The Documentary Podcast

BBC World Service
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The Documentary 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 Syria after Assad to rebuilding Ukraine, to how AI changed our lives, 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. 3 HR AGO

    BBC OS Conversations: Polyamorous relationships

    A video of American R&B singer Ne-Yo kissing three of his girlfriends backstage has had loads of attention and highlighted the practice of polyamory. This is when people have several partners at once and are completely open about it. To find out more, we bring together four polyamorous men and women in the US and the UK to tell us what their lives are like. Apart from the positives, we also hear about the stigma and the jealousy that can arise from having more than one partner.

    23 min

  2. 1 DAY AGO

    Heart and Soul: Becoming a Buddhist Bhikshuni in Bhutan

    In 2022 the kingdom of Bhutan ordained 144 women in an unprecedented ceremony. Among them was Emma Slade, also known as Lopen Ani Pema Deki, from Kent in the UK. She was the only Western woman to take part. Emma’s faith has been a part of her life since she was held at gunpoint and robbed in Indonesia in 1997. She studied in Bhutan and set up a charity that supports children with special needs in the country. She talks to Julia Paul about life as a bhikshuni in the UK and Bhutan, her memories of taking part in the historic mass ordination and what it means for Buddhist nuns in Bhutan and other countries.

    26 min

  3. 2 DAYS AGO

    Flight of the vulture

    With their fearsome talons, acid poo and a penchant for rotting carcasses, the vulture has long been shouldered with associations of death, and dishonour. This taboo often puts them bottom of the list for conservation projects. Conservationist Sacha Dench visits three different vulture species, each with an extraordinary story of persecution and survival. In India, vulture populations collapsed by 99.9%, the sharpest decline of any animal ever recorded. Debbie Pain and Chris Bowden describe the urgent international collaborative effort that brought them back from the very brink of extinction. In South Africa, the White Backed Vulture has become collateral damage in the ongoing war between poachers and game-keepers. Finally, in Guinea-Bissau, vultures are the victim of cultural practices which see their bodies as having magical properties.

    27 min

  4. 3 DAYS AGO

    BBC Trending: Can Community Notes clean up your feed?

    Meta has decided to abandon the use of independent fact-checkers on Facebook and Instagram in the United States, citing concerns that fact-checkers have become too politically biased. Instead, the company seems to be following X’s lead by shifting to a Community Notes-style system, where users rather than professional fact-checkers and experts correct inaccurate information. But will it lead to more free speech and fewer errors? Or does it open the door for misinformation to spread more easily? How well are social media users equipped to discern fact from fiction?

    19 min

  5. 4 DAYS AGO

    Assignment: Road wars - cycling in Paris

    On 15 Oct 2024, a 27-year-old cyclist was killed in a bike lane in Paris. His name was Paul Varry. He was run over by a car after an argument with a driver. What happened to Paul was extreme, but it resonated with many Parisians. For Paris is undergoing a cycling revolution. The city has created a vast network of bike lanes, introduced new restrictions for cars. The number of cyclists has soared. But there have also been conflicts, as cars, bikes and pedestrians try to navigate the new balance of power. So is Paris’s plan working? Is this transformation the future for other major cities? Anna Holligan goes to Paris for Assignment, to find out.

    28 min

  6. 5 DAYS AGO

    In the Studio: Mohammad Barrangi

    Iranian-born artist and former Paralympian, Mohammad Barrangi, creates intricate, dreamlike worlds where myth and reality collide. His bold, layered works, murals, prints, and 3D sculptures, fuse Persian aesthetics, ancient symbols, and surreal hybrid creatures, often blending women and animals into fantastical forms. Born without the use of his left arm, Barrangi has developed a distinctive printmaking technique, working on the floor and stabilizing his materials with his feet. For his latest project, The Last Rain in Wonderland, Barrangi shifts his focus to the global climate crisis, weaving the stories of displaced communities and endangered animals in southern Iran into his visually striking work. Sahar Zand follows Barrangi’s journey as he prepares for a major exhibition at Nottingham Exchange. Through vivid imagery and intricate textures, his work becomes a reflection on migration, memory, and fragile landscapes.

    26 min

  7. 6 DAYS AGO

    Life in occupied Ukraine

    Russia’s land grab playbook aimed at erasing local identity and russifying “liberated” territories. Three years into the full scale invasion of Ukraine, we ask what life is like in areas under Russian control. We look at “ripe for russification” Crimea, which was annexed 11 years ago, Moscow’s subsequent efforts to assert itself in the separatist East, and the Kremlin’s challenges in subjugating parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. As time passes, the uncertainty over the future of what Ukraine calls “temporarily occupied territories” grows bigger.

    1 hr

  8. 6 DAYS AGO

    The Fifth Floor: Syria after Assad

    In December 2024, rebel forces took control in Syria, and former President  Bashar al-Assad fled the country. What's happened since? Salma Khattab from BBC Arabic has just come back from Syria and she'll share what she's seen on the ground. Presented by Faranak Amidi. Produced by Alice Gioia, Caroline Ferguson and Hannah Dean. (Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)

    12 min
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Hosts & Guests

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 Syria after Assad to rebuilding Ukraine, to how AI changed our lives, 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 - 2025
  • Episodes
    2K
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © (C) BBC 2025
  • Show Website
    The Documentary Podcast

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