Actor and activist - Michael Sheen

James Cracknell is a former Olympic rowing champion who has performed astonishing feats of endurance from the Sahara to Antarctica. But his toughest challenge has come by accident, not design. Two years ago his skull was smashed by a truck as he cycled across America. Miraculously he survived and his body healed, but his brain suffered significant damage. How has he responded to a test which changed his personality and his life?

16 Nov 201223min

Poland’s economy is growing, as is its diplomatic clout. The Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski has backed Germany's vision of much deeper EU integration. But do Poles really want to cede their hard won sovereignty to Brussels and Berlin?

13 Nov 201223min

Ukraine's just held parliamentary elections. A cause for celebration, and the flowering of democracy in a former Soviet republic? Not if you read the reports of international election monitors or hear the comments of the world's top diplomats. So eight years after the Orange Revolution, with some of the government's leading critics serving long sentences in jail, has Ukraine made its choice? Is it in effect turning its back on the offer of membership of the EU, the club of Europe?

9 Nov 201223min

Hardtalk is in Cairo to assess the state of Egypt's post-revolutionary politics. Right now, the report card is decidedly mixed. Egypt has a democratically-elected president but arguments over the framing of a new constitution have sparked clashes between rival Islamist and secular activists in Tahrir Square. Stephen Sackur speaks to Egypt's Prime Minister Hisham Qandil and asks is the new Egyptian government living up to the promise of the Tahrir revolution?(Image: Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil. Credit: GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/GettyImages)

7 Nov 201223min

The European Union won the Nobel Peace Prize for fostering unity in Europe, but the award was made during the current EU presidency of its only divided member - Cyprus. Since 1974 the island has been partitioned between its Turkish-occupied north and the Republic of Cyprus which joined the EU eight years ago.Cyprus is also presiding over the biggest crisis in the EU's history - a potential financial meltdown triggered by indebted nations like Greece and Cyprus itself. Zeinab Badawi talks to Andreas Mavroyiannis the deputy minister for European Affairs for Cyprus. Does he believe the peace prize is a shot in the arm for the EU that will help boost its confidence and bring vital momentum in finding a blueprint for recovery?

5 Nov 201223min

Next Tuesday’s US Presidential Election promises to be the closest since the Bush/Gore race ended in a dispute over hanging chads a dozen years ago. And Barack Obama could yet join the list of underwhelming one-term presidents. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to a veteran Democratic party consultant and campaign strategist, Bob Shrum, and asks why President Obama is struggling to rekindle the enthusiasm he generated four years ago.(Image: Bob Shrum, Credit: Getty Images)

2 Nov 201223min

Mitt Romney and his Republican advisers claim momentum is on their side as the US presidential election enters the final stretch. Their unrelenting focus is on the ailing US economy and their claim that a Romney administration would rebuild America as a low tax, small government engine of economic enterprise. HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to Grover Norquist, founder of the advocacy group Americans for Tax Reform - one of the most influential figures in Republican politics. Just how credible is the Romney rescue plan for America?

31 Okt 201223min

From global media baron to convicted criminal doing time in a Florida jail, the remarkable rise and fall of Conrad Black has made for years of lurid headlines - not least in the newspapers he used to own. Now Conrad Black, or Lord Black of Crossharbour, is a free man out to rebuild his reputation on both sides of the Atlantic. After a turbulent decade, is he a changed man?(Image: Conrad Black. Credit: Brian Kersey/Getty Images)

26 Okt 201223min