Christmas and the holiday season is a crucial time for toy retailers, and hopes will be high for sales to return to pre-pandemic levels. But with the rising cost of living, we find out if families will be cutting back on toy spending this year - and look at the toys topping the popularity charts. We'll also find out how much does TV and film influence the types of toys in demand.Frederique Tutt from market research company NPD group explains the trends in toy sales, and how the type of toys that people are buying is changing.Elizabeth Hotson visits the DreamToys event in London, organised by the toy retailers association. She speaks to Paul Reader, the chair of the DreamToys selection committee about what’s making the top 10 toys list this year.Hedley Barnes, senior vice president for International from Spin Master, the company behind both the Paw Patrol TV series and toys, explains the valuable link between the show and the merchandise.Also on the list are Rainbow High Dolls – Sarah Taylor is managing director, UK and Ireland, for MGA entertainment, the company behind the dolls. She tells Elizabeth why diversity, which they champion, appeals to families.And Alan Simpson, chair of the toy retailers association, says he expects a lot of the ‘old favourites’ like Lego, Barbie, Monopoly and Play Dough to still be really popular.Presented and produced by Elizabeth Hotson (Image: A toy in a Christmas box. Credit: Getty)

Big tech is facing a big moment. With plummeting stock prices, and mass lay-offs, the likes of Google, Twitter and Meta are all - for different reasons - facing some tough questions over how they're being run. Some see this as primarily a result of post-pandemic blues, the rise in interest rates, and a general cost-of-living crisis affecting the business environment. However, Twitter and Meta especially have seen wholesale desertions by a number of major advertisers, worried about the regulation of hate speech, and therefore by association the safety of brands' reputations.Does this mark a deeper crisis for the ad-based business model of the major social media platforms? And what can they do about it? Presenter / Producer: Ed Butler Image: Phones; Credit: Getty

Nigeria’s film industry, known as Nollywood is the second largest film industry in the world and has overtaken Hollywood in terms of the quantity of films produced – with an annual output of over 2,500 films.In the early 1990s, the industry was infamous for its low budget, low production films – all of which went straight to VHS cassettes and DVDs, with actors and filmmakers often running at a loss.However the past decade we've seen Nollywood grow exponentially and the industry now dominates streaming platforms across Africa and in the diaspora.Filmmaker and distributor Moses Babatope tells us local languages and mythical storylines are the secret of Nollywood’s new found success, coupled with improvement in expertise whilst veteran actress Kate Henshaw says the industry has come a long way since she first graced the screen.Adunni Ade a first time executive producer is of the opinion more can be done to incentivise the growth of the industry and Nigeria’s biggest film producer Kunle Afolayan advocates the need for improvement in production capacity.Presenter / producer: Peter MacJob Image: Actors on set; Credit: Adunni Ade

Online gambling’s success has pushed global valuations of the industry to around half a trillion dollars for 2022 - but the accessibility of its digital platforms is forcing regulators around the world into a rethink. In this programme, Laura Heighton-Ginns visits Fanduel - the market leader in New York - and gets a tour of its vast Meadowlands Sportsbook complex, where punters blend betting with socialising.Laura also hears from Indian Poker champion Nikita Luther on the distinctions between playing games of skill for money and those of chance and Chrissy Boyce, who became bankrupt and homeless through using digital slot machines, tells Laura about the links between online gambling and addiction.Presenter / producer: Laura Heighton-Ginns Image: Fanduel Meadowlands; Credit: BBC

More than ever girls are bombarded by images that have been curated, filtered and touched up. How can we help girls decode those images and understand that ideals of beauty are constructed by society and change across time and place?Shelina Janmohamed is an author and advertising executive. Her latest book is designed to help girls aged eight and above build confidence in how they look and show them why what appears to be beautiful isn't as straight forward as it seems.Shelina tells presenter Rabiya Limbada why her career in advertising led her to write this book and why helping girls become more savvy consumers is good for business. Rabiya also speaks to six girls - Hanaa, Haleemah, Helen, Hana, Sophia and Amatullah - about what they think beautiful is, their experience of filtered images and how confident they feel about how they look.Presenter: Rabiya Limbada Producer: Carmel O'Grady (Image: Young girl at beauty counter / Credit: Getty Images)

In today’s episode of our Beauty Costs series, we’re looking at a part of the beauty world that’s worth over ten billion dollars.K-beauty is one of South Korea’s biggest exports, and in the last couple of years it’s overtaken the United States in becoming the world’s second biggest exporter of beauty products.So we head to Seoul, where reporter Nina Pasquini finds out why consumers there think it’s infiltrated the mainstream market.We speak to the founder of one of the biggest K-beauty disruptor brands, Alicia Yoon from Peach & Lily. Sharon Ahn, beauty analyst from global consumer trend forecaster WGSN, tells us why K-beauty is set to become worth twenty billion dollars in the next few years.South Korea has cultivated an era of cultural dominance, in music, acting and now in beauty. A lot of which has been accessible online, mainly through social media. Youtuber SSIN has over one a and a half million subscribers to her channel, she tells us what K-beauty means to her and her thoughts on its success.Producer and presenter: Izzy Greenfield (Image: Beige Chuu South Korean beauty influencer / Credit: Getty Images)

The beauty industry was once a world dominated by a handful of names, but quickly and quietly, hundreds of smaller brands have managed to make a name for themselves in an incredibly competitive sector.We speak to beauty business founders who have built their brands from scratch, and now sell to millions of people across the world; Chaymae Samir is the founder of MadeBySunday.com and Bianca Ingrosso is the founder of CAIA cosmetics.In a recent report on the cosmetics industry, Deloitte found that “small is the new big” and that “global brands are losing share as small brands and disruptors are gaining”. So why have we fallen out of love with the beauty behemoths, and what do smaller brands have that the bigger ones don’t?Producer and presenter: Izzy Greenfield (Image: Make-up products / Credit: Getty Images)

Products that claim to lighten skin are often physically harmful, often containing toxic chemicals and dangerous ingredients. We look at why skin lightening products still exist, speak to people affected by their messaging, and find out why stopping sales is not as simple as it might seem.We hear from Professor Mire, associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Carleton in Ottawa, Canada. She suggests that terms like "glow" and "brightening," which are increasingly used by cosmetics firms as substitutes, are as steeped in colonial and racial narratives as the words they are replacing. She believes the branding of these products continues to exploit historic and racialised associations between skin tone and status.Chandana from Mumbai tells us what it was like to live in a society where she was pressured to have lighter skin, and Professor Adbi from the Singapore Business Schools explains why he believes that companies are promoting beauty ideals linked to lighter skin, and fuelling demand that could indirectly put people’s health at risk.Producer and presenter: Izzy Greenfield (Image: Skin lightening products. Credit: Getty Images)

Perhaps you have heard of Marcia Kilgore, or maybe not, but if you’re a woman, a beauty junkie, or just love shoes, you are likely to have heard of one of the five multi-million dollar companies that she has launched over the last two decades.Marcia is the brains behind the beauty brand BlissSpa, the spa brand Soap&Glory, shoe phenomenon FitFlop, bath and body range Soaper Duper and most recently, Beauty Pie - an affordable luxury make-up and skincare range.She tells us why she became a serial entrepreneur, and how her career started in a one bedroom-apartment in New York City.Producer and presenter: Izzy Greenfield(Image: Marcia Kilgore. Credit: Getty Images)

UK-based rapper Krept grew up in a culture of gang violence, but has carved out a career for himself as a successful musician and entrepreneur. As one half of rap duo Krept & Konan, his songs, like Waste My Time, G-Love and Freak of the Week, have been streamed millions of times. Recently Krept – real name Casyo Johnson - has opened a restaurant in south London where he grew up, and the new father has even developed a skincare range for babies. He tells Dougal Shaw how he juggles the worlds of music and business.Producer and presenter: Dougal Shaw(Image: Krept. Credit: BBC)