蜜芽传媒

Abbas Alizada was a nine year old in Kabul when he fell in love with martial arts, after seeing Bruce Lee in the classic kung fu movie Enter the Dragon. He begged his parents for martial arts lessons, but when they could no longer afford the fees he continued training by himself at home. For years he spent many hours a day mastering his hero's moves in his basement, even teaching himself how to use Bruce Lee's trademark nunchucks. He was 18 years old when a friend first pointed out that not only could Abbas kick like Bruce Lee, but he bore an uncanny resemblance to him too. His friend uploaded a photo of Abbas posing like the actor to social media and it went viral overnight. National and international media descended on the Alizada household to interview this young lookalike with his self-taught mastery of kung fu. Soon Abbas was being flown all over the Middle East and Asia to star in movies, film commercials and perform at festivals. But when the Taliban retook Kabul in 2021, as a well-known actor Abbas knew he'd have a target on his back. Soon, Abbas would be forced to drop everything - and find a way out.

When Mary Farquharson started receiving strange messages on Facebook from a long-lost university friend, Mark Harris, she thought it was a scam. The last she'd heard about Mark was news that he'd died decades before. But after a few tentative replies, she discovered he was very much alive. After both having led lives on other sides of the world, they told Clayton Conn how their correspondence led to a reunion neither could have imagined.

Presenter: Asya Fouks
Producer: Zoe Gelber

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Photo: Abbas Alizada posing like Bruce Lee in Afghanistan in 2016. Credit: Abbas Alizada