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We left as kayakers and came back as dissidents

Andrzej and Jacek escaped Communist Poland on an adventure. Life would never be the same

• 40 mins

From rehab to ten thousand reservations - the many lives of chef, Erin French

Erin French runs one of the US’s hardest-to-book restaurants. But it’s been a rough road

• 40 mins

From Gaza to NASA: A Space Odyssey

Palestinian Loay Elbasyouni was part of the team that launched a helicopter from Mars

• 19 mins

Helping refugees saved my life

At 28, Kon Karapanagiotidis started a charity that would become a lifeline for thousands

• 22 mins

Disco and drama: The story of Ride On Time

Worldwide fame came at a moral price for an Italian DJ who made a huge 1980s dance hit

• 27 mins

'If you cut out part of my brain am I still Jody?'

Brain surgery cured Jody Smith's seizures and there were other surprising side effects

• 23 mins

The schoolgirl fraudster who found redemption in ballroom

Shannon Balenciaga discovered the underground ball scene in prison – and became a legend

• 40 mins

I ran away from slavery; now I help others escape

Analiza Guevarra escaped abuse but can’t return to her family in the Philippines

• 36 mins

Escaping after an IS massacre

Ali Hussein Kadhim was a captured Iraqi soldier who narrowly avoided execution

• 22 mins

The secretaries who inspired the hit movie 9 to 5

Karen Nussbaum is the co-founder of 9to5, a movement that gave rise to a box office smash

• 26 mins

The murder case that started a cyber sleuth revolution

Todd Matthews became obsessed with identifying 'Tent Girl,' a decades-old unsolved crime

• 35 mins

Why this Covid doctor hid his homeless past

Emmanuel Taban, a former street kid now recognised for his life-saving medical work

• 38 mins

The epic road trip that taught me how to live again

After surviving cancer in her twenties, Suleika Jaouad felt she'd forgotten how to live.

• 40 mins

The first beauty queen in a free South Africa

Basetsana Kumalo was crowned Miss South Africa after the country's first democratic vote

• 26 mins

I stole a safe, and faced the dilemma of my life

The burglar who discovered a terrible crime - but risked life in prison if he reported it

• 39 mins

I hit puberty, then burned down my family home

As a teenager Nikki Owen's mental health and behaviour quickly spiralled out of control

• 40 mins

The sinking of a pirate radio ship

Nick Richards was a DJ with an offshore radio station, but the ship was falling apart

• 41 mins

The heavy metal boys from the dump

The heavy metal band who grew up on Cambodia's biggest rubbish dump

• 26 mins

Finding healing in the sea that took my family

Geraldine Mullan swims to remember her family who died when their car veered into the sea

• 22 mins

I went backpacking and became an accidental celebrity

Dan Tyler left England to get away from it all. He ended up finding a new course in life

• 18 mins

A footballing legend's gambling secret

How Steph Shilton saved husband Peter from a 45-year addiction

• 30 mins

Addicted to my son's addiction

David and Nic Sheff, whose struggle with addiction inspired the film Beautiful Boy

• 26 mins

The immigration lawyer who hid her undocumented past

Qian Julie Wang started working on immigration cases and faced a life-changing dilemma

• 34 mins

My teacher became my torturer

Mirsad Solakovic was just 13 when his teacher came to school and pointed a gun at him

• 30 mins

"The camera was my shield" - a refugee films his journey

The footage Hassan Akkad captured would help make his name as a filmmaker

• 43 mins

The inside story of a Muslim drag queen

Amrou al-Kadhi on their complex identity - Muslim, gay, non-binary drag queen

• 31 mins

The Somali prisoner, the secret language and the life-saving book

Mohamed Barud’s fellow prisoner tapped out Tolstoy's Anna Karenina through his cell wall

• 38 mins

Agent Orange: A Vietnamese grandmother's last battle

Tran To Nga is fighting to get compensation for victims of the toxic herbicide

• 29 mins

The man who (re)painted the Mona Lisa

Adebanji Alade recreated a masterpiece - but he's never seen the real thing

• 23 mins

The uncomfortable truth hidden in my DNA

Former policeman Hiram Johnson's quest to solve a family mystery

• 26 mins