The Documentary Podcast

BBC World Service
  • 4.1 (18)
  • PERSONAL JOURNALS
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The Documentary Podcast Podcast

A window into our world, through in-depth storytelling from the BBC. Investigating, reporting and uncovering true stories from everywhere. Award-winning journalism, unheard voices, amazing culture and global issues. From political upheaval in Bangladesh to the plight of undocumented migrants in the US to life under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, The Documentary investigates major global stories. We delve into social media, take you into the minds of the world’s most creative people and explore personal approaches to spirituality. Every week, we also bring together people from around the globe to discuss how news stories are affecting their lives. A new episode most days, all year round. From our BBC World Service teams at: Assignment, Heart and Soul, In the Studio, OS Conversations, The Fifth Floor and Trending.

  1. 6 HR AGO

    The Fifth Floor: Pakistan's internet mystery

    Why are people in Pakistan struggling to use messaging apps and social media? BBC Urdu's editor Asif Farooqi explains why this might be more than just a simple internet glitch. Plus, we hear from colleagues who speak Spanish, Arabic and Bulgarian about their favourite filler words and sounds. Produced by Alice Gioia and Hannah Dean. (Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)

    23 min

  2. 18 HR AGO

    BBC OS Conversations: What's it like to have mpox

    Mpox causes a headache, fever and a blistering rash all over the body. There have been more than 1,200 cases in parts of Central and West Africa since the start of this year. The milder version is now circulating in other parts of the world but the much stronger, possibly deadlier strain, called Clade 1b is also on the rise. A few weeks ago, the World Health Organisation announced that mpox constituted a public health emergency of international concern after an upsurge of cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and other countries in Africa. Host Luke Jones brings together survivors from the UK and Nigeria to share their experiences. “I thought that I was dying,” said Harun in London. “Nobody knew what it was and I was getting worse every day. I remember looking at a bottle of water and I started crying because I wasn’t able to drink.” We also hear from three doctors about some of the challenges they face - from a mistrust in medical professionals, to a belief that mpox is not caused by a virus and so doesn’t require hospital treatment. “An elderly man started developing symptoms but felt his symptoms were not due to any pathogen but due to a spiritual attack,” said Dr Dimie Ogoina, from the Niger Delta Teaching hospital. A co-production between Boffin Media and the BBC OS team. (Photo: Elisabeth Furaha applies medication on the skin of her child Sagesse Hakizimana who is under treatment for Mpox, near Goma in North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo August 19, 2024. Credit: Arlette Bashizi/File Photo/Reuters)

    23 min

  3. 1 DAY AGO

    Heart and Soul: Synagogue for sale

    Dr Aleksandra Janus is a Polish Cultural Anthropologist with a Jewish background from Warsaw, Poland. Living in the capital flattened by Nazi bombs and then recreated by Communism, her multi-layered identity has always conjured mixed feelings about former Jewish memory and cultural spaces. As President of the organisation, Zapomniane Foundation (which means forgotten in English), one of her jobs is to trace mass graves in forests, cityscapes and death camps across the country in cooperation with local villagers, WWII survivors and non-invasive scanning technologies. Alerted by her friend Karolina Jakoweńko, she's come across an interesting proposition – an historic synagogue in the area of Poland that belonged to Germany before WWII. Once owned by a thriving Jewish community who were exterminated by the Nazis, now decades later the synagogue is in the hands of a private owner and Jewish people no longer live in the village. Synagogues in Germany were at first destroyed by the Nazis but not this synagogue – it miraculously survived. So, she's trying to grapple with the idea - does she buy a synagogue back to revive it or leave it where it belongs - in the past. The BBC’s Amie Liebowitz travels across Poland to explore the daily life of Aleksandra and her quest to both bury the dead and re-sanctify spaces. Driving through cities, forests and villages in between, Amie and Aleksandra alongside her colleagues unpacks what this purchase could look like and what post-Jewish, post-German spaces represent in modern Poland. Presenter/ Reporter: Amie Liebowitz

    26 min

  4. 2 DAYS AGO

    Bonus: CrowdScience - How do fish survive in the deep ocean?

    In a bonus episode from CrowdScience - How do fish survive in the deep ocean? When listener Watum heard about the Titan submersible implosion in the news in 2023, a question popped up in his mind: if a machine that we specifically built for this purpose cannot sustain the water pressure of the deep ocean, how do fish survive down there? In this episode, we travel with marine biologist Alan Jamieson to the second deepest place in our oceans: the Tonga trench. Meanwhile, presenter Caroline Steel speaks to Edie Widder about the creatures that illuminate our oceans, and travels to Copenhagen to take a closer look one of the strangest deep sea creatures and its deep sea adaptations. But even fish have their limits! Scientist Paul Yancey correctly predicted the deepest point that fish can live, and it all comes down to one particular molecule. So is there anything living beyond these depths? Well, there is only one way to find out… CrowdScience takes your questions about life, Earth and the universe to researchers hunting for answers at the frontier of knowledge. For more episodes just search for CrowdScience wherever you got this podcast. Contributors: Prof Alan Jamieson, University of Western Australia Luke Siebermaier, Submersible Team Leader, Inkfish Dr Edie Widder, Ocean Research & Conservation Association Peter Rask Møller, Natural History Museum of Denmark Prof Paul Yancey, Whitman College Presenter: Caroline Steel Producer: Florian Bohr Editor: Martin Smith & Cathy Edwards Production Co-ordinator: Ishmael Soriano Studio Manager: Steve Greenwood (Image: Deep-sea fish - stock photo, Credit: superjoseph via Getty Images)

    29 min

  5. 4 DAYS AGO

    West Bank: settlers, guns and sanctions

    For more than six months, a BBC Eye team has been investigating extremist settlers establishing a new type of illegal settlement known as a “herding outpost”. Some have been sanctioned by the UK and US governments for forcing Palestinians from their homes as part of a “campaign of violence and intimidation”. In this documentary we tell the story of the Palestinian communities living on the frontline of their outposts. We expose how some of these settlers have been supported by two powerful organisations in Israel, one which describes itself as “an arm of the Israeli state”. Image credit: BBC Eye

    26 min

  6. 4 DAYS AGO

    Assignment: The 'ghost city' of Cyprus

    The once glamorous Cypriot beach resort of Varosha has stood empty and frozen in time since war divided the island 50 years ago, but it is now partially open to tourists and there are hotly contested plans for its renewal. Maria Margaronis speaks to Varosha's former inhabitants - mostly Greek Cypriots - who fled in 1974 when Turkish troops invaded the island and have been unable to return ever since, after Turkey fenced off the town as a bargaining chip for future peace negotiations. Some of these Varoshians want to rebuild the resort together with the island's Turkish Cypriots - a potential model for diffusing hostilities across the whole island - and the UN says its original inhabitants must be allowed to return. But, following decades of failed peace talks, the internationally unrecognised Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which controls Varosha, now says it intends to re-open and redevelop the entire town.

    27 min

  7. 5 DAYS AGO

    Global Dancefloor: Tbilisi

    Frank McWeeny heads to Georgia’s capital Tbilisi, to meet the underground music community leading protests against government clampdown on freedom of expression and civil society groups. How vital is dancing in a country going through the biggest political and social crisis of its generation? We hear from the city most important techno club Bassiani, militant radio station and event space Mutant Radio, and members of the nightlife scene. Photo of Bassiani club main room, taken in 2019. Credit: Bassiani.

    40 min

  8. 5 DAYS AGO

    In the Studio: Laurie Anderson

    American artist Laurie Anderson is putting the finishing touches to her new album Amelia at Miraval Studios in southern France. This is Laurie's first record in six years, and she tells the story of renowned female aviator Amelia Earhart’s tragic last flight in 1937. Earhart’s plane disappeared without trace over the Pacific as she attempted to circumnavigate the globe. The fate of Amelia and her navigator Fred Noonan became one of the most enduring mysteries of the last century. This 22-track album has been almost 25 years in the making, and Laurie has come to Miraval Studios in southern France to work with Emmy-winning sound engineer Damien Quintard. We go behind the scenes as they collaborate on a complex mix, which includes the Filharmonie Brno orchestra, a string trio and other solo musicians.

    24 min
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Hosts & Guests

Ratings & Reviews

4.1
out of 5
18 Ratings

About

A window into our world, through in-depth storytelling from the BBC. Investigating, reporting and uncovering true stories from everywhere. Award-winning journalism, unheard voices, amazing culture and global issues. From political upheaval in Bangladesh to the plight of undocumented migrants in the US to life under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, The Documentary investigates major global stories. We delve into social media, take you into the minds of the world’s most creative people and explore personal approaches to spirituality. Every week, we also bring together people from around the globe to discuss how news stories are affecting their lives. A new episode most days, all year round. From our BBC World Service teams at: Assignment, Heart and Soul, In the Studio, OS Conversations, The Fifth Floor and Trending.

Information

  • Creator
    BBC World Service
  • Years Active
    2005 - 2024
  • Episodes
    2K
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © (C) BBC 2024
  • Show Website
    The Documentary Podcast

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