BBC’S EXTREME: Season 2, Peak Danger
A mountain of trouble.
In August 2008, around 30 climbers took on K2. Over 2 disastrous days, 11 of those people would lose their lives. This is the story of what really happened. Sitting on the border between China and Pakistan, K2 is a perfect pyramid that pierces through the clouds. It looks like a kid’s drawing of a mountain…but this terrifying peak is anything but child’s play.
Newlyweds Cecilie Skog and her husband Rolf Bae loved climbing mountains almost as much as they loved one another. In the summer of 2008, they embarked on a honeymoon like no other, when they decided to climb K2. What happened next would change their lives and the lives of everyone around them…forever.
A devastating avalanche scatters high altitude climbers across K2’s steep slopes. Life and death rescue missions quickly get underway. Who can be saved… before time runs out?
Historian and podcaster Natalia Mehlman Petrzela returns with a sky-high story of human vs nature, and of survival against all the odds. What does it really take to push yourself to the brink of human possibility? How does it feel to stand with the whole world at your feet? And is it ever worth risking death… in order to feel alive? Peak Danger is Season 2 of Extreme, the BBC podcast about those who chase the impossible… who strive for superhuman status and refuse to accept that life has any limits. Every season tells an unforgettable, action-packed story about people who’ve pushed their minds and bodies to the very edge – but at what cost?
EXTREME launches January 20, 2025 on all platforms and BBC Radio 4 and is produced by NOVEL for BBC.
BBC’S EXTREME: Season 1, Muscle Men
The first series in BBC’s new strand extreme, Muscle Men, combines a gripping slice of true-crime with a fascinating piece of social history. Hosted and executive produced by historian of culture, politics, and fitness Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Muscle Men will unravel the story of how an amateur bodybuilder named William Dillon, together with maverick “steroid guru” Dan Duchaine and former Olympic athlete David Jenkins, launched the largest steroid trafficking ring the USA had ever seen.
William Dillon was a young weightlifter from rural Illinois who in 1984 made the pilgrimage to the sweat-drenched gyms of Los Angeles to follow in the footsteps of his bodybuilding heroes. In the process, Dillon was caught up in a growing chemical, and criminal, revolution – becoming involved in one of the world’s biggest steroid dealing rings. All driven by a drive for bodily perfection that changed the way we look in the mirror. As steroid use began to grip small-town gym-goers, pro bodybuilders and elite athletes, the cops, legislators and the world of international sport scrambled to crack down on the alluring promise that you can get ripped, quick.
From the star-studded world of Gold’s Gym, LA’s most iconic bodybuilding gym, through to the underground world of steroid trafficking, the eight-part series will explore how the 80s transformed the way we see our bodies, and the lengths to which we’ll go to in the pursuit of perfection.
EXTREME launches July 29, 2024 on all platforms and BBC Radio 4 and is produced by NOVEL for BBC.
“A true American classic.”
— The New York Times
“Brilliantly engaging… you can’t fail to be swept along by this story, and historian Natalia Petrzela’s commentary. Petrzela is a great listen, her humour and interviewing skills really giving the podcast some zip… treat yourselves to this true-crime, high-camp show. It’s great.”
— The Guardian
In the 1980s the “male exotic dancers” of Chippendales were everywhere: On beefcake calendars and daytime TV. Gyrating on stages across the world in their signature cuffs, collars and spandex pants. Selling the promise of women’s liberation for the price of a few dollars in a g-string. But behind the powerful mullets, oiled pecs, and non-stop parties lies a much darker story.
This is the story of how two men—an immigrant from India and a children’s TV producer from New Jersey—transformed a seedy nightclub in Los Angeles into a global phenomenon, and how paranoia and greed turned Chippendales into a hotbed for drugs, corruption, and murder.
With over one hundred hours of archival footage, and sixty-plus interviews with investigators, co-conspirators, former dancers and the women who loved them, historian Natalia Petrzela exposes one of the great, sordid, unexamined stories in American culture.
From Pineapple Street Studios and Gimlet, Welcome to Your Fantasy premiered February 10, 2021 as a Spotify Exclusive and is now in wide release.
“[Petrzela’s] research and reporting place what might seem like a tacky, tabloidish subject in its full, fascinating cultural context, laying bare all of the nuance behind the bare chests.”
—New Yorker
Past Present Podcast
“History cannot give us a program for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of ourselves, and of our common humanity, so that we can better face the future.”
— Robert Penn Warren
Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, Neil J. Young, and Nicole Hemmer are three historians dedicated to bringing historical insights to political and cultural debates. Why is Pope Francis so popular in America? What’s behind the corporate defense of gay rights? How does The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt manage to get the ’90s so right?
In our weekly podcast, we offer listeners an alternative to the reflexive and polarized world of punditry. Interested in the world around you but exhausted by rote reactions and partisan talking points? You’ve come to the right place.
“Well researched and masterfully produced.”
—H-Podcast