The Documentary Podcast
Episodes
In the Studio: Maria Djurkovic
22 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Another chance to hear from production designer Maria Djurkovic, as she takes us behind the scenes of Harry Styles' movie, My Policeman, which was mad...
Paris: Football’s greatest talent factory
21 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the France World Cup squad, 11 were from Paris and there were also players born in the city's suburbs representing Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Qatar...
BBC OS Conversations: Surviving sepsis
20 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The inspiring story of nurse and mother Cindy Mullins from Kentucky in the United States has captured a lot of attention online and has raised awarene...
Heart and Soul: Russia’s Africa crusade
19 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When the Russian Orthodox Church set up its own outpost in Africa in late 2021, just months before the invasion of Ukraine, it was considered a blatan...
Assignment: Bulgaria - the people smugglers
18 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Migration is high on the political agenda in countries across Europe, as the number of asylum seekers rises once more. As well as those who risk life ...
Our House: Stories of the Holocaust
16 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jo Glanville meets Berliners who have researched the stories of the Jewish families who once lived in their homes. Marie, Hugh, Anke and Matthias all ...
In the Studio: Thelma Schoonmaker
15 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Thelma Schoonmaker is arguably the world’s most famous film editor, winning three Oscars in her 40-year career. Ever since Raging Bull, she has work...
BBC OS Conversations on graduate unemployment
13 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The pandemic, an economic downturn and the cost of living crisis have all taken their toll on the global job market. In China, millions of young peopl...
Heart and Soul: Facing death in Kenya
12 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In Kenya, palliative care - which involves end of life care for terminally ill patients - is often treated with suspicion. There's a deep taboo around...
Assignment: The struggle for Barbuda's future
11 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Campaigners on the tiny Caribbean island of Barbuda are locked in a battle over its development by foreign investors who are building exclusive resort...
Building a future for cyclone-hit Mozambique
10 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Five years after reporting on one of Mozambique’s worst cyclones, the BBC’s Nomsa Maseko returns to the city of Beira to meet the people on the fr...
The Return
09 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
To commemorate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first recorded enslaved Africans in Virginia, America, in 2019 Ghana launched the ‘Year o...
In the Studio: Poet Fred D’Aguiar
08 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The poet, novelist and playwright Fred D’Aguiar was born in Britain, grew up in Guyana and now lives in Los Angeles. There he came across the story ...
BBC OS Conversations: Covid-19 four years later
06 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It is four years since we reported the first cases of an outbreak of a mysterious viral pneumonia in the city of Wuhan in China. Within months, what b...
Assignment: Bones that speak
04 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 2016, the Philippines’ newly elected president, Rodrigo Duterte declared there was one, common enemy: the drugs trade. What followed was a bloodb...
An octopus's garden
03 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The octopus is prized as the most intelligent of all marine species – immortalised in stories, poems and songs worldwide. In Madagascar it is also a...
The Approach
02 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Adriana Brownlee is a mountaineering pioneer. The British woman became the youngest female to summit K2 - the second-highest mountain on Earth - in 20...
In the Studio: Manal AlDowayan
01 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Internationally renowned Saudi artist Manal AlDowayan is midway through an ambitious public installation that will be shown in the Valley of Arts, in ...
HARDtalk: Past notes
31 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A special programme remembering past HARDtalk guests who died in 2023. All of them left an indelible mark on public life and all, in their different w...
BBC OS Conversation: Adventurers
30 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We have spent the last year here on BBC OS Conversations covering some of the World’s major news stories. As the year draws to a close, however, we ...
Assignment: Bolivia’s giant fish intruder
28 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Some people said it was created by Peruvian scientists, that it gorged on the blood of farm animals, that it was a monster. Many myths have grown up i...
HARDtalk: 2023 in review
27 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Stephen Sackur looks back at some of HARDtalk’s most impactful and thought-provoking interviews of 2023.
In the Studio: Andrea Hernández
25 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Photographer Andrea Hernández has been travelling around her native Venezuela documenting people and nature for her ongoing project called Mango Seas...
Football and faith
24 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Mani Djazmi presents a special programme as Crystal Palace defender Joel Ward and the former Portsmouth player Linvoy Primus discuss their Christian f...
BBC OS Conversations: The Taylor Swift phenomenon
23 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There’s no doubt this has been Taylor Swift’s year. Just 34 years old, the American singer songwriter has been in the music industry for more than...
Heart and Soul: Irish myths and fairy tales
22 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Many mythological creatures and traditions we know, love, and more importantly fear, owe their origins to Celtic folklore. Borrowed to create epic fra...
Assignment: Ukraine - building back better
21 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Rebuilding Ukraine after the destruction inflicted by Russia will be a gigantic task. Foreign donors have pledged billions of dollars. But they want r...
Rewilding the orphaned elephants
19 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In a remote corner of Northern Kenya, former Samburu warriors continue to rescue orphaned and abandoned baby elephants, even as drought has put on hol...
In the Studio: Ivan Hove
18 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ivo van Hove is the most sought-after theatre director in the world. We join him in Paris, London and Amsterdam, where he works on productions that ar...
BBC OS Conversations: Ukrainians and hope
16 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky knows that if he has any hope of victory in the war in his country he needs his international friends to keep b...
Heart and Soul: Queer and Christian in Kenya
15 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What does it mean to be a gay Christian in a country where many Church leaders say your sexuality is wicked and even demonic? In 2013, a group of LGBT...
Assignment: Ukraine - fighting for openness
14 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers defend their country against Russia, many patriotic civilians are engaged in a struggle that's less ris...
Stories from the New Silk Road: Iceland
12 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 2013 Iceland made history by becoming the first European country to sign a free trade agreement with China. It was aimed at increasing exports from...
In the Studio: Kengo Kuma
11 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Kengo Kuma has a philosophy: to enrich the connection between buildings and nature, “almost tuning-in” to the materials. His architecture is inspi...
Taiwan's balancing act
10 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Former BBC Taiwan correspondent Cindy Sui meets two young Taiwanese voters, Shirley Lin and Dennis, who have very different views about the island, it...
BBC OS Conversations: Climate change and the young
09 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
World leaders are currently meeting in Dubai for the United Nations’ COP23 climate summit to discuss how to cope with a changing global climate. At ...
Heart and Soul: The Sarajevo Haggadah
08 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sarajevo’s most famous artefact, a 700 year-old Jewish prayer book called the Haggadah, captures the story the city wants to tell about itself. But ...
Assignment: Cyprus and the battle over songbird slaughter
07 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Cyprus is one of the main resting stops for songbirds as they migrate between Europe, Africa and the Middle East. For centuries, Cypriots trapped and ...
The Children of Paradise: Without hope you're dead
06 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Three decades after the momentous transition from Apartheid to a democratic South Africa, Fergal Keane returns to see what happened to the hopes and p...
The Children of Paradise: A deadly mixture
06 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Three decades after the momentous transition from Apartheid to a democratic South Africa, Fergal Keane returns to see what happened to the hopes and p...
The Children of Paradise: The future must change
06 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Three decades after the momentous transition from Apartheid to a democratic South Africa, Fergal Keane returns to see what happened to the hopes and p...
Stories from the New Silk Road: Norway
05 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Norwegian town of Kirkenes set on the coast and inside the Arctic Circle, is on the edge of what the Chinese refer to as the Polar Silk Road. The ...
Filmmaker Iryna Tsilyk: Animating Ukraine’s War
04 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Iryna Tsilyk is one of Ukraine’s best known young documentary makers. She made her name following the lives of soldiers, female paramedics and famil...
Introducing Amazing Sport Stories
03 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sport but not as you know it. A brand new sports storytelling podcast.Imagine being stranded in the “death zone” on one of the world’s highest m...
Kissinger’s Legacy
03 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Henry Kissinger was one of the most important diplomatic figures of the last 50 years. James Naughtie looks back at his global influence, as he reflec...
BBC OS Conversations: Israel and Gaza - securing freedom
02 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A week without war meant that the temporary pause in fighting was replaced by the emotions of family reunions. Before the air strikes resumed on Frida...
Heart and Soul: Follow God, not the people
01 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Brought up in a devout Catholic family in the suburbs of Kampala, Frank Mugisha knew that something was different about him even as a small boy. He wa...
Kissinger
30 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Few people can claim as much influence over the shape of the modern world as Henry Kissinger. The former US Secretary of State and Nobel Peace laureat...
Assignment: Poland's forest frontier
30 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Polish government has built a steel border wall 186km long and 5m high along its eastern frontier. It is meant to stop global migrants from Asia a...
Gaza diaries
29 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
English teacher Farida and Khalid, a medical supplier, document through intimate voice messages their struggle to survive the war in Gaza. They tell a...
Sweden: Living with guns and gangs
28 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sweden has become a European hotspot for deadly shootings, rocking its reputation as a safe and peaceful nation. Last year, a record 62 people were ki...
In the Studio: Danny Boyle
27 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Danny Boyle, the visionary behind the 2012 London Olympic opening ceremony and the Oscar-winning director of films like Slumdog Millionaire, Yesterday...
The Cultural Frontline: K-drama
26 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Korean drama, or K-drama, is enjoying phenomenal worldwide success. South Korea is now one of the largest content providers in the world. Actress Min-...
BBC OS Conversations: Hostages, prisoners and peace
25 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
After seven weeks of war between Hamas and Israel, there was a deal for a pause in the fighting. On Friday morning the rockets and gunfire fell silent...
The Trial of Oscar Pistorius
24 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 2014 Audrey Brown told the dramatic story of the trial of the athlete Oscar Pistorius After becoming a Paralympics champion, Oscar Pistorius rose t...
Heart and Soul: Wolves in sheep's clothing
24 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When Kenyan-born nurse Margaret Ruto chanced upon an internet story about an American Christian missionary accused of sexually abusing children in a K...
Florida's political refugees
23 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Americans on both sides of the political spectrum are escaping states they no longer feel comfortable in. They are calling themselves ‘political ref...
We the people are Barbados
21 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In September 2020, Barbados announced its decision to become a republic, removing the British monarchy as head of state. November 30th, 2021 marked no...
In The Studio: Damon Galgut - Adapting The Promise for the stage
20 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Damon Galgut’s 2021 Booker Prize-winning novel, The Promise, chronicles the slow decline of a white family on a farm outside Pretoria, South Africa,...
The Debate: Israel Gaza - What happens when the war ends?
19 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The BBC’s Mishal Husain is joined by a panel of guests to discuss what happens when the Israel Gaza war ends. On the panel are Jeremy Bowen, BBC Int...
BBC OS Conversations: Hate against Jews and Muslims
18 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The war in the Middle East between Hamas and Israel continues to cost many lives. It is also increasing tensions and anger around the world.Hundreds o...
Heart and Soul: Israel – Gaza: Can interfaith work prevail?
17 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The recent violence between Israel and Hamas threatens the survival of the hundreds of small-scale projects which aim to bring Jews and Palestinians t...
The mighty Mekong’s last hope
16 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Tens of millions of lives depend on the Mekong river for fishing and farming as it travels through China and South East Asia. But there are increasing...
Tanni's lifetime road to disabled equality
15 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Multiple gold medal-winning Paralympic wheelchair athlete Tanni Grey-Thompson examines 50 years of changing attitudes to disability around the world. ...
A man without bees
14 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Why are all the bees dying? Simon Mitambo, an expert from Kenya's so-called 'Land of Bees', travels from his own affected community to huge industrial...
In The Studio: Jenn Lee: Taiwan fashion designer
13 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Taipei based fashion designer Jenn Lee is preparing her Spring Summer 2024 collection for London and Taipei Fashion Weeks. Inspired by the recycled ma...
BBC OS Conversations: Israeli losses
11 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Since the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October, thousands of lives have been lost in the war. While rolling news and live updates give us minute by mi...
Heart and Soul: Queerly beloved: Same-sex love and the Synod
10 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Church of England prohibits same-sex relations. Even so, the debate on this position – in the UK and the worldwide Anglican Communion - continue...
The Jews and Arabs coexisting in crisis
09 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Just over 20% of Israel’s population are Palestinian - or Israeli Arabs - making them the largest minority in the country. They are distinct from th...
My Forgotten War
07 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Turkey hosts the largest population of refugees and asylum seekers in the world. These include around 3.6 million Syrians, who fled there during the w...
In The Studio: Carol Morley
06 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Carol Morley is known for films like The Falling, Dreams Of A Life, and her most recent work, Typist Artist Pirate King.Her next movie is an adaptatio...
BBC OS Conversations: Palestinian losses
04 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The fighting and funerals in the Israel and Hamas war are constant. Thousands have been killed.The number of fatalities don’t tell the real stories ...
Heart and Soul: Finding Falun Gong
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been more than two decades since the Chinese government launched a crackdown on Falun Gong. The spiritual group claims practitioners face mass ...
Assignment: Taught to fear - corporal punishment in the classroom
02 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In Kenya, corporal punishment in schools has been banned for over twenty years, yet young students are being beaten by their teachers on a daily basis...
The Raspberry Visa
01 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The ‘Raspberry Visa’ is the colloquial name given to the Portuguese passport that workers picking berries in Western Portugal can apply for after ...
In the Studio: Kieran Stanley - Designing a Zoo
30 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Zoo designer Kieran Stanley has created some of the world's most impressive spaces to care for animals ranging from the Indian rhinoceros to the giant...
BBC OS Conversations: Jewish-Palestinian couples
28 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Observing the suffering on both sides of the Israel and Gaza war, are couples and families around the world in which individuals with Jewish and Pales...
Heart and Soul: The New York Supreme Court's first female Hasidic judge
27 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Rachel Freier was 30 when she started her training to be an attorney, and many people told her she was making a mistake. Growing up in an ultra-orthod...
Assignment: The Life, Death and Rebirth of a Russian Theatre
26 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Tatiana Frolova wasn’t born to be a theatre director. She grew up in the 1960s and ‘70s in a cut-off part of a closed country, the Soviet Far East...
Africa's urban future: What next?
24 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Faced with the ever-quickening pace of urbanisation, what is the future for Africa's swelling cities? Experts predict that Africa could be home to for...
In the Studio: PAC NYC
23 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
September 2023 sees the opening of PAC NYC – the Perelman Performing Arts Center in New York. It’s the final building in the new piazza, situated ...
Other people's children
22 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Mothers from all over the world leave their families in search of economic opportunities elsewhere – and they often end up working as nannies, which...
BBC OS Conversations: Teenagers in Gaza and Israel
21 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In recent days, there have been warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza amid continual bombardment. In Israel, the discovery of bodies continue...
Understand: Israel and the Palestinians
20 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A guide to the history and context of the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Katya Adler and guests explain the key players an...
Heart and Soul: My journey beyond death
20 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Following a dramatic train accident, David Ditchfield was dragged under a speeding train in Cambridgeshire and nearly lost his life. As he lay in hosp...
Assignment: The village versus the mine
19 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A village in northern Portugal is fighting to prevent what could be the first large scale battery grade lithium mine in Europe from going into operati...
Africa’s Urban Future: South Africa
17 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Apartheid may now be long buried politically but in and around South Africa’s main cities it has left a visible legacy. Those entrenched historical ...
In the Studio: Mohsen Makhmalbaf
16 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf takes us behind the scenes of the making of Kandahar, his film about life in Afghanistan that captured the world's ...
Special: My Indian Life
15 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“I’m in love with the mountains.” A special episode from Kalki Presents: My Indian Life. Savita Kanswal was an inspirational climber, who had sc...
BBC OS Conversations: Israel and Gaza
14 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This is an historical conflict with decades of bloodshed but the unprecedented violence of the past week has thrown the crisis into unknown territory....
The Cultural Frontline: How Disney redefined animation
13 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It has been 100 years since a young animator sold his first film series, called Alice Comedies, to a distributor. Without knowing, he was starting wha...
Assignment: America’s hidden histories
12 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s more than 150 years since the end of the American Civil War. But the replacement of a monument dedicated to the Confederate Commander Robert E ...
Africa's urban future: Tanzania
10 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Mike Wooldridge and Tanzanian development worker Mary Ndaro report on the opportunities and challenges for Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's commercial centre...
In the Studio: Anton Skrypets
09 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Stay Online is the first film about the full-scale war in Ukraine. Young producer Anton Skrypets tells Antonia Quirke about the dangers and challenges...
BBC OS Conversations: Fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh
07 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The territory of Nagorno-Karabakh is at the centre of one of the world’s longest running disputes that goes back more than 100 years. The latest con...
Heart and Soul: Young Catholics on the Francis revolution
06 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Pope Francis has launched the biggest consultation in the history of the Catholic church. Since the process started three years ago, millions of Catho...
Gabon’s dark football secret
05 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gabon is football crazy and it’s the dream of most young footballers to play internationally. But, in 2022 a long serving coach for youth national t...
Africa's urban future: Ghana
04 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What is the future for Africa's rapidly swelling cities? The stretch of nearly 1,000 km between Abidjan and Lagos, is by 2100 projected to be the larg...
Will the unicorns of the sea fall silent?
03 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The term “narwhal” derives from the old Nordic for “nár + hvalr”, meaning corpse + whale, which, for these animals, is quickly becoming proph...
In the Studio: The visitors
02 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
After its award winning premier in 2020, a new production of The Visitors by Indigenous playwright Jane Harrison sees us on the eve of colonisation. T...