The Documentary Podcast Podcast
Hear the voices at the heart of global stories. Where curious minds can uncover hidden truths and make sense of the world. Documentary storytelling 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. The best of documentary storytelling from the BBC World Service.
From conflict in the Middle East to the advance of AI, to the front line of the climate emergency, we go beyond the headlines. Each week we dive into the minds of the world’s most creative people, take personal journeys into spirituality and connect people from across the globe to share how news stories are shaping their lives.
Episodes to download
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The social lives of bacteria
Wed 17 Sep 2025
The microscopic dramas of bacterial loners, crowd-lovers, backstabbers and do-gooders
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Faith on the Russia-Ukraine frontline
Wed 17 Sep 2025
We hear from military chaplains and priests on both sides of the war in Ukraine
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Kenya: A Battle For Gen Z
Tue 16 Sep 2025
Protests, abductions, defiance - the young people caught in a struggle for Kenya
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Jon Foreman: Art that goes out with the tide
Mon 15 Sep 2025
Land Artist Jon Foreman takes us behind the scenes of his new sculpture
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Decoding China’s doublespeak
Sun 14 Sep 2025
How the Chinese Communist Party gets lost in translation
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Who's behind Europe's largest rare book heist?
Sat 13 Sep 2025
How hundreds of Russian rare books disappeared from libraries across Europe
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Would you want to live until 150?
Sat 13 Sep 2025
We hear what it is like to live to an old age and what experts say on longevity
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Tequila with the bat man
Thu 11 Sep 2025
One conservationist's mission to protect bats and Mexico’s iconic tequila and mezcal
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Selling misleading fertility hope
Wed 10 Sep 2025
We investigate the science behind fertility supplements being promoted online
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My blessed boy: The millennial saint
Wed 10 Sep 2025
How teenager Carlo Acutis became the world’s first Millennial Saint
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MAST: Architecture on water
Mon 8 Sep 2025
Copenhagen architecture studio MAST specialises in building on water
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Kharkiv: Love in a warzone
Sun 7 Sep 2025
Why one woman chose to live under fire in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv – for love
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Colombia's cocaine submarines
Sat 6 Sep 2025
How Colombian drug cartels are using new methods to boost their revenues
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Grey divorce
Sat 6 Sep 2025
The personal impact of separating later in life and how it also affects adult children
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Germany's timber detectives
Thu 4 Sep 2025
A group of German scientists tackling illegal deforestation
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Floods hit Texas, then came the cloud talk
Wed 3 Sep 2025
Did cloud seeding trigger the Texas floods? No, but that didn’t stop the online rumours
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Galicia’s wild horses in peril
Tue 2 Sep 2025
Europe’s largest herd of wild horses, in north-west Spain, is under threat. Why?
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Paul McCartney: Beatles and beyond
Sun 31 Aug 2025
Sir Paul McCartney from The Beatles and his legacy hosted by The Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs
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Scammed, robbed, traumatised – life after war for Russian soldiers
Sat 30 Aug 2025
Vladimir Putin promised soldiers a hero's welcome, but their reality is quite different
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Surviving the floods in Pakistan
Sat 30 Aug 2025
Victims of flooding share their stories of survival and rescue
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Digitally preserving Armenia’s Christian heritage
Fri 29 Aug 2025
How drones and lasers are helping to digitally preserve Armenia’s ancient churches
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Student Predator: Surviving Zhenhao Zou
Wed 27 Aug 2025
A window into our world. Investigating and reporting true stories from everywhere.
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The Facebook grifters making money off AI Holocaust victims
Wed 27 Aug 2025
BBC Trending unravels the network profiting from AI Holocaust victims on Facebook
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Suing 'Alligator Alcatraz': Immigration in the US
Tue 26 Aug 2025
The legal battles against America’s infamous new immigrant detention centre
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Adeju Thompson: Taking fashion label Lagos Space Programme to the world
Mon 25 Aug 2025
Fashion designer Adeju Thompson prepares to take his label from Lagos to the world
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Bonus: Lives Less Ordinary presents, Hold Fast!
Sun 24 Aug 2025
The extraordinary story of how The Avontuur was locked down at sea for 188 days
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Mud wrestling and tent pegging: Africa’s unusual sports
Sat 23 Aug 2025
Wrestling in the mud, a dance of the mind, and a medieval sport on horseback
