Lives Less Ordinary

Rejected by family and society, trans actor Alina Khan was forced to spend time on the streets of her native Lahore as a child. Through dance, she found an escape and a living, but also encountered prejudice. Facing down loneliness, poverty and danger, she carved her own principled path to big screen fame. Now she’s won praise for her performance as Biba, a fiery and ambitious trans woman, in international award-winning new film Joyland.Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Laura Thomas

In the ring, Blair finds calm amidst the chaos of his life. Back in the US Blair Cobbs falls again on hard times; homeless in Philadelphia his boxing dream seems out of reach. But a string of lucky breaks may just tip the balance. Blair’s brazen alter-ego who’s kept him alive thus far now has a name – Blair ‘the Flair’ – and some recognition in the ring. But could ‘the Flair’ take him all the way to the top of the boxing world? Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Louise Morris

From Beverly Hills to hiding from the law with his dad, Blair’s seen it all. To help him get through the tough times – and there’d be quite a few of those – Blair created a separate persona. This was the fearless alter ego he could rely on to swoop in and save the day. The Peter Pan to his Lost Boy. And Blair was certainly lost now - would he make it back out of Mexico alive?Clips: Clueless/ Amy Heckerling/ Paramount PicturesPresenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Louise Morris

A baby left in a car, another in a telephone box. It would take decades to find out why.When he was just a baby, David McBride made headline news in Northern Ireland. He had been discovered in the front seat of a stranger’s car, with no trace of who had left him there or why. David was a foundling, and as he grew up he started to want answers. Then, a chance encounter led him to Helen Ward. She was also a foundling, and she was on a very similar mission. Presenter: Andrea Kennedy Producer: Maryam Maruf Editor: Munazza Khan

Fergal Keane's work as a war correspondent was destroying him, but he couldn't stop.It was his job as a BBC journalist to help the audience make sense of the madness of war, but he knew there was another more troubling reason he was drawn to these violent situations. They gave him something he couldn't get anywhere else in the same way. A massive rush of adrenaline and a huge dose of validation. Fergal knew this compulsive tendency wasn't healthy, but he couldn't stay away from the frontlines. Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producers: May Cameron and Harry Graham Sound Design: Joel Cox Editor: Munazza Khan

From convent to marriage to factory floor, Thivya Rakini will stand up for herself, and you. From an early age she's fought for what's right. As a child living in Tamil Nadu, she stopped eating so her parents would send her to the school of her choice. She left behind life in a convent, then a marriage, and went on to defy expectations as a working single mother. She’s now the leader of a union advocating for seamstresses making fast fashion for international chain stores and has negotiated an historic deal.Presenter: Jo Fidgen Producer: June Christie

Debra Lampshire started hearing voices aged five. Comforting at first, they soon took control.The voices became so visceral and intense that Debra had to spend 18 years in a psychiatric hospital. Then, a chance friendship with a car mechanic gave her the tools to restore her life, but she’d have to learn to coexist with the voices that once tormented her.If you need support relating to any of the issues we've covered in this interview, you can find more information on the BBC Action line website or at Befrienders.orgPresenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Louise Morris

Pilot Firoz Khimji witnessed his country's wars from above. Then conflict came for him.For most of his life, Uganda had been unstable, but he'd been able to train as a commercial pilot despite the violence. When qualified, Firoz took a job with Ugandan Airlines. This was the 1980s, and he had to routinely fly between territories controlled by different armed groups. War was ever-present, but Firoz would always emerge unscathed, until a routine flight went badly wrong. Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Eric Mugaju and Harry Graham Editor: Munazza Khan

Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil risked everything when he faced his parents and societyHe was next in line to a centuries-old royal dynasty in the Indian state of Gujarat - and grew up in the 1970s in a gilded cage. His family's desire to keep his blue blood away from what they called ‘commoners’ meant that, growing up, he missed out on formative experiences like making friends. After a failed marriage to a princess, Manvendra finally shed his royal cocoon and was determined to break out and explore the world, and his sexuality. With the help of his new friend Ashok, a gay rights activist, the prince began a process of self-acceptance that would be put to the ultimate test.Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Edgar Maddicott Editor: Munazza Khan

Journalist Ben Raines went in search of a sunken ship with a dark history.A phone call out of the blue had set him on his hunt for the Clotilda, an American vessel that had illegally transported enslaved West African people to the US. On arrival it had been burnt, and hidden deep in the Alabama swamp. The story of the ship and its passengers had been kept alive by generations of people descended from those who had been enslaved. But these inherited histories were shrouded in secrecy, fear, and silence - seldom spoken of outside that community. So, when Ben dived into the swamp to find the Clotilda, it was more than a shipwreck that bubbled to the surface. Emily Webb speaks to Ben Raines and descendant Garry Lumbers about their intertwining stories.Presenter: Emily Webb Producer: Emily Webb and Olivia Lynch-Kelly Editor: Munazza Khan