The Documentary Podcast

We head west along America's famed Route 66. As the road celebrates its 100th birthday, Victoria Craig finds out whether the pull of neon-drenched nostalgia is still attracting visitors and whether new investment can secure the future of the towns that depend on it.

India is undertaking the biggest population count the world has ever attempted - a digital census designed to capture the lives, identities and realities of more than 1.4 billion people. With three million field staff, self‑enumeration in 16 languages, and real‑time monitoring across cities, forests, floodplains and megacities, the operation is both a national ritual and a vast technological exper...

Warning: contains description of domestic violence In the last few months, nine women – including a young mother out jogging – have been murdered near Johannesburg. South Africa has one of the highest levels of violent crime against women in the world and the deaths have sparked an outcry across the country that more needs to be done. In our conversations we bring together survivors of domestic ab...

Over the last 10 years, Dr Jane Orton has visited the remote Spiti Valley in the Himalayas to speak to the local Bhoti people about their lore and spiritual beliefs. In the many villages across the valley, stories about the deities are consistent from place to place but also transfigured. She hears about deities like Lhas, powerful beings that have been incorporated into Buddhism. Lhas serve many...

A national debate over sexualised violence online has erupted in Germany, and been seized on by Germany's feminist movement. As AI-generated deepfakes and other forms of online abuse against women become increasingly widespread, young activists are demanding stronger legal protections and putting violence against women at the centre of the political agenda. Reporter Jeanny Wasielewski meets the ca...

Wular and Dal lakes are among Kashmir's most famous natural treasures, but decades of pollution, encroachment and neglect have taken their toll. Chhavi Sachdev follows conservationists, farmers and local communities as they attempt an ambitious restoration effort. Along the way, she discovers migratory birds returning, lotus flowers reappearing, and a circular economy transforming ecological waste...

When President Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Poland opened its doors and their hearts to Ukrainian refugees. Millions of Ukrainians passed through Poland, getting all kinds of help from local people and from the Polish government. Many stayed. But there has been a dramatic change in feelings towards Ukrainians, particularly in recent months. From over 80% of Poles feel...

American journalist Austin Tice, vanished in Syria, but the US president says he’s alive. For more than a decade Austin's mother Debra has been leading the search for her son. As Josh Baker and Sara Obeidat travel to Syria to help Austin’s mother’s search, a source gives Josh information that might unlock where he is.

With Presidents Xi and Trump expected to meet in the United States this week, Will Bain looks back on the history of trade between the two great nations. It's always been fraught with controversy but there's also been a need or desire to get along. President Nixon was the first to visit China in 1972 and spoke with passion about the possibilities for the future between them. Trade then grew quickl...

Xi Jinping is known to be a ruthless leader. In the last five years alone, China’s richest man, Jack Ma, China’s defence minister and the country’s foreign minister have all abruptly disappeared - some never to be seen in public again. Millions of Communist officials have been purged since Xi came to power. But one man was thought to be untouchable: the head of China’s military forces, Zhang Youxi...

For many of us, our phones are the first thing we look at in the morning and the last thing we put down at night. But with growing pressure over screen time and concerns about the impact of social media, tech companies like Meta have agreed to restrictions. In our conversations, we bring together three people who have received treatment for tech addiction. We also hear from those have decided not...

Dalia Mogahed is one of the most prominent Muslim voices in American public life. For three decades, she has researched and defended the experiences of Muslim communities in the United States, advising leaders and challenging misconceptions about Islam, identity and belonging. But after a lifetime speaking for others, Dalia Mogahed is now exploring her own questions of faith and legacy. A cancer d...

We look at three solutions connected to the “three Rs” – reduce, reuse and recycle. The city of Brussels in Belgium is in the process of moving all 40 municipal nurseries over to reusable nappies – and have managed to do it without their staff kicking up a stink! Also energy companies around the world have found ways to encourage customers to reduce their consumption by making it fun, and lastly w...

Katy Watson highlights Australia’s complex, turbulent and evolving relationship with their number one trading partner - China. Having signed a free trade agreement eleven years ago, in recent years there has been a marked shift in relations, with Canberra balancing its security dependence on Washington with its economic reliance on Beijing. From businesses, diplomats and military personnel, Katy W...

Political analysts and human rights organisations say Turkey's courts are increasingly being used to silence political dissent and to shape a more socially conservative society. The most prominent defendant is Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul, and the opposition figure opinion polls suggest is most likely to beat President Erdoğan at the ballot box. İmamoğlu has been held in Silivri prison si...

Economic unease is growing among Russian workers as fuel shortages and Ukrainian drone strikes disrupt key sectors of the economy. Ed Butler examines the pressures facing businesses, workers and consumers, from damaged refineries to attacks on Wildberries warehouses. As concerns grow over prices, jobs and supply chains, what do these disruptions reveal about the resilience of Russia's wartime econ...

In May, the Chief Justice of India unwittingly gave a name to a generational protest. He called unemployed young people “cockroaches” and the mass youth movement that had begun in the wake of the sudden cancellation of a national exam took on the title - the Cockroach Janta party. But India has not been the only country that has seen Gen Z - people aged between 14 and 29 - engaging in mass protest...

Evidence suggests that millions around the world are ditching the most popular dating apps to pursue alternative options. Users complain that swiping is not leading to dates or meaningful relationships, just admin and fatigue. In our conversations, organisers of in-person dating events share their experiences. Amber tells us. “You could like someone’s photo, you could like speaking to them on the...

On 11 September 2001, suicide attackers hijacked two passenger planes flying over the eastern United States and crashed them into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, causing both buildings to collapse. The attack killed 2,753 people. As smoke billowed from the burning towers, firefighters, police officers and paramedics from across New York City raced to the scene, climbing stai...

On 11 September, 2001, Paul Carris was working on the 71st floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. When the building was struck, he joined the evacuation and came across a colleague, Judith Toppin, who was struggling to descend the stairs. Paul stayed with her, supporting her through the long journey down as thousands fled and firefighters climbed towards the danger. They emerged only...

There are over 730 sinkholes in central Turkey, and their numbers are surging, threatening farmers’ livelihoods and the country’s food supply chain. These sinkholes occur suddenly when the soil collapses, forming a gaping hole in the earth. The sinkholes are a symptom of the ongoing drought and unsustainable water extraction in Konya province, Turkey's agricultural heartland. The production of wat...

Myra Anubi looks at two solutions that harness the power of pictures to help disabled people. Books Beyond Words is a UK charity that publishes books with no words, just big pictures on every page. They are made for people with learning disabilities, who come together to read them in book clubs. Myra also hears about TapSOS, the only smartphone app to be approved by the UK’s emergency services, wh...

Russian is the first language of millions of Ukrainians, including many of the country’s frontline troops. But it is also the language of their enemy. Its public use is increasingly restricted by law, with ever more measures to enforce communication in Ukrainian. Ukrainians are allowed to speak Russian in private conversations. But they can be fined for playing a Russian language song in the stree...

There is a general fear that artificial intelligence could make huge swathes of workers redundant, but are those fears unjustified? Rob Young asks what history can tell us about big technological leaps and how they changed the world of work at the time. How much of the rate of change comes down to customer preference - would you rather deal with a bot or a person?

We visit two projects exploring practical responses to homelessness and housing insecurity. Presenter Myra Anubi travels to Edinburgh to see the work of Social Bite, a charity creating small communities of prefabricated homes on unused land, offering people a stable place to live and rebuild their lives. Meanwhile, in Nantes, western France, we meet the team behind Bureaux du Cœur, which partners...