What I survived

Episódios

• Hollys Hell P2 02.06.2026 46min

  Holly Deane-Johns grew up in a comfortable suburb of Perth, Western Australia. But beneath the surface of a privileged childhood lay a darkness that would shape the entire course of her life. When her mother became addicted to heroin, the drug found its way into their home — and into Holly's life — before she was old enough to fully understand what it would cost her.By her mid-twenties, Holly found herself in Bangkok facing a sentence that would take her breath away. Caught attempting to traffic heroin out of Thailand, she was sentenced to thirty one years in Lard Yao Women's Prison — one of the most notorious and brutal correctional facilities in the world. A place so far removed from anything she had ever known that she struggled to find the words to describe it.This is the story of how a girl from Perth ended up behind bars in a foreign country, what surviving seven years inside a Thai prison actually looks like, and how Holly Deane-Johns found a way not just to endure — but to come back.What I Survived is available on all major podcast platforms.get Hollys book here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
• Hollys Hell P1 02.06.2026 32min

  Holly Deane-Johns grew up in a comfortable suburb of Perth, Western Australia. But beneath the surface of a privileged childhood lay a darkness that would shape the entire course of her life. When her mother became addicted to heroin, the drug found its way into their home — and into Holly's life — before she was old enough to fully understand what it would cost her.By her mid-twenties, Holly found herself in Bangkok facing a sentence that would take her breath away. Caught attempting to traffic heroin out of Thailand, she was sentenced to thirty one years in Lard Yao Women's Prison — one of the most notorious and brutal correctional facilities in the world. A place so far removed from anything she had ever known that she struggled to find the words to describe it.This is the story of how a girl from Perth ended up behind bars in a foreign country, what surviving seven years inside a Thai prison actually looks like, and how Holly Deane-Johns found a way not just to endure — but to come back.What I Survived is available on all major podcast platforms.get Hollys book here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
• The Night Mumbai Burned - Will Pike p3 26.05.2026 36min

  On the evening of November 26, 2008, British freelance filmmaker Will Pike and his girlfriend checked into the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai for a one-night stopover on their way to Goa. It was meant to be a treat. A single night in one of the world's most famous hotels.By midnight, terrorists were moving through the corridors executing guests.Will and his girlfriend barricaded themselves in their room as the siege unfolded around them. They could hear the gunfire, they heard people being executed in the hallway outside their door.When smoke began filling the room they had no choice but to act. They broke the window, knotted together bedsheets and curtains, and tried to climb down the outside of the building, Will fell fifty feet.He broke his back, his pelvis, both wrists and his elbow. He was confined to a wheelchair.167 people died that night at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel.Will Pike survived and then came the part nobody tells you about, rebuilding a life, a body and a sense of self when the world that existed before November 26, 2008 is simply gone. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
• The Night Mumbai Burned - Will Pike p2 19.05.2026 30min

  On the evening of November 26, 2008, British freelance filmmaker Will Pike and his girlfriend checked into the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai for a one-night stopover on their way to Goa. It was meant to be a treat. A single night in one of the world's most famous hotels.By midnight, terrorists were moving through the corridors executing guests.Will and his girlfriend barricaded themselves in their room as the siege unfolded around them. They could hear the gunfire, they heard people being executed in the hallway outside their door.When smoke began filling the room they had no choice but to act. They broke the window, knotted together bedsheets and curtains, and tried to climb down the outside of the building, Will fell fifty feet.He broke his back, his pelvis, both wrists and his elbow. He was confined to a wheelchair.167 people died that night at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel.Will Pike survived and then came the part nobody tells you about, rebuilding a life, a body and a sense of self when the world that existed before November 26, 2008 is simply gone. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
• The Night Mumbai Burned - Will Pike p1 19.05.2026 29min

  On the evening of November 26, 2008, British freelance filmmaker Will Pike and his girlfriend checked into the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai for a one-night stopover on their way to Goa. It was meant to be a treat. A single night in one of the world's most famous hotels.By midnight, terrorists were moving through the corridors executing guests.Will and his girlfriend barricaded themselves in their room as the siege unfolded around them. They could hear the gunfire, they heard people being executed in the hallway outside their door.When smoke began filling the room they had no choice but to act. They broke the window, knotted together bedsheets and curtains, and tried to climb down the outside of the building, Will fell fifty feet.He broke his back, his pelvis, both wrists and his elbow. He was confined to a wheelchair. 167 people died that night at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel.Will Pike survived and then came the part nobody tells you about, rebuilding a life, a body and a sense of self when the world that existed before November 26, 2008 is simply gone. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
• Becoming Mr James: Undercover Inside North Korea P2 12.05.2026 39min

  Jim Latrache grew up poor in Denmark, joined the French Foreign Legion as a young man, and spent years as a high-end cocaine dealer to Copenhagen's wealthy elite before a prison sentence gave him five and a half years to reconsider his life choices.What came next nobody could have predicted.When Danish filmmaker Mads Brügger needed someone to pose as a shady arms dealer willing to negotiate illegal weapons and drug deals with North Korean regime officials, he needed someone who could be utterly convincing in the role. Someone with the background, the nerve, and the complete absence of fear that the job required.He called Jim.Under the alias Mr James, Jim travelled to Uganda, Spain, Norway and deep into North Korea itself, meeting with regime officials, sitting across tables from people willing to discuss Scud missiles and methamphetamine factories, all while wearing hidden cameras and knowing that if his cover was blown, people have been killed for considerably less.The result was The Mole, one of the most extraordinary undercover documentaries ever made. But behind the footage is the story of the man who lived it — what it actually felt like to walk into the world's most dangerous dictatorship wearing a wire, and what it takes to come back out the other side. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
• Becoming Mr James: Undercover Inside North Korea 12.05.2026 32min

  Jim Latrache grew up poor in Denmark, joined the French Foreign Legion as a young man, and spent years as a high-end cocaine dealer to Copenhagen's wealthy elite before a prison sentence gave him five and a half years to reconsider his life choices.What came next nobody could have predicted.When Danish filmmaker Mads Brügger needed someone to pose as a shady arms dealer willing to negotiate illegal weapons and drug deals with North Korean regime officials, he needed someone who could be utterly convincing in the role. Someone with the background, the nerve, and the complete absence of fear that the job required, he called Jim.Under the alias Mr James, Jim travelled to Uganda, Spain, Norway and deep into North Korea itself, meeting with regime officials, sitting across tables from people willing to discuss Scud missiles and methamphetamine factories, all while wearing hidden cameras and knowing that if his cover was blown, people have been killed for considerably less.The result was The Mole, one of the most extraordinary undercover documentaries ever made. But behind the footage is the story of the man who lived it what it actually felt like to walk into the world's most dangerous dictatorship wearing a wire, and what it takes to come out alive.Jims books can be found here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
• On Fire: The Jamie Hull Story p2 05.05.2026 31min

  On the 19th of August 2007, British Army reservist and SAS trooper Jamie Hull was days away from completing his private pilot's licence when his aircraft engine caught fire during a solo training flight over Florida.He had 45 seconds to decide how to survive.With the cockpit engulfed in flames and the plane descending rapidly, Jamie did something that should have been impossible. He climbed out of the burning cockpit, stood on the wing of a plummeting aircraft, and jumped.The plane exploded sixty feet behind him.What followed was six months in intensive care, six months in a coma, third degree burns to 60% of his body, over 60 operations, and a 5% chance of survival. And then the longer, quieter battle, rebuilding a life, a body and an identity from the wreckage.This is not just a story about surviving a plane crash. It is a story about what happens in the years that follow when the world moves on and the hardest fight is still ahead. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
• On Fire: The Jamie Hull Story p1 05.05.2026 31min

  On the 19th of August 2007, British Army reservist and SAS trooper Jamie Hull was days away from completing his private pilot's licence when his aircraft engine caught fire during a solo training flight over Florida, he had 45 seconds to decide how to save his life.With the cockpit engulfed in flames and the plane descending rapidly, Jamie did something that should have been impossible. He climbed out of the burning cockpit, stood on the wing of a plummeting aircraft, and jumped.The plane exploded sixty feet behind him.What followed was six months in intensive care, six months in a coma, third degree burns to 60% of his body, over 60 operations, and a 5% chance of survival. And then the longer, quieter battle rebuilding a life, a body and an identity from the wreckage.This is not just a story about surviving a plane crash. It is a story about what happens in the years that follow when the world moves on and the hardest fight is still ahead. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
• 462 Days: Kidnapped in Somalia P6 28.04.2026 25min

  In August 2008, Australian photojournalist Nigel Brennan travelled to Somalia on assignment. It would be the last decision he made as a free man for nearly a year and a half.Within days of arriving, Nigel and Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout were ambushed on the outskirts of Mogadishu and taken captive by members of a militant group. What followed was 462 days of unimaginable physical and psychological torment, starvation, isolation, beatings, and a desperate will to survive in conditions that would break most people within weeks.But this is not just a story about captivity. It is a story about what happens to a human being when everything is stripped away. The fear, the negotiation, the impossible decisions made by families on the other side of the world trying to bring their loved ones home. The moments of dark humour and unexpected humanity in the most inhuman of circumstances. And the daring escape attempt that changed everything.Then there is the question that haunts every survivor, who do you become on the other side? How do you rebuild a life, a sense of self, a relationship with the world, after 462 days in hell?In this series Jack Laurence sits down with Nigel Brennan for an extraordinarily candid conversation spanning the months before the kidnapping, the ordeal itself, and the long and difficult road to recovery. It is one of the most remarkable survival stories ever told. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
• 462 Days: Kidnapped in Somalia P5 28.04.2026 29min

  In August 2008, Australian photojournalist Nigel Brennan travelled to Somalia on assignment. It would be the last decision he made as a free man for nearly a year and a half.Within days of arriving, Nigel and Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout were ambushed on the outskirts of Mogadishu and taken captive by members of a militant group. What followed was 462 days of unimaginable physical and psychological torment, starvation, isolation, beatings, and a desperate will to survive in conditions that would break most people within weeks.But this is not just a story about captivity. It is a story about what happens to a human being when everything is stripped away. The fear, the negotiation, the impossible decisions made by families on the other side of the world trying to bring their loved ones home. The moments of dark humour and unexpected humanity in the most inhuman of circumstances. And the daring escape attempt that changed everything.Then there is the question that haunts every survivor, who do you become on the other side? How do you rebuild a life, a sense of self, a relationship with the world, after 462 days in hell?In this series Jack Laurence sits down with Nigel Brennan for an extraordinarily candid conversation spanning the months before the kidnapping, the ordeal itself, and the long and difficult road to recovery. It is one of the most remarkable survival stories ever told. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
• 462 Days: Kidnapped in Somalia P4 21.04.2026 33min

  In August 2008, Australian photojournalist Nigel Brennan travelled to Somalia on assignment. It would be the last decision he made as a free man for nearly a year and a half.Within days of arriving, Nigel and Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout were ambushed on the outskirts of Mogadishu and taken captive by members of a militant group. What followed was 462 days of unimaginable physical and psychological torment, starvation, isolation, beatings, and a desperate will to survive in conditions that would break most people within weeks.But this is not just a story about captivity. It is a story about what happens to a human being when everything is stripped away. The fear, the negotiation, the impossible decisions made by families on the other side of the world trying to bring their loved ones home. The moments of dark humour and unexpected humanity in the most inhuman of circumstances. And the daring escape attempt that changed everything.Then there is the question that haunts every survivor, who do you become on the other side? How do you rebuild a life, a sense of self, a relationship with the world, after 462 days in hell?In this series Jack Laurence sits down with Nigel Brennan for an extraordinarily candid conversation spanning the months before the kidnapping, the ordeal itself, and the long and difficult road to recovery. It is one of the most remarkable survival stories ever told. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
• 462 Days: Kidnapped in Somalia P3 21.04.2026 31min

  In August 2008, Australian photojournalist Nigel Brennan travelled to Somalia on assignment. It would be the last decision he made as a free man for nearly a year and a half.Within days of arriving, Nigel and Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout were ambushed on the outskirts of Mogadishu and taken captive by members of a militant group. What followed was 462 days of unimaginable physical and psychological torment, starvation, isolation, beatings, and a desperate will to survive in conditions that would break most people within weeks.But this is not just a story about captivity. It is a story about what happens to a human being when everything is stripped away. The fear, the negotiation, the impossible decisions made by families on the other side of the world trying to bring their loved ones home. The moments of dark humour and unexpected humanity in the most inhuman of circumstances. And the daring escape attempt that changed everything.Then there is the question that haunts every survivor, who do you become on the other side? How do you rebuild a life, a sense of self, a relationship with the world, after 462 days in hell?In this series Jack Laurence sits down with Nigel Brennan for an extraordinarily candid conversation spanning the months before the kidnapping, the ordeal itself, and the long and difficult road to recovery. It is one of the most remarkable survival stories ever told. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
• 462 Days: Kidnapped in Somalia P2 14.04.2026 32min

  In August 2008, Australian photojournalist Nigel Brennan travelled to Somalia on assignment. It would be the last decision he made as a free man for nearly a year and a half.Within days of arriving, Nigel and Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout were ambushed on the outskirts of Mogadishu and taken captive by members of a militant group. What followed was 462 days of unimaginable physical and psychological torment, starvation, isolation, beatings, and a desperate will to survive in conditions that would break most people within weeks.But this is not just a story about captivity. It is a story about what happens to a human being when everything is stripped away. The fear, the negotiation, the impossible decisions made by families on the other side of the world trying to bring their loved ones home. The moments of dark humour and unexpected humanity in the most inhuman of circumstances. And the daring escape attempt that changed everything.Then there is the question that haunts every survivor, who do you become on the other side? How do you rebuild a life, a sense of self, a relationship with the world, after 462 days in hell?In this series Jack Laurence sits down with Nigel Brennan for an extraordinarily candid conversation spanning the months before the kidnapping, the ordeal itself, and the long and difficult road to recovery. It is one of the most remarkable survival stories ever told.Image Credit: Nigel BrennanNigels book is avaliable here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
• 462 Days: Kidnapped in Somalia P1 14.04.2026 31min

  In August 2008, Australian photojournalist Nigel Brennan travelled to Somalia on assignment. It would be the last decision he made as a free man for nearly a year and a half.Within days of arriving, Nigel and Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout were ambushed on the outskirts of Mogadishu and taken captive by members of a militant group. What followed was 462 days of unimaginable physical and psychological torment, starvation, isolation, beatings, and a desperate will to survive in conditions that would break most people within weeks.But this is not just a story about captivity. It is a story about what happens to a human being when everything is stripped away. The fear, the negotiation, the impossible decisions made by families on the other side of the world trying to bring their loved ones home. The moments of dark humour and unexpected humanity in the most inhuman of circumstances. And the daring escape attempt that changed everything.Then there is the question that haunts every survivor, who do you become on the other side? How do you rebuild a life, a sense of self, a relationship with the world, after 462 days in hell?In this series Jack Laurence sits down with Nigel Brennan for an extraordinarily candid conversation spanning the months before the kidnapping, the ordeal itself, and the long and difficult road to recovery. It is one of the most remarkable survival stories ever told.Nigels book is avaliable here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
• Running from Spies MI5 - P2 31.03.2026 41min

  Born in 1968, the daughter of a former pilot who became a Gurnsey newspaper editor, Annie won a scholarship to a private school and would go on to study at Britain's elite Cambridge University.In 1990, Annie sat a Foreign Office examination in hopes of becoming a diplomat but instead would receive a rather obscure letter suggesting there might be other careers that would suit her better and that was the start of her recruitment into the infamous MI5, Britain's secret service. She was posted to their counter-subversion department, officially known as 'F2' and almost from day 1 found herself uncomfortable with what was happening behind the scenes. In 1996, she resigned from MI5 in order to help her then partner and MI5 officer David Shayler reveal a series of alleged crimes committed by the agency.In doing so they had broken the official secrets act, a crime punishable by imprisonment, David and Annie we're now Wanted and being hunted by their former employer.You can get a copy of Annie's book here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
• Running from Spies MI5 - P1 31.03.2026 30min

  Born in 1968, the daughter of a former pilot who became a Gurnsey newspaper editor, Annie won a scholarship to a private school and would go on to study at Britain's elite Cambridge University.In 1990, Annie sat a Foreign Office examination in hopes of becoming a diplomat but instead would receive a rather obscure letter suggesting there might be other careers that would suit her better and that was the start of her recruitment into the infamous MI5, Britain's secret service. She was posted to their counter-subversion department, officially known as 'F2' and almost from day 1 found herself uncomfortable with what was happening behind the scenes. In 1996, she resigned from MI5 in order to help her then partner and MI5 officer David Shayler reveal a series of alleged crimes committed by the agency.In doing so they had broken the official secrets act, a crime punishable by imprisonment, David and Annie we're now Wanted and being hunted by their former employer.You can get a copy of Annie's book here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
• Escaping Thailands Death row - David McMillan p3 31.03.2026 41min

  David McMillan has lead a life that is almost unbelievable, its like something out of a Hollywood crime thriller.Born in the UK to Australian parents David would travel back and forth between the two countries a few times until at the age of 10 his parents divorced and he, his sister and mother made the permanent move to Melbourne.David was always different as a kid, he was expelled from school for trying to make a batch of LSD, a sign of things to come?At eighteen David got a job at the city cinema and by chance would meet some retired safe crackers, safe crackers who were looking to invest their money in the drug business. With no one that could source it for them David jumped in head first and thus changing the course of his entire life.David made millions of dollars, before an Australian task force swooped and he would spend 10 years in maximum security prison in Victoria. Once he was out he decided he was done with Australia and left for the UK, with a stop off in Thailand, a decision that would see him arrested again and facing the death penalty.Just two weeks before he was to be killed by firing squad David did something that no western has ever achieved, he escaped. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
• Escaping Thailands Death row - David McMillan p2 31.03.2026 29min

  David McMillan has lead a life that is almost unbelievable, its like something out of a Hollywood crime thriller.Born in the UK to Australian parents David would travel back and forth between the two countries a few times until at the age of 10 his parents divorced and he, his sister and mother made the permanent move to Melbourne.David was always different as a kid, he was expelled from school for trying to make a batch of LSD, a sign of things to come?At eighteen David got a job at the city cinema and by chance would meet some retired safe crackers, safe crackers who were looking to invest their money in the drug business. With no one that could source it for them David jumped in head first and thus changing the course of his entire life.David made millions of dollars, before an Australian task force swooped and he would spend 10 years in maximum security prison in Victoria. Once he was out he decided he was done with Australia and left for the UK, with a stop off in Thailand, a decision that would see him arrested again and facing the death penalty.Just two weeks before he was to be killed by firing squad David did something that no western has ever achieved, he escaped.Get a copy of David's book here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
• Escaping Thailands Death row - David McMillan p1 31.03.2026 30min

  David McMillan has lead a life that is almost unbelievable, its like something out of a Hollywood crime thriller.Born in the UK to Australian parents David would travel back and forth between the two countries a few times until at the age of 10 his parents divorced and he, his sister and mother made the permanent move to Melbourne.David was always different as a kid, he was expelled from school for trying to make a batch of LSD, a sign of things to come?At eighteen David got a job at the city cinema and by chance would meet some retired safe crackers, safe crackers who were looking to invest their money in the drug business. With no one that could source it for them David jumped in head first and thus changing the course of his entire life.David made millions of dollars, before an Australian task force swooped and he would spend 10 years in maximum security prison in Victoria. Once he was out he decided he was done with Australia and left for the UK, with a stop off in Thailand, a decision that would see him arrested again and facing the death penalty.Just two weeks before he was to be killed by firing squad David did something that no western has ever achieved, he escaped.Get a copy of David's book here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.