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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Dyslexia: Language and childhood
Tue 6 Oct 2020
Toby Withers explores how you can be dyslexic in one language, but not in another
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US Election 2020: Trump and coronavirus
Mon 5 Oct 2020
What have Americans made of President Trump's response to the pandemic?
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Portland, prisons and white supremacy - part one
Thu 1 Oct 2020
How the death of a black teenager highlighted America’s struggle with white gang violence
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Songs of the Humpback Whale
Tue 29 Sep 2020
The story of Roger Payne’s best-selling environmental album, released 50 years ago
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What has Nobel done for the World?
Sun 27 Sep 2020
What it takes to win a Nobel prize and what it means for the lives and careers of winners
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Coronavirus: Back to normal in Wuhan?
Sat 26 Sep 2020
What life is like now in the Chinese city where Covid-19 was first detected
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Poland's gay pride and prejudice
Thu 24 Sep 2020
The row over sexuality that threatens to unleash a culture war in Poland
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Coronavirus: Friendships during lockdown
Sat 19 Sep 2020
A conversation about friendships during the pandemic
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The trouble with Dutch cows
Thu 17 Sep 2020
Must the Netherlands' world-beating cows be sacrificed to save the country's environment?
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The shepherd and the settler
Wed 16 Sep 2020
A Palestinian shepherd fights for his livelihood under pressure from Israeli settlers
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Remembering those lost to Covid-19
Fri 11 Sep 2020
The stories behind the numbers in the coronavirus pandemic
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Accused of hacking the Pentagon
Wed 9 Sep 2020
This is what happened to my life when I was accused of hacking the Pentagon
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Why India is mad for motorbikes
Tue 8 Sep 2020
An investigation into the deep-seated and increasing passion for motorcycling in India
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BBC OS Conversations: Covid-free nations
Mon 7 Sep 2020
We hear about life on Pacific islands with no coronavirus cases
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Naziha Syed Ali: Pakistan’s fearless female reporter
Thu 3 Sep 2020
The Pakistani journalist on holding her country’s powerful elite to account
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Rulebreakers: A beautiful prison
Wed 2 Sep 2020
Why Greenland is opening up its first prison, after years as a modern prison-less society
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The Soviet Feminist Army
Tue 1 Sep 2020
The army of Soviet women spreading feminist ideas in Afghanistan
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Coronavirus: Children with special needs
Sun 30 Aug 2020
How parents of children with special educational needs have coped in lockdown
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August in Minsk
Sat 29 Aug 2020
A summer of protest in Belarus recorded by Minsk journalist Ilya Kuzniatsou
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Hugh Sykes: Reporting from the frontlines
Thu 27 Aug 2020
Hugh Sykes recounts the drama, danger and humour of life on the journalistic frontline
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Rulebreakers: Veteran on the tracks
Wed 26 Aug 2020
The handbook for train hopping American hobo culture and the man behind the guide
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BBC OS Conversations: Covid-19 'long-haulers'
Sun 23 Aug 2020
People who have had Covid-19 but are still suffering from debilitating symptoms
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Barbara Demick: True stories from North Korea
Thu 20 Aug 2020
The writer Barbara Demick discusses her ‘narrative non-fiction’ style of journalism
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Rulebreakers: How I disappear
Wed 19 Aug 2020
The phenomenon of disappearance is rooted in Japanese culture. Meet those who disappear
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Vaccines, money and politics
Tue 18 Aug 2020
What will it really take to vaccinate the world against Covid 19?
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BBC OS Conversations: Addiction during a pandemic
Sun 16 Aug 2020
How two men fought their addictions during lockdown
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Stitching souls
Sun 16 Aug 2020
Maria Margaronis sews and hears the stories of Gee’s Bend's historic quilters
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Milton Nkosi: The apartheid child who changed Africa’s story
Thu 13 Aug 2020
How a boy from Soweto rose to become the BBC’s chief journalist in Africa.
