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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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.
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Fighting talk: How language can make us better
Wed 12 Aug 2020
What impact does the language we use around cancer have on those living with the disease?
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Vaccines, money and politics
Tue 11 Aug 2020
What will it really take to vaccinate the world against Covid-19?
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BBC OS Conversations: After the Beirut explosion
Sun 9 Aug 2020
We speak to people in Beirut following a massive explosion at its port
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Worlds Apart
Sun 9 Aug 2020
If globalisation is on its last legs - again - what might the impacts be?
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Algeria's plague revisited
Thu 6 Aug 2020
A tale of two plagues in the Algerian city of Oran - one fictional and the other Covid-19
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Karachi's ambulance drivers
Tue 4 Aug 2020
Driver Safdar's experiences reveal a remarkable story of life and death in Pakistan
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BBC OS Conversations: Spain's tourism industry
Sat 1 Aug 2020
Spanish business owners react to the news as the UK adds Spain to its quarantine list
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Venezuela's 'Bay of Piglets'
Thu 30 Jul 2020
A failed coup in Venezuela - a story of hubris, incompetence, and treachery
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Ingenious: The milkshake and the cyclops gene
Wed 29 Jul 2020
Why some of us are unable to digest dairy and the intricate process of creating a baby
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Karachi's ambulance drivers
Tue 28 Jul 2020
What can ambulance drivers tell us about political change in Pakistan?
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Death of Elijah McClain
Sun 26 Jul 2020
We hear from Sheneen McClain, whose son Elijah died after being detained by police
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The most important, least important thing
Sun 26 Jul 2020
Why is watching sport so important to us as a species? What happens when it disappears?
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The many colours of Raqqa
Thu 23 Jul 2020
How Syria's secret photographer worked and survived under every force in the conflict
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Ingenious: The ginger gene and breast cancer gene
Wed 22 Jul 2020
The origins of the ginger gene and the genes that can increase the risk of breast cancer
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The confined: A story of hidden children
Tue 21 Jul 2020
How Jewish children and French nuns together defied the Nazis
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South Africa’s alcohol ban
Sun 19 Jul 2020
How does banning alcohol sales help doctors tackling Covid-19?
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Embankment baby
Sun 19 Jul 2020
Tony May was abandoned as a baby in 1942. Can DNA testing reveal who his parents were?
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What the sediment revealed in Lebanon
Thu 16 Jul 2020
What’s behind the scandal sparked by a delivery of tainted fuel to crisis-ridden Lebanon?
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Black America speaks
Sun 12 Jul 2020
Listening to conversations on black-owned radio after the killing of George Floyd
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The Coronavirus Frontline special
Sun 12 Jul 2020
From vaccine trials to new treatments, this investigation tracks Covid-19 breakthroughs.
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The missing bodies of Guayaquil
Thu 9 Jul 2020
Families search for their loved ones, victims of Covid-19, in Ecuador’s largest city
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Race in America: My enslaved ancestors
Sat 4 Jul 2020
Three women share the history of slavery in their families and discuss its impact today
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Wuhan: City of silence
Thu 2 Jul 2020
Where did Covid-19 come from? John Sudworth searches for answers where it first emerged
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The 'grandma benches' of Zimbabwe
Tue 30 Jun 2020
A scheme which trains up grandmothers in talking therapy has helped over 50,000 people
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Coronavirus: The economic shock
Sun 28 Jun 2020
Alongside the medical emergency, what will Covid-19 mean for the global economy?
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Coronavirus conversations: What next?
Sun 28 Jun 2020
Health experts and listeners share their views of life in a post-pandemic world
