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PODCAST

The Documentary Podcast

BBC World Service

A window into our world, through in-depth storytelling from the BBC. Investigating, reporting and uncovering true stories from everywhere. Award-winning journalism, unheard voices, amazing culture and global issues. From Trump"s new world order, to war in Sudan, to the legacy of football icon Mo Salah, The Documentary investigates major global stories.We delve into social media, take you into the minds of the world"s most creative people and explore personal approaches to spirituality. Every week,

society & culture documentary

All Episodes

26:29

Has Ghana's ‘Year of Return’ been a success?

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/08/10

Back in 2019, Ghana’s then president sent out an invitation to people with African heritage to come to Ghana. It was called the Year of Return - a campaign by Ghana's tourism board to mark 400 years since the first documented African slaves were taken to America. The campaign built on ideas of Pan-Africanism, a movement to promote unity and liberation on the continent. So five years on, how is it going? We hear from Lakeshia Ford, Roweena Habadah, and Mama Kexornyi, three women who made the decision

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26:32

Why are Chinese micro-dramas so popular?

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/08/09

Secret billionaire husbands, blood-thirsty vampire lovers and being reborn as your great-grandmother: these are some of the outrageous plotlines that can be found in Chinese micro-dramas like My Royal Secret Lover, by producer Lin Yicheng. Micro-dramas are a Chinese short form video trend that has expanded globally, racking up hundreds of millions of downloads in the US, Asia, Latin America and Africa. It’s big business: in China last year, the micro-drama industry grossed the equivalent of seven

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23:20

Israelis and the war in Gaza

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/08/09

Israel faces growing international pressure to end the war in Gaza. But on Thursday night Israel's security cabinet approved plans to expand military operations, with the aim of defeating Hamas and returning the hostages. The decision has been criticised by world leaders, the United Nations and even the country’s own military leadership. In conversations recorded over the past week, we hear from people in Israel including 18-year-old David, who is shortly to join the Israel Defense Forces. He tells

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26:31

Freddie’s second verse

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/08/08

Freddie once signed to a major record label. He appeared in high-production music videos and looked set for fame. But the pressure and pace of that life left him feeling hollow. In one of the world’s busiest cities, he now follows a very different path - one built on silence, discipline, and spiritual growth.Freddie reflects on his decision to leave the music industry behind and embrace Buddhism. He now works as a nail technician and shares how his beliefs shape his daily life. Alongside him is

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49:44

The Engineers: Exploring the human

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/08/07

Engineering has moved inside the body to innovate like never before. In neuro-science, brain implants can provide ‘psychic’ communication for people with locked-in syndrome. In medication a new technology aims to deliver chemo therapy and other drugs directly to the parts that need them by bubbles in the blood stream. And ingestible electronics are being made to fight disease by sending antibody-directing messages straight from the gut to the brain. The BBC and the Royal Commission for the

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32:50

New Zealand: Heading across the ditch

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/08/06

New Zealand citizens, particularly young professionals and graduates, are leaving the country in record numbers. Most are heading across the Tasman Sea – known colloquially as "the ditch" - to Australia, lured by better job opportunities and higher wages. However, immigration is also at an all-time high, with migrant arrivals from India the largest group, followed by the Philippines and China. Ruth Evans reports on what lies behind this Kiwi 'brain drain', and asks what the rapidly changing

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30:26

Waiting for my Dad - Ukraine's children of the missing

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/08/05

A pioneering summer camp for Ukrainian children with missing parents.According to the Ukrainian government more than 70 thousand people are missing in the war, leaving families, including thousands of children, anxious for news of their loved ones and unable to move on.Psychologists say these children are some of the most traumatised they have worked with.Now for the first time a leading Ukrainian children’s charity is putting on a special summer camp for some of these children, offering them

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26:30

Luke Jerram: A good yarn

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/08/04

Luke Jerram creates spectacular art installations all over the world. He reached millions of people with his work Play Me, I’m Yours, inviting anyone to make music on the 2,000 pianos he had placed on the streets of more than 70 cities. He has also created large sculptures of the moon, the planet Mars and the sun, which were suspended in spaces like cathedrals so that visitors could admire the celestial bodies up close. Julian May follows the creation of the Jerram's latest work, made for Bradford,

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17:31

Why a South Korean church bought a village in Paraguay

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/08/02

Puerto Casado is a remote village in Paraguay, in South America. It’s not dissimilar to many other rural towns in the area: red-brick houses, small grocery stores and unpaved roads. But what makes Puerto Casado an exception is that it’s at the centre of a land dispute between the Paraguayan state, local residents and the Unification Church, a controversial religious group from South Korea. Ronald Avila-Claudio from BBC Mundo has recently been there. Plus, what the re-opening of the border between

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24:46

Hunger in Gaza

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/08/02

Israel faces growing international isolation over the shocking images of starvation in Gaza. Although Israel says there are no restrictions on aid deliveries – which it co-ordinates – or any starvation, charities warn the aid being allowed in is only a fraction of what is needed. The BBC is banned by Israel from reporting in Gaza but, in our conversations, doctors and journalists in the territory tell us how shortages of food, water and medical supplies are affecting them and their families. “We are

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26:29

Bergen-Belsen: Among graves, we were born

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/08/01

Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp in Germany was the only camp liberated by the British Forces in April, 1945. Prior to that, over 50,000 people were murdered there. After liberation, the British Forces, alongside the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJDC) set up another camp about 2km away, the Bergen-Belsen Displaced Persons (DP) Camp, the largest DP camp in Europe, where over 2,000 babies were born. Known as ‘Bergen-Belsen Babies’, Susan Schwartz and Karen Lasky were two of the many

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26:36

Controlling nature's data

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/07/31

Could AI cure cancer using nature's DNA? A London tech firm, Basecamp Research, harvests genetic information from organisms and microbes around the world. Its genome database - the world's biggest - will help supercomputers to create new products, from detergents to medicines. It's a bewildering new frontier, and it comes with big questions: who should own this valuable information? Who should benefit? And what could it unleash?

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32:17

The JNIM branch of al-Qaeda

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/07/30

The JNIM branch of al-Qaeda is one of the world's deadliest jihadist groups. It has firmly planted its flag in the Sahel. Sub-Saharan Africa has emerged as a key battlefront for jihadists: around 50 percent of deaths from terrorism in 2024 were registered in the Sahel region alone, according to the Global Terrorism Index. JNIM is an eclectic yet united coalition, rooted in the tribal desert regions of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. We look into its leaders, its narrative, and its modus operandi, and

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26:52

Can Greenland go it alone?

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/07/29

Until this year Greenland rarely made the international news and probably only the islanders themselves took much time to contemplate their future. But then US President Donald Trump said he wanted to annexe it for its strategic position and mineral wealth. So the question has become a lot more pressing. With a population of just over 55,000, the biggest island in the world has its own parliament, but foreign policy is controlled by Denmark, something many residents are unhappy about.Denmark

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26:29

Marina Tabassum: Designing London's Serpentine Pavilion

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/07/28

Bangladeshi architect Marina Tabassum won the commission to create the 25th Serpentine Pavilion – a temporary summer structure for London’s Kensington Gardens. A meeting place in the Royal Parks, A Capsule in Time will also be used for literary and musical events. The arched wooden structure’s translucent panels allow dappled light through, like the South Asian Shamiyana awnings which inspired Tabassum’s design. Marina talks to Erika Wright about how she wanted make a space for the diverse people

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25:18

The shooting of India’s biggest hip hop star

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/07/26

Sidhu Moose Wala was one of the most famous Punjabi rappers in the world. A devout Sikh, he wore a turban and prided himself on his farming roots. But he also rapped about money, power, criminality and guns. Only hours after his death, a man came forward to claim responsibility for his killing, which left people all over the world wondering: why?Ishleen Kaur has been investigating the killing for season 8 of World of Secrets podcast. It took her into a world of music, and gangsters. Season 8 of

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23:09

The hidden pain of fibroids

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/07/26

When Oscar winning film star Lupita Nyong'o revealed on Instagram her decade long struggle with uterine fibroids it attracted almost a million likes. The post has sparked a global debate about a health problem that affects millions of women around the world but is rarely talked about. Fibroids are non-cancerous growths that develop in the uterus, the medical term for a woman’s womb. Symptoms can be severe and include heavy menstrual bleeding, painful periods and stomach pain. Black and Asian women

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26:31

Rāgas and Redemption: Alam Khan’s Spiritual Legacy

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/07/25

What does it mean to inherit a sacred tradition? Alam Khan was born into one of the most revered lineages in Indian classical music - his father, Ali Akbar Khan, was hailed as one of the greatest musicians of the 20th Century and brought the spiritually rich sarod and rāga music to the West. But Alam's journey has not been one of simple inheritance. Presenter Rajeev Gupta follows Alam across California, from his father's grave to the family music school and into the quiet spaces where Alam seeks

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26:29

The battle for Bangladesh: Eye Investigations

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/07/24

In July 2024 Bangladesh was rocked by protests. They were sparked by anger at widespread corruption, and the reinstatement of a quota system that reserved 30% of civil service jobs for families of war veterans. An estimated 1400 people were killed in the protests which led to Bangladesh’s leader of 15 years, Sheikh Hasina, fleeing the country. After months of painstaking investigation, BBC Eye can now reveal how the police response to the protest unfolded and has verified a leaked audio recording

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26:57

Vancouver's mental health crisis

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/07/22

On 26 April 26, this year, 11 people were killed after a car was driven into a crowd at a street festival in Vancouver. Dozens more were injured, making it the deadliest attack in the city’s history. The youngest victim was just five years old. The accused, 30-year-old Adam Kai-Ji Lo, remains in custody while facing numerous charges of second-degree murder. Shortly after the attack, authorities confirmed that he was ‘being supervised under the Mental Health Act’ at the time of the attack.This case

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