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
-
![]()
Get Out Of Jail Free
Thu 22 Jun 2017
Each year 35,000 New Yorkers end up in jail because they can’t afford bail
-
![]()
Blind Man Roams the Globe: Marrakesh
Wed 21 Jun 2017
The sounds of Marrakesh explored through the ears of a blind man
-
![]()
-
![]()
Las Vegas Stripped Bare
Sun 18 Jun 2017
Behind the gambling, glitz and glamour of this extraordinary desert oasis
-
![]()
UK Election: Something Happened, but What?
Thu 15 Jun 2017
What the UK election results say about Britain, Brexit, and the different generations
-
![]()
Weapons of Mass Surveillance
Thu 15 Jun 2017
How western high tech mass surveillance is being sold to governments in the Middle East
-
![]()
What Went Wrong with Brazil?
Wed 14 Jun 2017
How Brazil went from economic boom years to its worst recession on record
-
![]()
The Death of the Cockfighters
Wed 14 Jun 2017
Carlos Dews revisits the world of cockfighting – now illegal – of his youth
-
![]()
Return to Aleppo
Sat 10 Jun 2017
One man’s extraordinary quest to find out what became of his home in Aleppo’s old town
-
![]()
The Driver and the Dictator
Fri 9 Jun 2017
The 1958 Grand Prix in Havana that ended with the kidnapping of F1's Juan Manuel Fangio
-
![]()
Recycling Beirut
Thu 8 Jun 2017
How Lebanese citizens are learning to clean up their own government’s stinking mess
-
![]()
A Very British Election
Tue 6 Jun 2017
A portrait of the UK Election campaign and the role of populism in the 2017 UK election
-
![]()
Syria’s World Cup Dream
Thu 1 Jun 2017
War and crippling sanctions, yet Syria’s extraordinary World Cup journey continues
-
![]()
The Origins of the American Dream
Wed 31 May 2017
Exploring the meaning of The American Dream, and how it began
-
![]()
Watching my Father
Tue 30 May 2017
The rise in suicide rates among Indian farmers and the impact on their families
-
![]()
Remembering Challenger
Sun 28 May 2017
Four people affected by the Challenger space shuttle disaster reflect on the event
-
![]()
The Sex Slaves of Al-Shabaab
Thu 25 May 2017
The Kenyan women trafficked to Somalia to be sex slaves for al-Shabaab
-
![]()
The Sound of Soweto - Part Two
Wed 24 May 2017
The music of Soweto that came to represent resistance and black South African culture
-
![]()
Inside the Israeli Hospital
Tue 23 May 2017
The Israeli doctors treating Syrians who have been smuggled over the border with injuries
-
![]()
The Khan Mutiny
Sun 21 May 2017
The Muslim male actors taking over Bollywood amidst growing Hindu fundamentalism in India
-
![]()
The Sound of Soweto - Part One
Wed 17 May 2017
The role of music as defiance in Soweto, South Africa's oldest township
-
![]()
-
![]()
Chaplains of the Sea
Sun 14 May 2017
Port chaplains provide support to the world's 1.5 million merchant seafarers
-
![]()
Elephants, politics and Sri Lanka
Thu 11 May 2017
Religiously and politically potent, Sri Lankan elephants are killing more and more humans
-
![]()
A Woman Half in Shadow
Wed 10 May 2017
The story of African-American novelist and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston
-
![]()
The Silent Wound
Tue 9 May 2017
How veterans of Colombia's war are dealing with genital wounds and loss of masculinity
-
![]()
Subversion, Russia and the West
Sat 6 May 2017
How the murky world of subversion still dominates East-West relations
-
![]()
Coming Out of the Shadows in Kenya
Thu 4 May 2017
Anne Soy meets the Kenyan activists helping intersex people take their place in society
-
![]()
Strangers for Hire
Wed 3 May 2017
Many people rent out their homes or cars - in Japan some are now renting middle-aged men
-
![]()
Cathedral of the Fallen
Tue 2 May 2017
A journey to the The Valle de los Caidos, a memorial to Spain's civil war dead
