The Documentary Podcast
Episodes
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...
Ukraine’s frontline bakery revisited
10 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Lucy Ash catches up with a warzone bakery comforting people in an east Ukrainian town. She visited in 2017 to tell the story of a small enterprise tha...
No satisfaction
08 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Sex is everywhere – in popular music and TV programmes, in toothpaste adverts and on social media. Yet in real life, regular sex no longer seems to ...
Women building peace: Ethiopia
06 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Women working to help communities caught up in Ethiopia’s brutal war talk about the immense challenges they face on the ground, and we hear the stor...
The Winter Olympics
05 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Winter Games are officially underway as Beijing becomes the first city to host both the summer and winter Olympics. Host Karnie Sharp brings us a ...
Joe Rogan, Spotify and Covid
05 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The musicians Neil Young and Joni Mitchell have asked Spotify to remove their music from the platform. They have criticised the music streaming servic...
World of Wisdom:The passion for life
05 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The pandemic has caused many people to reassess their lives...but self-reflection is a journey that can bring challenges. Annie, from Australia, feels...
Dangerous liaisons in Sinaloa
03 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Mexican state of Sinaloa is synonymous with drug trafficking. With the profits from organised crime a driver of the local economy, the tentacles o...
Pakistan's long game
01 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Owen Bennett-Jones examines how the government in Tehran outwitted the United States in Iraq, which resulted in Tehran having more influence in Baghda...
Women building peace: Bosnia-Herzegovina
30 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A woman born after her mother was raped during the Bosnian conflict of the 1990s says the struggle for reparation and reconciliation continues 25 year...
Music that survived the Nazis: Part two
29 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Featuring extraordinarily rare recordings, historian Shirli Gilbert presents this new history of life and music under Nazi tyranny. This episode focus...
Women in Ukraine and Russia
29 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There is much international focus on the possibility of a Russian military invasion of its neighbour Ukraine. US President Joe Biden has spoken of “...
The rising cost of living
29 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The cost of food and fuel has risen globally. The pandemic has played some part in it but there are other reasons too. Ros Atkins examines what’s be...
World of Wisdom: Judging ourselves harshly
29 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Can we learn to let go of negative thoughts that are bringing us down? Sometimes it can feel as if nothing in life is going the way it should and we j...
Hunting the darknet dealers
27 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The high stakes cat and mouse game between police and darknet drug dealers. Police in the UK say they are finally turning the tide on drug dealers sel...
Fighting tobacco in Zambia
25 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In Zambia, smoking is on the rise. One woman wants to change that. BBC global health correspondent Tulip Mazumdar follows the story of Brenda Chitindi...
Women Building Peace: Afghanistan
23 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
"Lama", a student in Afghanistan who fears for her safety since the Taliban takeover, speaks to the country's former education minister Rangina Hamidi...
Music that survived the Nazis: Part one
22 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There is a common misconception that music under the Nazis was either ‘Degenerate Music’ to be suppressed or propaganda music that was officially ...
Coronavirus: Family arguments
22 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Health professionals will tell you that Covid-19 vaccines have saved millions of lives across the globe yet some people continue to doubt their safety...
China's Zero-Covid Dilemma
22 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
As coronavirus restrictions begin to ease around the world, China is sticking with its Zero-Covid policy. But questions have been raised about how sus...
World of Wisdom: Feeling used
22 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When we feel taken advantage of by people, it can be very hurtful and leave us feeling bitter. Giving a lot to our friends can come with the expectati...
Hunting Syria's war criminals
20 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine walking down a street in a European capital and meeting your torturer. For many Syrian refugees fleeing war and human rights abuses, Europe wa...
Silence would be treason
15 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The last writings of Ken Saro-Wiwa from prison in Nigeria to an Irish nun in the run up to his execution in November 1995. Smuggled out of prison in b...
Coronavirus: Athletes and teachers
15 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The vaccination and visa controversy around Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open tournament has made global headlines all week. It has also put focus...
Djokovic, sport and vaccine mandates
15 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Covid vaccination status of men's number one tennis player, Novak Djokovic, has caused a political row. Ros Atkins looks at what Djokovic's case c...
World of Wisdom: Being your true self
15 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Being the real you can be difficult, especially if it means upsetting your family. Folake from Benin tries to be a ‘good girl’ and avoids taking d...
Montenegro’s Chinese road
13 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been called the priciest piece of tarmac in the world. In 2014 the government of Montenegro signed a contract with a state-owned Chinese compan...
Forest fear
08 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Amazon is the largest area of rainforest on earth. Bursting with life, it provides us with a wealth of resources. But for each of its potential ri...
Coronavirus: The vaccinators
08 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The rapid spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 is leading to record infection levels in several countries, and vaccination is a key part of the f...
The storming of the US Capitol: what happened next
08 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The US Capitol riot on January 6, 2021 has been described by President Biden as a dark day in US history. A year on since the attack, Ros Atkins exami...
World of Wisdom: Precious time in later life
08 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It can be hard to choose how to spend our precious time. Imam Jamal Rahman, a Sufi spiritual teacher, offers a joyful perspective to Rebecca from the ...
Turkey's crazy project
06 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A giant new canal for the world’s biggest ships is the most ambitious engineering plan yet proposed by Turkey’s President Erdogan, whose massive i...
Gone but not forgotten: Syria's missing persons
04 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Wafa Mustafa hasn't heard from her dad since he went missing in July 2013. She, like tens of thousands of others in her position, believes he is being...
A Wish for Afghanistan: The advocate and the musicians
02 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Another chance to hear from some of the BBC's acclaimed series examining the seismic events shaping Afghanistan before and after this year's return to...
A Pyrotechnic History of Humanity: The future
01 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
ustin Rowlatt looks at the monumental challenge of weaning ourselves off fossil fuels. Solar and wind could meet all of humanity’s energy needs, but...
BBC OS Conversations: Tracking the pandemic
01 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Two years after the first cases of a mysterious new virus were reported from China, host Nuala McGovern brings together experts in Switzerland, India ...
World of Wisdom: Social distance
01 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The pandemic has meant stopping so many of the everyday things we used to do, including not hugging and kissing others. For Susanna from Italy, not be...
Peru's left behind children
30 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Peru has been battered by Covid-19. It has the highest known death toll in the world per capita. But behind the figures there’s another hidden pande...
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
26 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Reflecting on the life of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the South African priest who became a prominent figure in the fight against apartheid, and was awar...
A Wish for Afghanistan: The Talib and the president
26 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A chance to hear once again from the BBC's acclaimed series examining the seismic events shaping Afghanistan before and after this year's return to po...
A Pyrotechnic History of Humanity: Fossil fuels
25 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Justin Rowlatt looks at the bonanza provided by coal, oil and gas in just the last two centuries. Our modern comfortable way of life is only made poss...
MTV@40
25 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the early '80s the idea of a television channel showing nothing but music videos 24 hours a day was completely revolutionary. It posed the first re...
Coronavirus: Reporting Covid
25 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Vaccines, vaccine hesitancy, Delta and Omicron – what is it like reporting on the pandemic? Host Nuala McGovern links up with journalists in Brazil,...
World of Wisdom: Happiness in a hard situation
25 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How do you find inner happiness when life in your home country is very hard? Eduardo is a young man in Venezuela facing daily struggles in his life. H...
Afghan girls given a sporting chance
24 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Female athletes faced brutal choices as allied forces withdrew from Afghanistan - to flee their homes and country or to stay and possibly abandon all ...
The runaway maids of Oman
23 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Hundreds of young women from Sierra Leone, West Africa, have been trapped in the Arabian sultanate of Oman, desperate to get home. Promised work in sh...
CODA: I'm the thumb in my family
21 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Humera Iqbal enters the remarkable world of Children of Deaf Adults, or CODAs. At a young age they take on the mighty responsibility of interpreting f...
Agriculture: The solar energy revolution
19 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Justin Rowlatt explores what was the original solar energy revolution – harnessing the sun’s rays to grow food. Some 10,000 years ago our ancestor...
Parcels of CARE
18 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Seventy-five years ago, when aching hunger dominated people’s lives in post-war Europe, a food parcel seemed like a miracle. Particularly when it ha...
Coronavirus: Threats to health workers
18 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Covid-19 infections in several countries are causing pressures on hospital resources to rise again. At the same time, polarising views persist over va...
What 2021 taught us about Covid
18 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This year started with the focus on Covid-19 vaccine rollouts and ends with the emergence of a new coronavirus variant, Omicron. Ros Atkins looks at h...
World of Wisdom: Recovery
18 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When our bodies recover from a life-threatening illness, it can sometimes be hard for the mind and morale to follow suit. People can even say they res...
The fake bitcoin mine
15 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With crypto currencies – like Bitcoin and Troon - booming there’s never been a better time to mine for crypto online. Mines in this context descri...
Fire: The energy revolution
12 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Justin Rowlatt goes right back to the origin of our species two million years ago to explore how the mastery of fire by early humans transformed our m...
Coronavirus: Pandemic PTSD
11 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Several countries are seeing the pressure that a new wave of Covid-19 is placing on their hospitals once more, and they’re reintroducing measures to...
Compulsory Covid vaccinations
11 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The new Omicron variant poses a potential risk of spiralling coronavirus infections globally and governments around the world are putting plans in pla...
Poland’s fractured borderlands
09 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Thousands of people – mostly migrants from the Middle East - are camped in freezing weather at the Poland-Belarus border. Many have spent thousands ...
Only bleeding: How Swedes opened up about periods
07 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“It’s alright (I’m only bleeding)”. In 2017, these words were emblazoned on the Stockholm subway or tunnelbana, alongside a giant poster of an...
Poison: Jacob Zuma's toxic obsession
04 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Jacob Zuma, South Africa's former president, believes the world is out to poison him. He has claimed that the CIA, MI6, local traitors, and perhaps ev...
Coronavirus: Omicron
04 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
At this time of the year, many people traditionally begin to think about coming together for gatherings of family and friends to celebrate events such...
America’s abortion divide
04 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The US Supreme Court has heard arguments in the most important abortion case in a generation. It is the biggest challenge to a 1973 ruling that legali...
Sleepless in Seoul
02 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Korea is one of the most stressed and tired nations on earth, a place where people work and study longer hours than anywhere else. And statistics show...
Internet instigators
30 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Internet instigators are organising protests and campaigns using social media and other internet tools and apps to promote their causes. Nina Robinson...
Coronavirus: Europe’s unvaccinated
27 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The World Health Organisation has been sounding the alarm about the path of the pandemic in Europe, as Covid infections and deaths continue to rise ac...
Migrant crossings to the UK
27 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
France and Britain are caught up in disagreements over who needs to do what to stop any more people dying on small boats crossing between the two coun...
Reaching for the sky
23 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Memory Sidira is buzzing with excitement as she talks about what she is learning during her course at Malawi’s Drone and Data Academy - the first of...
Regarding the pain of others
20 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
BBC special correspondent Allan Little addresses the gulf between the reality of war and our ability to comprehend it from afar. His mission as a repo...
Coronavirus: Europe
20 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that Europe is once again “at the epicentre” of the Covid pandemic. The WHO reported that deaths fr...
Rising tensions with Russia
20 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
President Putin has said that the West was taking Russia's warnings not to cross its ‘red lines’ too lightly. This comes amid rising tensions betw...
Salmon wars
18 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sockeye and Chinook salmon make one of the world's great animal migrations, swimming 900 miles from the Pacific Ocean up 6,500 feet into Idaho’s Saw...
Trading tribulation
16 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
New apps that provide access to stock markets are revolutionising the world of trading, but they are also creating problems. A new generation of trade...