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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Why India is mad for motorbikes
Tue 8 Sep 2020
An investigation into the deep-seated and increasing passion for motorcycling in India
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BBC OS Conversations: Covid-free nations
Mon 7 Sep 2020
We hear about life on Pacific islands with no coronavirus cases
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Naziha Syed Ali: Pakistan’s fearless female reporter
Thu 3 Sep 2020
The Pakistani journalist on holding her country’s powerful elite to account
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Rulebreakers: A beautiful prison
Wed 2 Sep 2020
Why Greenland is opening up its first prison, after years as a modern prison-less society
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The Soviet Feminist Army
Tue 1 Sep 2020
The army of Soviet women spreading feminist ideas in Afghanistan
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Coronavirus: Children with special needs
Sun 30 Aug 2020
How parents of children with special educational needs have coped in lockdown
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August in Minsk
Sat 29 Aug 2020
A summer of protest in Belarus recorded by Minsk journalist Ilya Kuzniatsou
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Hugh Sykes: Reporting from the frontlines
Thu 27 Aug 2020
Hugh Sykes recounts the drama, danger and humour of life on the journalistic frontline
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Rulebreakers: Veteran on the tracks
Wed 26 Aug 2020
The handbook for train hopping American hobo culture and the man behind the guide
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BBC OS Conversations: Covid-19 'long-haulers'
Sun 23 Aug 2020
People who have had Covid-19 but are still suffering from debilitating symptoms
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Barbara Demick: True stories from North Korea
Thu 20 Aug 2020
The writer Barbara Demick discusses her ‘narrative non-fiction’ style of journalism
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Rulebreakers: How I disappear
Wed 19 Aug 2020
The phenomenon of disappearance is rooted in Japanese culture. Meet those who disappear
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Vaccines, money and politics
Tue 18 Aug 2020
What will it really take to vaccinate the world against Covid 19?
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BBC OS Conversations: Addiction during a pandemic
Sun 16 Aug 2020
How two men fought their addictions during lockdown
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Stitching souls
Sun 16 Aug 2020
Maria Margaronis sews and hears the stories of Gee’s Bend's historic quilters
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Milton Nkosi: The apartheid child who changed Africa’s story
Thu 13 Aug 2020
How a boy from Soweto rose to become the BBC’s chief journalist in Africa.
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Fighting talk: How language can make us better
Wed 12 Aug 2020
What impact does the language we use around cancer have on those living with the disease?
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Vaccines, money and politics
Tue 11 Aug 2020
What will it really take to vaccinate the world against Covid-19?
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BBC OS Conversations: After the Beirut explosion
Sun 9 Aug 2020
We speak to people in Beirut following a massive explosion at its port
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Worlds Apart
Sun 9 Aug 2020
If globalisation is on its last legs - again - what might the impacts be?
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Algeria's plague revisited
Thu 6 Aug 2020
A tale of two plagues in the Algerian city of Oran - one fictional and the other Covid-19
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Karachi's ambulance drivers
Tue 4 Aug 2020
Driver Safdar's experiences reveal a remarkable story of life and death in Pakistan
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BBC OS Conversations: Spain's tourism industry
Sat 1 Aug 2020
Spanish business owners react to the news as the UK adds Spain to its quarantine list
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Venezuela's 'Bay of Piglets'
Thu 30 Jul 2020
A failed coup in Venezuela - a story of hubris, incompetence, and treachery
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Ingenious: The milkshake and the cyclops gene
Wed 29 Jul 2020
Why some of us are unable to digest dairy and the intricate process of creating a baby
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Karachi's ambulance drivers
Tue 28 Jul 2020
What can ambulance drivers tell us about political change in Pakistan?
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Death of Elijah McClain
Sun 26 Jul 2020
We hear from Sheneen McClain, whose son Elijah died after being detained by police
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The most important, least important thing
Sun 26 Jul 2020
Why is watching sport so important to us as a species? What happens when it disappears?
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The many colours of Raqqa
Thu 23 Jul 2020
How Syria's secret photographer worked and survived under every force in the conflict
