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
-
![]()
Three Pillars of Trump: Healthcare Reform
Tue 6 Feb 2018
Healthcare reform was top of President Trumps legislative priority. What has changed?
-
![]()
Escape from Croatia’s Asylums
Thu 1 Feb 2018
Thousands of people with mental illness live in asylums in Croatia. But not in Osijek
-
![]()
Moving Pictures: The Temptation of Saint Anthony by Joos van Craesbeeck
Wed 31 Jan 2018
The dark, demonic landscape of a 17th Century masterpiece The Temptation of St Anthony
-
![]()
Three Pillars of Trump: The State Department
Tue 30 Jan 2018
The State Department ends Trump’s first year less resourced and less empowered
-
![]()
The End Zone
Sun 28 Jan 2018
Fears of brain damage is leading to Americans stopping playing football
-
![]()
Oprah – Global Icon
Sat 27 Jan 2018
The rise of talk show host, philanthropist, media proprietor and actress Oprah Winfrey
-
![]()
Paralympic Sport – Fair Play?
Thu 25 Jan 2018
The ethos of the Paralympic movement is fair and equal competition.
-
![]()
Moving Pictures: Men of the Docks
Wed 24 Jan 2018
George Bellow’s masterpiece Men of the Docks reveals life in the Brooklyn docks in 1912
-
![]()
Three Pillars of Trump:US Defence
Tue 23 Jan 2018
What has President Trump’s first year has meant for US Defence?
-
![]()
Trump: A Year in Tweets
Sun 21 Jan 2018
What can President Trump's tweets tell us about his presidency and the US?
-
![]()
Pandemic: The Story of the 1918 Flu
Sun 21 Jan 2018
How the flu pandemic of 100 years ago affected every corner of the world
-
![]()
-
![]()
Moving Pictures: Ann West's Patchwork
Wed 17 Jan 2018
Discover life in Regency England through the extraordinary detail of Ann West's Coverlet
-
![]()
The End of Innocence in Venezuela
Tue 16 Jan 2018
How criminal gangs in Venezuela use children as young as 10 and teenagers in their wars
-
![]()
Celebrating Life at 117
Sat 13 Jan 2018
Priscilla Ng’ethe joins a family celebration for her 117 year old great grandmother
-
![]()
Ukraine's Frontline Bakery
Thu 11 Jan 2018
Lucy Ash meets the staff and customers of a bakery which is in war-torn east Ukraine.
-
![]()
The Hackers of Siberia
Tue 9 Jan 2018
Intellectuals banished to an inhospitable land created a pool of talent and creativity
-
![]()
Black and Proud in Brazil
Thu 4 Jan 2018
How black Brazilians are asserting their rights thanks to a controversial education law
-
![]()
Sarah Marquis, Explorer
Tue 2 Jan 2018
In a classic Aboriginal walkabout, Sarah fished, foraged and gathered food from the wild
-
![]()
Taming the Pilcamayo
Thu 28 Dec 2017
A journey up the 'suicidal' Pilcomayo river that separates Paraguay from Argentina...
-
![]()
Leo Houlding, Rock Climber
Boxing Day 2017
How a hallucinogenic ceremony led to an attempt to climb Cerro Autana in Venezuela
-
![]()
Mugabe's Last Days
Christmas Day 2017
Robert Mugabe stepped down after four decades in power, the transition took just ten days
-
![]()
Your Life in a Cup of Coffee
Christmas Eve 2017
Fortune-telling via Turkish coffee grounds, a practice popular across the Middle East
-
![]()
Russia's Exit Dilemma
Sat 23 Dec 2017
Stay or go? Lucy Ash explores the choice facing Russia’s brightest and best
-
![]()
Thirty-Three Ways to Dispel a Chinese Mistress
Fri 22 Dec 2017
There are 33 ways to dispel a mistress according to one of China's top love detectives.
-
![]()
-
![]()
Tanya Streeter: Free-Diver
Tue 19 Dec 2017
Tanya Streeter’s remarkable dive – on just one breath of air – to the depth of 160m
-
![]()
Who Killed the Circus?
Sun 17 Dec 2017
America’s longest running circus, Ringling, Barnum and Bailey, is closing after 146 years
-
![]()
Art for the Millions
Sat 16 Dec 2017
The Great Depression and how the US government used the arts to uplift national spirit
-
![]()
Daphne and the Two Maltas
Thu 14 Dec 2017
A brutal killing, an unsolved murder and the divided island of Malta
