The Documentary Podcast

Heart and Soul: Faith, terrorists and mercy at Guantanamo Bay

15 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Jennifer Bryson interrogated suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists at the infamous Guantanamo Bay. She worked at the detention centre in Cuba for two years...

Missing in Syria

14 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There are one hundred thousand missing Syrians, according to the UN, who’ve been detained or have disappeared since the beginning of the uprising in...

Building power: India’s new parliament

13 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Prime Minister Narendra Modi describes India’s new parliament as a reflection of the “aspirations and dreams” of all Indians. But the huge trian...

In the Studio: Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh

11 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh is one of Ireland's leading screen costume designers - working on such productions as The Wind That Shakes The Barley, Jimmy's...

Inside an autistic mind

10 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Science journalist Sue Nelson shares her personal journey to better understand a condition that affects millions worldwide. Inside her autistic inner ...

BBC OS Conversations: Climate change in Africa

09 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Africa causes little damage to the climate but tends to feel the brunt of changing weather patterns. That was the debate in recent days as Kenya’s c...

Izabela in the forest

06 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Hear the marvellous sounds of Europe's last primeval forest, Białoweiza, in an immersive experience rich with all kinds of bird song and animal sound...

Surviving Greece's migrant boat disaster

05 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

n the early hours of 14th June, a heavily overcrowded, rusty fishing trawler carrying as many as 750 migrants capsized off the coast of Greece. The pa...

Slovakia divided

05 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Slovakia may be a small country, but its upcoming elections could have a big impact across Europe and beyond. One of the strongest supporters of Ukrai...

In the Studio: Robyn Weintraub

04 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Robyn Weintraub is a leading crossword designer who writes clues and fills in cells for the New York Times, famous for its challenging daily puzzles. ...

BBC OS Conversations: American voters

02 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The US elections for the next president are not until November 2024, but the campaigning for votes is underway. And it’s two familiar faces who seem...

Heart and Soul: My sex work and my faith

01 Sep 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Aaliyah grew up a devout Muslim but now makes adult content for the online service OnlyFans. She’s often pictured wearing a hijab. Aaliyah is her st...

Singing Morocco's new identity

31 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Gnawa music is a Moroccan spiritual musical tradition developed by descendants of enslaved people from Sub-Saharan Africa. It combines ritual poetry w...

A new term in Myanmar

29 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On 1st February 2021, a coup d'état began in Myanmar where the National League for Democracy was deposed by Myanmar's military. Students studying at ...

In the Studio: France's Rugby World Cup kit

28 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The French national team are known throughout the sporting world as "les bleus" because of their iconic kits, which echo the blue of the French nation...

BBC OS Conversations: Migrating from Africa

26 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

More than 60 people are currently feared lost at sea after trying to escape Senegal by boat for a better life in Europe. According to the UN, Africa a...

Heart and Soul: 60 years since ‘I have a dream’

25 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Baptist minister Dr Martin Luther King Jr delivered his "I have a dream" speech on 28 August 1963 to crowds of over 250,000 in Washington DC as part o...

Belize's blue bond

24 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 2020 Belize was broke. Again. This small, climate-vulnerable, Central American nation is home to the western hemisphere’s longest barrier reef. A...

Back to school: Supporting neuro-divergent students through LARP

23 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Neurodivergent students learn, think, and process information differently than their neurotypical peers. Because of this, they often face unique chall...

In the Studio: Nicola Benedetti

21 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

World famous violinist Nicola Benedetti starts her new job as Director of the Edinburgh International Festival. Anna Bailey follows her as she enters ...

The famine at the edge of the ocean

20 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Madagascar is experiencing its worst famine for over 30 years. With successive years of drought, this began in the country’s deep south but as succe...

BBC OS Conversations: The fires in Hawaii

19 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It is the deadliest wildfire in the United States in more than a century. On the Hawaiian island of Maui, block after block of the seaside town of Lah...

Heart and Soul: German, soldier, Jew

18 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

After the horrific role played by the German military in the Holocaust, arguably the last place you would expect to find a Jew would be in the German ...

Zimbabwe's worker exodus

17 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Tens of thousands of Zimbabweans are fleeing their country, looking for work in the West, especially in the United Kingdom.Last year Zimbabwe was the ...

Directing disability

16 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the 15 years that Jordan Hogg has been a TV director, he has never worked with another disabled director. Whilst 18% of the population has a disabi...

Did big tech know I was gay before I did?

15 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Journalist Ellie House is bisexual. But before she had even realised that, it felt like big tech had already worked it out, with sites like Netflix an...

In the Studio: Christopher and Tammy Kane

14 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Fashion designers and brother and sister duo, Christopher and Tammy Kane have been trendsetters in the fashion world since 2006. They’ve dressed cel...

The Engineers: Lunar exploration

13 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Humans are returning to the moon for the first time in over 50 years. The multi-national mission is called Artemis and involves the most powerful rock...

BBC OS Conversations: Football in Saudi-Arabia

12 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A new season of the Saudi Pro League is underway, now featuring some of the biggest names in football. Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and N'Golo Kan...

Heart and Soul: Moscow vicar returns home

11 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Rev Malcolm Rogers has been in charge of the most extraordinary church.  St Andrews looks like an ordinary British Victorian church, but amazing...

When Wagner came home

10 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Tens of thousands of Russian criminals – murders, rapists, robbers – were recruited from prisons by the mercenary group, Wagner, to fight in Ukrai...

Female founders: Green tech in the blue economy

09 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Subsistence fishing employs hundreds of millions of people around the world. It’s an enormous business worth trillions of dollars. It’s also a dir...

Inside Afghanistan's secret schools

08 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In March 2022, seven months after the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, second level education was banned for girls, leaving around 1.1 millio...

In the Studio: Ajay Chowdhury

07 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Indian-born crime fiction author, Ajay Chowdhury, is writing the fifth instalment of his Detective Kamil Rahman series, set between India and the ...

Beats, rhymes and life: Hip-hop at 50

06 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

DJ and writer Lynnée Denise marks hip-hop’s 50th year by speaking to leading names about the music, the art and the creativity of this global cultu...

BBC OS Conversatioms: Living through a coup

05 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Niger has been the focus of international and diplomatic attention over the past week after its democratically elected president was removed from powe...

Heart and Soul: Online spiritual communities

04 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A doctor in New York, Anjoli has been longing for a space to practise spirituality within a like-minded community, but she does not want to go to her ...

Returning to Romania

03 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Millions of people left Romania after it entered the EU in 2007. They were haemorrhaging doctors at such a rate they had to shut entire hospitals and ...

A billion batteries

02 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Fourteen-year-old Sri Nihal Tammana is on a mission to prevent billions of batteries going to landfill. After watching devastating fires cause by disc...

Invading the past: Russia and science fiction

01 Aug 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Science fiction flourished from the earliest days of the Soviet Union. A rare space to explore other realms and utopian dreams of progress. But with t...

In the Studio: Sophie Hannah

31 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The crime writer Agatha Christie remains the best-selling novelist of all time even though her death was almost 50 years ago. Her fictional detective ...

Women writing Zimbabwe

30 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Look at any fiction prize recently and odds are that you will find a Zimbabwean woman nominated, be it Tsitsi Dangaremba, NoViolet Bulawayo or Petina ...

BBC OS Conversations: Women in sport

29 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Women’s World Cup is underway and global attention is once again on women in sport. Host James Reynolds brings together Preeti Singh, a national...

Botswana: Living with elephants

27 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The battle to keep the peace between people and elephants in northern Botswana. The earth’s largest land mammal, the elephant, is an endangered spec...

Song of the bell

25 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The world's most followed religion is changing rapidly. Hannah Ajala explores how church bells travelling from Italy to Nigeria herald Africa's new ro...

In the Studio: SO - IL and Ben Lovett: The architects of music

24 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Brooklyn-based architectural practice SO|IL's have garnered a reputation for crafting exquisite arts spaces. They are joined by musician Ben Lovett, o...

BBC OS Conversations: Surviving a heatwave

22 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Millions of people around the world have been living under heat advisories due to record hot temperatures. The exceptional heat is being felt across E...

Heart and Soul: America’s atheist street pirates

21 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On a busy street in Los Angeles a group of people in yellow vests are holding a ladder against a lamppost. Up the ladder, 34-year-old Evan Clark is ri...

Tunisia’s democratic dream

20 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Tunisia’s democracy is being dismantled by a president who claims he’s saving it from anarchy. Parliament has been dissolved, scores of judges sac...

Kew Gardens: Botany and the British empire

18 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For centuries, Kew Gardens was the flash point for a lesser known British imperial project – the collection of plants from colonised nations for pol...

In the Studio: Gregory Doran

17 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Acclaimed and award-winning Shakespearean, Gregory Doran, has directed every play in Shakespeare’s First Folio except Cymbeline. For him it’s one ...

Women's football: Passion versus profit

16 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Euros 2022 saw the Lionesses finally ‘bring it home’ - the excitement and crowd numbers showed there was a huge demand for women’s football....

BBC OS Conversations: Living with rising prices

15 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Prices almost everywhere are going up, which means most of us have less money to spend. At the heart of it is inflation, the rate at which prices are ...

Heart and Soul: Future shaman

14 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As a shaman, Sipa Melo is the beating heart of tribal faith and culture in a remote corner of north-east India, tucked in the shadow of the Himalayan ...

Speaking for themselves

13 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Kaaps is a language widely spoken in the bleak townships of Cape Town, South Africa. It’s often denigrated as a lesser form of Afrikaans – the la...

Bangladesh's clothing conundrum

11 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Many Western fashion brands source garments from Bangladesh, a country with a long history of producing affordable clothing. The industry suffered a d...

In the Studio: The Aquatics Centre, Paris Olympics 2024

10 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In September 2017, The International Olympic Committee announced that a century after France last hosted the Olympics in 1924, the games would be retu...

BBC OS Conversations: Race in France

08 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

France has questions to answer around inequity and its approach to policing. It follows days of violent protests after the fatal shooting in Paris, du...

Heart and Soul: A new generation of Nigerian royalty

07 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Hannah Ajala, a Nigerian-British broadcaster explores the new generation of chieftaincy and royalty in Nigeria. She takes a closer look at some of the...

What's happened to Iraq's Yazidis?

06 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 2014, militants of the Islamic State group set out to destroy the ancient, minority Yazidi community of northern Iraq. Thousands were murdered, tho...

Wagner's revolt: The world takes stock

04 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Russia's once shadowy private military company Wagner hit the headlines around the world when the group’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, ordered his men...

In the Studio: Shezad Dawood

03 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The British artist, Shezad Dawood is known for his colourful textiles and multimedia artworks, often featuring music and VR to explore issues such as ...

BBC OS Conversations: What do Russians and Belarusians make of the Wagner Group?

01 Jul 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Following the Wagner group march on Moscow, we hear from Russians and Belarusians.

Heart and Soul: Nick Cave on grief, faith and music

30 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The songwriter, poet and author, Nick Cave has a conversation about grief, faith and the spirituality of music with the Archbishop of Canterbury Justi...

The Organ Harvesters

29 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Assignment tells the story of a young street trader from Lagos who ended up at the heart of an organ harvesting plot involving a senior Nigerian polit...

Biniam Girmay: Africa’s new cycling hero

27 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On 1 July 2024, Biniam Girmay made history as the first black African rider to win a stage of cycling’s biggest race: the Tour de France. After a ha...

In the Studio: Matthew Xia

26 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

***This programme contains racially sensitive language and themes that may be upsetting.*** Matthew Xia is a theatre director and Olivier award-winnin...

BBC OS Conversations: Survival

24 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Race against time rescue stories have been among the dominating international headlines in the past couple of weeks. There was the missing sub in the ...

Heart and Soul: Windrush at 75

23 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Prof. Robert Beckford interviews Barbara Blake-Hannah the UK’s first black news reporter who returned to Jamaica after just eight years after coming...

South Korea: A room with a view

22 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

“It’s like living in a cemetery.” Jung Seongno lives in a banjiha, or semi-basement apartment in the South Korean capital Seoul. Last August par...

The monkey haters

20 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There is disturbing material, including descriptions of violence and torture of monkeys, from the start of this programme.There's a horrific and distu...

In the Studio: Wayne McGregor

19 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Wayne McGregor is a choreographer and director whose future-focused, multi-award-winning works take inspiration from technology, literature and visual...

Controlled and connected: 50 years of the cell phone

18 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Fifty years on from the first mobile phone call, this programme examines how the device has revolutionised the way we lives our lives. It was 1973 whe...

BBC OS Conversations: Air pollution

17 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Hundreds of wildfires are burning across Canada, almost half are classed by officials as ‘out of control’. Their immediate impact is the destructi...

Heart and Soul: Swiss Christians and conversion therapy

16 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There’s a debate raging in Switzerland over a potential nationwide ban on so-called conversion therapy. We meet Christians whose lives the procedure...

Catching a Pervert

15 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

An investigation by BBC Eye exposes the men profiting from an ugly business of sexual assault for sale.We find websites selling thousands of videos of...

Swan's head, tiger's roar

13 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Producer Steven Rajam travels to the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar to meet some of the women challenging convention, tradition and history at home and...

In the Studio: Ada Limon

12 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the Studio follows US poet laureate Ada Limón as she crafts an original poem dedicated to Nasa’s Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter’s icy moon....

BBC OS Conversations: India train crash

10 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The collision between three trains in the state of Odisha claimed more than 280 lives and left more than 1000 people injured. We bring together a volu...

Heart and Soul: America's relief mission

09 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The work of Florida's Baptist Relief responding to climate events like Hurricane Ian and floods in Kentucky - in support of people whose lives have be...

Ukraine: The men who don’t want to fight

08 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For more than 15 months the Ukrainian armed forces have held out against the superior numbers of the Russian invasion force. But not every Ukrainian m...

Yellowstone: The first national park

06 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 1872, Yellowstone became America and the world's first national park. Alongside erupting geysers, bubbling hot springs, canyons, and bison herds, w...

In the Studio: Ken Loach

05 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Old Oak will be Ken Loach's last feature film and Sharuna Sagar was granted exclusive access behind the scenes of this landmark movie. She joins t...

BBC OS Conversations: Mount Everest

03 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It’s 70 years since a New Zealand mountaineer and his Nepali-Indian Sherpa mountaineer guide reached the highest point on Earth. There have been cel...

Heart and Soul: The ‘living saint’ who hid a mystical sex sect

02 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Jean Vanier changed Richard and Hazel’s lives. He founded the L’Arche movement – a global network inspired by Christian teaching – where peopl...

Myanmar’s war in the air

01 Jun 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Russia is supplying the Myanmar military with advanced fighter jets and training their pilots how to use them in a war against their own people. More ...

Metaleurop : A stain on France

30 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For years the people of Evin-Malmaison in north-east France have lived and brought up children in a town which is dangerously polluted. The Metaleurop...

In the Studio: Alberta Whittle

29 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Alberta is an award-winning Barbadian-Scottish multi-disciplinary artist whose work encompasses drawing, digital collage, film and video installation,...

BBC OS Conversations: Living with ADHD

27 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The exact cause is unknown, but the mental health condition ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) affects millions of lives around the world...

Heart and Soul: Evangelical or political Christianity?

26 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

One of the founding principles of the United States is that religion and politics, church and state, are separate. Yet today in America religious beli...

Germany’s forests under threat

25 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Drought and hotter summers are killing Germany’s spruce forests. They’re a staple of the timber industry but are proving unable to cope with the c...

Global dancefloor: Salvador

24 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Brazil has one of the highest rates of trans and gender-diverse homicides in the world, and almost three-quarters of people killed each year are eithe...

Global dancefloor: Beirut

24 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Frank McWeeny heads to Beirut to meet the nightlife community behind the Grand Factory club, and explores how underground culture here survives even d...

Beirut: Life in the unliveable city

23 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What is it like to live through the collapse of your country, in a city you love and cannot bear to leave? Lina Mounzer is a writer and translator liv...

In the Studio: Lawrence Abu Hamdan

22 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Lawrence Abu Hamdan is an artist and forensic investigator of sound. He describes himself as a 'private ear’, listening to, with and on behalf of pe...

Iraq: Generation Invasion

21 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Twenty years after the US-led invasion, four young Iraqis recall life under foreign occupation and share their hopes and fears for the future. Sheddin...

Introducing The Explanation

20 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On a mission to make sense of the world. A new podcast, with hosts John Simpson and Claire Graham. Episodes released weekly from 20 May 2023.

BBC OS Conversations: Long Covid

20 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) latest figures suggest that nearly seven million people have died due to Covid - although the true figure is l...

Heart and Soul: The emerging Muslim 'manosphere'

19 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In Britain, the growth of Islam is being driven by a younger population, born and brought up in the United Kingdom. This includes BBC reporter Rahil S...

Hard times in the Big Easy

18 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

New Orleans is the murder capital of the United States: researchers into 2022’s crime figures say it suffered more homicides per capita than any oth...