The Documentary Podcast
Episodes
How life is changing in Syria
07 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For well over a decade, civil war blighted the lives of Syrians, as rebel forces battled against former President Bashar al-Assad and his brutal regim...
The future of the Alawites
06 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the wake of the Assad regime’s fall in Syria, thousands of Alawites, a minority Shia sect historically linked to the former regime, have fled to ...
The Global Jigsaw: Netanyahu’s media squeeze
05 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Israeli government’s push to transform the media landscape has been described by critics as a “hostile takeover” that poses a threat to pres...
Russian informers: Hunting the enemy within
04 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Informers are playing a key role in helping the Russian government silence dissent, now one victim has turned detective to uncover their persecutor’...
Assignment: What future for Assad’s army?
03 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The former rebels who now rule Syria dismantled the old regime’s security forces as soon as they came to power last December. Overnight, half a mill...
In the Studio: Designing Conclave
02 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Production designer Suzie Davies reveals the secrets behind Conclave, and how she managed to build the Sistine Chapel in a film studio in Rome. And ex...
The three babies mystery
01 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On a cold night in January 2024 a dog walker finds a baby in a bag in east London, UK - a foundling. She is named Elsa, after the Frozen character. Re...
Russia's 'grey zone' war
31 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Grigor Atanesian from BBC Russian joins us to discuss the theories around 'grey zone' warfare techniques and if, why, and how Russia is deploying them...
BBC OS Conversations: Israelis discuss the war in Gaza
31 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas and recent warnings of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, have led to a ratcheting up of pressure on Israel, not just...
Heart and Soul: Portugal's Surf Church
30 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the coastal city of Porto, Portugal, a unique spiritual community is making waves, literally. The Surf Church, led by Brazilian-born pastor and avi...
The riddle of Iranian cinema
29 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Iranian-American film-maker Maryam Keshavarz explores a world of creativity under restriction, where film-makers find ways to speak despite censorship...
BBC Trending: Print and shoot - The spread of 3D-printed guns
28 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A growing number of incidents have highlighted the dangers of 3D-printed ‘ghost guns’, untraceable firearms that can be assembled at home with the...
Assignment: Spain - can an algorithm predict murder?
27 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Early on a Sunday morning in February in the Spanish seaside town of Benalmadena, Catalina, a 48-year-old mother of four, was killed at home – the b...
In the Studio: Mika Obanda
26 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mika Obanda is a Kenyan artist who creates vibrant and personal mosaics using egg shells sourced from local hotels. Cleaning, drying and colouring the...
America: The human plasma factory
25 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Journalist Kathleen McLaughlin investigates the multi-billion dollar global plasma industry. Kathleen needs $15,000-a-dose medication to treat her rar...
The Fifth Floor: The reality of reporting in Syria
24 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
During the last year of Bashar al-Assad’s rule of Syria, Reporters Without Borders ranked the country second to last in the World Press Freedom Inde...
BBC OS Conversations: Living with prostate cancer
24 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Prostate cancer has been called the silent killer and it is the second most common form of cancer among males in the world. Yet, despite the fact that...
Heart and Soul: Musambwa - Lake Victoria's sacred island
23 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Musambwa Island in Lake Victoria, Uganda, is a five-acre rocky outcrop of land five miles from the mainland and is the biggest breeding ground in the ...
People Fixing the World: Helping Chile's stolen children
22 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
During the 1970s and '80s, thousands of Chilean babies were illegally kidnapped, trafficked and adopted. The practice was widespread during the rule o...
BBC Trending: Brazilian farmers are (very) online
21 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Being a farmer in Brazil has never been cooler - at least, that is the impression you might get from social media. Music videos featuring cowboy hat w...
Assignment: Colombia's webcam women
20 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Colombia’s second largest city, Medellín, is booming and one of the biggest industries revolves around the city’s webcam studios which live strea...
In the Studio: Esben Holmboe Bang
19 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Originally from Denmark, the youngest ever three-starred Michelin chef Esben Holmboe Bang fell in love with his wife’s homeland Norway, as well as i...
The Global Jigsaw: The Trump effect on global media
18 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We assess the damage to independent journalism globally by cuts to USAGM and USAID, described as “the chainsaw approach” of the Trump administrati...
The Fifth Floor: Ukraine, the war and TikTok
17 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What do Ukrainian soldiers eat on the frontline? And what's the latest meme trending on Ukrainians' TikTok channels? Zhenya Shidlovska from the BBC Uk...
BBC OS Conversations: Living in Kashmir
17 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What is it like to grow up and live in one of the most disputed regions on Earth? After 26 tourists were killed by militants in Indian-administered Ka...
Heart and Soul: Malcolm X and his Letter from the Hajj
16 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Malcolm X is one of the most iconic and complex figures of the 20th Century. Known globally for his fiery speeches and radical advocacy for Black empo...
Autism, empathy and psychopaths
15 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Autistic people have been thought to all lack empathy by both science and society for decades. But after receiving an extremely low empathy score as p...
BBC Trending: Are we dating the same person?
14 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
At the start of 2025, a chat appeared on the encrypted messaging app Telegram. It was named Are We Dating The Same Girl? At first only a few hundred p...
Assignment: Syria - return to ruins
13 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Thirteen million Syrians - half the population - left their homes during their country's 13-year civil war. Seven million were internally displaced. S...
In the Studio: Luke Black
12 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Luke Black is a Serbian singer-songwriter who represented his country at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023, the world’s largest live music event, ...
Women warriors
11 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the last few decades western militaries have been training more women for combat than ever, yet female recruitment and retention is stalling. But w...
The Fifth Floor: The Russian grandma who went to jail
10 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Natalya Filonova is a former kindergarten teacher, a mother, a grandmother. But she’s also an activist and in 2022 she was arrested during a demonst...
BBC OS Conversations: Inside Gaza
10 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
After 19 months of war, Israel says it is preparing to expand its military campaign in Gaza. The aim is to defeat and dismantle Hamas, regarded as a t...
Heart and Soul: Praying for healing?
09 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Throughout his life as a theologian, Christian minister and cosmologist, Prof David Wilkinson has been asking - what does God do when I pray? The ques...
Educating Nigeria
08 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Every Nigerian child has the constitutional right to free and compulsory primary education, and free secondary education, yet there remains a huge gap...
BBC Trending: The TikTokers inside an election fire-storm
07 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the days before the presidential elections, influencers watched comments and content pour across TikTok in support of obscure far-right independent...
Conclave: How will the next Pope be chosen?
06 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How is a new Pope chosen? How long could the conclave last? In a special edition of the Global News Podcast, the BBC’s Religion Editor Aleem Maqbool...
Assignment: Russia's Church in Texas
06 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Not that long ago many church-going Americans saw Russia as a godless place, an “evil empire” in the words of Ronald Reagan. But in President Trum...
In the Studio: Bishwajit Goswami
05 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In Dhaka, Bangladesh, artist Bishwajit Goswami creates a powerful new installation that captures the spirit of his homeland’s rivers, lifelines dark...
The Cultural Frontline: Taiwan
04 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Presenter Elaine Chong speaks to trailblazing Taiwanese artists about exploring history and politics through their work. She hears from the producer H...
The Fifth Floor: Education against the odds
03 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
At least 30 million children are out of school in the Middle East and North Africa, with many displaced by conflict in Sudan and Gaza. Today we’ll h...
BBC OS Conversations: Protecting children from online harm
03 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
***Contains upsetting content about suicide*** Hundreds of parents who believe social media played a part in the death of their children gathered in ...
Heart and Soul: After Francis, what do Catholics want next?
02 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Following the death of Pope Francis, Catholics around the world look to Rome and the Vatican as the Church prepares to elect its next leader. But what...
BBC Trending: From a suspected smuggler’s TikTok to tragedy
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In January a boat carrying migrants across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe was miraculously rescued by a fishing trawler after two weeks lost at sea. At ...
Assignment: Leaving Israel for Cyprus
29 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Increasing numbers of Israeli people are moving to the nearby island of Cyprus. Sky high property prices, disillusion with domestic politics and secur...
In the Studio: Madeleine Thien
28 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 2020, the Canadian writer Madeleine Thien was working on her next novel, the follow-up to her prize-winning 2016 book Do Not Say We Have Nothing. B...
Bonus: Good Bad Billionaire: Minecraft’s maker
27 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A bonus episode from Good Bad Billionaire - the award-winning podcast from the BBC World Service. You can find more episodes by searching for ‘Good ...
The Fifth Floor: Tackling Nigeria's skin bleaching problem
26 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
According to the World Health Organisation, 77% of Nigerian women have used skin-lightening creams. When BBC Hausa’s Madina Maishanu decided to look...
BBC OS Conversations: Remembering the life of Pope Francis
26 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mark Lowen in Rome brings people together to share their memories of the Pope, who died on Easter Monday. In our conversations, Mark hears from Cathol...
Bonus: Bridgerton actor’s interview on Dear Daughter
25 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A bonus episode from Dear Daughter - the award-winning podcast from the BBC World Service. You can find more episodes by searching for ‘Dear Daughte...
The call of Anastasia
24 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Members of the new age Anastasia movement espouse strong family values, farm small plots of land and try to educate their own children outside the pub...
Witness History: The Environment Movement
23 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
To mark Earth Day, we bring you remarkable stories of the history of the environmental movement, told by the people who were there. Selected from the ...
Francis, the rebel Pope
22 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Following the death of Pope Francis, Edward Stourton looks at the life and legacy of the spiritual leader of more than a billion Catholics worldwide. ...
Assignment: Dicing with democracy? Romania’s cancelled election
22 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A cancelled election, a cancelled candidate and a divided country – is Romania’s democracy under threat?Last December the country’s Constitution...
In the Studio: Amin Gulgee - Heavy metal
21 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Amin Gulgee defies easy categorisation: he’s a metal sculptor, a curator, and one of Pakistan’s most innovative and cherished artists, the beating...
Make me perfect: Manufacturing beauty in China
20 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In China today, looking good is seen as key to career success. With beauty videos promoting extreme weight-loss flooding social media, beauty apps mak...
The Fifth Floor: Inside the Taliban's surveillance network
19 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There are over 90,000 hi-definition CCTV cameras in Kabul, watching everyone’s movements. What are the Taliban using this footage for? BBC Afghan Se...
BBC OS Conversations: Colourism
19 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The issue of colourism was highlighted in a recent BBC news report about a Nigerian woman who bleached the skin of her six young children leaving them...
Heart and Soul: Our Sacred Harp
18 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sacred Harp pioneer and former punk frontman, Tim Eriksen, takes us into the hair-raising sound of shape note singing, an American choral tradition ex...
Braille and me
17 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Built around a game of braille Scrabble, Emma Tracey presents a celebration of braille, 200 years after it was invented. Emma, who’s been blind sinc...
Olympique Lyonnais: The Champions League trailblazers
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Olympique Lyonnais is the most successful club in women’s football, dominating Europe over the last 15 years winning eight Champions League titles. ...
Assignment: New Zealand - what counts as Māori equality
15 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Māori in New Zealand have been resisting moves by the current right-of-centre government to abolish certain indigenous-specific rights aimed at comba...
In the Studio: Steve Reich
14 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For 60 years, New York composer Steve Reich has been one of classical music’s most celebrated revolutionaries. Pioneering minimalism in the 1960s, a...
Defeated: How ordinary Germans experienced the end of World War Two
13 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On 8 May 1945 Britain, the US and many other countries were rejoicing. Germany had surrendered, and World War Two was over, at least in Europe. Yet it...
The Fifth Floor: Stranded in Panama
12 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On his first day as president, Donald Trump signed an executive order shutting down the asylum system at the US-Mexico border. He also promised huge c...
BBC OS Conversations: The impact of Trump's tariffs
12 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Trump’s decision to slap tariffs on global trade has sent the world reeling. Stock markets have tanked. Gloomy economists have hit the airwav...
Heart and Soul: Guns, grief and god
11 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On 4 September 2024, the town of Winder in the US state of Georgia became the latest scene of a school mass shooting. Two students and two teachers we...
Heart and Soul: Violence, children and Cambodia’s monks
10 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
***This programme contains descriptions of genocide and violence against children*** Fifty years ago the fall of Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, to...
The Cultural Frontline: South East Asian cinema - a love story
09 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In South East Asia, cinema attendances are growing, thanks to a renewed interest in local product. For instance, the Thai movie How to Make Millions B...
Assignment: Unidentified flying drones in Denmark
08 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When mysterious orb-like lights were recorded in the sky above Koge, a small port town in Denmark, the UFO scene took notice. But it wasn't just belie...
In the Studio: Anna Clyne and Jody Elff
07 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Contemporary classical music composer Anna Clyne is one of the most performed and in demand composers in the world.For her next commission, she is wor...
Donald Trump’s new world order
06 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump has upended the international order to promote his “America First” agenda. He has thrown countries and their leaders around the wo...
The Fifth Floor: India's 'godwoman'
05 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Delhi correspondent Divya Arya recently met a woman who claims to perform miracles. She’s called Radhe Maa and her devotees see her as a God. She’...
BBC OS Conversations: Adolescence
05 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The hit Netflix show, Adolescence, has prompted a global conversation on toxic masculinity. The series is based in the north of England and centres on...
Heart and Soul: I was shot at school and wouldn’t change a thing
04 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
School shootings in the USA continue to be a far too common tragedy. In January 2017, 16-year-old Logan Cole, who lives in a small town in the America...
The subsea war
03 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The 'accidental' severing of undersea cables or pipelines seem an almost daily occurrence these days but how reliant are we on this infrastructure, ho...
Living in a bubble: The headphone revolution
02 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Headphones and earbuds have experienced a phenomenal rise in popularity worldwide, transforming how people consume audio content and impacting on vari...
Assignment: Lebanon - Hezbollah in trouble
31 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Hezbollah, the militia and political movement in Lebanon, has been battered by the war with Israel. Its leaders were assassinated, hundreds of fighter...
In the Studio: Lindy Lee’s Ouroboros
31 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Lindy Lee’s Ouroboros is the most expensive single artwork commission in Australian history. A $14 million, three-tonne, 10-metre wide freestanding ...
The Covid generation revisited
30 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Five years on from the global lockdown we catch up with the "Covid Generation", the class of 2020 - school leavers and graduates from around the world...
The Fifth Floor: Tales from Tbilisi
29 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Faranak Amidi visits three places in Tbilisi, Georgia to find out more about its history and what's behind the current political turmoil in the countr...
BBC OS Conversations: Protests in Turkey
29 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Across Turkey, hundreds of thousands of people have been taking to the streets after the arrest of President Erdogan’s main political rival, the May...
Heart and Soul: Kai Höss - My grandfather the Commandant of Auschwitz
28 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In a cinema in south-west Germany, an audience is gathered to watch an Oscar-winning film, The Zone of Interest, about the life of Rudolf Höss, comma...
The Cultural Frontline: The Los Angeles fires
27 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The fires that devastated parts of Los Angeles in January this year killed at least 29 people and destroyed thousands of homes. Angelino Laura Hubber ...
Malawi: Life in your years
26 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Life expectancy in Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world, increased by 19 years (from 46 to 65) from 2000 to 2019 - mostly due to reductio...
Assignment: Who is Alice Guo?
25 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The global online scamming industry is said to be worth some $500 billion a year. It operates in secret, in complexes hidden behind high fences in cou...
Encore: Rejecting public education in Arizona
24 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The so-called ‘parents’ revolution’ is happening in America - and it’s a revolt against the public education system. School choice campaigns a...
In the Studio: The Line
24 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In our time of looming ecological disaster, radical minds are needed to rethink the way we live. In Saudi Arabia, NEOM are building a futuristic new c...
Do we need a new Nato?
23 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
European leaders have had cause to rethink their roles within Nato recently, in light of statements coming from the US Government. The Trump administr...
The Fifth Floor: Behind Georgia's political turmoil
22 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Georgia finds itself in political turmoil. For decades many Georgians have longed to be a part of the EU, feeling that their values align more closely...
BBC OS Conversations: Ukraine: What do Russians think about the war?
22 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For the first time in three years, there’s talk of a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. Negotiations are ongoing, but at the time of recording th...
Heart and Soul: The mosque for Bangladesh’s transgender women
21 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In Bangladesh, hijras - once a revered community - have long lived on the margins. Also known as the third gender, hijras form a diverse group, includ...
What’s your poison: The methanol crisis
20 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In November 2024, six people died after visiting a bar in Vang Vieng, Laos. Authorities in the country said it was a suspected mass poisoning - the cu...
Assignment: Georgia - keeping the protest alive
18 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Daily protests across the country have continued in Georgia since disputed elections in October, particularly since the ruling Georgian Dream party an...
In the Studio: Himali Singh Soin and David Soin Tappeser
17 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Artists Himali Singh Soin and David Soin Tappeser explore the complex weave of histories and myths around Britain’s imperial salt monopoly in India....
LOUD: Is noise an invisible killer?
16 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
BBC health correspondent James Gallagher investigates how our noisy world is damaging our health. He finds out why noise increases our risk of health ...
The Fifth Floor: The Kenyan women saying no to motherhood
15 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
According to Kenya’s Health Ministry, between 2020 and 2023, about 16,000 women in Kenya decided to undergo a sterilisation procedure known as tubal...
BBC OS Conversations: Cuts to US foreign aid funding
15 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On his first day in office, Donald Trump froze foreign aid funding, ordering an immediate review into USAID, the government agency which was running p...
Heart and Soul: Ayahuasca and the new spiritual tourism
14 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For centuries, ayahuasca has been a sacred plant for the Shipibo-Konibo peoples of the Peruvian Amazon. Part medicine, part spiritual ceremony, ayahua...
The village of sex offenders
13 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Set among endless sugar-cane fields in a remote part of southern Florida, Restoration Destination is a community made up of registered sex offenders. ...