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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Ingenious: The ginger gene and breast cancer gene
Wed 22 Jul 2020
The origins of the ginger gene and the genes that can increase the risk of breast cancer
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The confined: A story of hidden children
Tue 21 Jul 2020
How Jewish children and French nuns together defied the Nazis
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South Africa’s alcohol ban
Sun 19 Jul 2020
How does banning alcohol sales help doctors tackling Covid-19?
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Embankment baby
Sun 19 Jul 2020
Tony May was abandoned as a baby in 1942. Can DNA testing reveal who his parents were?
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What the sediment revealed in Lebanon
Thu 16 Jul 2020
What’s behind the scandal sparked by a delivery of tainted fuel to crisis-ridden Lebanon?
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Black America speaks
Sun 12 Jul 2020
Listening to conversations on black-owned radio after the killing of George Floyd
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The Coronavirus Frontline special
Sun 12 Jul 2020
From vaccine trials to new treatments, this investigation tracks Covid-19 breakthroughs.
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The missing bodies of Guayaquil
Thu 9 Jul 2020
Families search for their loved ones, victims of Covid-19, in Ecuador’s largest city
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Race in America: My enslaved ancestors
Sat 4 Jul 2020
Three women share the history of slavery in their families and discuss its impact today
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Wuhan: City of silence
Thu 2 Jul 2020
Where did Covid-19 come from? John Sudworth searches for answers where it first emerged
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The 'grandma benches' of Zimbabwe
Tue 30 Jun 2020
A scheme which trains up grandmothers in talking therapy has helped over 50,000 people
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Coronavirus: The economic shock
Sun 28 Jun 2020
Alongside the medical emergency, what will Covid-19 mean for the global economy?
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Coronavirus conversations: What next?
Sun 28 Jun 2020
Health experts and listeners share their views of life in a post-pandemic world
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World debate: Re-engineering the future
Sat 27 Jun 2020
How can engineers re-imagine the everyday and make life safer across the globe?
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Kenya’s locust hunters
Thu 25 Jun 2020
As desert locusts swarm across East Africa, can Kenya’s locust hunters prevent a plague?
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New York Covid-19 diary
Tue 23 Jun 2020
Public health leader Dr Tom Frieden reflects on the global pandemic.
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Rethink: The edge of change
Mon 22 Jun 2020
How the coronavirus pandemic has created new opportunities to change our world
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Reporting Covid-19
Sun 21 Jun 2020
How local newspapers the Mumbai Mirror and the Courier Journal reported the pandemic
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Rethink: Class of Covid-19 - Should I go to university?
Sat 20 Jun 2020
With job cuts and falling salaries, does going to university still make financial sense?
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Coronavirus conversations: Another Beijing lockdown
Sat 20 Jun 2020
A new spike in China's capital, escaping a violent partner and reopening a business
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The 5G con that could make you sick
Thu 18 Jun 2020
Assignment investigates how bad science could be damaging people’s health
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My fake news whodunnit
Sun 14 Jun 2020
Who wrote a fake story that smeared a Senegalese politician in Michelle Madsen’s name?
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Coronavirus and Latin America
Sat 13 Jun 2020
The impact of Coronavirus on Latin America: how has it dealt with the pandemic?
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Conversations on race and change
Sat 13 Jun 2020
The debate surrounding the push for change by protests after the death of George Floyd
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The seafarers stranded on the high seas
Thu 11 Jun 2020
How thousands of seafarers are stuck working on vessels and unable to go home
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Lockdown: Tales from Panama and Brazil
Tue 9 Jun 2020
People across the world broadcast their experience of the coronavirus pandemic
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Killer Mike - The rapper turned speech maker
Sun 7 Jun 2020
Rapper Killer Mike made a plea for calm after George Floyd’s death
