The Documentary Podcast

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) latest figures suggest that nearly seven million people have died due to Covid - although the true figure is likely to be much higher. While many more contracted the disease and avoided being seriously ill, one estimate suggests 65 million people have not fully recovered. These are the people with long Covid, whose symptoms have persisted for more than six mon...

In Britain, the growth of Islam is being driven by a younger population, born and brought up in the United Kingdom. This includes BBC reporter Rahil Sheikh. Having grown up against the backdrop of the ‘war on terror’ and rising Islamophobia, he has seen how young Muslims have turned to social media to forge online safe spaces where they can connect, celebrate and discuss their faith. Young Muslims...

New Orleans is the murder capital of the United States: researchers into 2022’s crime figures say it suffered more homicides per capita than any other major city. Carjackings, armed robberies and other potentially lethal offences are also at sky high levels in ‘The Big Easy’ - a place better known for its happy mix of cuisine, carnival and colonial architecture. Crime plagues many American cities,...

Introducing season 2 of an original podcast about hackers and North Korea. They’re back - in fact the criminals never went away. Season 2 begins at an ATM, possibly near you.

Sir Lenny Henry's new one man show - August in England gives an insight into the lives impacted by the Windrush scandal. In 2017, thousands of legal residents who arrived from Commonwealth countries from the late 1940s to early 1970s were misclassified as illegal immigrants and were wrongly detained, deported and denied legal rights. Their experience inspired Sir Lenny Henry to write and perform h...

Babita Sharma meets young people from around the world working to fight climate change, including a Kenyan engineer who has designed a solar powered fridge which can be used to transport vaccines on a bike, a Californian teenager who has designed a wind turbine for use in cities, and South Korean protesters taking their Government to court. She also meets Nobel Chemistry Laureate Frances H. Arnold...

Megha Mohan talks to young people working to diversify science, technology, engineering and maths - fields that will be crucial to the future of our planet, but whose workforces remain predominantly male. She also hears how Nobel Prize-winning astronomer Andrea Ghez overcame gender barriers in her career in science. Generation Change is a co-production of the BBC and Nobel Prize Outreach

Babita Sharma talks to young people who are trying to save lives by tackling taboos around organ donation in countries including India and the UK. She also speaks to Nobel Prize-winning economist Alvin Roth, who discusses his work on kidney donation. Generation Change is a co-production of the BBC and Nobel Prize Outreach

Babita Sharma meets young people trying to solve global food problems, including a Lebanese man who worked to feed people after the deadly bomb blast in 2019, and an American woman whose work connecting charities to excess food from restaurants is spreading around the world. She also learns about the work of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning World Food Programme. Generation Change is a co-production o...

In recent days, Russia staged its annual Victory Day military parade, celebrating the defeating of Nazi Germany during World War Two, which ended in 1945. Host James Reynolds hears from two women in Moscow, against the backdrop of Victory Day. They talk about the roles their families played during the war 78 years ago, and how they feel about those fighting in Ukraine today. We also bring together...

Cindy Sui discovers how the Chè-lâm Presbyterian Church in central Taipei has been helping Hong Kong activists who have fled to Taiwan since the introduction of the national security law. The Lunar New Year is a time when families usually come together and celebrate, but the Hongkongers that Cindy meets are unable to return to their homeland. Instead, they find support and a sense of community at...

In the chaos following Turkey’s devastating earthquake in February, Omar was separated from his son Ahmed after both were pulled alive from the collapsed ruins of their home. Omar lost his first born and his wife but believes Ahmed could still be alive. Many children went missing in the aftermath of the earthquake. Some ended up in hospitals or childrens’ homes on the other side of the country and...

In recent years, dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker Kevin Kwan, author of Crazy Rich Asians, has made Los Angeles his home. The city is rich with art, fashion and intriguing social structures, all of which are key sources of inspiration for Kevin’s novels. Los Angeles has become his living and breathing studio, and going out into the city is a huge part of his creative process. In the first of several ‘d...

The fighting between Sudan’s military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces started around three weeks ago. Since then, the UN estimates that more than a 100,000 people have fled the country and more than a third of a million have been displaced within Sudan. Host James Reynolds hears from some of those who have been forced to flee their country.

According to the national census, the number of British people who say they follow Shamanism as a religion has risen twelvefold in the space of 10 years. While the numbers are still low – at around 8,000 followers - the increase has put pressure on those who have followed the practice for years. The BBC’s Amber Haque visits a British shaman to find out what Shamanism is, what it means to her and h...

Thousands of Kenyan villagers are being given free cash as part of a huge trial being run by an American non-profit, GiveDirectly. Why? Some aid organisations believe that simply giving people money is one of the most effective ways to tackle extreme poverty and boost development. After all, they argue, local people themselves know best how to use the funds to improve their lives. But does it work...

Charles III waited a very long time to become King. Since his investiture as Prince of Wales in 1969, he filled his life with activity, pursuing deeply held passions and causes – on the environment, farming, architecture, charities to help young people and projects to improve understanding between religious groups. We speak to the people who know him best, to explain the ideas and values which mot...

The acclaimed British theatre director, Tinuke Craig embarks on her opera debut at the English National Opera with Blue, a tale of police violence in America and its impact on a New York family. The opera has been composed by the Tony award-winning Jeanine Tesori, with a libretto by Tazewell Thompson. Anna Bailey follows Tinuke and her operatic collaborators as she embarks on a challenging new cha...

People from all over the globe remember their meetings with King Charles III over the years. They include Dr Joe McInnes who took the former Prince for a dive beneath the ice of the North West passage in 1975, holocaust survivor Lily Ebert, Joseph Hammond who met the King when he visited a military cemetery in Ghana and former pop singer and Spice Girl Mel B who remembers several hilarious encount...

Fentanyl is a potentially deadly synthetic opioid. The other month, a drug enforcement official in the country described it as the single deadliest drug threat the US has encountered. It’s been around since the 1960s and small doses are used safely every day by medics for pain relief. But as an illegal drug, Fentanyl is blamed for more than 70,000 deaths in the US every year. We bring together two...

Professor Robert Beckford explores the Christian understanding of reparations. He speaks to Christians in Barbados who say reparations from the Church are now both justified and necessary. But their perspective is only one side of the story. In England, representatives from the Church of England and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel articulate their understanding of reparations and why...

50 years after the last US bombs fell on Laos, they’re still killing and maiming. In an effort to stop the march of communism, between 1964 and 1973, America dropped over two million tonnes of ordnance on neutral Laos: on average, a planeload of bombs was released every eight minutes, 24 hours a day. This is more than was dropped on Germany and Japan in the entire Second World War. Laos, today a c...

Agatha Christie is the world's most translated author, with her work being available in over 100 languages. And one of her most beloved characters, Miss Marple, is about to be resurrected with the help of 12 contemporary authors. In The Studio talks to two of those writers: Dreda Say Mitchell who specialises in a different type of crime story, the gritty gangster genre, and Kate Mosse, who is know...

We travel to Turkey's Anatolian heartland to find out whether the region which helped propel President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to power in the early 2000s will do it again in May's crucial election, despite widespread disappointment with the government's preparation and response to February's deadly earthquake.

“He’s a coward, he’s not a man.” Martine’s mum passes judgement on Farouk. A final push for answers takes Nawal to Yemen and Norway. And questions of betrayal ring alarm bells in London.