©Florian Stammler

 

Television

 

Lucy has presented for NewsnightOur World on the BBC World ServiceThis World on BBC2 and for the BBC's 100 Women Season. Her documentary Stolen Brides was described as "stunning", "brave"  and "taken from journalism's top drawer". 

 

BBC Our World - Russian Women Fight Back

Russia faces a deadly epidemic of domestic violence. For years it has been hidden from view, but now a new generation of women are fighting back. Lucy Ash meets the families whose extraordinary stories have sparked a national debate and the politicians who are campaigning for changes in the law and better protection for those at risk.

Producer and Director: Albina Kovalyova

Camera: Evgeny Zhuravlev

Research: Nina Nazarova 

 

BBC World- When Britain Invaded Russia

Lucy Ash tells the story of a little-known brutal war that took place a century ago along the frozen rivers of the Russian Arctic, transforming Russia's relations with the West for decades to come. After the October Revolution, thousands of foreign troops under British command fought Russians on Russian soil for over 18 months. Swamps and forests around Archangel are still littered with grenades and fragments of shells.

Producer and Director: Henrietta Foster

Camera: Yuri Ermolin

Research: Natalia Golysheva

 

BBC Our World - Ukraine’s Frontline Bakery

The war in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed rebels and the Ukrainian army has killed more than 10,000 people over four years, and peace remains a distant prospect. Despite the violence and poverty though, civilians in the war zone try to live as normal a life as possible. In the frontline town of Marinka, a new bakery has opened which brings some comfort and sustenance to war-weary locals.

Producer and Director: Albina Kovalyova

Camera: Frederic Paxton

 

BBC Newsnight - Russia’s Extreme Daredevils

Young Russians have gained a reputation on social media for taking the most extreme selfies, often involving death-defying stunts on top of skyscrapers, all for the sake of internet fame.

Lucy Ash travels from Moscow to Siberia to meet some of this trend's most high-profile figures. They explain how they are building themselves into living brands, and the ways they can make money out of their risky roof-top photographs. They reveal what initially motivated them to chance their lives in this way - and an indifference to the rising number of selfie-related deaths in Russia.

Producer: Richard Fenton Smith

Camera: Maxim Lomakin

 

BBC 100 Women Season - Life On the Run

Branded a hero by the sporting world, labelled as a traitor in her homeland, athlete Yuliya Stepanova, with the help of her husband, exposed one of the greatest sporting scandals of all time – the systemic Russian state-sponsored doping programme.

Now living in hiding in the US, Yuliya Stepanova talks to the BBC for the 100 Women season about the cheating, cover-ups and life on the run.

Producer and Director: Jonathan Wells

Camera: Derrick Evans and Maxim Lomakin

 

BBC Our World - Reclaiming Russia's Paradise

Vladimir Putin may have angered the international community by snatching Crimea from Ukraine back in April this year but opinion polls showed that nearly 80 percent of Russians approve of the move. It's hard to overstate the importance of this Black Sea peninsula in the Russian psyche.

Filmed and Directed by Nick Sturdee

 

BBC Our World - The Iron Ladies of Burma

Two farmer's daughters in Burma, dubbed 'The Iron Ladies', are spearheading protests against a Chinese-backed copper mine near their village. They say the mine is causing pollution, damage to crops and loss of fertile land. In the wake of a violent crackdown, Lucy Ash investigates what the protests say about changes in Burma, and asks if this is a test case for the government's commitment to democratic reforms.

Director Andy Brownstone

Producer: Katharine Hodgson 

 

BBC Our World - China’s Love Hunters

By the end of this decade 24 million Chinese men won't be able to find wives. A preference for baby boys and the termination of pregnancies which would have produced girls has led to an increasing gender imbalance, exacerbated by China's 'one child policy'. The country's frenetic economic growth has also turned the dating game into survival of the fittest. Lucy Ash reports.

Director and camera: Andy Brownstone

Producer: Julie Ball

Research: Edera Liang

 

BBC Our World - Ukraines Aids Racket

Leaders of Ukraine's Orange Revolution have promised to tackle the country's fast growing Aids epidemic. But government indifference and corruption have blocked access to life saving drugs. Police harassment and social stigma mean many are afraid to seek treatment. Lucy Ash travels to Kiev where new legislation targeting the gay community and foreign medicines may make things even worse.

Producer and director: Albina Kovalyova

Camera: Rupert Binsley

 

BBC Our World - Dagestan's Football Dreams

A billionaire in Dagestan is pouring vast sums of money into the republic's football team in a bid to bring stability. But can changing things on the pitch really change the region's politics? Lucy Ash reports from Dagestan.

Producer and Director: Nick Sturdee

 

BBC Our World - Edge of the Earth

The biggest gas reserves on the planet are in the Russian Arctic. Lucy Ash travels to the remote Yamal Peninsula, high above the Arctic Circle, to meet both the people who travel there for work, and the indigenous herders whose way of life is under threat.

Producer and Director: Albina Kovalyova

Camera: Yuri Ermolin

Research: Florian Stammler

 

BBC2 This World - Stolen Brides

From the moment a young woman is snatched, to her wedding one week later, Lucy follows the twists and turns as two families struggle to negotiate a compromise. She’s also with the mullah whose job it is to arbitrate between the two families and prevent the incident spilling into bloodshed. After a week of tense negotiations, she attends the colourful wedding celebrations where it seems there are as many guns as guests.

Director and Camera: Nick Sturdee and Dmitri Collingridge