The Documentary Podcast Podcast
Hear the voices at the heart of global stories. Where curious minds can make sense of the world. Home of the best documentaries from the BBC World Service.
Hear the voices at the heart of global stories. Where curious minds can uncover hidden truths and make sense of the world. Home of the best documentaries from the BBC World Service.
From the impact of drought on crops, tourism and trade, to Africa's first film city, to the Romanian teenagers who built a DIY internet...we go beyond the headlines.
Each week we look at the stories shaping our world and hear voices connecting people from across the globe, asking how news stories are shaping their lives. We also follow spiritual journeys, examine the world through the lens of its media and focus on solutions to global problems.
Episodes to download
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A Pyrotechnic History of Humanity: The future
New Year's Day 2022
How will we wean ourselves off fossil fuels?
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BBC OS Conversations: Tracking the pandemic
New Year's Day 2022
Three experts who have been tracking the spread and the impact of Covid-19
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World of Wisdom: Social distance
New Year's Day 2022
The pandemic has changed many of the ways we connect socially with others
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Peru's left behind children
Thu 30 Dec 2021
The hidden pandemic in Peru; the thousands of children who have lost a parent to Covid-19
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Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Boxing Day 2021
Reflecting on the life of the Nobel Peace Prize winner and anti-apartheid campaigner
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A Wish for Afghanistan: The Talib and the president
Boxing Day 2021
Lyse Doucet speaks to two key players who have shaped Afghanistan's recent history
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A Pyrotechnic History of Humanity: Fossil fuels
Christmas Day 2021
Our modern comfortable way of life and how it was made possible by fossil fuels
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Coronavirus: Reporting Covid
Christmas Day 2021
Vaccines, vaccine hesitancy, Delta, Omicron. What’s it like reporting on the pandemic?
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World of Wisdom: Happiness in a hard situation
Christmas Day 2021
How do you find inner happiness when life in your home country has become very hard?
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Afghan girls given a sporting chance
Christmas Eve 2021
The fortunes of teenage football players settling into new lives in the UK and Europe
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The runaway maids of Oman
Thu 23 Dec 2021
A delicate rescue operation is helping hundreds of young African women trapped in Arabia
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CODA: I'm the thumb in my family
Tue 21 Dec 2021
The remarkable stories of the children who act as interpreters for their deaf parents
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Agriculture: The solar energy revolution
Sun 19 Dec 2021
Justin Rowlatt looks at the energy revolutions that drove human history
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Parcels of CARE
Sat 18 Dec 2021
How food packages from American relief organisation CARE eased starvation after WW2
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Coronavirus: Threats to health workers
Sat 18 Dec 2021
Health workers discuss abuse and death threats during the pandemic.
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What 2021 taught us about Covid
Sat 18 Dec 2021
Ros Atkins looks at how the pandemic evolved this year
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World of Wisdom: Recovery
Sat 18 Dec 2021
Recovery from a life-threatening illness doesn't always mean we know how to live again
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The fake bitcoin mine
Wed 15 Dec 2021
The story of a cryptocurrency scam that cost two men in India their life savings
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Fire: The energy revolution
Sun 12 Dec 2021
The mastery of fire by early humans and how it transformed our metabolism
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Coronavirus: Pandemic PTSD
Sat 11 Dec 2021
The pressures on people’s mental health after caring for those who are sick or dying.
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Compulsory Covid vaccinations
Sat 11 Dec 2021
Ros Atkins looks at the debate around Covid vaccine mandates
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Poland’s fractured borderlands
Thu 9 Dec 2021
A battle of wills between Belarus and the EU leaves a border community divided.
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Only bleeding: How Swedes opened up about periods
Tue 7 Dec 2021
The provocative and practical ways Swedes made menstruation less taboo
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Poison: Jacob Zuma's toxic obsession
Sat 4 Dec 2021
Is Jacob Zuma the victim of an elaborate international conspiracy to poison him?
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Coronavirus: Omicron
Sat 4 Dec 2021
A new variant in a festive season where many people traditionally come together
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America’s abortion divide
Sat 4 Dec 2021
Ros Atkins looks at the debate around abortion rights in the US
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Sleepless in Seoul
Thu 2 Dec 2021
Korea is one of the most tired nations on earth and helping people sleep is big business.
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Internet instigators
Tue 30 Nov 2021
Meet the internet instigators who are who are organising protests through social media
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Coronavirus: Europe’s unvaccinated
Sat 27 Nov 2021
We speak to people who are resisting or refusing to get the jab
