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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How Scarborough saved the world
Wed 4 Dec 2019
GCHQ's Scarborough station and its role in WW2, the Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis
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Giving peace a chance
Tue 3 Dec 2019
John Lennon and Yoko Ono's bed-in for peace protest and the people who witnessed it
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The man who laughed at al-Qaeda
Thu 28 Nov 2019
Remembering Raed Fares the Radio Fresh FM founder who fought hatred with humour in Syria.
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Emperor complex
Tue 26 Nov 2019
Huang built China’s first 'privatised city'. Is it utopia or his personal fiefdom?
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The Malawi tapes
Sun 24 Nov 2019
Preserving the treasure trove of traditional harmonies, rhythms and instruments of Malawi
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Russian women fight back
Thu 21 Nov 2019
Domestic violence is endemic and often deadly in Russia but some women are fighting back
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Sierra Leone: The price of going home
Thu 14 Nov 2019
What happens to migrants who give up trying to reach Europe – and go home as failures?
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Hong Kong: Love in a divided city
Tue 12 Nov 2019
How have the protests affected the married lives between Hong Kong and mainland Chinese?
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Comrade Africa
Sun 10 Nov 2019
How Communist East Germany tried to influence Africa via radio during the Cold War
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Moondog: Sound of New York
Wed 6 Nov 2019
Huey Morgan celebrates the life and work of blind musician Moondog
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Cameroon's MMA champion
Tue 5 Nov 2019
Francis Ngannou's odyssey from child labour in a sand quarry to superstardom in the UFC
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Northern Ireland 1969: The violence spreads
Wed 30 Oct 2019
Ruth Sanderson looks back at the Scarman testimonies and the violence in Belfast in 1969
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Uganda's war in the bush
Sun 27 Oct 2019
How the guerrilla war in Uganda led to the current leadership
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Being black in Italy
Thu 24 Oct 2019
Meet the black Italians fighting to claim their place in a nation that’s still very white
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Northern Ireland 1969: Battle lines
Wed 23 Oct 2019
How the violence of the Northern Ireland Troubles began in August 1969
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Looking for love: The Zoroastrian way
Tue 22 Oct 2019
Nalini Sivathasan meets young Zoroastrians trying to save their religion from extinction
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Argentina’s ‘white gold’ rush
Thu 17 Oct 2019
Are lithium-powered electric vehicles as ‘green’ as we think they are?
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The Gospel of Wealth
Wed 16 Oct 2019
Gordon Brown meets billionaires inspired by the great philanthropist Andrew Carnegie
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My personal history of sormeh
Tue 15 Oct 2019
Black eyeliner is more than just make-up. It's a symbol of the power of Persian women
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Super Sisters
Sun 13 Oct 2019
Meet the inspirational supersisters on whose shoulders today's female sport stars stand
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Cuba's digital revolution
Sun 13 Oct 2019
Cubans are getting online – so how is the internet transforming this communist country?
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Nigeria: sex for grades
Thu 10 Oct 2019
University professors sexually harassing and blackmailing female students in Nigeria
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Translating for mum and dad
Wed 9 Oct 2019
Meet the children who help their immigrant parents navigate life in the UK by translating
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Passport to paradise
Tue 8 Oct 2019
In Vanuatu, a tiny Pacific Island Nation, a controversial passport scheme is a concern
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Undercover with the clerics: Iraq’s secret sex trade
Thu 3 Oct 2019
The clerics facilitating so-called ‘pleasure marriages’ in return for payment
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How to buy your own country
Tue 1 Oct 2019
The winners and losers from the booming global citizenship trade
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America's child brides
Sun 29 Sep 2019
In America children can get married legally in most states. Jane O'Brien investigates
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Chile’s Stolen Babies
Thu 26 Sep 2019
A Chilean man - adopted at birth - searches for the mother forced to give him up