David Harewood, who turned sixty this week, returns as Othello for the third time on stage. It’s a role he first took on in 1997, becoming the first black actor to play the part at London’s National Theatre. Growing up in multicultural Birmingham in the sixties and seventies, he was born to immigrants from Barbados. Described as gregarious by his teachers at school, Harewood showed an interest in entertaining from an early age and subsequently trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of the Dramatic Arts. In his early twenties, he had a psychotic breakdown, something he spoke about in a recent documentary. A string of roles in TV and film followed. And then came his breakthrough role as CIA agent David Estes in the acclaimed hit US TV show Homeland.Mark Coles looks back at his career. Contributors
Gary Turner – childhood friend
Pete Mortiboys – school physical education teacher
Jeremy Harrison – Royal Academy of the Dramatic Arts (RADA) classmate and friend
Afua Hirsch – broadcaster, journalist and author of the book Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging
Tom Morris – Theatre director and colleague
Toby Jones – Actor and colleague
Production
Presenter: Mark Coles
Producers: Ben Carter, Laura Cain
Editor: Nick Holland and Justine Lang
Sound: Gareth Jones
Archive
Audio of David Harewood as Othello, 2025, Theatre Royal Haymarket, clean from trailer
David Harewood: Psychosis and Me documentary, 2019, for BBC, production company: Films Of Record Limited
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Folge vom 13.12.2025David Harewood
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Folge vom 06.12.2025Zak BrownStephen Smith profiles the former racing driver and marketing guru who's turned around McLaren's fortunes and led them to Formula 1 glory. Born in California in 1971, friends and colleagues paint a picture of a fiercely competitive man with ‘noble intentions’.After dropping out of high school Zak Brown’s life changed after meeting former F1 world champion Mario Andretti when he was 15. He traded watches he’d won on the Wheel of Fortune game show to buy a go-kart.Brown won races as a driver but never really hit the big time. He then set up the world’s most successful motorsports marketing company before being lured to the F1 grid by McLaren in 2016. The team were in dire straits and in serious need of a cash injection. In less than 10 years, Brown has completely turned around the team’s fortunes and led them to back-to-back constructors’ championships. But will his refusal to favour one of his two drivers cost both of them the drivers’ championship?Contributors: Mackenzie Astin - childhood friend Mario Andretti - former F1 champion Will Buxton - former F1 commentator, journalist, broadcaster Ben Hunt - motorsport journalist and author of Forever Forward Lawrence Baretto - F1 commentator Presenter: Stephen Smith Producers: Mhairi Mackenzie, Ben Crighton Production Coordinator: Maria Ogundele Sound: James BeardArchive: The Bottom LIne, BBC 5LIve Wheel of Fortune - CBS Sky Sport
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Folge vom 29.11.2025Zarah SultanaThe Coventry MP who left the Labour party and joined Jeremy Corbyn's new left-wing ‘Your Party'. Zarah Sultana's husband and friends tell us how her upbringing shaped her politics and reveal her questionable taste in music. 'I think she would describe her taste as no taste', claims her husband Craig Lloyd. She was born in Birmingham to political parents who were both members of the Labour party. Her father even took her on a Labour party delegation to the occupied West Bank when she was a student, an important trip that inspired her to join those campaigning for a free Palestine and she's continued campaigning ever since. Her political career hasn't always been smooth sailing, leaving the Labour party over a row about lifting the two-child benefit cap. However her friends say she is driven by something deeper than her own career aims, she's trying to reshape British politics.Guests: Craig Lloyd, husband Sienna Rodgers, deputy editor of parliament's The House magazine Ian Byrne, Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Labour MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill Georgie Robertson, friend and activist Barnaby Raine, friend and activist Production team: Presenter: Mark Coles Producers: Sally Abrahams, Mhairi MacKenzie, Phoebe Keane and Tom Farmer Production co-ordinators: Maria Ogundele Sound: Gareth Jones Editor: Justine Lang Credits: Married At First Sight, CPL productions Ladybarn Primary School, Facebook
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Folge vom 22.11.2025Marjorie Taylor GreeneMarjorie Taylor Greene is a darling of MAGA. But this week a disagreement with Trump over the Epstein files has seen him brand her as a traitor. Born in 1974 in the suburbs of Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Greene had a conventional upbringing. She graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Business Administration, and later owned her family’s construction business and a stake in a CrossFit gym. But like so many Americans, Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign was a turning point for Marjorie Taylor Greene. In 2020, the newly-styled ‘MTG’ ran for election in her home state, winning a seat to the House of Representatives. Soon she was a recognised name on the national stage, known for her provocative style and endorsement of conspiracy theories. In the years since, MTG has aligned herself so closely with the president that some called her ‘Trump in heels’. But her campaigning for the release of the Epstein files has caused a rift between her and her one-time hero.Stephen Smith spoke to Professor Gina Yannitel Reinhardt, senior POLITICO staff writer Michael Kruse, QAnon expert Gabriel Gatehouse, political scientist Andra Gillespie and Atlanta Journal Constitution columnist Patricia Murphy, about career, her life in politics and what this rift could mean for her future. Production Presenter: Stephen Smith Producers: Sally Abrahams, Phoebe Keane, Mhairi MacKenzie Editor: Justine Lang Sound: Rod FarquharArchive CNN interview with Marjorie Taylor Greene, 16 November 2025 Bloomberg News: Marjorie Taylor Green speech in the House of Representatives, 4 February 2021 ‘Marjorie Taylor Greene Confronts David Hogg’, @marjorietaylorgreene6928, 21 January 2020 The Newsagents interview with Marjorie Taylor Greene, 6 March 2024