The Documentary Podcast
Episodes
The man who came back from the dead
14 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The incredibly story of Ivan Skyba, the sole survivor of one of the worst atrocities of the war in Ukraine. In March 2022, Russian troops shot dead ei...
Shrimps, saris and guns
12 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Deep in the jungles of Bangladesh, a small group of women secretly practise army-style drills. This small team, made exclusively of female village res...
Boris Johnson
09 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Less than three years after winning a landslide victory, the UK’s Conservative party Prime Minister Boris Johnson has resigned. It follows a series ...
Ukraine war stories
07 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How would you cope it you were at the centre of a war? In March 2022, the BBC told the stories of four young women whose lives were changed forever by...
Floating justice
05 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The city of Macapá is in the middle of a river archipelago with around 50 villages and 14,000 inhabitants, where the Amazon meets the Atlantic Ocean....
Latinos in Texas
02 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It is being described as the deadliest human smuggling incident in US history after more than 50 men, women and children were found dead in an abandon...
Ethiopia’s Disinformation War
30 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When President Abiy Ahmed came to power in Ethiopia he was seen as a reformer who was heralding a new era of hope. In 2019 he was even awarded the Nob...
From Ukraine to Israel: An exodus for our times
28 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Thousands of Ukrainians are fleeing to Israel – joining a million-plus former Soviets who have already moved to this Middle Eastern nation, with pro...
Life in Kyiv
25 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Back in February, when Russian forces began their invasion of Ukraine, their tanks were heading towards Kyiv. The Russians retreated before making it ...
Kenya's election hustle
23 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Kenyan politicians are spending millions of dollars on campaigns to win lucrative political office in August's crucial elections. With 75 percent of K...
The Interview: Sergei Lavrov
22 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks to the BBC’s Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg, about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the impact of...
The climate tipping points
18 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The melting of polar ice sheets, the collapse of the Amazon rainforest, the seizing up of ocean circulation - these are just some of the calamities we...
Insecurity in Nigeria
18 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It has a population of 215 million but very few Nigerians have been untouched by incidents of violence and lawlessness which appear to have increased ...
Ukraine’s homegrown harvest
16 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ukraine’s farms are under attack. Russian forces are burning or stealing grain and vegetables. The main growing regions in the south are under occup...
Don't log off: Keeping going
15 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In Melbourne, Jaswinder describes the epic road trip he made with his fellow members of Sikh Volunteers Australia, to bring healthy food to the victim...
The night Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons
14 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It was a night of intense negotiation which would change the world order as Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons. Thousands of nuclear arms had been le...
Messages for those lost in Ukraine
11 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As the battles continue, following the Russian forces’ attack on Ukraine, we share memories from a few of the thousands of people who have lost frie...
Evacuated to Russia
09 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
More than a million Ukrainian civilians from Mariupol and other war-ravaged towns in the east of the country have been transported over the border int...
Don't log off: A different way
08 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
An ecological retreat on the edge of the Amazonian rainforest, which has the area's indigenous people as its nearest neighbours. A self declared indep...
Inside the Kim regime
07 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever wondered what life is like at the very top of the North Korean regime? Thae Yong-ho was once the Deputy Ambassador of North Korea to the...
The interview: Tina Brown
05 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Award-winning writer and magazine editor Tina Brown has spent decades chronicling the British royal family. BBC special correspondent Katty Kay meets ...
The rising cost of living: Fuel
04 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Lebanon has been in an economic crisis for almost three years. Beirut is still recovering from an explosion of stored chemicals in 2020, which killed ...
Ukraine: The disinformation war
02 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Russia’s response to accusations of war crimes in Ukraine has been to blame the Ukrainians of bombing their own side. Some people in the UK have bee...
Don't log off: Roads less travelled
01 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Alan speaks with Shugofa, an Afghan refugee now living in Rome. He also reconnects with Leo in Moldova, who last spoke with Alan eight years ago and h...
Guarding the art
31 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Baltimore Museum of Art is hosting a bold and ground-breaking exhibition curated entirely by 17 members of the its security staff. Broadcaster and art...
The rising cost of living: Food
28 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The head of the World Bank recently warned that the Russian invasion of Ukraine could cause a global recession. There are additional reasons for the g...
The Royal diplomat
27 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
After 70 years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II is the world’s most high profile global figure and a unique exemplar of diplomacy and soft power. M...
When rape becomes a crime
26 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Senegal in West Africa recently introduced much tougher sentences for rape. Until 2019 it was deemed a misdemeanour rather than a serious crime and an...
Don't log off: People are alike all over
25 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For the last decade Alan Dein has crossed the globe via the internet to gather stories from total strangers and occasional old friends. Roberta from Z...
The other side of death row
24 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It is 31 years since Christine Towery's brother Robert killed a man and 10 years since he died at the hands of the state of Arizona by lethal injectio...
How can we live an ethical life?
22 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Is it unethical to eat animals? Can you be a good person if you have spare money and don’t give any of it to charity? What is the moral response to ...
The advertising trap
21 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Digital advertising has taken over the world. But is it all based on smoke and mirrors? Ed Butler investigates what some claim is a massive collective...
The Buffalo shooting
21 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Once again, the United States is discussing race, guns and mass shootings after the killing of 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York State. ...
Love-bombing Estonia’s Russian speakers
19 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Can music and culture help unite Estonia? Guitar riffs lilt through the air and over the narrow river that marks the border between Estonia and Russia...
Don't log off: Russia's invasion of Ukraine
18 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Alan Dein connects via social media to absolute strangers and old friends to hear how Russia's invasion of Ukraine has blown away their old lives. Som...
Escape from the Taliban
17 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Sana Safi follows the stories of two Afghan women judges who have had to go into hiding after the Taliban takeover. Through encrypted networks and mes...
Billionaire ball game
14 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
James Montague, award-winning author of the The Billionaire’s Club, tells the story of how the super-rich bought English football and Chelsea FC bec...
Abortion in the US
14 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Abortion is a deeply divisive issue in the United States that spans the law, religion and women’s rights. It has been a legal right for almost 50 ye...
Hidden Sport: Switch
14 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Kim Tserkezie meets Danny Hibbert, the mastermind behind Switch, a sport of sports consisting of football, basketball, volleyball, netball and handbal...
Cambodia: Returning the gods
12 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
While some countries fight to reclaim antiquities that were stolen centuries ago, Cambodian investigators are dealing with far more recent thefts. Man...
Don't log off: Daria, love and war
11 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Alan Dein's series of global conversations is now a decade old. Via social media he has crossed the word and heard true stories of love, pain and down...
Grenada: Confronting the past
10 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
BBC World News anchor Laura Trevelyan discovered her family’s slave owning past only after the University College London database of slave ownership...
Hidden Sport: Drone racing
07 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Kim Tserkezie soars into the skies with the drone racers to learn about a technology that is increasingly shaping the world, both for good and bad. Wi...
Ukraine mine clearance
07 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ukrainians have been living with the horrors of war, amid attacks from Russian troops, for more than two months. We hear from three Ukrainian women wh...
Mexico: The Yaqui fight back
05 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Resistance and division among Mexico’s indigenous Yaqui people. Anabela Carlon is a legal advocate for the indigenous Yaqui of Sonora – a fierce d...
The Grand Egyptian Museum
03 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
More than 10 years and one billion dollars in the making, the Grand Egyptian Museum is the sort of big statement architecture the Pharaohs would surel...
Ukrainian students
30 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We bring together three Ukrainian students, who studied at different universities in Kyiv before the war, to hear about how they are continuing their ...
War on Truth: Ukraine
30 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What is fake, what is real? BBC disinformation reporter Marianna Spring speaks to people caught up in the battle for the truth in the information war ...
Zelensky: The making of a president
30 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For weeks Volodymyr Zelensky has been leading his nation against a devastating invasion by Russia. As Ukraine continues to resist one of the most powe...
Hidden Sport: Korfball
30 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Kim Tserkezie discovers the fast-paced sport of korfball, which lays claim to being the only full gender-equal team sport in the world. Kim learns abo...
The accordion wars of Lesotho
28 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A form of oral poetry accompanied on the accordion is the basis of a wildly popular form of music in Lesotho, southern Africa. But jealousy between Fa...
Shifting Cultures: From paddock to plate
26 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
On Queensland’s Western Downs the Penfold family, Dan, Karen and their four daughters run 40,000 hectares of beef cattle. The farm has been in the f...
Ukrainian journalists
23 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Reporting from a war zone is always challenging and accurate information can be hard to establish, but it’s estimated that thousands have been kille...
Ingenious II
23 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Kat Arney takes a deep dive into our genetic make-up and tells the story of four pieces of human DNA: the fat gene, the Huntington gene, the CCR5 g...
Hidden Sport: Dambe boxing
23 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Kim Tserkezie faces up to her lifelong dislike of combat sports by exploring Dambe boxing, a Nigerian sport with a history that is said to go back as ...
Myanmar: Fighting the might of the junta
21 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Myanmar is now in a state of civil war. What started in February 2021 as a mass protest movement against the military coup is now a nationwide armed u...
Saving our species
19 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Australia is famous for its unique wildlife and landscapes. But Australia also has the highest mammal extinction rate in the world, and there are big ...
Saving Ukraine's children
16 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The United Nations’ children agency, Unicef, has said that almost two thirds of Ukraine’s 7.5 million children have been displaced during the six ...
Who killed my grandfather?
16 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Beirut, 1974. It is the height of the Cold War. A prominent Yemeni politician is shot dead in his car. Some say, had he lived, Yemen would be a differ...
Russia's unwelcome new exiles
14 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Hundreds of thousands of Russians have fled abroad since its invasion of Ukraine, afraid of growing repression in their country, and increasing intern...
Healing with fire on koala country
12 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the forests surrounding Biamanga, a sacred mountain for the Yuin people of south-eastern Australia, traditional indigenous fire practitioners are p...
Helping Ukrainians
09 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
With Russian forces withdrawing from some areas of Ukraine, details are emerging of the death and destruction they have left behind. In Borodyanka, 60...
The shadow of Algiers
09 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It is 60 years since the Algerian War of Independence. But it still casts a shadow over the present. As France goes to the polls to elect a new presid...
Dying to hunt in France
07 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Just before Christmas, 2021, Joel Vilard was driving his cousin home on a dual carriageway just south of Rennes in Brittany. Suddenly, a bullet flew t...
A coastal town in fear of the sea
05 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The ocean is central to the Esperance community’s lifestyle and identity. But three fatal shark attacks in three years have had a profound impact on...
Talking to Ukraine's children
02 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
An estimated four million people – mostly women and children – have escaped from Ukraine and its war. Host Karnie Sharp hears from two Ukrainian m...
Life's big questions
02 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What are the big mysteries that people want to understand about life? How to be happy. How to accept old age and death. Wit questions sent in from all...
Shipwreck
31 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In April 2015, more than 1000 refugees and migrants drowned when the old fishing boat they were travelling on sank in the Mediterranean. It was the ar...
The house that Viktor built
29 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, is running for a fourth consecutive term. The election is on 3 April. But now it is taking place against t...
Destroying Ukrainian history
26 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How major news stories are affecting the lives of people around the world
World of Wisdom: Guilt
26 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Guilt can be a nagging sensation that is sometimes very hard to get rid of. Anna, from Switzerland, has experienced this negative feeling since she wa...
Counting them in
26 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Before the war, the Falklands were a distant outpost of Britain, more British than Britain. But these rocky, rural islands were also in decline, losin...
Heartbeats, abortion and Texas
24 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In September, 2021 the state of Texas introduced the most restrictive abortion law in the United States. SB8, also known as the Heartbeat Act, prohibi...
Why are we having less sex?
22 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Author Jerry Barnett investigates why across the western world there has been a recent, steep decline in sexual activity. With the help of experts, ac...
Relationships with mothers
19 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Our mothers are at the heart of who we are, whether they are in our lives or not, but this fundamental relationship can be very challenging, with woun...
The fate of Russia’s soldiers
17 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Most Russians are getting a distorted picture of what Vladimir Putin calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine. Even the use of the words “war...
The Shutdown: Conflict
16 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For over a year a civil war has raged in Ethiopia, a result of decades long ethnic tensions. The northern state of Tigray has been subject to a commun...
Bougainville's long road to independence
15 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How do you create a nation from the ruins of conflict and neglect? It is the question asked by local journalist, Louiseanne Laris, as her home island ...
Welcoming Ukraine's refugees
12 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The United Nations says the war in Ukraine has provoked the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War Two. Leaving their homes and most...
World of Wisdom: Changing expectations
12 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How do we learn to adapt when life doesn't go as we planned? Sometimes the life we believed we should be living and the expectation of the person we w...
Tough Love’ in San Francisco
10 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Last year, San Francisco had twice as many deaths from drug abuse as Covid. In the central ‘Tenderloin’ district alone, where thousands of homeles...
The shutdown: Elections
09 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
National and regional elections have frequently coincided with internet shutdowns or disruption. Shutdowns can occur whilst polls are open, or are som...
Surviving in Ukraine
05 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The war in Ukraine is bringing much destruction and devastation, with fighting and attacks in multiple cities. Host Karnie Sharp guides us through the...
World of Wisdom: Living with losing the one you love
05 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When someone young dies it is very hard for those they leave behind, perhaps even more so when they have taken their own life. Jorge, from Mexico, spe...
India's living dead
03 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What would it be like if everyone believed you were dead? Lal Bihari knows exactly what that feels like. When he was 22 years old the Indian farmer wa...
The shutdown: Misinformation
02 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It is often claimed that shut downs are required to stop the spread of misinformation online, particularly during times of uncertainty or protest. In ...
Inside the world's biggest humanitarian warehouse
01 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Each year Unicef, the United Nations children’s charity, procures billions of dollars of goods for delivery to those most in need all over the word....
Ukraine
27 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When the Russian attacks began, after all attempts at diplomacy had failed, Ukrainians were awoken in their beds by the sound of explosions. Host Jame...
World of Wisdom: Self-confidence
26 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Is self-love the key to developing confidence? If so, how does it work? Nadia, from Colombia, doesn’t trust in her own ability to succeed, especiall...
Subscription scams
24 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
From pills that resolve chronic pain issues overnight to diet supplements which promise to help shed pounds in days, the internet is awash with advert...
Jobfished
22 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It is 2020. Covid Britain is in lockdown and the world is working from home. In the depths of the deadly pandemic and when people were at their lowest...
Journalists in Mexico
19 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Outside a war zone, Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries to be a journalist. In 2021, seven journalists were murdered. In the first few weeks...
Word of Wisdom: Overcoming betrayal
19 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When someone we trust betrays us, the feelings can be corrosive and long-lasting. Nini, from Myanmar, found out a year ago that her husband of 20 year...
Italy’s hidden sins
17 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
With the seat of the Catholic Church on its doorstep and the highest number of priests of any country, Italy is a bastion of global Catholicism. And y...
Dark patterns
15 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Trying to cancel some online accounts can be a maze of searches and false hopes, multiple clicks through a puzzle of seemingly unrelated destinations....
Women building peace: Colombia
13 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
An ex-Farc fighter talks about her struggle to integrate into Colombian society after she laid down arms five years ago. Leading women peace builders ...
World Wide Waves '22: The sounds of community radio
12 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For World Radio Day 2022, we tune in to radio stations around the world that connect communities, spark conversations, keep traditions alive and give ...
Coronavirus: Protesting truckers
12 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For the past fortnight, the world has watched Canadian truckers block roads to protest against Covid restrictions. A rule that required any truckers e...
Nato’s role in the Ukraine crisis
12 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Russia and some Nato member states, including the US, are at odds over the Ukraine crisis. Ros Atkins examines the dynamics at play between Russia and...
World of Wisdom: Regrets
12 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Looking back over a long life can provide cause for regret. Incidents from decades past, seemingly forgotten, can suddenly provoke deep sadness. Richa...