Profile

The former Wales and British Lions captain, Gareth Thomas, has been headline news this week after announcing he’s living with HIV. In Wales, Thomas is a legend. In 2005, he led the national team to its first Six Nations grand slam title for 27 years…became the first Welsh player to be capped 100 times for his country. Mark Coles talks his friends and former colleagues. We hear about his early days...

The life story of Commons Speaker John Bercow. He has announced he will stand down at the end of October after ten highly controversial years in the job. In turbulent political times, he’s proved to be a polarizing figure. For some, he is the backbencher’s champion - the most modernising Speaker in parliament’s history. Others accuse him of bias, and deliberately trying to stop Brexit. Mark Coles...

This week David Gauke - MP for South West Hertfordshire - shook the government he served as a cabinet minister only a few weeks ago, voting to stop Boris Johnson taking the UK out of the EU without a deal. He's given the Tory rebels their label: the "Gaukeward Squad." Edward Stourton looks at the life of this unlikely rebel. Producers: Darin Graham and Smita Patel

Peter Navarro is the economist and key White House advisor who’s egged President Trump on in his bitter trade war with China. It’s a conflict some fear threatens the stability of the global economy. Producer Smita Patel Researcher Darin Graham

Arguably the most controversial appointment of new Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s reshuffle was that of 47-year-old Dominic Cummings as his head of Brexit strategy. After serving as Michael Gove’s special adviser in the Department for Education, his role as the mastermind behind Vote Leave changed the course of British history – and now he is back to finish what he started. How did a swotty school...

Ihlan Omar is the 37-year-old Somali-born US congresswoman - one of only two Muslim women ever elected to Congress - who's become a thorn in President Trump’s side and on the receiving end of his temper. Omar was one of four congresswomen Trump told to “go back” to where they came from. So who is Ilhan Omar, why has she got the President’s back up - and what's he really up to in targeting her? Mar...

German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen is likely to replace Jean-Claude Juncker as President of the European Commission in November. Mark Coles tells her story so far. Producer Smita Patel

The US women’s football team has made it to the World Cup final. One American newspaper has described the team's iconic player - Megan Rapinoe - as the most important athlete on the planet right now. But she isn't only a sensation on the pitch. She's a controversial figure off it. Presenter: Becky Milligan Producer: Viv Jones

It's Britain's top civil servant this week: Sir Mark Sedwill, Cabinet Secretary and the UK’s National Security Adviser. He's the first person to juggle both roles at the same time. And - what with Brexit, a new PM, perhaps even a looming constitutional crisis - he's doing it at a time of serious uncertainty. So: who is he? Presenter: Mark Coles Producer: Ben Crighton

Joshua Wong has gone from schoolboy protester to the face of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong - a passionate defender of the territory’s right to self determination. He’s been repeatedly arrested and jailed. Now this week - fresh out of prison - the 22-year-old Wong is back in the limelight, putting himself on a collision course with the authorities in mainland China.

Jo Swinson is the bookies favourite to win the Liberal Democrat leadership race and take over from Vince Cable. But can this 'millennial' politician from a suburb of Glasgow, be the woman who takes the Liberal Democrats to election victory?

This week Sadiq Khan was called a "stone cold loser" and mocked for his compact stature by the President of the United States. But London's mayor hit back. He described the President's behaviour as that of an 11 year old. Becky Milligan profiles the first Muslim to become mayor of a European capital. Producer: Ben Carter

Sonita Alleyne is the jazz-loving businesswoman who's just been appointed Master of a Cambridge College - the first black woman to take on such a role. Presenter: Mark Coles Producer: Ben Carter

John Bolton is the hawkish and famously moustachioed US national security adviser using the ear of the President to push a hard line on Iran. Producer: Ben Carter

He's the post-punk storyteller with a taste for panto and The Smiths. Becky Milligan profiles the new poet laureate, Simon Armitage. Producer: Ben Carter

Penny Mordaunt has just been handed her dream job. This daughter of a former paratrooper has been appointed Britain’s new Defence Secretary following Gavin Williamson’s sacking. She’s the first woman ever to hold the role. A Brexiter, Royal Navy reservist, reality TV contestant and one-time magician’s assistant, some Conservatives apparently see Penny Mordaunt as a potential future leader. Present...

Andy Evans has been at the forefront of the campaign to secure justice for himself and thousands of others - many who have not survived - affected by what’s been called the worst scandal in NHS history. Next week he’ll give evidence at the Infected Blood Inquiry. He's waited a long time. The group he co-founded, Tainted Blood, takes as its motto words from the philosopher Voltaire: “to the living...

Loyle Carner might not be a household name yet. But in the music world this week he’s the one everyone's talking about; a young British hip hop artist rapping about things the macho world of hip hop usually ignores - like family. His 2017 debut album was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Now the follow up - ‘Not Waving But Drowning’ - is poised in the charts to bring him mainstream success. Produce...

As Libya edges towards civil war, Becky Milligan looks at the life of the man behind the most recent conflict, which began with his military assault on the city of Tripoli. Known as "The Strongman", Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar comes from a family of soldiers and as a young man admired his fellow army student Muammar Gaddafi, who would later denounce him after their disastrous defeat in a war in C...

The England and Tottenham Hotspur defender Danny Rose says he’s had enough of being on the end of racist abuse at matches and “can’t wait to leave football behind”. On Profile this week, Mark Coles tries to find out why. Friends and colleagues talk about the footballer’s formative years, his remarkable premiership debut against arch-rivals Arsenal and how a knee injury sparked depression and intro...

The primary school teacher at the centre of a row over LGBT rights has said he's received threats. Pupils have been pulled out of Parkfield School in Birmingham and parents have protested outside the school gates, chanting 'Say no to No Outsiders'. No Outsiders is the programme Andrew Moffat designed to teach pupils to be accepting of different types of people - despite their race, religion or sex...

The Conservative MP Sir Oliver Letwin made headlines this week when he persuaded the Commons to try to agree an alternative plan for Brexit. Mark Coles profiles the member for West Dorset, who has previously been in the news for - among other things - accidentally letting burglars into his home.

The New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has received international attention for her response to the Christchurch attacks. Her call for unity was followed by swift action to tighten the country’s gun laws. Edward Stourton looks at the rise of this young leader. Producer: Phoebe Keane (Jacinda Ardern DJing audio courtesy of Marty Duda and The 13th Floor)

The inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, is celebrating 30 years of his creation. He's also issued a warning that the Web could plunge towards a "dysfunctional future". Mark Coles looks at the life of the pioneering computer scientist. Producer: Phoebe Keane

Nan Goldin is a cultural icon and pioneer of art photography celebrated for her provocative and intimate photos of drag queens, drug addicts and sex. But recently she has been generating headlines not for her art but for her activism. The photographer has been fighting the US opioid epidemic after battling her own addiction to prescription painkillers. CORRECTION: In this edition of Profile we sai...