Documentaries
An indepth look at stories and issues from around the world. This podcast offers you the chance to access landmark series from our archive.
Tajikistan’s last, lonely hyenas
For decades, conservationists in Tajikistan assumed that the striped hyena – a shy, less vocal cousin of the spotted hyena – was extinct there. But in 2017 a motion-sensitive camera trap in the country’s south-western corner, near the borders with Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, detected the presence of a female with…
Yoko Nishina: Japanese calligraphy
Yoko Nishina likes to use black Japanese Sumi ink in her calligraphy work because of the variety of colours , from blues through to browns. Craftsmen still use traditional methods to create the ink from vegetable oil lamps with wicks made of reeds. She creates both large and small works…
Has Ghana's ‘Year of Return’ been a success?
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…
Why are Chinese micro-dramas so popular?
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…
Israelis and the war in Gaza
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…
Freddie’s second verse
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,…
The engineers: Exploring the human
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…
New Zealand: Heading across the ditch
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…
Waiting for my Dad - Ukraine's children of the missing
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…
Luke Jerram: A good yarn
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…
Why a South Korean church bought a village in Paraguay
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…
Hunger in Gaza
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…
Bergen-Belsen: Among graves, we were born
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…
Controlling nature's data
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…
The JNIM branch of al-Qaeda
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…
Can Greenland go it alone?
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…
Marina Tabassum: Designing London's Serpentine Pavilion
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…
The shooting of India’s biggest hip hop star
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…
The hidden pain of fibroids
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…
Rāgas and Redemption: Alam Khan’s Spiritual Legacy
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…