Profile

The pandemic has thrust the Government Chief Scientific Adviser into the middle of the clash between politics and science. He’s faced criticism from MPs, the press, and the public. Edward Stourton finds out about the man behind the pedestal, Sir Patrick Vallance. From fixing caravans on his parents’ site in Cornwall to breakfast with an mentor and a stint in industry with GlaxoSmithKline, who is t...

He’s twice been convicted of hate speech, believes foreign names should be banned, and has been accused of being a Holocaust denier. Mark Coles looks at the life and career of the journalist turned politician who hopes to be the next leader of France. Presenter: Mark Coles Producer: Chris Flynn

After becoming the first Black woman – and the oldest person – ever to win the Turner Prize, British artist Lubaina Himid is now enjoying a retrospective at London's Tate Modern. She’s become recognised as one of the most powerful political voices in British contemporary art, creating works about black identity, as well as championing the work of young black British female artists. Mark Coles spea...

The idea for the four year old pigchild was dreamt up in a London pub by three out of work mates in the 90s. She’s now the inspiration for theme parks across the world, and they are worth millions. After the prime minister declared his love for her in front of the UK’s leading business people, Mark Coles explores how Peppa Pig has become one the most recognisable characters on television. Producer...

Boris Johnson says he "crashed the car" in his handling of the case of the party's former MP Owen Paterson. But if the prime minister was at the wheel, Jacob Rees-Mogg was the backseat driver. The Leader of the House of Commons has described himself as a man of the people. Others have referred to him as the honourable member for the 18th century. Mark Coles asks what now drives the man who as a mo...

He came to Britain as a toddler - one of several thousand Indian immigrants from Kenya. Raised in poverty in 1960s Bradford, Kamlesh Patel was targeted by skinheads – and sought solace playing cricket in a field with other south Asian friends. Almost 50 years later - now a peer - Lord Patel is tasked with trying to repair the reputation of Yorkshire County Cricket Club, which has been accused of s...

He shot to fame as a teenage punk star from Derry, enjoyed hits as a solo artist and later worked behind the scenes for years in the music industry. But now Feargal Sharkey is enjoying a belated second burst of fame as a leading voice in the campaign against river and waterway pollution. His life-long love of fly fishing has led to a deep knowledge of the chalk streams of Southern England, and now...

Mark Coles finds out how Amanda Staveley went from a long-jumping Yorkshire schoolgirl to one of the most prominent women in football via horse racing, the Middle East, and a former employee she made dress up in a gorilla suit. With her extensive Middle Eastern contacts book, Amanda Staveley isn’t afraid of putting her, or other people’s, money where her mouth is. Although she doesn’t always get w...

The UK’s ‘strictest’ headteacher Katharine Birbalsingh has landed a new role as head of the Social Mobility Commission, a public body designed to boost the life chances of the country's most disadvantaged children. Born to Jamaican and Guyanese immigrants, Katharine Birbalsingh first rose to prominence at the 2010 Tory party conference. Her speech about Britain’s “broken” education system received...

Singer-songwriter Adele Adkins is one of the world's best-selling artists, with sales of over 100 million records. Better known simply as Adele, she’s also won nine Brit Awards, a Golden Globe and fifteen Grammys - not to mention an Oscar in 2013 for her singing in the Bond film Skyfall. This week she released her first new single in six years, offering her fans a first glimpse of her so-called ‘d...

British actress Cush Jumbo is best known for her starring role in US TV dramas The Good Wife and spin-off The Good Fight. Now she’s aiming to set the London theatre scene alight, playing ‘a new kind of Hamlet’ at the Young Vic. Only a handful of women have ever taken on the role before, and Jumbo is the first woman of colour to play the troubled Danish prince in a major production in Britain. It h...

Olaf Scholz is expected to be the new leader of Germany if he can construct a successful coalition. How did the former mayor of Hamburg appeal to the country's voters? With Adrian Goldberg.

By her own admission, Liz Truss is not always known as being diplomatic. As she takes on the role of Foreign Secretary, Profile investigates the influences and events that have taken her to one of the great offices of state, and finds that the journey has been far from usual. Mark Coles hears from Liz Truss’s brother, her student friend and keen watchers of her political career, and asks how this...

Sir Ed Davey is a mallet wielding, man on a mission. That mission is to demolish the Conservative 'blue wall' which he's already made a hole in after the surprise Liberal Democrat victory at the Chesham and Amersham by-election in June this year. With a First class degree from Oxford, he could have ended up as a spy, but instead chose the path well trodden for a PPE graduate, politics, taking a jo...

The seminal rapper and billionaire fashion mogul Kanye West's new album Donda is named after his late mother, who was an influential figure in his life. It's gone straight to number one in many countries, it's the most successful album of the year already, clocking up over 180 million streams in just 24 hours. Some consider Kanye West - who also calls himself Ye - a creative genius. Others have be...

Following a sometimes ugly campaign, Britain's second largest trade union, Unite, has elected its first woman leader, Sharon Graham. But who exactly is she? Jealously guarding her privacy, Unite's new 52 year-old head represents a significant break with the union's retiring chief, Len McCluskey and, it would seem, his close political links with the Labour Party. Instead, centering her campaign on...

With the fall of Kabul and the Taliban back in power in Afghanistan, this week Mark Coles profiles the man who’s become the public face of the strict Islamist movement - its political leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. Baradar was one of those who founded the Taliban almost thirty years ago. Now, after spending eight years in a Pakistani jail, many are tipping him to be Afghanistan’s next Presiden...

By the end of July this year, more than 80 million vaccinations had been administered in the UK. Mark Coles takes a look at the talented and determined scientist leading the Oxford University vaccine team, Professor Sarah Gilbert. Producers: Ben Crighton and Soila Apparicio.

George Mpanga, better known as George the Poet, is a British spoken word poet, podcaster and advocate for social change. Born in north London after his parents fled Uganda in the 1980s, he’s become an increasingly significant voice in the debate on race and class in the UK. His innovative style mixes music and poetry. It has won him critical acclaim both as a recording artist and a social commenta...

Last October, British sprint cyclist, Mark Cavendish, broke down on TV, fearing he’d cycled the last race of his career. Now the 36 year-old is making sporting history, against the odds. After illness and injury, the man dubbed the Manx Missile has now equalled the record – set by cycling legend Eddie Merckx - for the most Tour de France stage wins. And, if things go well for him on this last week...

For almost a decade Raheem Sterling has been one of English football’s most talked about players. Born in Jamacia and raised in the shadow of the Wembley arch, he burst onto the scene as a precocious 17 year old talent at Liverpool. But for all his talent on the pitch, Sterling has been just as defined by his battles off it. He has had frequent tussles with the tabloid press and has become one of...

He's 23, with 16 Grand Slam titles to his name and focused on winning his first Wimbledon singles title. Yet British wheelchair tennis champion, Alfie Hewett, is facing the end of his career because of a change in rules. The elite sportsman, from Norwich, Norfolk, is currently ineligible to compete beyond 2021 after being told by the International Tennis Federation that his disability is not sever...

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is one of Nigeria’s foremost literary voices. Her writing is noted for its touching examination of homeland, identity and feminism. For more than a decade she has been coaching and mentoring promising young authors through her yearly workshops in Lagos, bringing a new generation of African writers to mainstream attention. On the subject of transgender people and feminism,...

The military commando turned self-made tech millionaire who’s now Prime Minister of Israel. The right-wing, nationalist, supporter of Jewish settlement in the West Bank has formed an unlikely alliance of left and right, secular and religious, Jewish and Arab. Once the chief of staff to Benjamin Netanyahu, Naftali Bennett brought an end to his old boss’s 12 years in power. Presenter: Mark Coles Res...

The multi-talented performer has just made BAFTA history, after taking top honours for ‘I May Destroy You’, her drama about sexual consent. The TV show – which she created, wrote, directed and starred in - also won best mini-series. It was inspired by Michaela Coel’s own experience of sexual assault after her drink was spiked. Born in London to Ghanaian parents, 33 year-old Michaela Coel grew up w...