Lives Less Ordinary

Silibil N’ Brains found fame as fake American rappers - but how long can you live a lie?

A record deal with Sony, celebrity parties and touring with his heroes, life looked good for Gavin Bain, one ha…

The Scottish rappers who fooled the music industry. Gavin Bain was one half of Silibil N’ Brains, a Californian rap duo on the cusp of greatness. But there was a problem - the story of these hip hop …

Donnie Dunagan was a Disney child star in the 1930s before becoming a US Marine.

He was born in 1934 and grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, in the midst of the Great Depression. After winning a talent sho…

Growing up as the son of a sex worker and a Black US soldier in South Korea in the 70s, Milton Washington was seen as an outcast, and "not Korean." He couldn't even get a birth certificate. Still, h…

Growing up as the son of a sex worker and a black US soldier in South Korea in the '70s, Milton Washington was seen as an outcast, and "not Korean". He couldn't even get a birth certificate. Still, h…

Chasing the aurora helps Hugo grieve. By day Hugo Sanchez works in a school, but by night he hunts glowing light displays across the freezing Canadian wilderness. Capturing the aurora is more than ju…

How extreme kayaker Scott Lindgren's illness forced him to face his past. Scott’s hard, uncompromising attitude had made him one of the world’s top expedition kayakers in a sport that’s claimed the l…

Hafsat Abiola Costello's dad was nearly Nigeria's president - but he had powerful enemies

His name was Moshood Abiola, also known as MKO, and he was one of Africa's richest men before turning to polit…

Itto Outini lost her sight but gained her freedom

Itto had been born poor in Morocco's Atlas mountains, and after her parents died, she was shunted between extended family members. She wasn't always w…

Dr Andrew Kwong fled famine and persecution as a child. He was a proud Maoist, singing revolutionary songs at the top of his voice at school, but then he witnessed an execution, his father was arrest…

Goalkeeper Briana Scurry knew at eight years old it was her destiny to win Olympic gold – and in 1996, she did it. That was just the beginning: she won the World Cup and another Olympics with the US …

Content Warning: This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence

JP Bimeni is a writer turned soul singer who walked through a massacre unscathed as his country fell into conflict. At just 16 h…

Content Warning: This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence

JP Bimeni risked his life to save a book of his verse. He started composing poetry to impress a girl, but was soon writing to ad…

Abi Morgan’s husband woke from a coma and didn’t recognise her.

Abi is a playwright and screenwriter based in London, and she'd made a name for herself writing successful and often highly emotional f…

Pirates attacked Judith and her husband in a remote Kenyan resort in 2011. Judith was dragged from her bed and taken by boat to Somalia, where she was held for over six months. Despite everything she…

Fleeing Vietnam, Lauren Vuong’s family almost died. Settled in the U.S. all she wanted was to fulfil her parents’ dream of finding their rescuers. This is the story of one family’s quest for survival…

Janina was six months pregnant when she travelled to Syria in 2015 to meet a school friend who’d become an extremist. Janina Findeisen, a journalist, was making a documentary about their friendship. …

Charles sues his country’s richest companies on behalf of black gold miners. It’s a battle that could spell ruin for Charles, but this isn’t a man who takes no for an answer.

Presenter: Mobeen Azhar …

Apartheid taught Charles to know his place, so how did he end up suing the gold industry? When Charles Abrahams told his teachers he was going to be a heart surgeon they laughed. This was Apartheid S…