BBC Documentaries

Documentaries

An indepth look at stories and issues from around the world. This podcast offers you the chance to access landmark series from our archive.
Daily English United Kingdom Education
60 Episodes
1 – 20

Assignment: Choking in Chiang Mai

For a period earlier this month, the historic city of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand had the worst air of any city in the world.The city gained the same unwanted accolade last year. The practice of agricultural burning in the hills around Chiang Mai renders the air so toxic from…
27 Mar 10PM 31 min

Rwanda 30 years on

Victoria Uwonkunda makes an emotional journey back to Rwanda, where she grew up. It is the first time she has visited since the age of 12, when she fled the 1994 genocide with her family. Victoria retraces her journey to safety out of the capital Kigali, to the border with…
26 Mar 8PM 52 min

Bonus: The Black 14

A bonus episode from the Amazing Sport Stories podcast - The Black 14. Sport, racism and protests are about to change the lives of “the Black 14” American footballers. It’s 1969 in the United States. They’ve arrived on scholarships at the University of Wyoming to play for its Cowboys American…
25 Mar 8PM 33 min

In the Studio: Helmut Deutsch and Michael Volle - Staging Winterreise

Michael Volle is a baritone singer who has made his name with magisterial operatic performances, particularly Wagner. Helmut Deutsch has been playing the piano alongside the great and the good of the classical world for five decades, including the soprano Ileana Cotrubas and the tenor Jonas Kaufmann. Performing the 24-song…
24 Mar 8PM 31 min

Bonus: The Global Story

Since conflict broke out in April 2023, it has been almost impossible for international media to report from Sudan. In that time, stories of horrific violence and sexual violence have been told by hundreds of thousands of people who have fled the country. Feras Kilani, the BBC Arabic special correspondent,…
23 Mar 9PM 30 min

The Cultural Frontline: Bjarke Ingels

Bjarke Ingels is the Danish architect who is responsible for creating the flood defence project for Manhattan. In 2012 Hurricane Sandy saw flood water rise up to 2.4 metres. Lives were lost, the city’s transportation system was brought to a stand-still and the New York Stock exchange was closed for…
23 Mar 8AM 28 min

BBC OS Conversations: Protesting farmers

Long lines of tractors have become an increasingly common site in recent months on the streets of many European cities. In Poland, farmers blocked roads this week in protest at rising costs and competition from cheaper imports from Ukraine. Farmers have also been protesting in the UK, Hungary, Belgium, Spain,…
22 Mar 9PM 27 min

Assignment: Border Stories, part 2 - Coyotes and Kidnap

Thousands of people every day are on the move across Mexico towards the border with the US. But for migrants, this is one of the most perilous journeys in the world: land routes are dominated by powerful drug cartels and organised crime groups.In this episode of Border Stories, Linda Pressly…
20 Mar 10PM 28 min

Bonus: What in the World

The Philippines is one of the most at risk countries in the world to the effects of climate change, with typhoons becoming more severe. At the same time, it has some of the most expensive energy in Southeast Asia. The country currently relies heavily on imported coal. But a recent…
20 Mar 8AM 26 min

A Reckoning with Drugs in Oregon

On election day 2020, the people of Portland, Oregon - famed city of progressives and counterculture - voted to pass Measure 110, the USA’s boldest drug policy reform yet. It came after years of campaigning and was aimed at inverting the thinking of the war on drugs.. Measure 110 decriminalised…
19 Mar 9PM 28 min

Trapped in Oman

A story of humanity in the face of inhumanity.It starts with women from Malawi who travel to Oman in the hope of improving their lives. Instead, they find themselves trapped in servitude as domestic workers. BBC Africa Eye has spent months uncovering evidence of physical and sexual abuse through voice…
18 Mar 9PM 27 min

In the Studio: Colm Tóibín

Irish author Colm Tóibín is among the world’s most celebrated contemporary writers. His works includes novels such as Nora Webster and The Blackwater Lightship, but also journalism, criticism, drama and more. His book Brooklyn was adapted into an Oscar-nominated film starring Saoirse Ronan, and his writing has been translated into…
17 Mar 9PM 25 min

Bonus: The Global Story

A bonus episode from The Global Story podcast. Panama Canal: It's running dry and it's going to cost us. The Global Story brings you one big story every weekday, making sense of the news with our experts around the world. Insights you can trust, from the BBC, with Katya Adler…
16 Mar 9PM 26 min

BBC OS Conversations: Haiti gangs and stray bullets

Haiti is facing its most most acute humanitarian crisis for more than a decade. There’s been a surge in violence with armed gangs in control of most of the capital. The prime minister has resigned, there’s a month long state of emergency and a curfew has been extended. The gangs…
15 Mar 9PM 25 min

Heart and Soul: Not even water?

They are the top questions asked to anyone who is fasting for Ramadan: no food or water? But what is Ramadan? Why Fast? And how do young Muslims manage Ramadan in their respective lives and work? Former teacher turned journalist Mehreen Baig goes in search of the answers by speaking…
14 Mar 9PM 28 min

Assignment: Border Stories, part one - Zero Tolerance

In 2018 the US government under President Trump introduced a policy of “Zero Tolerance” at its border with Mexico. Anyone attempting to enter the US without documentation would be prosecuted, even if it was a first offence. If they were travelling with children, their children would be taken from them…
13 Mar 10PM 29 min

Running out of sand

It is hard to believe but the world is running out of sand. Our insatiable appetite for the substance that makes everything from skyscrapers to smartphones has led to environmental destruction in countries like Cambodia, where there has been a long history of illegal sand mining along the Mekong river…
12 Mar 8PM 50 min

Bonus: Lives Less Ordinary

A bonus episode from Lives Less Ordinary podcast. Miracle on the ocean floor. Have you ever locked eyes with a stranger and wondered, "What’s their story?" Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected. Extraordinary stories from around the world. For more, go to bbcworldservice.com/liveslessordinary or search for Live…
11 Mar 9PM 41 min

In the Studio: Peter Beatty

In 2021, with UK Covid restrictions putting plans for his creative collaborations on hold, British artist and musician Peter Beatty decided to take the plunge into animation. He wanted to create an animated film as a music video to accompany a song he had written called Tell Me Where to…
10 Mar 8PM 26 min
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