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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

37:13

What’s behind the war in Sudan?

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/11/02

Blood spilled in Sudan's el-Fasher massacre is visible from space. What led to the latest dark turn of events that took place after the Rapid Support Forces seized the city in Northern Darfur from the Sudanese Armed Forces? In this episode, first recorded in 2024, the Global Jigsaw digs into the prehistory of Sudan’s civil war. We focus on the power struggle between two men: Hemedti, in charge of the RAF, and Burkhan, the general leading the SAF. We ask who are the foreign powers aiding them, and

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26:28

How Russian AI targets news organisations

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/11/01

Networks of bots - automated social media accounts - have been found to be targeting European elections including, in the last year, those in Moldova, Poland and Germany. But could their real intention be to tie up news organisations with fact-checking? Damien Sharkov from BBC Monitoring has been looking at how they operate. Earlier this year, news reports circulated online that a Vietnamese-American scientist called Anh Duong had a hand in creating the bombs used by America in its June airstrikes

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23:08

Women share stories of losing their hair

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/11/01

Something unusual happened recently at the Miss USA beauty contest: Miss Nevada, 22-year-old Mary Sickler, walked on stage without any hair. She had lost it to a condition known as alopecia but, until that moment, had worn a wig in public. Tens of millions of women around the world suffer from some form of hair loss and the story has sparked a global conversation. We bring together three women with alopecia, in the US, South Africa and the Netherlands. Many people having cancer treatment can also

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26:29

The right thing: Confronting my abuser

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/10/31

***This programme contains references to sexual abuse which some listeners may find upsetting***For decades, Larry Nassar was the doctor for the women’s Olympic Gymnastics team and also treated athletes at Michigan State University. He was the go-to practitioner for sports related injuries but saw many women and girls outside of the sport as well. Rachael Denhollander was a teenager when she went to see Larry Nassar for treatment. She had been a gymnast as a child, and she and her mother believed

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30:29

Jihadists and AI

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/10/30

How Jihadists wrestle with the question: to use or not to use. The allure of this powerful tool and the damage they fear it could inflict on their image and reputation. Supporters of the Islamic State group tend to be early adopters of new tech, and some have already experimented with generative Artificial Intelligence. But that has exposed deep divisions in jihadist circles. The Global Jigsaw explores this debate to understand what “responsible AI” means for them.

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39:35

Bonus: Cyber Hack - Evil Corp

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/10/28

They steal billions: Cyber Hack investigates the alleged cyber gangs and the heists and hacks they’re accused of carrying out. No one is said to be safe. From Hollywood studios, to international banks, from crypto exchanges to small businesses and health care companies, law enforcement agencies say they cause chaos around the globe. Who will be next? And where is the money going? This series looks at The Russian Evil Corp accused of being a family crime gang, responsible for stealing hundreds of

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26:29

David Harewood: Return to Othello

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/10/27

The espionage TV series, Homeland, brought David Harewood international fame but he is also known as the first Black actor to play Othello at the UK’s National Theatre when he was in his early 30s. Now, aged almost 60, he is reprising the role of the Moor in Shakespeare’s tragedy. The character of Othello is a skillful General, and the only person of colour in the Venetian army. He and Desdemona, the daughter of a rich and prominent citizen, fall in love and marry, against her father’s wishes. This

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26:28

'Looking American' to avoid deportation

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/10/25

Drone surveillance, sign language and 'looking American' are all suggestions that Brazilian immigrants are making to each other as ways to avoid being deported. Since the beginning of President Donald Trump's second term, there have been increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement or 'ICE' raids all over the country. These raids are designed to crack down on people from overseas living in the US illegally, and in September ICE focused on Massachusetts, where there is a huge Brazilian population

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24:14

Living with motor neurone disease

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/10/25

Former England ruby captain Lewis Moody recently revealed he had been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND), and our conversations give an insight into how lives can be overturned by this muscle wasting condition. Dr Mehboob in Canada was diagnosed five years ago and is now paralysed from the neck down. He is joined in conversation by his wife, Sophie, and Evy in Belgium, whose dad died last year 46 years after his diagnosis. MND is incurable. Over time, muscles weaken, affecting movement,

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26:29

The right thing: A deal with God

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/10/24

***This programme contains references to imprisonment, child abandonment and references to suicide which some listeners may find upsetting***Since the 1950s, North Korea has been an authoritarian, isolationist state, and in practice there is no freedom of religion. Timothy Cho and his schoolteacher parents had learned to distrust and even fear Christianity. But the faith was going to play a significant role in Timothy’s life. At the age of nine, Timothy returned from school, to find that his

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26:29

G-Land: Surfs and spirits

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/10/23

Off the coast of Java, Indonesia, lies G-Land, one of the world’s most legendary surf breaks, framed by a dense forest that was once home to the now-extinct Javan tiger. Alas Purwo (which literally means “Ancient Forest” or “First Forest” in Javanese) is considered one of the most mystical places in Java, with deep ties to Javanese spirituality and legend. Despite Java being one of the most crowded islands on Earth, this sacred jungle has remained largely untouched. In the 1970s, surfer Bobby

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26:36

The Last Cowboys

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/10/22

Humorous and tender, this BBC World Service documentary takes a long-haul view of the lives of modern truckers in Europe – exploring working-class masculinity on the road, all-nighters, and long journeys from inside a truck driver’s cab.Truck drivers are often seen as symbols of freedom and independence. But how free is life on the road today, when the watchful eye of the system is always upon them?One of them is Finnish truck driver Tiia Rajala, who has dreamed of the open road since childhood. As

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27:18

Bonus: The Global Story - A Gazan journalist's diary

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/10/21

Reporting on the war in Gaza has only been possible because of the work of Palestinian journalists, because the Israeli government will not let foreign broadcasters – including the BBC – inside the territory to report freely, even now a ceasefire is in place.One month ago, freelance journalist Ghada Al-Kurd began sharing voice notes with us, talking about her life, her hopes, her family, and her days reporting in Gaza City. Her job is dangerous – almost 200 journalists have been killed in Gaza in

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26:27

Carl Brandon Strehlke: My search for the 15th Century...

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/10/20

Art historian Carl Brandon Stehlke is a world expert on the great 15th Century Florentine painter Fra Angelico, and this is his dream project: a historic, once-in-a-lifetime exhibition of the artist's work at the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and the Museo di San Marco in Florence. The show brings together more than 140 works from 70 different lenders and reunites the sections of Angelico's great altarpieces, scattered when Napoleon closed the city's churches and convents in the late 18th and early

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61:40

A people’s history of Gaza

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/10/19

The back-story of Gaza, from the 1940s to the 2010s, told through the personal experiences of a wide variety of ordinary people - a teacher, a smuggler, a bird-watcher, musicians, doctors and others. Tim Whewell finds out how the tiny territory was created, how it first filled with refugees, how people lived, worked and died, how they survived invasions, wars and blockade, how hopes for peace rose and fell - under the rule of Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Hamas. How did refugees

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26:28

Reporting the impact of the Gaza ceasefire

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/10/18

Following the ceasefire in Gaza, this week has seen the release of hostages and prisoners on both sides and the beginning of the return of the remains of some of the deceased. Over the past two years, The Fifth Floor has been speaking to language service colleagues reporting on the conflict. This week, we reconnect with them to find out how networks of citizens on both sides have informed and provided new perspectives on their reporting. Amira Dakroury checked in from the BBC's Cairo Bureau where

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23:20

Families in Israel and Gaza share their stories

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/10/18

After two years and two days of war in Gaza, Israel and Hamas have agreed the first phase of a US-brokered ceasefire. In our conversations, families in Israel and Gaza share their experiences of the conflict and their lives today. With the remaining 20 surviving Israeli hostages seized by Hamas fighters on 7 October 2023 now back with their families, we hear from husband and wife George and Yael. Their town was attacked by Hamas fighters two years ago, but Yael is hoping for a lasting peace. On the

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26:31

Mamdani New York

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/10/17

Zohran Mamdani catapulted on to New York’s political scene this summer when he captured the Democratic nomination to run for Mayor this fall. A young politician, Mamdani campaigned on issues that mattered to New Yorkers including lowering the cost of living, but unlike other candidates, was not shy about making his Muslim faith a central talking point on the campaign trail. We explore how a single decision galvanized voters of different faiths across America’s biggest city, and delve into the social

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26:33

Fighting on two fronts

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/10/16

More than a third of Ukraine’s scientific institutions have been damaged or destroyed by Russian bombing. Many scientists have either fled the country or are internally displaced, and that Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences is trying to operate on half its pre-war budget. The funding may be reduced but the science still matters, even in wartime. Perhaps especially in wartime. It is something the country can be proud of. Climate change has no borders and Ukraine is making a key contribution to

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17:40

Sabotage by smartphone

The Documentary Podcast ·

2025/10/15

Ukrainian teenagers are being recruited online to carry out sabotage against their own country in return for cryptocurrency, and for some the consequences are deadly. Ukraine accuses Russia of using Telegram to offer minors large sums of money to plant bombs or stage arson attacks. There have even been allegations that some recruits have been blown up while transporting explosive devices. This episode features a rare interview with a Ukrainian teenager who is currently awaiting trial after

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2,161 results

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