Profile

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 l...

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'? Pr...

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 co...

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' But who is the man behind the headlines? Mark Coles finds out. 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 an...

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 Stockwel...

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...

The Speaker of the House of Commons - John Bercow - stunned MPs this week when he announced he was "strongly opposed" to US President Donald Trump addressing Parliament when he visits Britain. It's already led one Conservative backbencher to table a motion of no confidence in him. John Bercow is no stranger to controversy. His brutal put downs of MPs and ministers in the Commons have often grabbed...

Mark Coles profiles the man who runs NHS England. He oversees a workforce of one and a half million people, a budget of over £100 billion. According to some he's the fourth most powerful person in England. Producers: Beth Sagar-Fenton and Joe Kent.

Becky Milligan profiles the man who could be the next President of America. Mild mannered, disciplined and a seasoned politician, Mike Pence was largely unknown until he was selected by Donald Trump to serve as his Vice-President. PRODUCERS: Beth Sagar Fenton and Joe Kent EDITOR Penny Murphy.

Arlene Foster had been hoping to celebrate her first twelve months in charge of Northern Ireland this week. Instead, she's found herself forced out of office. It's got little to do with religion, constitution or the almost four THOUSAND people who've lost their lives during political conflict over the decades. The DUP leader and Northern Ireland First Minister has had to step down in a bitter row...

It's the end of an era. Dippy the dinosaur has left the building. Gifted to King Edward VII in 1905, a 70 foot long cast of a fossilised dinosaur skeleton discovered in America has been on display at London's Natural History Museum for more than a century. It's become the country's most recognisable museum exhibit - seen by an estimated 90 million people. Now it's being replaced by the real skelet...

David Davis will be a major figure in the coming year as minister in charge of Brexit. In this week's Profile, Chris Bowlby hears how he was was shaped by a council house upbringing, SAS training, a turbulent political career and a significant love of sugar. Producer: Smita Patel Researchers: Sarah Shebbeare & Serena Tarling Editor: Penny Murphy.

On Profile this week we explore the life and career of one of the world's best loved children's illustrators. Over the last half century - much to his horror - Raymond Briggs has become a part of Christmas. Two books about a grumpy Father Christmas have become bestsellers. The film adaptation of his 1978 picture book 'The Snowman' has been shown on TV every Christmas for the past three decades. An...

Skinny dipping with Nigel Farage, punching a business partner, and bankrolling Brexit - Edward Stourton tells the story of Arron Banks. What next for the man who spent more than £7 million campaigning for Britain to leave the EU? Producers: Ed Davey and Joe Kent.

On Profile this week Mark Coles looks at the life and career of Sharon White. The daughter of immigrant parents who came to Britain from Jamaica in the 1950s, she rose rapidly through the ranks of the civil service to become one of the most powerful women in Whitehall. In March 2015, she became chief executive of the communications regulator, Ofcom. The watchdog is in the news this week for trying...

Brexit negotiations between the EU and the UK are months away. And - as we keep hearing - there will be no discussion before notification (of the now infamous Article 50). But we do know who will represent the EU in those negotiations: the French politician Michel Barnier, who met his counterpart David Davis this week. Born in the Savoie region in south-east France, Barnier has been a committed Ga...

On Profile this week, Mark Coles, examines the life and career of Stephen Bannon - dubbed by some as the 'most powerful, most dangerous political operative in America today'. A former US Navy engineer, investment banker and Hollywood producer, for the past four years he's been the driving force behind Breitbart News - a populist, at times deliberately provocative right wing news website. In August...

To some, she is a saboteur of democracy, a woman using her massive wealth and friends in high places to subvert the judgement of 17.4 million voters in the European Union referendum. To others, this is a woman of unimpeachable principle, fighting to protect a cornerstone of the unwritten British constitution. With the Supreme Court now set to decide on whether Article 50 can be invoked without a v...

An entrepreneur who helped found Britain's first online bank. A philanthropist who fled Idi Amin's Ugana and is now on a mission to track down the undiscovered Albert Einsteins of Africa. He embarked on a search to find a long-lost sister in Uganda after thirty years; he once rocked an 'impressive' Afro; his backers number a former head of MI6, and during his honeymoon in Mexico he sneaked away fr...

As Glenda Jackson returns to the West End stage, Mark Coles profiles the Oscar-winning actor and former Labour MP, with contributions from her son Dan Hodges, Hollywood actor George Segal and legendary theatre director Peter Brook. Producer Smita Patel Researcher Sarah Shebbeare.

As jobs go, it's a daunting one. Three predecessors have already resigned. On Profile this week Mark Coles profiles Professor Alexis Jay, the fourth and latest person appointed to chair the independent inquiry into institutional child sex abuse in England and Wales. Researcher Kirsteen Knight Producer Smita Patel.

Samsung started out as a tiny exporter of dried fish. Today it's one of the world's biggest tech giants; the family-run business accounts for about a quarter of South Korea's entire GDP. This week Samsung was forced to stop production of its new Galaxy Note 7 smartphone after a number of them apparently exploded or caught fire. Samsung's chairman Lee Kun-Hee - son of the firm's founder - saw the v...