The Documentary Podcast

The BBC's Russian service marks its eightieth anniversary this week.  In eight decades, it has grown from a short wave radio service to a multimedia operation reaching upwards of 6 million people per week, despite ongoing blocking in Russia. As a 14-year-old boy Oleg Boldyrev discovered BBC Russian on shortwave radio whilst camping with his parents in the woods. He eventually ended up working for the service as a journalist both in London and Moscow. He talks to The Fifth Floor about some of the service's most memorable moments and how the current authorities continue to try to stop their ci...

Lebanon’s citizens are again caught under fire. As many as a million people are displaced as they search for a place of safety and there are fears of a major humanitarian crisis. The attacks are being carried out by Israel, which says it is targeting Hezbollah – an Iranian-backed militia and political party. The fighting has resumed as part of the wider conflict across the Middle East. Israel says its aim is to stop Hezbollah attacking communities in northern Israel. In our conversations, families in Lebanon share their experiences, once again, of living under attack and being on the move...

Islamic religious practice is deeply entwined with sound, from the call to prayer to memorising the Quran; learning to recite the holy text is very much an oral tradition relying on listening and repetition. All this poses a unique challenge for deaf Muslims. In November 2025, a group of pilgrims from the United Kingdom travelled to Mecca for Umrah, supported throughout in British Sign Language. Through reflections from presenter Zainam Bostan and pilgrims, the programme explores faith, belonging and accessibility, and asks what changes when religious teaching is explained visually, not only heard. The programme follows them from the first...

Benjamin Netanyahu is Israel’s longest serving prime minister. He was born in Tel Aviv in 1949, the year after the State of Israel was founded. One of three brothers, Netanyahu spent much of his early years in the United States pursuing his education. But following his older brother’s death, Netanyahu found himself drawn into a career in the public eye. Using his military experience to advise on security matters, in 1984 Netanyahu became Israel’s Ambassador to the UN and established himself as a champion of Israel on the international stage. He returned to Israel and entered the world of pol...

Lying off the south-eastern coast of Africa, Madagascar has been pushed into crisis by a deadly combination of climate change, poverty and environmental degradation. In 2021, more than 1.6 million people faced acute food insecurity, while nearly half of all children under five were chronically malnourished.m Women and children are the most vulnerable, despite the fact that women produce around 80% of the country’s food yet own less than 10% of the land. Journalist Georgie Styles travels from the war-like scenes and dust-choked streets of Ambovombe, the capital of the Androy region, to the windswept farms of the Tsimananada commune. Along th...

Eels are a popular food in parts of Asia, but they can’t be commercially bred in captivity. Coupled with trade bans to protect the highly endangered fish, this has led to baby eels becoming one of the most trafficked creatures in the world. BBC Eye and DOCDAYS investigate this global trade from the rivers of the UK to Haiti, Poland and Russia. We’re in the UK where the last remaining eel trader in the country has a licence to export baby eels to stock a conservation project in Russia. But questions have been raised over whether this is r...

Brenda and John Romero are towering figures in modern game development, creators whose work has shaped how millions of players experience digital worlds. From their base in Galway on Ireland's west coast, the couple continue to push their craft into new territory. Presenter and long‑time gaming fan Kurt Brookes follows the Romeros as they embark on another major project, an ambitious game that brings together a large team of artists, designers and developers. Kurt gains rare access to the creative heartbeat of the studio, witnessing the intensity, imagination and unpredictability that come with building a game at scale. Wh...

Cuba is facing one of its most severe humanitarian crises in decades.For years, Cuba relied heavily on oil from Venezuela. Those supplies have largely stopped, contributing to widespread fuel shortages. Electricity blackouts have become increasingly common, disrupting daily life across the country.The United States has blocked fuel shipments to Cuba as part of wider pressure linked to its economic and political policies. Meanwhile, the Cuban government has warned it will resist any external interference in its domestic affairs.With economic strain growing and living conditions worsening, this week on The Inquiry...

Nepal has just held a historic election — one that has toppled the old political guard and swept a new generation of leaders into power, many backed by Gen Z voters.The elections were called after young people took to the streets to protest against corruption and a political class which was slow to change.But the protest of 8 September 2025 got out of hand and the police struggled to maintain order. It resulted in the death of 19 young protesters. The following day, more protests led to the fall of the government.Drawing on more th...

On 18th December 2025, the offices of two of Bangladesh's biggest newspapers, The Daily Star and Prothom Alo, were surrounded by mobs, attacked and set on fire. At The Daily Star, journalists were forced to take shelter on the roof of the building as smoke billowed through the lift shaft. They were rescued hours later by the military and many required hospital treatment. The BBC's Soutik Biswas went to Dhaka to talk to journalists caught up in the violence and to investigate the social media posts that may have driven it. Hallyu, or the Korean wave, is what...

The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed by Iran for more than a fortnight, preventing vital supplies of oil and gas from leaving the Middle East and sending global fuel prices soaring. Some 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas is usually carried through the narrow corridor by around 3000 ships a month. Iran has targeted ships in the area, and it is estimated that over 20 vessels have been hit and at least eight people killed. We bring together sailors to share their experiences of navigating the Strait of Hormuz. After President Trump said oil tanker crews sh...

Yoga is an ancient practice with its roots in Hinduism. It originated over 5,000 years ago in northern India, but for many, has now evolved from a spiritual path into the wellness practice known globally. In the West, millions now do yoga as a form of exercise and wellbeing. It is an industry thought to be worth tens of billions of dollars. But as it has boomed, yoga has been interpreted in new and sometimes controversial ways. What has been dubbed 'Christian yoga' has gained loyal supporters, who say it helps them reconnect body and soul. But not everyone agrees...

The war in Iran through the eyes of the Islamic Republic, and how Tehran’s restrictions on information went full throttle. The Global Jigsaw looks under the bonnet of the machinery that shapes official narratives and controls the media in Iran. And we revisit the turbulent first days of the war as they unfolded on national TV, from the death of Ayatollah Khamenei to the surprise apology by President Pezeshkian and the rise of a new Supreme Leader. Producer: Kriszta Satori, Barry Sadid, Krassi Ivanova Twigg Presenter: Krassi Ivanova Twigg Music: Pete Cunningham

India is revolutionising its approach to space exploration. Science journalist Alok Jha follows preparations for the country’s first human spaceflight mission. For decades, India focused its space programme on limited, inexpensive projects directly benefiting its citizens, such as weather satellites and communications networks. Now, the most ambitious mission yet is underway: India will send humans into space. Alok Jha speaks to people at the heart of this radical shift to understand how it’s happening and what’s driving it. Dr Madhavan Nair, former Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) takes us inside the room where it all...

The Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, has given his generals and admirals an unusual command: spend money. Lots of it. Quickly. For years, it was the other way around. Canada wore the uniform of a serious NATO ally – while undershooting the alliance’s 2% of GDP defence spending target. Now, spurred by what Carney has called a “rupture” in geopolitics, Ottawa is adding billions to hit NATO’s target by 31 March 2026 – the end of the fiscal year. Military leaders are scrambling to reverse a culture of frugality and long planning cycles. Parliament’s budget watchdog has said the Department of National Defen...

Architect Mariam Issoufou has always been very ambivalent about museums: "Who decided that the only way to look at art is inside this intimidating, grand building, full of looted objects? For me, they are where history goes to die". So she was sceptical about accepting the job of designing a new museum in the city of Tambacounda, Senegal. Will she succeed in creating a museum that breaks the mould?With thanks to Mariam Issoufou and her team, Bassem and Wassim Shaaban, Professor Harriet Harriss PhD, Professor Lesley Lokko OBE, the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, and Nicholas...

On Sunday, many of the film industry’s biggest stars will gather in Los Angeles for Hollywood’s biggest night: the 98th annual Academy Awards.Looming over the celebrations are some major upheavals in Hollywood: big corporate mergers, the incursion of AI, and mass layoffs. And it’s against that backdrop that the Oscars are increasingly nominating films, filmmakers, and actors from elsewhere in the world.BBC film reporter and critic Tom Brook explains how the Oscars went global, and what it can tell us about the status of American soft power.The Global...

Night trains are making a comeback, once again connecting Europe’s cities with the promise of green, serene and iconic journeys. Just a decade ago, it appeared to be the end of the line for the continent’s sleeper services. But revitalised routes, new operators and innovative cabin designs have sparked renewed excitement around overnight train travel. Yet even as demand from passengers continues to boom, an array of obstacles puts the revival at risk. A number of major new routes have already hit the buffers, and entrepreneurial sleeper train operators face a host of challenges. Is a European nigh...

The United States and Israel have now been at war with Iran for two weeks, since 28th February. In that time, there have been over 1200 civilian deaths in Iran, including 168, most of them children, at a girls’ school in Minab, central Iran. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who had ruled Iran for over forty years, was killed on the first day of the war. There have been wider casualties throughout the region. Iran has fired missiles at neighbouring countries, including Dubai, Kuwait, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Israel. For journalists at BBC Persian, reporting on the wa...

Five Iranians join host James Reynolds in the Naroon Persian restaurant in central London to share their experiences. In our conversation over dinner, our guests discuss the war, what it’s like to be so far from home, fears for family and friends in Iran and their hopes for the future of the country.“One of the things we can all relate to is a big sense of survivor’s guilt,” Rahah tells us. “The people you’ve spent all your days with, they’re experiencing that uncertainty and that stress and you’re sat here trying to convince your...