The Girlfriends: Spotlight Is Back...

The number 1 hit true crime series is back with more women fighting crime, battling injustice and seriously kicking ass. In Season 1 of The Girlfriends: Spotlight, our global gang of girlfriends grew to include Pussy Riot’s punk icon and political prisoner Nadya Tolokonnikova, British Nigerian bea…

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E13: Silvia Climbs to the Top of the World

When you’ve suffered childhood trauma, endured alcohol abuse, been through awful bereavements, how can you heal? For Silvia Vasquez-Lavado the answer was to climb to the top of the world - and then take other traumatised women and girls with her. Silvia is the first Peruvian woman to summit Mount …

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E12: Lois Captures Criminals

Lois Gibson has a rare gift: A gift for accurately drawing people she’s never seen before, from fragmented descriptions from traumatised witnesses. And that gift is incredibly useful to the Houston Police Department.  Lois is the world’s most successful forensic artist. Over 40 years, on more than…

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E11: Miss saHHara Crowns Queens

Miss saHHara was born to be a beauty pageant queen. As a child at home in Nigeria she would wrap herself in a mosquito net and sashay along a make-believe cat walk, delivering inspirational speeches to an imagined audience.  But when she grew up and started to compete, she found that not only was …

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E10: Phyllis Saves the People from Poisoning

Phyllis Omido is just a few months into a new job, when her infant son starts to get sick. Fevers, dehydration, hospitalisation - Phyllis is scared. Then the doctors give her some shocking news: Her son has lead poisoning. The metal smelting plant where Phyllis works, just outside Mombassa, Kenya, …

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E9: Jasvinder Redefines Honour

When Jasvinder Sanghera was just 15 years old, her mum told her that she was going to be married to a man she had never met. Jasvinder’s older sisters had been through similar things. But instead of going along with the way things had always been in her family and community, Jasvinder escaped. And…

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E8: Nadya & Pussy Riot Punk the President

When Nadya Tolokonnikova saw her country Russia change under President Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian regime, she knew she had to do something.  She started the iconic ski-mask-wearing art protest collective Pussy Riot. On February 21st, 2012, they performed their anti-Putin protest song, Punk Pra…

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E7: Eilís Runs the Ball Barn

As a trans woman, Eilís Ní Fhlannagáin didn’t have much faith in mainstream health care. So when she wanted gender affirming surgery to remove her testicles, she turned to her best friend and trainee doctor Willow, and asked her to perform the operation in her living room… From this humble beginni…

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E6: Madison and Christine Become Digital Detectives

Madison Conradis had her life turned upside down when someone began posting naked photos of her online. Soon, the abuse intensified with anonymous messages and calls to her family, friends and even her boss… The police didn’t seem to care, so Madison turned to her twin sister Christine for help. T…

The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E5: Rose Solves, At Least, 86 Cold Cases

Rose Brady’s job running Baltimore County’s SVU was a frustrating one. The sexual violence crimes she and her team were investigating were just the tip of the iceberg. Her department was sitting on thousands of unsolved rape cases, dating back decades - with little hope of ever finding the perpetra…