The Documentary Podcast

Stitching souls

16 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The women of Gee’s Bend have held on to their creative traditions, passed down from mother to daughter: spine-tingling gospel singing, and a unique ...

Milton Nkosi: The apartheid child who changed Africa’s story

13 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As a child of Soweto, apartheid South Africa’s most notorious black township, Milton Nkosi could easily have become an embittered adult; in June 197...

Fighting talk: How language can make us better

12 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When we talk about cancer it’s often hard to find the right words. As we search for the perfect thing to say, we find ourselves reaching for familia...

Vaccines, money and politics

11 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Nearly every person on the planet is vulnerable to the new coronavirus, SarsCoV2. That’s why there are more than 100 projects around the world racin...

BBC OS Conversations: After the Beirut explosion

09 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Beirut has been left destroyed by this week’s massive explosion: more than a hundred are dead; thousands injured and hundreds of thousands have been...

Worlds Apart

09 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The pandemic has accelerated de-globalisation. Governments worry now about the length and strength of medical supply chains and cross-border trade and...

Soft Jihad Assignment

07 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In the United States a small but increasingly vocal group of people believe that members of the country's Muslim community are working from within to ...

Algeria's plague revisited

06 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A mysterious illness appears out of nowhere. The number of cases rises exponentially, as the authorities attempt to downplay the severity of the disea...

Karachi's ambulance drivers

04 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In Karachi, with a population of around 20 million people, ambulance drivers are on the front lines of this megacity’s shifting conflicts. Samira Sh...

BBC OS Conversations: Spain's tourism industry

01 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

During a period of huge uncertainty, Spain's tourism industry suffers a setback while musicians in South Africa, Denmark and the United States share c...

Venezuela's 'Bay of Piglets'

30 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A failed coup in Venezuela - a story of hubris, incompetence, and treachery… At the beginning of May, the government of Nicolas Maduro announced the...

Ingenious: The milkshake and the cyclops gene

29 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Milkshake Gene - (LCTL) - More than 90% of people in some parts of the world are unable to properly digest milk, cheese and other dairy products. ...

Karachi's ambulance drivers

28 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In Karachi, with a population of around 20 million people, ambulance drivers are on the front lines of this megacity’s shifting conflicts. Samira Sh...

Death of Elijah McClain

26 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old black man, was killed after an encounter with police in Colorado last year. He had been put in a chokehold and injected ...

The most important, least important thing

26 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Why is watching sport so important to us as a species? And what happens when that experience is taken away from us? Award-winning sports journalist an...

The many colours of Raqqa

23 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The untold story of Abood Hamam, perhaps the only photojournalist to have worked under every major force in Syria's war - and lived to tell the tale. ...

Ingenious: The ginger gene and breast cancer gene

22 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A particular version of the ginger gene MC1R underpins the fiery hair and freckled complexion of redheads, famed and feared in many cultures. But it i...

The confined: A story of hidden children

21 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In 1942 in Nazi occupied France Jews were hunted and those helping them could be sent to concentration camps. Despite the dangers a Catholic nun took ...

South Africa’s alcohol ban

19 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

For the second time during its Covid-19 outbreak, South Africa has decided to ban sales of alcohol. How does that have an impact on the workload of do...

Embankment baby

19 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Tony May was only weeks old when he was abandoned as a baby on the Victoria Embankment in London in 1942. There was no clue to who he was or why he wa...

Coronavirus and Africa

18 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The terrible choice between hunger and infection, police imposing lockdowns with brutality and the unexpected positives to come out of the pandemic in...

What the sediment revealed in Lebanon

16 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The discovery of a mysterious delivery of defective, sediment-heavy fuel intended to generate electricity in Lebanon has sparked a huge scandal in the...

DNA and me

14 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Want to know who you really are? Take an at-home DNA test, just like over 26 million others have around the globe. But the question is: why? For many,...

Black America speaks

12 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We listen in to four black-owned radio stations in the United States to find out how they are covering the killing of George Floyd and the waves of pr...

The Coronavirus Frontline special

12 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This series comes from the Bradford Royal Infirmary, in the North of England, with recordings made by Dr John Wright, who works there. He is an epidem...

The missing bodies of Guayaquil

09 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In March and April, Guayaquil in Ecuador was the epicentre of the Covid pandemic in Latin America. The city’s health services began to collapse fast...

Unmapped world

07 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Maps are the scaffolding of the digital age. Without them, and their associated data, a technological revolution is impossible. Vast swathes of Africa...

Race in America: My enslaved ancestors

04 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As Americans call for change following the killing of George Floyd, three women share the history of slavery in their families and discuss its impact ...

Wuhan: City of silence

02 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The BBC’s China correspondent, John Sudworth, travels to Wuhan – the city on the banks of the Yangtze river where Covid-19 first emerged. As the c...

The 'grandma benches' of Zimbabwe

30 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Zimbabwe has over 14 million people but fewer than 20 psychiatrists. After years of economic turmoil, unemployment and HIV, mental health is a huge ch...

Coronavirus: The economic shock

28 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In a few short months the coronavirus has turned the world upside down. Alongside the tragedy of hundreds of thousands of deaths, the world is now bra...

Coronavirus conversations: What next?

28 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Health experts and listeners from Ghana, the US, Canada, China, Switzerland and Italy share their views of life in a post-pandemic world.

World debate: Re-engineering the future

27 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

All over the world engineers are being called on to re-purpose and solve the problems the global pandemic creates. We bring together an audience of en...

Kenya’s locust hunters

25 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

East Africa has seen the worst invasion of desert locusts for decades and there are warnings of even larger swarms to come. Millions of people across ...

New York Covid-19 diary

23 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Public health leader Dr Tom Frieden reflects on the ongoing global pandemic. An expert on infectious disease, Dr Frieden is a former director of the U...

Rethink: The edge of change

22 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

BBC Media editor Amol Rajan and a panel of guests analyse how the coronavirus pandemic has created new opportunities to change our world. They range a...

Reporting Covid-19

21 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As the pandemic continues to impact the world, BBC World Service's Nina Robinson, talks to journalists from two daily newspapers in India and the Unit...

Rethink: Class of Covid-19 - Should I go to university?

20 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The pandemic has led to job cuts and reduced salaries, so does going to university still make financial sense? And if you took a cut in wages during l...

Coronavirus conversations: Another Beijing lockdown

20 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We speak to people in China's capital, Beijing, where a fresh spike of Covid-19 cases has been detected. Fan Fan and Richard tell us what it feels lik...

The 5G con that could make you sick

18 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Since the outbreak of coronavirus something strange has been happening – attacks on telephone masts and telecom workers are being reported all acros...

My fake news whodunnit

14 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When a name very similar to journalist Michelle Madsen’s was used as the cover for a fake news hatchet job on a Senegalese politician, she found her...

Coronavirus and Latin America

13 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

How has Latin America dealt with the pandemic? The lockdown, the needs of the economy, cash pay-outs to the poor, culture, tradition and safety in a t...

Conversations on race and change

13 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In the days since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on 25 May, we have witnessed many things from police officers marching alongside protesters...

The seafarers stranded on the high seas

11 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

There are currently 200,000 seafarers stuck working on vessels across the globe and unable to be relieved of their duties. These are the men and women...

Lockdown: Tales from Panama and Brazil

09 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

There is a sense of fatigue around the lockdown. Ray Gillenwater owns a gym, and explains that if he’s ordered to close down again – he will civil...

Killer Mike - The rapper turned speech maker

07 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Riots and protests have broken out in cities across the USA following the death of George Floyd after his arrest by white police officers in Minneapol...

In my present isolation

06 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Six authors on different continents, write across distances, to convey thoughts and preoccupations, during their present isolation. While the world is...

Conversations about race in America

06 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The death of George Floyd has provoked a global response and galvanised opinion. We bring together African Americans to discuss race and share experie...

America beyond black and white

06 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

With America engulfed again by protests against police brutality and racial discrimination, Rajini Vaidyanathan brings together a group of African-Ame...

The Chechen blogger on the run

04 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In February this year, a Chechen blogger in hiding in Sweden was viciously assaulted by a man with a hammer as he slept. In the fight that followed, T...

Abortion under lockdown

02 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Abortion clinics in Texas were forced to close their doors during the coronavirus lockdown. For several weeks, women wanting abortions could not get t...

The Covid generation

31 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Tens of millions of young people are leaving school and university only to find themselves job hunting in what could be one of the worst recessions in...

Coronavirus Global Conversations: Life in lockdown with autism

31 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

What is the pandemic like for people with autism? We hear from three parents in Chile, Spain and India who discuss the impact lockdown has had on thei...

The orgasm gap

30 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

What did you learn about sexual pleasure when you were growing up? Chances are, you didn't learn much in school. And if the latest research is anyt...

The Miracle of Istanbul

30 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The 2020 Champions League final was due to be held at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium on Saturday 30 May, exactly 15 years after the most extraordinary n...

Don't log off - part eight

30 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Alan Dein connects with people who are experiencing sleepless nights during the coronavirus pandemic. Salina is a Nepalese student stranded in Bangkok...

Belarus: Masking the virus

28 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Belarus’s all-powerful President has focused global attention on his country by ostentatiously downplaying the coronavirus pandemic. Alexander Lukas...

The Death Row book club

26 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When Anthony Ray Hinton was sentenced to death for a double murder, he used his time behind bars to create a book club for his fellow death row inmate...

Coronavirus Global Conversations: Giving birth during a pandemic

24 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Giving birth is an emotional experience, but what about during this pandemic? And then there is bringing a baby into a world of lockdowns and restrict...

Recycling Chile, recycling Spain

23 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Leena Vuotovesi, the leader of environmental work in Europe’s greenest town, Ii in Finland, travels to Chile and Spain to compare recycling practice...

Don't log off - part seven

23 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In Mumbai, Chinu has been has been providing food to the city’s migrant and daily labourers who have been unable to work since the country’s lockd...

New York stories with Joe Pascal

23 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The story of how chef Marcus Samuelsson made Harlem his home is nothing short of remarkable. He was born in a tiny village in Ethiopia, too small to e...

SOS from the Mediterranean

21 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

People crossing the Central Mediterranean in rubber boats are always putting their lives in danger. Now a bleak situation is made worse by Covid 19 as...

Migrant medics

20 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

More than 17,000 people have died in the UK after testing positive for coronavirus. Among them are frontline medical staff. Dr Adil El Tayar, a Britis...

Lockdown: Tales from Lebanon, Australia, Atlanta and India

19 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Lina Mounzer in Lebanon speaks about the protests which have seen people take to the streets despite lockdown. John McRae shares some good news from A...

Seven dead, 46 injured: One Chicago weekend

17 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

On Monday 5 August last year the Chicago Sun Times newspaper carried this headline: “Seven deaths, 46 wounded in Chicago Weekend Shootings.” It wa...

Coronavirus Global Conversations: Making people laugh

17 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We speak to comedian Sarah Cooper in New York - her President Trump lip-syncs have gone viral on TikTok. Also, Waylene Beukes in Namibia and Anna Pipe...

Stimulus cheques and sending money home

16 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

How does the financial help on offer where you are compare to other parts of the world? Listeners share their stories and get expert advice on how to ...

Don't log off - part six

16 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Alan Dein connects with people who are anxious about their family business during the coronavirus pandemic. Maria Ester in Ecuador is worried about he...

Boris Johnson and Britain’s Covid-19 crisis

14 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Britain’s Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has led his country’s efforts to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. At one level it turned into a very p...

Wuhan: The beginning of coronavirus Covid-19

12 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It is week one of the coronavirus. In this critical time, decisions were made that set the entire trajectory of the crisis. The program uses exclusive...

One hundred days of Brexit

10 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

How ‘get Brexit done’ turned into ‘StayatHome’ through the experiences of four first time MPs. They represent constituencies across the North ...

Coronavirus Global Conversations: Haircuts after lockdown

10 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We bring together three hairdressers from around the world to talk about how their lives have changed because of the pandemic. Marcel in Jerusalem and...

Coronavirus and Asia

09 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The impact of Covid-19 on Asia is explored with a panel of leading public health experts, politicians and analysts from across the region. What can be...

Don't log off - part five

08 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Across every continent, people are trying to make sense of a new world – one that happens mostly behind closed doors and often alone. Alan Dein conn...

Hanging by a thread: Bangladesh’s garment workers

07 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In March, Aafiyah was told the garment factory where she worked would be closing. And like many other garment workers, she was left destitute in the s...

The Response: Coronavirus - Lockdown tales from Brazil, Germany and Australia

05 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Listeners from Brazil, Germany, Rwanda, Australia and Norway report on their experiences of lockdown, from reaction to Jair Bolsanaro's coronavirus po...

Coronavirus Global Conversations: Remembering medics who have died from Covid-19

03 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We hear about Sophie Fagan, a nurse in London for over 50 years; Dr. J Ronald Verrier, a critical care surgeon in New York; and Vicenzo Leone, a belov...

Spain’s care home nightmare

30 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Why did so many people die in just one elderly care home in Madrid? After Covid-19 smashed its way across the globe, Spain - one of the worst-hit nati...

Universal Basic Income: Alaska style

29 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

There is growing interest in the idea of giving every member of society a Basic Income, as a way of tackling extreme poverty and the loss of jobs caus...

Who cares

28 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Well over 400,000 elderly and disabled people in Britain rely on home care, and many of the care workers are from other parts of the world: Africa, th...

Coronavirus Global Conversations - Care home workers and Covid-19 vaccine volunteers

26 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

People from all over the world discuss our shared experience of the epidemic; from nurses in intensive care and vaccine researchers, to pregnant women...

Don't log off - part four

25 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Alan Dein talks to people around the world about the challenges of family life in lockdown. He connects with Margaret in Uganda who has adopted many c...

Saving Zimbabwe’s forests

23 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Honey bees, cow dung and mulch; how a company in Zimbabwe is protecting forests in order to offset the carbon emissions of people around the world. Ev...

China and the virus

22 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Has the coronavirus epidemic weakened or strengthened the grip of China’s Communist Party? In the early stages of the outbreak in the city of Wuhan,...

In search of the quarter-life crisis

21 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We’re told that our twenties are a time when we’re meant to be finding ourselves, having fun, living our best lives and making the most of our fre...

The Response: Coronavirus - Lockdown tales from Riyadh, Hangzhou and Accra

21 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The first episode includes concerns about the impact of a full lockdown in Ghana, the impact of the closure of public buildings on one man in Mississi...

Togetherness: Coronavirus Global Conversations - Dealing with grief

19 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Shaye in the US, Ana in Spain and Elliot in the UK remember the parents they have lost to Covid-19 and the impact it is having on their lives. African...

Personal finance for the pandemic

18 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As coronavirus spreads people are worrying about their money as well as their health. What can you do to protect your finances and what are government...

Don't log off - part three

18 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Across every continent, lives have been put on hold, and people are looking to the day when they can pick up and restart after lockdown. In Mexico, Lu...

Chile: An education for all

16 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A much anticipated referendum in Chile on a new constitution has been postponed till the autumn amid safety concerns over the spread of the coronaviru...

What we can do with our waste

14 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Every year we produce over 2 billion tonnes of solid waste worldwide. Most of it ends up in dumps or landfills, or is thrown into the oceans, or is bu...

Togetherness: Coronavirus Global Conversations

12 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A place to talk about the impact of the disease on you, your family and your communities.

Coronavirus and Europe

11 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Experts discuss the challenges posed by and the consequences of the outbreak of Covid-19 in Europe. BBC correspondent Jonny Dymond is joined by a pane...

Women of the World

11 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Kim Chakanetsa for an hour of conversation with the acclaimed authors Isabel Allende and Edna O’Brien. Isabel talks about finding love in her 70s an...

Don't log off - part two

11 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Alan Dein connects with people around the world trying to find moments of calm during the coronavirus pandemic. He speaks to Jens, the captain of a co...

Extreme measures

09 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Can extremists be de-radicalised? For Assignment, Adrian Goldberg, hears from the ‘intervention providers’ in the United Kingdom tasked with turni...

ADHD and me

08 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

For many years ADHD was dismissed by sceptics as a dubious condition. Later, when it achieved recognition, if not acceptance, the focus was very much ...

Melbourne: The sounds of the city

07 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Peter's latest spot of tourism takes him to Melbourne. As a huge sports fan, he is used to listening on his crackly radio to cricket commentaries. So ...

Togetherness: Coronavirus Global Conversations

05 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Coronavirus Global Conversations is a place to talk about the impact of the disease.