Have you ever locked eyes with a stranger and wondered, "What’s their story?" Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. Extraordinary stories fro...
Have you ever locked eyes with a stranger and wondered, "What’s their story?" Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. Extraordinary stories fro...
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Dancing in the womb
A mother, a son, and the discovery of a shared dream.
Latifa Khamessi and her son Mohamed Toukabri from Tunisia were inseparable until aged 15 when he left for Europe to study dance. It was gut-wrenching to be apart, but an opportunity he couldn't turn down. It wasn't until years later that Mohamed discovered his mother had had the same dream as a girl, but had been forbidden from pursuing it. Separated by a sea and oceans of time Mohamed then hatched a plan to reunite with his mother, now in her sixties, and unite their dreams.
The Power (of) the Fragile was performed at The Shubbak Festival in London.
Presenter: India Rakusen
Producer: Helen Fitzhenry
Editor: Rebecca Vincent
Voice over by Mounira Chaieb
17/09/2023
44:09
The invisible child who now shines at Eurovision, part 2
From the page to the stage: William turns childhood fantasies into reality.
In London, William Lee Adams is feeling disillusioned with his job, when a Romanian singer on a horse appears on his computer screen and he's inspired to start writing about the Eurovision Song Contest. Wiwibloggs is born, and grows to be the world's most-followed independent blog and video channel about Eurovision. In the process, he gets to visit some of the far-flung places he escaped to as a child in the US reading encyclopaedias.
William has written a memoir called Wild Dances: My Queer and Curious Journey to Eurovision.
Presenter: India Rakusen
Producer: Rob Wilson
10/09/2023
43:51
The invisible child who now shines at Eurovision, part 1
A bond between brothers, a coming-out story, and an international song contest.
William Lee Adams is one of the leading voices covering the Eurovision Song Contest, criss-crossing the continent to interview stars and live-stream shows. But as a child growing up in small-town America, he was made to feel invisible; encouraged to suppress his Vietnamese heritage and questions about his sexuality. He found solace in caring for his brother, John, who had severe physical disabilities due to a brain condition. Even so, he needed an escape route.
William has written a memoir called Wild Dances: My Queer and Curious Journey to Eurovision.
Presenter: India Rakusen
Producer: Rob Wilson
03/09/2023
44:01
Miracle on the ocean floor
Harrison Okene spent three days trapped in an air pocket in a sunken ship.
Harrison was the ship's cook, and he'd been in the bathroom when the tugboat he worked on had suddenly capsized in bad weather. The vessel sank 30 metres to the seabed, upside down, and Harrison was trapped inside.
Days passed, and up on the surface a mission was launched to recover the bodies of the tugboat's crew. Divers descended, but they never expected to find anyone alive.
Presenter: India Rakusen
Producer: Eric Mugaju and Harry Graham
Editor: Munazza Khan
Sound design: Joel Cox
Archive was courtesy of DNC Diving
27/08/2023
40:59
Indiana Jones: The kids who remade a blockbuster
In 1982, two Mississippi boys recreated a $22m film, shot-for-shot, on their pocket money.
Chris Strompolos and Eric Zala were aged 10 and 11. Their mission would take them seven years to complete, and it would push their friendship to the edge. There’d be amateur stunts, fires, visits to the emergency ward, production shut down by angry parents and many fallouts. It would swallow them whole.
But decades later a lost tape would be unearthed, bringing Eric and Chris back together for their final scene and face-to-face with one of their heroes.
Presenter: India Rakusen
Producer: Edgar Maddicott
Editor: Munazza Khan
Have you ever locked eyes with a stranger and wondered, "What’s their story?" Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. Extraordinary stories from around the world.