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The failed escape and the ‘stolen’ son

After a disastrous effort to flee East Germany, Andreas Laake was set on finding his son

• 20 mins

My brother’s sickle cell disease made me a doctor

After Tartania’s brother Christopher had three strokes, she decided to become a doctor

• 16 mins

My dad the unlikely meth dealer

James Lubbock watched his dad transform from clean-living family man to major drug-dealer

• 23 mins

The man who stole the president's secrets

One writer risked prison to leak material about Uzbekistan's authoritarian former leader

• 26 mins

Becoming a star: the busker with albinism

Lazarus Chigwandali went from performing on the streets of Malawi to working with Madonna

• 19 mins

The child who saved my life – and vanished

The story of an 11-year-old Iraqi girl and the man whose life she inadvertently saved

• 20 mins

My Mormon mum, my gay rights hero

Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black’s mum inspired him to fight for marriage equality

• 36 mins

Overcoming IS terror with books

Dr Alaa Hamdon is on a mission to rebuild a library destroyed by the Islamic State group

• 18 mins

Thrown overboard: a stowaway's survival

The extraordinary story of Jemal Damtawe, an Eritrean man who spent a lifetime on the run

• 23 mins

The unmasking of China's secret cartoonist

Badiucao has paid a high price for the dissident cartoons he made in secret

• 23 mins

Uncovering my family's showbiz past

In a Paris cab, Claire Belhassine discovered that her grandad was a Tunisian singing star

• 17 mins

My fugitive dad made me get a nose job

Margo Perin has spent years unravelling her mysterious childhood and her family's secrets

• 22 mins

What I found in the minds of serial killers

John E. Douglas spent his FBI career speaking to some of America's most violent criminals

• 44 mins

Solving international crime from our sofas

Cracking the MH17 air crash case: the men behind Bellingcat

• 17 mins

Reclaiming Pepe, my cartoon frog

How cartoonist Matt Furie is taking back his creation Pepe the Frog from far-right groups

• 19 mins

Using boxing to help DRC’s 'outcasts'

Kibomango’s fight to save the DRC’s child soldiers in the boxing ring

• 12 mins

A kid in Australia’s doomsday cult

When he was a baby, Ben Shenton’s mum gave him to a notorious, drug-taking cult

• 24 mins

The IS orphans rescued by their grandpa

He couldn’t save his daughter after she joined IS but could he rescue her seven children?

• 26 mins

Why music on a bus gave me a panic attack

Maryam Zaree's birth was a family secret until a bus ride unearthed traumatic memories

• 23 mins

The heart of a heart surgeon

Stephen Westaby has operated on 12,000 hearts

• 23 mins

Voyage from the Pacific Islands to Hollywood

Opetaia Foa'i fought for Disney's smash hit Moana to stay true to Pacific culture

• 21 mins

Wrestling stardom nearly tore us apart

The Knight family’s passion brought them together but success threatened everything

• 40 mins

Chasing El Chapo

Drew Hogan made it his mission to take down the world's most wanted drug lord, El Chapo

• 27 mins

Andy McNab: soldier, writer, psychopath

The former elite soldier on how learning to read aged 16 taught him empathy

• 23 mins

Was this father wrong to help convict his son?

Roger Stringer believed his son Zac fired the rifle that killed his other son

• 40 mins

The dating scam that made a friendship

Maria Grette met 'Johnny' on a dating site. He was sweet, kind - but not who he seemed

• 24 mins

I had a baby and thought I was Cameron Diaz

Jen Wight suffered unsettling delusions after becoming a mother

• 19 mins

Exposing my twin – the paedophile priest

Margaret thought their bond was unbreakable, then she learned about her brother’s crimes

• 26 mins

Why I started a Holocaust survivors’ band

Saul Dreier was 89 years old when he bought his first drum kit and started a klezmer band

• 13 mins

The selfie that changed my life twice

How a selfie with Chancellor Angela Merkel revolutionised a Syrian refugee’s life

• 15 mins