely to fare amid the intense scrutiny of the coming election? Producer: Chris Bowlby.
Feb 28, 2015•14 min
The casually-dressed Greek finance minster Yanis Varoufakis has, in challenging the eurozone, become - almost overnight - one of the most important politicians in Europe. In this edition of Profile Mark Coles hears how Varoufakis grew up under the Greek colonels but was shaped by life in Thatcherite Britain before embarking on his unusually restless international career in economics. Producer: Chris Bowlby Editor: Richard Knight.
Feb 21, 2015•14 min
Mark Coles profiles the former HSBC boss and trade minister Lord Green after an uncomfortable week in which revelations about HSBC's Swiss arm aiding tax evasion dominated the headlines. Once lauded as Britain's ethical banker, the ordained Church of England minister now finds himself under fire from the press and politicians. Producers: Keith Moore and James Melley.
Feb 14, 2015•14 min
Chris Bowlby profiles the veteran Labour MP and co-author of this week's report on hunger, Frank Field, who is one of the most unusual politicians in Britain. Variously described as "independent-minded" and a "free thinker" Field has been in Parliament for more than 30 years, representing Birkenhead, which contains some of the most deprived wards in the country. He had to fight off a hard left challenge from Militant at the beginning of his career and he has long been a campaigner against povert...
Dec 13, 2014•14 min
The presidential election in Afghanistan was drawn-out and controversial. The man who emerged as the winner is a United States-trained anthropologist who is described by friends as one of the world's leading intellectuals. Ashraf Ghani was born in Afghanistan, studied in Lebanon and the United States, and worked for years for the World Bank. As finance minister of Afghanistan he fell out with President Karzai and most of his colleagues - the same friends who point to his intellectual capacity an...
Dec 06, 2014•14 min
One of the less likely political partnerships of recent years has been that of the Conservative Foreign Secretary William Hague and the Hollywood actor and director Angelina Jolie. They joined forces three years ago to campaign against rape as a weapon of war, and jointly hosted an international conference in London last summer. This week Mark Coles profiles the woman who brought them together; a refugee from Bosnia who has just taken her seat in the House of Lords. She is Arminka Helic, for ten...
Nov 29, 2014•14 min
Grace Mugabe has been an almost silent figure at her husband, Robert Mugabe's side for almost two decades. Now she is starting to flex her own political muscles, which some are interpreting as a bid for the Presidency. But does she have the skill and the support to secure the top job and a Mugabe dynasty? In December she will head Zanu-PF's Women's League which will make her one of the most powerful people in Zimbabwe's governing party. Jo Fidgen questions how much 'soft' power she already has o...
Nov 22, 2014•14 min
An insight into man of the moment, Benedict Cumberbatch. Code-breaker, physicist, Victorian sleuth. Overnight he became an object of obsession with a Cumber-cult following of adoring fans, spawning internet memes and slash fiction fantasies. What is it about Benedict Cumberbatch that makes the world go weak at the knees?
Nov 15, 2014•14 min
This week, with Republicans celebrating mid term election victories, Rand Paul - a Tea Party supporting ophthalmologist from Kentucky with only three years' experience in the Senate is fast emerging as one of the frontrunners to try to wrest the US Presidency back from the Democrats in 2016. Rand is part of a political dynasty although hardly from the Republican Party establishment. His father Ron - also a physician turned politician - ran as a Libertarian for the US Presidency twice on a platfo...
Nov 08, 2014•15 min
Film director Christopher Nolan's latest $160m blockbuster Interstellar opens next week. Mark Coles examines the more humble beginnings of his film making career at University College London and asks how he has achieved the enviable knack of delivering huge box office takings and keeping the critics happy. Producer: Ben Carter.
Nov 01, 2014•14 min
Migration Watch UK's founder Sir Andrew Green is to become a member of the House of Lords. Presenter Jo Fidgen talks to Sir Andrew's old friends and colleagues in an attempt to find out what motivated this former ambassador to Syria and Saudi Arabia become one of the UK's most influential voices on immigration. Producer: Laura Gray.
Oct 25, 2014•14 min
Writer Richard Flanagan is the 2014 winner of the Man Booker Prize. His novel "The Narrow Road to the Deep North" is a story set among prisoners of war, forced by the Japanese to work on the Thai-Burma "death" railway. Presenter Becky Milligan looks into Flanagan's life in his native Tasmania where he is a prominent environmental campaigner and a regular at the local pub. She talks to Flanagan's close friends and relatives including his brother Martin Flanagan, leading film actress Kerry Fox and...
Oct 18, 2014•14 min
Douglas Carswell has become UKIP's first elected MP in Westminster. A free-thinking Eurosceptic Conservative, Carswell was never shy to criticise "our supine, spineless Parliament". Nonetheless his surprise defection in the summer shocked his friends and supporters. Ed Stourton asks what made him leave now and whether there's more to Douglas Carswell than jam-making and politics.
Oct 11, 2014•14 min
In January 2014 Benefits Street aired for the first time on Channel 4. The reality TV series, which documented the lives of residents of James Turner Street in Birmingham, was controversial right from the start. Ofcom and Channel 4 received hundreds of complaints. One straight-talking resident - Deirdre Kelly, also known as 'White Dee' - became the standout star of the show. Many of the headlines were negative and the mother-of-two found herself vilified, accused of being a scrounger and worse. ...
Oct 04, 2014•14 min
Ricky Tomlinson is a top TV actor with starring roles including Brookside and The Royle Family. But he has a controversial trade union past, and was once imprisoned for picketing during a strike. A new play about him has just opened. Mary Ann Sieghart discovers a powerful mix of politics and personal drama in his life and career. Producer: Ben Crighton.
Sep 27, 2014•14 min
How did Shane Smith - a hard-partying, tattooed former Ottawa punk rocker - turn a community magazine into an international multi-media empire? Mark Coles looks at the life of one of the founders of Vice, a man whose motto is: "We like our stories to punch you in the face." His company is the fast-growing enfant terrible of digital media. Renowned for its often controversial reports aimed at a young audience disillusioned with mainstream media, it seems that no subject is taboo. Scoops include a...
Sep 20, 2014•14 min
How did Jack Ma, a teacher with no business training, become one of China's - indeed, the world's - most successful entrepreneurs? The BBC's business editor Kamal Ahmed looks at the man behind the online retail giant Alibaba Group - a company described as a mix between Amazon and Ebay - which is due to list on the New York Stock Exchange later this month, making Alibaba one of the most valuable internet companies in the world. Jack Ma is no ordinary business leader. How many other global tycoons...
Sep 13, 2014•14 min
Edward Stourton profiles Rona Fairhead, the woman nominated to replace Lord Patten as chair of the BBC Trust. She's a high achiever who excelled at school and in the world of business, but her nomination caught many by surprise. So who is she, and how will she fare in one of the BBC's toughest jobs?
Sep 06, 2014•14 min
There is every sign this weekend that Russia's proxy war with Ukraine could become a full-blown conflict between states. The crisis now coming to a head has been in the making ever since Ukraine declared its independence from Moscow in the summer of 1990. Edward Stourton profiles the Ukrainian leader, Petro Poroshenko, who must now face the challenge of war - and who came of age and flourished during his country's first turbulent two and a half decades as a modern independent nation. Producer: B...
Aug 30, 2014•14 min
Sir Nicholas Macpherson, largely unknown outside Whitehall, has become a key figure in the Scottish independence debate. And as head of the Treasury since 2005, he's been at the centre of Britain's response to the global financial crisis. Chris Bowlby explains why he's so influential, and how his involvement in the Scottish debate is informed by personal links as well as policy considerations.
Aug 23, 2014•14 min
As Iraq's divisive Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki steps down, hopes are now pinned on his likely successor, Haider al-Abadi to restore trust with the Kurdish and Sunni communities and fight off the advance of the self-styled Islamic State's jihadist fighters. But what do we know about him? Mary Ann Sieghart charts the rise of the doctor's son from Baghdad, who gained a doctorate in electrical engineering in the UK, leading to him forming a company servicing lifts for clients including the BBC. S...
Aug 16, 2014•14 min
