The Documentary Podcast

In the Studio: Erdem Moralıoğlu

23 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Erdem Moralıoğlu is one of the UK’s most admired and creative fashion designers. Born in Canada to a Turkish father and British mother, he studied...

The new Germans

22 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Amid the 2015 migrant crisis, when millions of refugees were seeking safety in Europe, Germany’s then Chancellor, Angela Merkel, took an extraordina...

The Fifth Floor: The silent death of an anti-Putin pianist

21 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Pavel Kushnir was a classical pianist. But according to Russian authorities, he was also a dangerous dissident. In July 2024, he died on hunger strike...

BBC OS Conversations: Talking to someone with suicidal thoughts

21 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The rock legend Jon Bon Jovi made headlines around the world and earned much praise after he was seen helping a distressed woman on the ledge of a bri...

Heart and Soul: I became a Muslim after the Taliban kept me hostage

20 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Bara’atu Ibrahim speaks to Jibra’il Omar, formerly Timothy Weeks; an Australian educator who was held captive for three years in Afghanistan by th...

Stories from the New Silk Road: Space

19 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

China's Belt and Road Initiative stretches physically with infrastructure projects across the globe, but there is one initiative that is the most ambi...

BBC Trending: Woman, life, surveillance

18 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Iranian government is not coy about its silence tactics. Since Iran's Woman Life Freedom Movement began on 16 September 2022, unlawful executions,...

The great dolphin release

18 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Johnny, Rocky and Rambo were performers in the world’s last travelling dolphin circus and inside a Bali hotel swimming pool. This is the story of th...

Assignment: Ageing without a safety net in Malaysia

17 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Industrialisation, modern cityscapes and strong economic growth promote an image of a youthful, vigorous Malaysia. But the country is now ageing rapid...

In the Studio: Lenin Tamayo and Q-pop

16 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Peruvian singer Lenin Tamayo has been dubbed the founder of ‘Q-pop’. He combines traditional Andean folk music with K-pop inspired instrumentation...

Solutions Journalism: The African 'Babelfish'

15 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Africa is home to around one-third of the world's languages, but only a smattering of them are available online and in translation software. So when y...

The Fifth Floor: Exam nightmares

14 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Why are exams so stressful? Chinese journalists Wanqing Zhang and Eric Junzhe share personal memories about the infamous Gaokao exam in China, which t...

BBC OS Conversations: Are we still in love with dating apps?

14 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For millions of us, our phones or computers are the first place we go to look for romance. Dating apps are a multi-billion dollar business, and for a ...

Heart and Soul: Indigenous healing on the party island of Ibiza

13 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Ibiza is an island of contrasts. A place which triggers thoughts of raucous partying, superstar DJs and excess. But it's also an area of raw natural b...

Trending: Can we live without our phones?

12 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The BBC's Disinformation and Social Media Correspondent, Marianna Spring, speaks to parents, teenagers and social media company insiders to investigat...

Flying high: The return of the peregrine falcon

12 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The peregrine falcon is not only the fastest animal on our planet, but also the most widely distributed bird of prey, found on every continent apart f...

The Midwife’s Confession: Eye Investigates

10 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For the last thirty years Indian journalist Amitabh Parashar has been investigating why a group of midwives in his home state of Bihar were routinely ...

Assignment: Ivory Coast's cocoa crisis

10 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From the journey from cocoa to chocolate in Ivory Coast. The price of cocoa - the essential ingredient in chocolate - has more than quadrupled on the ...

In The Studio: Tuan Andrew Nguyen - The healing power of art

09 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Tuan Andrew Nguyen, who was born in Vietnam in 1976, was only two years old when his family were made refugees by the war. They ended up in Texas, in ...

Bonus: Lives Less Ordinary

08 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A bonus episode from the Lives Less Ordinary podcast.In 1982 Mississippi, two boys, Chris Strompolos and Eric Zala, aged 10 and 11, embarked on a craz...

The Fifth Floor: Pakistan's internet mystery

07 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Why are people in Pakistan struggling to use messaging apps and social media? BBC Urdu's editor Asif Farooqi explains why this might be more than just...

BBC OS Conversations: What's it like to have mpox

07 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Mpox causes a headache, fever and a blistering rash all over the body. There have been more than 1,200 cases in parts of Central and West Africa since...

Heart and Soul: Synagogue for sale

06 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Aleksandra Janus is a Polish Cultural Anthropologist with a Jewish background from Warsaw, Poland. Living in the capital flattened by Nazi bombs an...

Bonus: CrowdScience - How do fish survive in the deep ocean?

05 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In a bonus episode from CrowdScience - How do fish survive in the deep ocean?When listener Watum heard about the Titan submersible implosion in the ne...

West Bank: Settlers, guns and sanctions

03 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For more than six months, a BBC Eye team has been investigating extremist settlers establishing a new type of illegal settlement known as a “herding...

Assignment: The 'ghost city' of Cyprus

03 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The once glamorous Cypriot beach resort of Varosha has stood empty and frozen in time since war divided the island 50 years ago, but it is now partial...

Global Dancefloor: Tbilisi

02 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Frank McWeeny heads to Georgia’s capital Tbilisi, to meet the underground music community leading protests against government clampdown on freedom o...

In the Studio: Laurie Anderson

02 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

American artist Laurie Anderson is putting the finishing touches to her new album Amelia at Miraval Studios in southern France. This is Laurie's first...

Three Million: 8. Road to the past

01 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Kavita Puri goes to India to meet the last survivors of the 1943 Bengal famine. She looks for traces of how war and famine impacted Kolkata and then t...

The Fifth Floor: Ukraine's 'Memory Cafés'

31 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Could a cup of coffee become an act of love and remembrance? BBC Ukrainian's Ilona Hromliuk speaks to the relatives of fallen soldiers who have opened...

BBC OS Conversations: Three years of Taliban rule in Afghanistan

31 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The withdrawal of US troops in 2021 prompted the collapse of the Afghan military, an interim government and then a power grab by the hardline Islamist...

Heart and Soul: Afghanistan 20 years on

30 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Twenty years ago, reporter Julia Paul was teaching media to young women in an Afghanistan where the Taliban were in retreat, if only temporarily. Now ...

Courting success: A journey to Paris 2024

29 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

One of the highlights of the Paralympics is wheelchair tennis and one of its true champions is Kgothatso Montjane. KG, as she likes to be known, was b...

Bonus: The Inquiry - What does Hezbollah want?

28 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Hezbollah has both political and military wings both of which are designated by several countries as terror organisations. It emerged several decades ...

Assignment: The struggle for Jerusalem’s Old City

27 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Why Armenians in Jerusalem say they are fighting an existential battle. Is the identity of the Old City of Jerusalem changing - house by house? This s...

In the Studio: Architect Daniel Libeskind

26 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Daniel Libeskind is one of the world's leading architects. Amongst his many projects, he devised the masterplan for the redevelopment of Ground Zero i...

The next Paralympians

25 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Deepthi Jeevanji grew up in a rural Indian village where she was bullied and mocked for being different. In Paris this summer, she will become India’...

The Fifth Floor: What really happened in Bakhmut?

24 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2022, the city of Bakhmut in Eastern Ukraine was attacked by Russian forces. The fight for Bakhmut lasted over 10 months and claimed the lives of t...

BBC OS Conversations: Women's safety in India

24 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The recent rape and murder of a trainee doctor after a 36-hour hospital shift has, according to India’s top court, “shocked the conscience of the ...

Heart and Soul: Corruption in the Curia

23 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Pope Francis was hailed as a reformist when he became Pope in 2013. He vowed to get a handle on the scandals plaguing the Catholic Church, including h...

Solutions Journalism: A better start

22 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For every 10 babies born across the world one will be preterm and the fate of these tiny babies is often very uncertain. They are kept alive by scienc...

Invisible souls

21 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Fishermen from the Philippines, Ghana and Sri Lanka speak out about how badly, they say, they were treated by a Scottish fishing company that hired th...

Assignment: Ukraine - on the front line

20 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In Ukraine drone technology is transforming the battlefield and the rules of war are being rewritten. The BBC’s Quentin Sommerville travels to the f...

In the Studio: Ad Minoliti

19 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Artist Ad Minoliti lives and works in the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires. They are known for their vibrant, geometric designs and the colours in the...

Under ash: Uncovering Maui’s past

18 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In August of 2023, the tourist epicentre of the Hawaiian island of Maui caught fire and the blaze engulfed 2,000 houses, 800 businesses and took the l...

The Fifth Floor: The rise of caste influencers in India

17 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

India's ancient caste system can result in controversy and discrimination in the country. But a new trend has sprung up of young women flaunting their...

BBC OS Conversations: Life in Venezuela

17 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

International condemnation followed the elections in Venezuela at the end of July that saw President Maduro declared the winner for a third consecutiv...

Heart and Soul: Muslim sex education

16 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Despite some opposition from within their own faith communities, Muti’ah and Angelica are on a mission to teach other Muslim women how to have healt...

India's fight against TB

15 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2015, the United Nations and the World Health Organisation set out their blueprints to eradicate Tuberculosis by 2030. TB is a potentially deadly b...

Solutions Journalism: The art of air pollution

14 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Air Pollution is responsible for around seven million deaths every year. Governments around the world have been trying to tackle it with a variety of ...

Assignment: Rejecting Public Education in Arizona

13 Aug 2024

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: Munch on the move

12 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Norwegian artist Edvard Munch is best known for his expressionist painting The Scream. A pastel version of it fetched $ 120 million when it was la...

'Indocumentados’: America’s undocumented migrants

11 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The US is home to around seven million undocumented migrants from central and south America. Many have been in the US for years, providing a vital wor...

The Fifth Floor: Vietnam's matchmakers

10 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

According to the UN, from 2008-2018 over 18,000 Vietnamese citizens a year married foreigners. The vast majority of them are women, and many find thei...

BBC OS Conversations: Gen Z and power change in Bangladesh

10 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After weeks of student-led demonstrations and violence across Bangladesh, which caused the deaths of hundreds of people, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ...

Heart and Soul: Digital grief

09 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

New digital technologies including AI have started to find a place in the grieving process, sometimes alongside more traditional religious rituals. 'G...

The Global Jigsaw: The Taliban’s war on women

08 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A bonus episode from The Global Jigsaw looks at how the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan has led to the erasure of women from public life. The...

Bonus: The Engineers - Intelligent Machines

08 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This is a bonus episode for The Documentary of The Engineers: Intelligent Machines. This year, we speak to a panel of three engineers at the forefront...

Solutions Journalism: Going bananas

07 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A killer fungus is ravaging plantations of the Cavendish banana worldwide. It travels through the soil at lightning speed and chokes the banana plant ...

Assignment: The Italian town where praying is a political issue

06 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Italian town of Monfalcone on the Adriatic coast has an ethnic make-up unique to the country. Of a population of just over thirty thousand, more t...

In the Studio: B-girl Ray Gun

05 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Known to many as breakdancing, breaking sprung up in the economic and social unrest of 1970s New York, as a form of expressive protest. Today, it is a...

Erasing Hong Kong

04 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Hong Kong's history is being revised and erased - it's early origins, colonial legacy, post 1997 handover period and the crucial years since the mass ...

The Fifth Floor: Three years of Taliban rule

03 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Three years ago the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. BBC Afghan journalists Shekiba Habib and Shoaib Sharifi were living and following the events ...

BBC OS Conversations: Protests in Bangladesh

03 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It began as a peaceful student protest against the way some government jobs are reserved for war veterans and their families. The violence that follow...

Heart and Soul: Wrestling for redemption in Jordan

02 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Injuries meant wrestler Dan Russell missed out on two opportunities for glory at the Olympics back in the 1990s. But missing the chance to fight for g...

Bonus: World Book Club - Edna O'Brien

01 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In a bonus edition of World Book Club following the death of the acclaimed Irish author Edna O’Brien, who died aged 93 in July 2024, we look back to...

Bonus: The Global Story - Divorce

31 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In a bonus episode of The Global Story podcast - Divorce: The art of breaking up. The Global Story brings you one big story every weekday, making sens...

Bonus: HARDtalk - The Whistleblowers

30 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In a special edition of HARDtalk Stephen Sackur looks back at some of the guests who have risked their personal freedom to disclose secret information...

In the Studio: Willard Wigan

29 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dr Willard Wigan MBE creates the smallest handmade sculptures in the world. He uses high powered microscopes and custom-made tools formed from shards ...

Las Patronas

28 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We visit the Las Patronas women 30 years on from when the young Romero Vazquez sisters first threw a loaf of bread onto the infamously dangerous La Be...

The Fifth Floor: Make-up and rebellion

27 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In countries like Somalia and Iran, where women are largely expected to present themselves with modesty, what role can make-up play? Bella Hassan of B...

BBC OS Conversations: Supporters of Kamala Harris

27 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Could a woman of colour be the next president of the United States? That is what much of America has been asking this week and it is at the heart of o...

Heart and Soul: America’s Atheist Street Pirates

26 Jul 2024

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...

India's wrestling school for girls

25 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In the industrial town of Haryana in Northern India, young girls are breaking barriers training hard to become the next generation of gold medal-winni...

The gay activists who won an Olympic-sized battle

24 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 1993 the legislators in Cobb County Atlanta passed a resolution stating that “lifestyles advocated by the gay community are incompatible with the...

Introducing: World of Secrets S3

23 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Apartheid Killer. All the victims were black and the youngest was just 12 years old. Some relatives are still searching for the graves. They were ...

In the Studio: Massimo Bottura

22 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Massimo Bottura’s Osteria Francescana has twice been named the world’s best restaurant. Situated in Bottura’s hometown of Modena, a place renown...

The Romani holocaust: An unfinished history

21 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The destruction of the Roma by the Nazi state and allies and their subsequent post war fate is little understood and still being written. Historian Ce...

The Fifth Floor: From Paris to the world, Olympics 2024

20 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What is it like to cover such a globally significant sporting event such as the Olympic Games? We've invited three of our Fifth Floor colleagues to di...

BBC OS Conversations: After the attempted assassination of Donald Trump

20 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The former President, with his face bloodied, surrounded by Secret Service agents, the American flag behind him, his fist in the air defiant – how m...

Heart and Soul: Georgia's maverick Bishop and his peace cathedral

19 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In Tbilisi, Georgia, a radical experiment in interfaith relations is taking place. The Peace Project is one of the world’s first to bring a mosque, ...

Instagram's fake guru

18 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Former Brazilian model, wellness influencer and spiritual life coach Kat Torres was an inspiration and a lifeline to women all over the world. More t...

Assignment: A slogan and a land, part two

17 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In this second part of his journey from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, across the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel, reporter Tim Whew...

Assignment: A slogan and a land, part one

17 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas last year, the cry “From the River to the Sea” has been heard more and more as a pro-Palestini...

Assignment: The child rescue con

16 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Project Rescue Children claims to save children from trafficking and abuse across the world, but the BBC has uncovered evidence of false and misleadin...

In the Studio: Anchi Lin (Ciwas Tahos)

15 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Inspired by a story told to her by an Indigenous elder, Taipei-based artist Anchi Lin, also known by her Atayal name Ciwas Tahos, is working on a new ...

The Fifth Floor: The reality of conscription

13 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Hundreds of thousands of men are currently fighting for Ukraine, and the army needs yet more soldiers. We speak to three BBC Ukrainian colleagues abou...

BBC OS Conversations: Voters in Britain and France

13 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

People in both the UK and France have voted for change in snap elections, sending a signal that they are unhappy with many aspects of their lives. To ...

Heart and Soul: How should I remember Mum in Islam?

12 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The BBC's Rahila Bano, explains why her family decided to break with the Muslim tradition of a congregational prayer reading for her mother after she ...

Shaken goalposts

11 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Football rarely stops in Turkey, but when two earthquakes causes tens of thousands to die in the south-east region of the country early in 2023, even ...

Trending: The scammers who make you kidnap yourself

10 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It is one of the most bizarre crimes of our times. Con men posing as police officers are forcing Chinese students to fake their own kidnapping. Elaine...

In the Studio: Wendy Sharpe

09 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In a new exhibition Wendy breaks conventions, painting on walls and installing herself in the gallery, becoming part of the art. Wendy Sharpe is an mu...

Assignment: Cry witch - take my land, take my life

08 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In a coastal region of eastern Kenya at least one elderly person is being killed every week – in the name of witchcraft. There are violent attacks o...

Three Million: 7. Live show

07 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The BBC’s Yogita Limaye speaks to Kavita Puri, the creator and presenter of Three Million, to explore how the series was made, and how she went abou...

The Fifth Floor: Can climate change stories be cool?

06 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A virtual tour of Brazil's giant ravines, the radio shows helping Maasai people to protect their land and a real life Squid Game in South Korea: how B...

BBC OS Conversations: Kenya’s Gen Z protesters

06 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Like many countries, Kenya is struggling with a cost of living crisis and how to balance the books. The government’s answer was a plan to raise taxe...

Bonus: The Global Story - Keir Starmer: Who is the UK's new prime minister

05 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In a bonus episode of The Global Story podcast - A historic loss for the conservatives ushers in a new era in British politics.The Global Story brings...

Heart and Soul: Journey to Sepharad

05 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Sepharad is the Hebrew word for Spain and Jews who trace their ancestry there are called Sephardic Jews. Five hundred years ago they were expelled fro...

Suicide's silent survivors

04 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In many countries around the world, trying to take your own life is still a criminal offence. People who have attempted suicide are often put in priso...

Trending: Scammed by the fake Chinese police

03 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Chinese people around the world are being targeted by a scam in which conmen posing as police, trick them into believing they are wanted for a crime b...