One To One

Bel Mooney explores whether home is an idea as much as a place. She goes to Birmingham to meet student Alan, who shares a rented house with two friends. While they return home to their parents at weekends, Alan stays in the student digs, the only home he currently has. He explains to Bel how family breakdown led to him to be homeless twice, first emotionally and then physically when his mother finally evicted him and his possessions from her house when he was eighteen. Now twenty four, Alan describes how devastated he felt and how through the help of a local charity he got back onto his feet again. Producer: Lucy Lunt.

Steve Backshall is one of our leading natural history broadcasters; he's also an extreme sportsman who has conquered some of the world's most dangerous mountains. Despite suffering a severe rock-climbing injury in 2008, he continues to set himself extraordinary challenges.For One to One Steve meets two other extreme adventurers to discover what drives them to significant levels of danger and physical discomfort in order to complete challenges that are almost superhuman.In this first programme he meets Ed Stafford. Ed was the first person to walk the entire length of the Amazon River - 6000 miles over two and a half years. Ed acknowledges that explorers have a 'chink in their armour, an insecurity, a fear of something in life... Doing something tangible, something remarkable, enables you to prove yourself'.Producer: Karen Gregor.

Adrian Chiles talks to Larissa Pelham, Head of Emergency Food Security and Livelihoods for Oxfam, about how charities seek to eradicate malnourishment in the Third World, by working with local food producers.It's well known that TV and radio presenter Adrian Chiles loves football. What's less well known is his real passion: food, both eating and cooking it. Adrian believes in the power of food to change lives, to improve society and to bring people together. At this year's Bristol Food Connections festival, he recorded two editions of One to One in front of an audience with guests who have extraordinary life changing food stories to tell. Larissa Pelham has spent most of her career trying to ensure that all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food, that's the definition of food security, but she explains the difficulties of doing this in areas of political unrest or natural disaster. She also discusses with Adrian the effect her work has had on her own at

Selina Scott is intrigued and fascinated by ghosts and believes she has one of her own, which resides in the kitchen of her home, an 15th century farmhouse in rural North Yorkshire.In the final of her three programmes for One to One, Selina talks to ghostbuster Hayley Stevens who doesn't believe in ghosts.She offers Selina a rational explanation for the ghostly presence in her house.Producer: Perminder Khatkar.

Selina Scott is intrigued and fascinated by the ghost stories she hears living in a rural community. She thinks she has her own ghost in her kitchen,an old 15th century farmhouse in North Yorkshire.In the second of her three programmes for One to One, Selina talks to spiritual healer, Yasmin Ishaq who doesn't believe in ghosts but in Jinn, supernatural creatures in Islamic tradition. She explains this phenomena to Selina and the devastating impact it can have on Muslim communities.Producer: Perminder Khatkar.

Not a risk-taker by nature, Michael Grade has always been fascinated by those who are. In the final interview of his series he talks to Chris Hunter about his career as a high threat bomb disposal officer. What attracts someone to such a dangerous business and how do friends and family deal with their anxiety? Producer Lucy Lunt.

Michael Grade has always been fascinated by those who choose to take great risks. Michael was born into an immigrant family who risked everything to find a new life in an unknown country. In this programme for the interview series One to One, he talks to Juno Roche who also took the same leap of faith into a new world when she transitioned two years ago. Juno says that in choosing to change sex the risk is all encompassing, 'You have no idea what awaits you on the other side. Will you be able to walk down the street without being labelled a freak? Will you have any friends or family who will accept you?'Producer: Lucy Lunt.

Christina Lamb is an author and foreign correspondent for the Sunday Times and in this series of One to One she explores family legacies.In the final of her three programmes, she explores what it's like to grow up the son or daughter of someone regarded as one of the most evil people on earth. And what happens if you are not aware of that legacy - how do you come to terms with it ?Few people are seen as more of a byword for barbarity than Idi Amin, the Ugandan despot whose regime killed as many as 400,000 people when he was President from 1971 to 1979.Christina Lamb talks to Lady Khadija Idi Amin dada, born in Saudi Arabia where her father was living in exile until he died. She tells Christina about her childhood and not being aware of her father's brutal legacy.Producer: Perminder Khatkar.

Christina Lamb is an author and foreign correspondent for the Sunday Times and in this series of One to One she explores the issues around family legacies.Christina looks at what can happen when you build a legacy only to find it overshadowed by your child's fame. Ziauddin is father of the schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, whose name became known around the world after she was shot dead by the Taleban in October 2012.Malala was standing up for her rights to an education. While extremely proud of his daughter's bravery and her campaigning, he tells Christina where her passion stems from and that for him it's important to return to his home village and continue with his own work.Other programmes from Christina's series can be found on the BBC iPlayerProducer : Perminder Khatkar.

Christina Lamb is an author and foreign correspondent for the Sunday Times.Her career kicked off when she met Pakistan's then opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. Christina was fascinated by the fact that she had no choice but to take over her father's party when she was just 24 years old after he was arrested and then executed.In this series of One to One, Christina explores the idea of family legacy.Almost everyone is familiar with the Mr Men, the pocket-size books that have caught the imagination of children over the past 40 years.In the first of three programmes, Christina talks to Adam Hargreaves, whose father was Roger Hargreaves, the creator of the Mr Men and Little Miss series. What was it like growing up with his father's fame and fortune? And she finds out how he made the decision to continue his father's legacy.Producer: Perminder Khatkar.

Zubeida Malik is a journalist who works mostly as a reporter for the Today programme. For two weeks she's taken over the One to One microphone to explore the nature of Britain's changing communities. Today's interview is with Raja Tahir Masood, a chronicler of Peterborough's Pakistani community. Originally from Pakistan, Masood has lived in Peterborough for forty years. In that time he's worked closely with the Pakistani community and has seen it grow and change. He's also seen new immigrants arrive in Peterborough, from southern and eastern Europe.Producer: Karen Gregor.

Zubeida Malik is a journalist who works mostly as a reporter for the Today programme. For the next two weeks she's taking over the One to One microphone to explore the nature of Britain's changing communities. In this first programme she meets Sister Christine Frost, a Roman Catholic nun who has lived and worked in east London for over forty years. Based at the St Matthias Community Centre on the Will Crooks Estate in Tower Hamlets, Sister Christine has seen huge changes in the four decades she's worked there: an estate that was mostly white British and black Caribbean is now predominantly Bengali. Zubeida asks how this 77 year old nun from Ireland has adapted, and what challenges these changes have brought to her life and work.Producer: Karen Gregor.

John Harris, of the Guardian, talks to Penny Andrews, a university researcher, who, after a difficult childhood and adolescence was finally diagnosed as autistic in her early thirties. John is known for having two consuming passions music, and politics - and luckily he's developed a career that revolves around both. But around five years ago, he acquired a third area of expertise and curiosity: autism.His son James was born in 2006 and, when he was 3, it was discovered he was autistic. For John and his partner, the next two or three years passed in a blur of educational therapy, tussles with officialdom, James's successful entry to a mainstream school, and reading: lots and lots of it.In his first edition of One to One, John talked to Simon Baron-Cohen, Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at Cambridge University and Director of the University's Autism Research Centre.Today he talks to Penny about how the condition has affected her life and how she has learnt to live with it, holding down an intellectua

John Harris of The Guardian talks to autism specialist, Professor Simon Baron-Cohen.John is known for having two consuming passions: music and politics - and luckily he's developed a career that revolves round both. But five years ago, he acquired a third area of expertise and curiosity: autism.His son James was born in 2006 and, when he was 3, it was discovered he was autistic. For John and his partner, the next two or three years passed in a blur of educational therapy, tussles with officialdom, James's successful entry to a mainstream school, and reading: lots and lots of it.In these two editions of One to One, John talks to people who can give him greater insight into the condition and to discover how we can all become more accepting of it and those who are affected by it. In this first programme, John talks to Simon Baron-Cohen, a professor at Cambridge University in psychology and psychiatry, and also the director of the University's Autism Research Centre. Over more than thirty years, his work has mad

Charlotte Smith looks at the support offered by self help groups to those suffering from emotional trauma.When Sarah O'Donoghue's eighteen year old son died while out celebrating his A level results, she felt she needed to turn to the professionals for help; doctors, bereavement counsellors, therapists.It was only after many months that she finally turned to The Compassionate Friends; one of the several charities that offers support and help to bereaved families after the death of a child. Here she found solace by talking to and being with others who had been through the same experience themselves.Sarah now runs a group for bereaved families in her area.Charlotte and Sarah discuss the positives and negatives of being part of such a group; the support that is given to people who so badly need it, whether there is a danger members could become too dependent, and at what point people might make the sometimes painful decision to leave a group.Producer: Lucy Lunt.

Charlotte Smith was diagnosed with a rare form of chronic lung disease, lymphangioleiomyomatosis (now known as LAM) three years ago. She immediately went onto the internet and linked up with other sufferers on a dedicated website. Gill Hollis was diagnosed in 1992 before there was a self-help group. Charlotte and Gill discuss the positives and negatives of self help groups for those with chronic illnesses. Does it help or hinder acceptance or simply build up false hope and increase dependency?Producer Lucy Lunt.

Broadcaster Adrian Goldberg, who is married to a British Asian woman, explores the topic of mixed marriage for One to One. Today, in the third and final of his interviews, he meets Mandy. Mandy is of Sikh/Hindu heritage and had to deal with the rejection by most of her family when she refused to contemplate the idea of an arranged marriage. She went on to meet and marry an Afro-Caribbean man; something which has brought her happiness, although it hasn't been the smoothest of journeys.Producer: Karen Gregor.

In the second of three editions of One to One, broadcaster Adrian Goldberg - who is married to a British Asian woman - explores the topic of mixed marriage. Today Adrian meets Rosalind Birtwistle, a Christian woman who married a Jewish man in the 1970s.Producer: Karen Gregor.

In two (repeated) interviews for One to One, broadcaster Adrian Goldberg - who is married to a British Asian woman - explores the topic of mixed marriage.The dry facts, from the Office of National Statistics, state that "Nearly 1 in 10 people living in as a couple were in an inter-ethnic relationship in 2011".*Now Adrian brings this statistic to life as he meets two people who married outside their own faith or cultural background, across different decades.In this first programme he meets Tara Bariana. Tara arrived in England from India in the 1960s and was, in his words, an illiterate 13 year old who couldn't speak English. He was expected to marry a Punjabi girl, but went against his family's wishes when he met and fell in love with Beryl, the daughter of a Baptist minister. Adrian hears Tara's story, and finds out what happened next.*figures from the 2011 census.Producer: Karen Gregor.

Broadcaster Nihal owns a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, but doesn't want to be stereotyped by his dog. In this second of two programmes for the interview series One to One, he talks to Paul who is a first time owner of a Staffie. For Paul, his dog 'Bee Bee' has been a revelation and came into his life at just the right time.Producer : Perminder Khatkar.