Podcast Episodes

Inventing nicotine patches

By the 1990s, nicotine patches became commercially available all over the world but their origins go back to the early 1980s, when Dr Daniel Rose sug…

3 years, 7 months ago

The Surkov leaks

In 2016, Ukrainian hackers leaked thousands of emails belonging to Russian President Vladimir Putin's right hand man, Vladislav Surkov.

They provided …

3 years, 7 months ago

Ukraine's Revolution on Granite

In 1990, Ukrainian students went on a hunger strike that helped bring down the Soviet regime there. It took place in Kyiv’s central square and inspir…

3 years, 7 months ago

Nigerian sitcom Papa Ajasco

In 1996, sitcom Papa Ajasco first hit Nigerian TV screens. Following the ups and downs of the Ajasco family – it quickly became one of the most succe…

3 years, 7 months ago

The Soviet James Bond

The most successful TV spy series ever to be broadcast in the USSR, went on air in 1973. The central character was a Soviet secret agent in Nazi Germ…

3 years, 7 months ago

Who shot JR?

Dallas was already a hit American TV series in 1980. But when its leading man, JR, was shot, the reaction worldwide was extraordinary. Claire Bowes s…

3 years, 7 months ago

Madhur Jaffrey’s ‘Indian Cookery’

A ground-breaking Indian cookery programme broadcast on the BBC, launched 40 years ago. It was presented by actor turned food writer, Madhur Jaffrey.…

3 years, 7 months ago

The school for telenovela stars

In 1987, broadcaster Televisa set up a drama school in Mexico City to train actors for its hugely popular telenovelas, Mexican soap operas. The Centr…

3 years, 7 months ago

Fighting for the pill in Japan

The contraceptive pill first was approved for use in the US in 1960. But it wasn't until 1999, that women in Japan were allowed to take oral contrace…

3 years, 7 months ago

The man who invented the Pill

In 1951, in a lab in Mexico City, Austrian chemist Dr Carl Djerassi created a synthetic hormone from wild yams. It would go on to become the Pill's a…

3 years, 7 months ago