Two Nottingham Lads: Trailer

About this episode

The episode explores the contrasting lives of Aiden Aslin and Graham Phillips, focusing on their encounter during the Ukraine conflict.

Aiden Aslin from Nottingham had been fighting for Ukraine since 2018. Graham Phillips, from the same British city, was a self-styled ‘independent journalist’ filming the war up close since 2014, from a viewpoint that appears to be sympathetic to Russia. But just months after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the pair had a chilling encounter in a prison in the occupied city of Donetsk. Aiden was now a prisoner of war, and Graham was his interviewer. The 44 minute video filmed by Graham Phillips was uploaded to YouTube - changing both of their lives forever. Two Nottingham Lads begins with this disturbing video, and traces the lives of these two men back to understand how they got there and what motivated them? How did their parallel lives take such different turns, even if they ended up in the same dark place? What makes you pick a side in a war that’s not your own? It’s presented by Paul Kenyon, a reporter and author who has covered conflict and corruption for the BBC across his career. Over four episodes he recalls his own memories of the war in Ukraine, something he has followed up close for over a decade. Through interviews with Aiden, his family and comrades – and people…

People in this episode

Host: Paul Kenyon

Guests: Aiden Aslin, Graham Phillips

Topics covered

• war
• journalism
• prisoner of war
• Ukraine conflict
• personal narratives
• media and propaganda

Keywords

• Aiden Aslin
• Graham Phillips
• Ukraine
• Donetsk
• prisoner of war
• journalism
• war
• media
• propaganda

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: BBC

Places: Nottingham, Ukraine, Donetsk

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• Sixty Years of Hurt: Trailer · May 8, 2026 · 2 min
• Two Nottingham Lads: 4. Last Days in the Donbas · January 14, 2026 · 29 min