Andrew Thompson

To generations Arthur Ransome's books, including Swallows and Amazons, were an integral part of growing up. But was there a darker side to the author? In this drama-documentary, the enthusiastic Griff Rhys Jones follows a trail that begins in Russia, reveals close links with many leading Bolsheviks, an affair with Trotsky's secretary and previously unreleased KGB documents about Ransome. But was Ransome actually spying for the British secret service all along?

Fighter pilot, inventor, spy - the life of Roald Dahl is often stranger than fiction. Through a vast collection of his letters, writings and archive, the story is told largely in his own words with contributions from his last wife Liccy, daughter Lucy and biographer Donald Sturrock.

There have been five major extinction events in our planet's history, are we about to experience the 6th? Has the industrialization of the planet by humans and the release of carbon and other pollutants into the atmosphere, brought us to the tipping point of another great event or is this an unavoidable planetary phenomenon intrinsic to our planet's DNA?

To generations Arthur Ransome's books, including Swallows and Amazons, were an integral part of growing up. But was there a darker side to the author? In this drama-documentary, the enthusiastic Griff Rhys Jones follows a trail that begins in Russia, reveals close links with many leading Bolsheviks, an affair with Trotsky's secretary and previously unreleased KGB documents about Ransome. But was Ransome actually spying for the British secret service all along?

Fighter pilot, inventor, spy - the life of Roald Dahl is often stranger than fiction. Through a vast collection of his letters, writings and archive, the story is told largely in his own words with contributions from his last wife Liccy, daughter Lucy and biographer Donald Sturrock.

There have been five major extinction events in our planet's history, are we about to experience the 6th? Has the industrialization of the planet by humans and the release of carbon and other pollutants into the atmosphere, brought us to the tipping point of another great event or is this an unavoidable planetary phenomenon intrinsic to our planet's DNA?