Documentaries

Rewriting Aeschylus
Can playwright David Greig recreate a lost ancient Greek play?
09 Mar 2023,28 mins
After the Riots
Film-maker Isis Thompson considers the impact of the 2011 riots five years on.
01 Aug 2016,28 mins
The Cost of Economic War
Duncan Weldon examines the use of economic sanctions as a tool of statecraft.
10 Jun 2022,28 mins
Cover Story
Rufus Wainwright on how he approaches the song A Foggy Day and why he's drawn to it.
04 Aug 2022,28 mins
Generation Gap
The Turkey Farmer
Baby boomers v Gen Z/Millennials compare jobs and lives across the generations.
25 Nov 2022,14 mins
More episodes
Little Chechnya on the Steppes
The story of Kazakhstan's Chechens: exiled by Stalin, sustained by faith and memory.
26 May 2014,30 mins
The Great Inflation
How has the experience of hyperinflation in Germany in 1923 shaped the past 100 years?
20 Mar 2023,28 mins
Throwing Out Nehru
Dr Zareer Masani asks if India is rejecting the legacy of its founding father, Nehru.
15 Aug 2017,38 mins
Cyprus: Divided Memory, United Future?
Maria Margaronis explores the divided history of Cyprus, as a new settlement awaits.
06 May 2014,38 mins
O Say Can You See?
Erica Wagner explores America's relationship with its national anthem, an ode to its flag.
01 Jul 2014,30 mins
Virtual Stars
Hardeep Singh Kohli discovers and explores the world of internet personalities.
22 Dec 2014,30 mins
Standing Up to the Sharing Economy
Mary Ann Sieghart on how hotel, music and car companies are fighting off the competition.
09 Sep 2016,28 mins
Bonnie Bollywood: 25 years of Indian Film-making in Scotland
Ravi Sagoo joins a Bollywood set and charts 25 years of Indian cinema filming in Scotland.
02 Jun 2024,28 mins
Fence Me In
Adam Fowler tests how the acoustics of different spaces affect the creativity of artists.
04 Aug 2019,28 mins
The City That Stayed at Home
Alex Forsyth investigates the reasons for Hull's historically low turnout on election days
23 Jun 2024,28 mins
What Would Bagehot Say?
What does Bagehot's The English Constitution mean today? Adrian Wooldridge investigates.
19 Dec 2017,38 mins
Secrets and Spies: The Untold Story of Edith Cavell
Stella Rimington uncovers startling new evidence about the executed British heroine.
16 Sep 2015,28 mins
The Bishop and the Prisoner
Episode 3
Going soft? The Bishop of Liverpool considers whether community sentencing works.
16 Jan 2012,30 mins
More episodes
Pausing Puberty
How safe are the drugs used to delay puberty in transgender children?
29 Jan 2019,28 mins
The Hidden History of the Attic
Rachel Hurdley discovers a part of the home full of memory, mystery and possession.
23 Apr 2023,28 mins
Great Fire 350
Behind the scenes of London's Burning, a spectacle marking 350 years since the Great Fire.
03 Sep 2016,30 mins
Mind the Gender Pay Gap
Emma Griffin takes a historical look at the gender pay gap.
12 Mar 2018,28 mins
I'm Stuck in Here
Ian Sansom is trapped inside your radio
29 Dec 2017,28 mins
Living with AI
2021 Reith lecturer Stuart Russell on recent developments in artificial intelligence.
23 May 2023,28 mins
Andy Warhol: Time Regained
Lenny Henry unveils the mysterious contents of Andy Warhol's Time Capsules.
11 Sep 2014,28 mins
Inside the Ebola Lock-Down
Tim Mansel on Sierra Leone's 5.8m asked to stay home for 72 hours in a bid to stem Ebola.
29 Sep 2014,28 mins
The Barbershop
Stephen Smith reports from inside the High Street 'freemasonry' of the barber's.
08 Aug 2011,28 mins
The Music That Melted
Under a full moon and the Northern Lights, Richard Coles hears the Ice Music of Norway.
08 Feb 2011,30 mins
Music of the Forest
Horatio Clare tells the story of the unconventional anthropologist Colin Turnbull.
26 Aug 2014,30 mins
Searching for cosmic dust
A jazz musician becomes a cosmic dust hunter.
30 Apr 2023,28 mins