Profile

Chief executive of Easyjet, Dame Carolyn McCall, is one of the UK's most successful businesswomen. Initially seen as an outsider, she has won over staff and investors, piloting the airline into the FTSE 100.Over the past three decades, she's also run the Guardian Media Group, and brought her wisdom to the boardrooms of Lloyds TSB, Tesco, Burberry and New Look. Last year she was voted Britain's most admired business leader.An only child, Dame Carolyn was brought up in Bangalore and Singapore, before moving to boarding school in Derbyshire, and later meeting her husband at Kent University.Mark Coles finds out more about this high flyer from her school roommate, former colleagues Alan Rusbridger and Sir Michael Rake, and Easyjet pilot Captain Angus Hogg.Presenter: Mark Coles Producers: Ruth Alexander and Sarah Shebbeare.

Mark Coles profiles the life of the Labour politician, Lord Dubs.Born in 1932, Alfred Dubs came to the UK as a 6 year old, from Czechoslovakia on the 'Kindertransport'. He studied at the London School of Economics and had a career in marketing, before working as a local councillor. He was elected as an MP in 1979. This spring he introduced an amendment, in the House of Lords, to the government's immigration bill. He called on David Cameron to allow 3,000 unaccompanied refugee children into the UK from Europe. This week, the Prime Minister agreed to allow some children to enter.Friends and political opponents describe Lord Dubs as persuasive and determined. The programme speaks to friends, tennis partners and those who've been dragged up mountains by him.Produced by Ruth Alexander and Sarah Shebbeare.

She's been described as a swearing, chain-smoking version of Mother Teresa. Mother-of-two Liz Clegg was once a firefighter in Devon who hung out at music festivals. These days she spends most of her time in France, raising funds and caring round the clock for hundreds of young unaccompanied children in the so-called Jungle in Calais. Her efforts have attracted international attention, with Clegg being invited to discuss her work in the US. Her admirers in the UK include the actress Juliet Stevenson.Becky Milligan speaks to Liz Clegg's daughter Inca, her childhood friend Rufus Norris and others to reveal how she became a surrogate mother to so many.Presenter: Becky Milligan Producer: Ben Crighton.

Sir Martin Sorrell has spent the last three decades transforming a maker of wire shopping baskets into the world's largest advertising firm. The self-proclaimed workaholic bought a stake in Wire and Plastic Products plc in 1985 and has since taken the advertising world by storm with a string of major acquisitions.His meteoric rise is not without controversy. He is known for his relentless work ethic, punishing schedule, and ruthless approach to business. He has engaged in bitterly hostile takeovers, falling out with his competitors along the way.The business has made Sorrell a wealthy man. This year his salary is expected to hit £70m, a sum which he has no qualms defending. Sir Martin believes he is "worth every penny".Mark Coles speaks to Sir Martin Sorrell's childhood friend Simon Schama, his wife Cristiana Falcone and his colleagues and competitors, to reveal how he became the world's most powerful ad man.Presenter: Mark Coles Producer: Ben Crighton.

Mark Coles looks at the life and career of footballer Jamie Vardy. In just four years Vardy has gone from being a relative unknown, being paid a few hundred pounds a week at a non-league club, to one of the biggest names in European football. As well as playing for England, Vardy is Leicester City's star player - the team are now hotly tipped to win the Premier League.Rejected by Sheffield Wednesday while a member of their youth team for being too short, Vardy spent years working in a factory in Sheffield, his recent success nothing short of a Hollywood fairy-tale. Indeed, a Hollywood film is in the pipeline. But his rise hasn't been problem free - in 2007 he was convicted of assault after an altercation outside a pub, and last year he was fined £40,000, by his own club, for reportedly making a racist comment in a casino.Mark Coles speaks to Vardy's childhood friend Liam Muirhead, his former teacher Dr Chris Wall and one of his first football coaches Gary Marrow, about what has made him the player he is today

Mark Coles profiles Sanjeev Gupta who this week met the Business Secretary Sajid Javid to discuss a possible deal to buy Britain's biggest steelworks at Port Talbot. In recent months he's invested significantly in British steel but before all that, in his earlier life, Gupta also bought and sold bicycles, sugar - even frozen chicken feet and fish heads. We ask his wife Nicola, sister Angeli and colleague Douglas Dawson what makes this entrepreneur tick - and why he thinks he can succeed in Port Talbot where previous owners have failed.Producer: Smita Patel.

Mark Coles profiles the actress, Sophie Okonedo, star of the new Sunday night drama, Undercover. She plays a successful barrister who discovers her life is based on a series of lies.Okonedo has a career encompassing stage, screeen and television, with parts as diverse as a future Queen Elizabeth (Liz Ten) in Doctor Who, to playing Winne Mandela. She was nominated for an Oscar for her role in Hotel Rwanda.Director Dominic Cooke, fellow actor Adjoa Andoh and writer Peter Moffat tell us why they describe Okonedo as a trailblazer.Producers: Smita Patel and Phoebe Keane.

n 2002 the British journalist Nick Denton created Gawker in the US, a website which made its name breaking news and celebrity gossip.Last week a US court ordered the site to pay Hulk Hogan $140 million in damages, after Gawker ran a clip from a sex tape involving the wrestling star.Mark Coles profiles the man friends describe as being "ahead of his time" and a "visionary".But Mark also discovers how, as a journalist, Nick Denton reveals other people's secrets, while carefully guarding his own.Producers: Katie Inman and David Rhodes.

"Ambitious", "cold-hearted" and "calculating"; just some of the words used to describe Frauke Petry, leader of Germany's Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) party. She has suggested German border police should be allowed to use firearms to deter illegal immigrants.The populist, right-wing AfD has, under her controversial leadership, jumped from winning just a few percent of the vote at the 2013 federal elections, to more than 20 percent in some parts of Germany in last weekend's regional elections. The results surprised many. But is her brand of politics sincere, or - as some say - pure opportunism? And how far could she take the AfD? Ed Stourton finds out.Producer: Wesley Stephenson.

Senator Ted Cruz is a hardliner, even by the standards of his native Texas: anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, in favour of the death penalty and fiercely opposed to gun control. But in the race to be the next US president, some believe he has the best chance of beating Donald Trump to the Republican nomination. Son of a Cuban immigrant - and a virtual unknown three years ago - the 'anyone-but-Trump' candidate's ascent through Republican ranks has been as stratospheric as his style is divisive. With the 2016 American election looming, we profile a man who, as a teenager, used to tour the Deep South reciting the US Constitution by heart. Making his name as a hot shot young lawyer, Senator Cruz helped George W. Bush reach the White House by winning a court battle over the infamous Florida election recount. And as a rookie politician, he made headlines with a marathon 21-hour filibuster featuring children's stories by Dr Seuss.We hear from early backers and political opponents, those who shared Ted Cruz's school

For more than 30 years Jenny Beavan has been designing beautiful and historically accurate costumes, for film and stage. But though she cares intensely how the costumes look on the actors and on screen, she has little interest in fashion or dressing up herself. So despite being called a bag lady at the Baftas she went along to collect her second Oscar in comfortable clothes.Presenter - Becky Milligan Producer- Shabnam Grewal and Elizabeth Cassin.

Chris Bowlby profiles the German art historian and curator Dr Hartwig Fischer, who this year takes over one of the most important jobs in UK culture: director of the British Museum. What can the museum's visitors - and its staff - expect from the new man in charge?Producer: Smita Patel.

Millions will miss Lady Violet's withering one-liners now that Downton Abbey is over. Chris Bowlby profiles one of Britain's most successful actors: Maggie Smith. Her extraordinary career has spanned Shakespeare on stage, Hollywood films and, of course, popular televison drama.Producer: Smita PatelPhoto credit: "Downton Abbey" / Carnival Films.

Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of SpaceX and Tesla Motors, has a plan to stop computers from taking over the world. The co-founder of Paypal - who made his first fortune in his twenties - has joined other tech giants to fund a not-for-profit company called OpenAI. Its aim is to develop the most advanced forms of artificial intelligence and then to share the results. Musk is among a group of thinkers - including Stephen Hawking - who have warned that AI could eventually lead to the end of the human race. His idea is that by making AI 'open source', powerful corporate interests will be kept in check. Mark Coles explores the life of a man with a passion for rockets, cars and a plan to retire to Mars.Producers: Smita Patel and Sally Abrahams.

Mark Clarke was once a rising star in the Conservative Party. He was a prominent figure who started and led 'RoadTrip2015', a project to bus young Conservatives into marginal seats to campaign door-to-door. Clarke was dubbed the 'Tatler Tory' after the magazine tipped him as a future minister. But he was recently expelled from the party following lurid allegations of blackmail and bullying, and the tragic suicide of one fellow activist.Presenter: Mark Coles Producer: Sonia Rothwell.

Online hacking collective Anonymous declared "total war" on IS after the attacks in Paris. Their tactics have often been controversial, sometimes illegal, and don't always win them support. As so-called Islamic State vows to fight back, what is Anonymous likely to achieve and will its strategy help or hinder the fight against extremism?Presenter: Becky Milligan Producer: Ben Crighton.

Known by many in her country as 'The Lady', Aung San Suu Kyi has become one of the world's most famous female politicians. And yet she has never exercised any power in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Under the country's current constitution, she is forbidden from becoming president. Will she find a way of ruling the country if, as is expected, her party The National League for Democracy wins this weekend's elections?Aung San Suu Kyi's political career, which began dramatically with the failed uprising of 1988, has been shaped by the memory of her father, General Aung San, who is regarded as the founder of modern Burma. Her life has been marked by loss: her father was assassinated when she was two, her older brother died six years later and her British husband, Michael Aris, died when she was under house arrest. How has Aung San Suu Kyi remained committed to her struggle to bring democracy to the country?Presenter: Mark Coles Producers: Katie Inman and Peter Snowdon.

She's the self-proclaimed Beyoncé of the House of Lords, calling herself a 'single lady' and an 'independent woman'. Baroness Tina Stowell is the Leader of the Upper House. She was in the spotlight this week after the Lords defeated the government over tax credits. After leaving school at 16, Baroness Stowell's journey to this position has been a discreet one. How will she negotiate the potentially testing times ahead as the government contemplates reform of the House of Lords? Presenter: Edward Stourton. Producers: Charlotte Pritchard and Peter Snowdon.

He's been a boxer, a bouncer and a bungee jumping coach. Now he's the Prime Minister of Canada. Justin Trudeau is going back to his childhood home, 24 Sussex Drive, the PM's residence in Ottawa. His father, Pierre Trudeau, was a previous resident. Justin Trudeau is young and charismatic. He might even be the world's first tattooed national leader. But who is he? What does he stand for? And can he live up to his famous name?Presenter: Mark Coles Producers: Charlotte Pritchard and David Rhodes.

Saudi Arabia's human rights record is firmly back in the spotlight. A teenage boy on death row for protesting. A British pensioner expecting to be lashed. Britain no longer willing to help train those running the Kingdom's jails. Our subject this week - Saudi interior minister Prince Mohammad Bin Nayef - is right in the thick of it. Mark Coles profiles the man who is a crucial counter-terrorism partner for Britain and United States, and a hardliner who is next in line to the Saudi throne.Producers: Chloe Hadjimatheou and Katie Inman.