The Documentary Podcast

The Italian town of Monfalcone on the Adriatic coast has an ethnic make-up unique to the country. Of a population of just over thirty thousand, more than six thousand are from Bangladesh. They’ve come to help construct huge cruise ships, providing labour to do the type of manual jobs which Italians no longer want to do. For years, they worshipped at two Islamic centres in the town. Then, in Novemb...

Known to many as breakdancing, breaking sprung up in the economic and social unrest of 1970s New York, as a form of expressive protest. Today, it is also a globalised and dizzyingly virtuosic competitive dance sport - and now it is making its debut at the Paris Olympics. We follow Australian competitor Rachael Gunn (B-girl Raygun) as she hits pause on her day-job as a university lecturer and prepa...

Hong Kong's history is being revised and erased - it's early origins, colonial legacy, post 1997 handover period and the crucial years since the mass 2019 democracy protests are being uprooted, overturned and rewritten by a government guided by the ruling Communist Party in Beijing. This 'rewriting' of history is being enforced in schools, universities, libraries, the local media and online. This...

Three years ago the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. BBC Afghan journalists Shekiba Habib and Shoaib Sharifi were living and following the events as they unfolded and continue to do so. Produced by Caroline Ferguson and Alice Gioia. (Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)

It began as a peaceful student protest against the way some government jobs are reserved for war veterans and their families. The violence that followed is some of the worst the country has witnessed in recent years. More than 200 people are reported dead, with most blamed on police gunfire. Host James Reynolds speaks with those in Bangladesh and hears stories of what they have witnessed; their fe...

Injuries meant wrestler Dan Russell missed out on two opportunities for glory at the Olympics back in the 1990s. But missing the chance to fight for gold twice was not what left him feeling empty when he retired from the sport. Dan had a difficult childhood, suffering abuse from neighbours and enduring a brutal training regime, being made to wrestle all day, every day, by his father. Once retired,...

In a bonus edition of World Book Club following the death of the acclaimed Irish author Edna O’Brien, who died aged 93 in July 2024, we look back to an interview with Edna from 2008. Edna O’Brien was born in rural County Clare in 1930, and found her education by nuns suffocating. She moved to Dublin, and subsequently spent much of her life in London. The Country Girls tells the story of two girls...

In a bonus episode of The Global Story podcast - Divorce: The art of breaking up. The Global Story brings you one big story every weekday, making sense of the news with our experts around the world. Insights you can trust, from the BBC World Service. For more, go to bbcworldservice.com/globalstory or search for The Global Story wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Divorce rates have been in decline...

In a special edition of HARDtalk Stephen Sackur looks back at some of the guests who have risked their personal freedom to disclose secret information. What motivates these whistleblowers? This is a bonus episode from HARDtalk, a show that brings you in-depth, hard-hitting interviews with newsworthy personalities. For more episodes search for HARDtalk wherever your get your BBC podcasts.

Dr Willard Wigan MBE creates the smallest handmade sculptures in the world. He uses high powered microscopes and custom-made tools formed from shards of diamond, hypodermic needles, and paintbrushes made from eyelashes. Willard’s talent and determination propelled him to international acclaim. His work sells for six-figure sums, and he has exhibited internationally. However, his path to success ha...

We visit the Las Patronas women 30 years on from when the young Romero Vazquez sisters first threw a loaf of bread onto the infamously dangerous La Bestia train. A train meant only for cargo, but which has become a dangerous mode of transport for more than 400,000 migrants every year. It begins from near the border of Guatemala, and along its 2000 mile journey migrants from Guatemala, Honduras, El...

In countries like Somalia and Iran, where women are largely expected to present themselves with modesty, what role can make-up play? Bella Hassan of BBC Focus on Africa is from Somalia and Mina Joshaghani of BBC Persian is from Iran. They tell us about how make-up functions in a conservative society. Produced by Caroline Ferguson and Hannah Dean. (Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich)

Could a woman of colour be the next president of the United States? That is what much of America has been asking this week and it is at the heart of our conversations. Race remains a major political and social issue in the US and there is plenty of discussion about Ms Harris’s background as a black and Asian-American woman. We bring together three black women Democratic party supporters: Kay in Ne...

On a busy street in Los Angeles a group of people in yellow vests are holding a ladder against a lamppost. Up the ladder, 34-year-old Evan Clark is ripping down a sign that is nailed to the post. It reads “Jesus: The way, the truth, the life”. These are members of the Atheist Street Pirates, local activists who track and remove religious signs affixed to public property. This group say that there...

In the industrial town of Haryana in Northern India, young girls are breaking barriers training hard to become the next generation of gold medal-winning wrestlers, following their idols who have tasted Olympic glory abroad and made a stand against attitudes to women at home. But their success has come at a price. BBC journalist Divya Arya looks at what it takes for these girls to become an Indian...

In 1993 the legislators in Cobb County Atlanta passed a resolution stating that “lifestyles advocated by the gay community are incompatible with the standards to which this community describes“. The northern suburb was due to welcome the Olympics in 1996 as host of the volleyball competition. This is the inspiring story of a small campaign group who forced a change. After months of high-profile pr...

The Apartheid Killer. All the victims were black and the youngest was just 12 years old. Some relatives are still searching for the graves. They were killed during a three-year bloodbath in the 1980s in the South African city of East London – by one person. After years of investigation, we tracked him down. To hear more, search for World of Secrets, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. You can also...

Massimo Bottura’s Osteria Francescana has twice been named the world’s best restaurant. Situated in Bottura’s hometown of Modena, a place renowned for racing cars and balsamic vinegar, the triple Michelin-starred establishment blends traditional Italian cooking with a truly avant-garde sense of design and creativity. Bottura is the leader of the culinary movement that sees food as edible art. Food...

The destruction of the Roma by the Nazi state and allies and their subsequent post war fate is little understood and still being written. Historian Celia Donert tells the story of this forgotten holocaust and explores its contested memory and legacy.

What is it like to cover such a globally significant sporting event such as the Olympic Games? We've invited three of our Fifth Floor colleagues to discuss what the Olympics means to their audiences and to tell us about some of the lesser known stories behind this year's games. Joining us are Celestine Korey from BBC Sports Africa, based in Nairobi and Pooria Jefereh from BBC Persian, who are both...

The former President, with his face bloodied, surrounded by Secret Service agents, the American flag behind him, his fist in the air defiant – how much will that image change the United States? This is the focus of our conversations in this week’s edition of the programme. We bring together witnesses to the shooting in Pennsylvania and hear from people at this week’s Republican National Convention...

In Tbilisi, Georgia, a radical experiment in interfaith relations is taking place. The Peace Project is one of the world’s first to bring a mosque, synagogue, church, and other places of worship together under one roof. Sounds of Muslim prayer, Shabbat services, and Georgian hymns fill the air as worshippers from different faiths mingle and break bread in the communal Hall of Abraham. The project...

Former Brazilian model, wellness influencer and spiritual life coach Kat Torres was an inspiration and a lifeline to women all over the world. More than a million people on Instagram followed her extraordinary career trajectory from extreme poverty in Brazil, to a European modelling career and a life of luxury in the US. But behind the perfectly curated posts is a story of witchcraft, sexual explo...

In this second part of his journey from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, across the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel, reporter Tim Whewell continues his exploration of the physical and human reality behind the slogan “From the River to the Sea”, a phrase which creates intense controversy. Tim descends from the high ridge of the West Bank hills to the Israeli Mediterranean coast at H...

Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas last year, the cry “From the River to the Sea” has been heard more and more as a pro-Palestinian slogan. But what river? What sea? And what exactly does the phrase mean? It is the subject of intense controversy. Reporter Tim Whewell travels from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, across a tiny stretch of land – just over an hour by car if...