Presenter and DJ Reggie Yates grew up knowing very little about his father's side of the family. Reggie sets out on the trail of his grandfather, Harry Philip Yates. His journey takes him to Ghana, where he unravels a complex family history where Ghanaian culture and British colonialism collide.

Justin Rowlatt finds out what gorilla conservation can teach us about protecting other species.

In traditional Maasai culture one of the central figures of the community is the laibon. A laibon is a person who has been gifted with the power to see the future. They are not really a fortune teller and they are certainly not a witch doctor. They are more like a seer, but some also have the power to cure illnesses. A laibon is the one who advises the community as a whole on the best course of action to take in a given situation. For example, they can use their powers to say where the community’s cattle should be taken in order to find better grazing when there’s a drought. They are the ones who can pronounce when the time is right for important ceremonies. Today hardly any laibon remain.

There is still one though. Called Mokompo, he is today an elderly man who lives in one of the remotest corners of Kenya, far from towns, villages, and surfaced roads. Although very few Maasai in Kenya and Tanzania have ever met him, he continues to command huge respect. In this programme journalist Stuart Butler travels to Kenya to meet Mokompo and find out the spiritual secrets of one the country's last laibons.

(Photo: Mokompo. Credit: Stuart Butler)

On 23 March 2021, the Ever Given – one of the largest container ships ever built – ploughed into the sandy bank of the Suez Canal, blocking the entire waterway. It stopped all traffic in one of the most important shipping lanes in the world for almost a week, causing a ‘ship jam’ of over 300 vessels and delaying deliveries of billions of pounds of vital food, fuel and medical supplies. The disruption to the global supply chain lasted for months.

How did such an advanced ship crash in one of the most closely monitored shipping lanes in the world? How did a team of engineers free the ship in just six days? And who or what is to blame?

Using never-before seen footage, testimony from witnesses speaking for the very first time, and expert analysis, this documentary aims to uncover the inside story of the Ever Given accident. And with over 2,500 shipping incidents a year, the film also asks if this was just a freak accident or whether it reveals a serious weakness in the world’s critical supply chain.

Hannah Ajala, a British-Yoruba broadcaster will walk us through the sounds, beats and meanings of a Yoruba engagement ceremony. Speaking to those at the heart of the traditional marriage and exploring its importance on what could be considered the most important day of their lives.

Producer: Tobi Olujinmi

(Photo: Yoruba marriage ceremony. Credit: David Olujinmi)

The jailing of former South African president Jacob Zuma sparked huge unrest in the country, but was there more behind the riots than the fact of his imprisonment?

While some believe the riots were not only a reaction to Zuma’s jailing for contempt of court, but a planned attempt to bring the country to its knees, others say poverty and inequality also played its part.

Paul Connolly examines the factors behind the riots and asks how the country can rebuild from disturbances that have left many dead and parts of the country in ruins.

Producers: Rob Cave and Olivia Noon

(Rioters loot the Gold Spot Shopping Centre southeast of Johannesburg, July 12 2021. Credit: Guillem Sartorio /Getty Images)

The kidnapping of at least 140 schoolchildren in the north-west of Nigeria is the latest crime to shake a country already struggling to contain militants in the north and separatists in the south. Add to this young protesters on the streets amid rising food prices and crime and the security situation in the country starts to look even shakier.

Charmaine Cozier examines the deeper reasons for Nigeria’s worsening instability and asks if Africa’s largest country is becoming impossible to govern.

Producers Soila Apparicio and Rob Cave

(A young girl reunites with family after she was kidnapped from her school in northwestern Nigeria March 2021. Photo: Aminu Abubakar/Getty Images)

Leila Latif explores how the Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène challenged the legacy of colonialism and pioneered a cinema by, for and about the people of Africa, celebrating the lives, languages and communities of the continent in films ranging from Mandabi to Moolaadé.