Victoria Derbyshire's Unbelievable Britain
Real people. Real stories. Unbelievable Britain. Victoria Derbyshire sits down with people who have lived through extraordinary, jaw dropping and sometimes heart stopping experiences. Deeply personal stories that reveal the incredible breadth of lives, backgrounds and journeys that make up the people who live across the UK. Honest, powerful and unforgettable conversations that do not just stay with you, they can change the way you see your own life. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episodes
June 25, 2026 • 67 mins
Poet, playwright and broadcaster Lemn Sissay grew up in the care system. Raised as Norman by foster parents who told him he had been abandoned; at 12, without warning, he was sent away from the family home. He then grew up in children's homes, separated from the only family he knew.
It wasn't until adulthood he learnt the truth, discovered his real name and that his Ethiopian mother had repeatedly tried to get him back. He trace...
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June 18, 2026 • 43 mins
Born in Vienna in 1929, Hedi Argent’s childhood was shattered by rising antisemitism and the Nazi annexation of Austria. She remembers with heartbreaking clarity the cruelty at the hands of her teachers, the desperate attempts to flee and the eventual safety offered by Britain.
But alongside the trauma, she also remembers moments of extraordinary kindness including the gift from a Railway Porter that still inspires her tod...
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June 11, 2026 • 55 mins
Twenty years after winning Big Brother, Nadia Almada joins Victoria Derbyshire to reflect on the extraordinary journey that changed her life forever.
From her childhood in Madeira and South Africa, to moving to Britain as a young woman determined to live authentically, Nadia shares the story behind one of the most memorable moments in reality television history.
She looks back on life inside the Big Brother house, the overwhe...
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June 4, 2026 • 60 mins
From dealing drugs to running food banks, scraping together £20 to having £300k in the bank, Pastor Mick Fleming has had an extraordinary life - marked by crime, violence but full of forgiveness and redemption.
In this week's Unbelievable Britain, Pastor Mick speaks candidly to Victoria Derbyshire about his very unconventional route to salvation — his troubled past, the events that led him down a destructive path, and the...
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May 28, 2026 • 64 mins
Jackie Malton is the groundbreaking former Met detective who inspired Helen Mirren’s iconic character DCI Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect.
Over a 28-year career in policing, Jackie worked in elite units including the Flying Squad, Murder Squad and Fraud Squad, while battling alcoholism and navigating life as an openly gay woman in a deeply male-dominated world.
Now one of the UK’s leading police drama consulta...
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Human Barbie, Rachel Evans has spent two decades transforming herself through fitness, fashion and cosmetic procedures.
But behind the hyper-feminine image is a story shaped by grief, bullying, loneliness, survival and extraordinary reinvention.
She opens up about the roots of her love of Barbie and what it feels like to become known around the world for your appearance.
If you’ve been affected by ...
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May 14, 2026 • 36 mins
Pete Bennett became one of the most unforgettable winners in Big Brother history. He stormed to victory in 2006 after his humour, honesty and openness about living with Tourette’s charmed the nation. Whilst his sweet on air love story with Nikki Graham became of reality TVs iconic relationships.
But behind the fame was a far more complicated story. From bullying to grief, the traumatic loss of a close friend and...
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May 7, 2026 • 56 mins
Alex Lewis was a pub landlord and father living an ordinary life when he caught a "cold." That cold was actually Strep A, that left him on the point of death, with a 1% chance of survival. To save his life surgeons amputated all four limbs and part of his face. But instead of giving up, he rebuilt himself in extraordinary fashion.
In this powerful episode of Unbelievable Britain, Alex opens up about the terrifying moment everyth...
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April 30, 2026 • 47 mins
Malin Andersson shot to fame on Love Island, but away from the spotlight she was facing a far more difficult reality, including abusive relationships and sexual assault.
In this powerful episode of Unbelievable Britain, she opens up to Victoria Derbyshire about overcoming abuse, addiction, grief and the devastating loss of her daughter, and how she has rebuilt her life with purpose. From navigating intense public scrutiny to beco...
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April 23, 2026 • 54 mins
From Losing Her Sight to Inspiring Millions
Lucy Edwards, who went blind at 17 due to a rare genetic condition. "In that moment everything I knew had gone."
Lucy opens up about the moment everything changed, from trying to hold onto memories of her mum’s face to navigating a world that suddenly treated her differently. She speaks candidly about discrimination, her IVF journey, independence, and how she rebuilt her confiden...
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April 16, 2026 • 47 mins
Sherry Lever, widely recognised as the UK’s oldest professional dominatrix. At 74, Sherry (known professionally as Mistress Sofia) shares the incredible story of how a "wallflower" who once struggled to pay the mortgage transformed into an empowered leader in the world of BDSM.
In this episode, we explore:
The Transition: How Sherry went from a phone chat operator to running a professional "playroom" from her conservato...
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April 9, 2026 • 53 mins
"I promised Gina that I’d try every single day to make maternity care safer."
We are joined by Donna Ockenden, the midwife and investigator behind some of the most significant maternity reviews in NHS history.
Donna opens up about a childhood marked by poverty, instability, and a harrowing period of abuse at the hands of her grandfather. She shares how these formative experiences of responsibility and survival eventually le...
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April 2, 2026 • 20 mins
What is the most unbelievable lesson life has taught you?
In this special episode of Life Lessons from Unbelievable Britain, Victoria Derbyshire meets people whose lives have been shaped by identity, illness, resilience, and reinvention.
Inside this episode:
Gamal “G” Turawa - A former police officer navigating identity, race, and sexuality, and what it means to truly become yourself.
FULL EPISODE: https://youtu.be/c...
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March 26, 2026 • 67 mins
A masterclass in "unlearning" and finding the courage to finally be yourself.
G, Turawa, previously known as Gamal, has a life story worthy of a novel. From a happy childhood in Kent to being tricked into exile in Nigeria, and eventually becoming the Met Police’s first openly gay Black officer.
G opens up about the "unbelievable" reality of life inside the force: the institutional racism, the trauma of hiding his true ident...
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March 19, 2026 • 18 mins
What happens when life pushes you to the absolute breaking point? In this special episode of Life Lesson's from Unbelievable Britain's - Victoria Derbyshire meets four people who survived the unimaginable, from a secretive British cult to a Taliban kidnapping.
Inside this episode:
Ryan Stevens: The daily reality of living with severe Tourette’s when your body isn't your own.
Luke Dyson: How a life of chaos and anger was tra...
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March 12, 2026 • 53 mins
Locked inside her body, Kate could hear and see everything but could tell anyone. A worst nightmare.
Kate Allatt was a fit and healthy mother of three when her life changed overnight. After being sent home from hospital with severe headaches, she collapsed and fell into a coma.
When she woke, she was diagnosed with Locked-In Syndrome. Fully conscious, but unable to move or speak.
From the first flicker of an eye and against a...
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March 5, 2026 • 55 mins
Divine Ampofo grew up in Walthamstow, sharing a cramped flat with his mum and three siblings in a neighbourhood shaped by poverty, violence and survival. By the age of thirteen he had been pulled into “the game”, a street culture where respect came through fear, drugs and violence.
As a teenager he was shot, involved in stabbings and narrowly escaped death more than once. Surrounded by conflict and constant danger, the...
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February 26, 2026 • 38 mins
Paul Cooper is a campaigner, writer and actor whose life has followed an extraordinary and unconventional path. He is also the father of Daisy May Cooper and Charlie Cooper, and has spent decades championing children, creativity, and people on the margins.
Later in life, he found wider recognition through his role as Martin Mucklowe in This Country, a breakthrough that brought his lived experience and humanity to the screen. Long b...
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February 19, 2026 • 44 mins
Twenty years ago, Emma Sayle launched a women-led sex club that challenged everything people thought they knew about desire, power and who gets to set the rules. Many thought she was brave, others thought she was mad and it was certainly headline grabbing.
Two decades on, Killing Kittens has grown into a global movement. Emma joins Victoria to talk about how it started, the backlash and misconceptions, what has changed for women s...
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February 12, 2026 • 50 mins
In this episode of Unbelievable Britain, Victoria Derbyshire sits down with Ryan Stevens to explore the reality of living with Tourette’s. From physical tics that have caused serious injury to the invisible toll of suppressing emotion, he shares what it’s really like when your body feels out of your control.
He speaks about tic attacks that surge through his body, the pressure to stay “level” to prevent epis...
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