The Documentary Podcast Podcast
Hear the voices at the heart of global stories. Where curious minds can uncover hidden truths and make sense of the world. Documentary storytelling from the Â鶹Éç World Service.
Hear the voices at the heart of global stories. Where curious minds can uncover hidden truths and make sense of the world. The best of documentary storytelling from the Â鶹Éç World Service.
From conflict in the Middle East to the advance of AI, to the front line of the climate emergency, we go beyond the headlines. Each week we dive into the minds of the world’s most creative people, take personal journeys into spirituality and connect people from across the globe to share how news stories are shaping their lives.
Episodes to download
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Bonus: Lives Less Ordinary presents, Hold Fast!
Sun 24 Aug 2025
The extraordinary story of how The Avontuur was locked down at sea for 188 days
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Mud wrestling and tent pegging: Africa’s unusual sports
Sat 23 Aug 2025
Wrestling in the mud, a dance of the mind, and a medieval sport on horseback
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Ukrainians at war and their hopes for peace
Sat 23 Aug 2025
Frontline soldiers, women and Ukrainians living abroad share their experiences
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GaudÃ: God’s architect
Fri 22 Aug 2025
How did his religion inform Gaudà 's art and his work on Sagrada Familia?
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White Coats v the White House
Thu 21 Aug 2025
How the cuts, reorganisations and political strong-arming in US science will affect us
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Dan Meis: Designing Everton Football Club's new stadium
Wed 20 Aug 2025
Sports architect Dan Meis reveals the process behind the design of Everton FC's stadium
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Europe’s migrant crisis: the truck that shocked the world
Tue 19 Aug 2025
In 2015, 71 migrants suffocated in a truck - could this tragedy have been prevented?
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The Herds: Life-sized puppets flee climate change
Mon 18 Aug 2025
Puppet animals travel from the Congo Basin to the Arctic Circle, to flee climate change
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Ghost cities FC
Sun 17 Aug 2025
Inside the displacement and division of Nagorno Karabakh’s refugee football clubs
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Comedians and Afghan weddings
Sat 16 Aug 2025
How Afghans found alternative ways to celebrate weddings after the Taliban banned music
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Messages from Sudan's war
Sat 16 Aug 2025
People inside Sudan share their experiences of the war they say the world has ignored
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The president’s path: Trump’s Latino base
Fri 15 Aug 2025
Will Trump’s Latino Base Hold in the 2026 Midterms?
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Birding the gender gap
Thu 14 Aug 2025
An exploration of how the study of female birds is reshaping our understanding of nature
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Mo Salah: Egyptian king
Wed 13 Aug 2025
The impact and legacy of global football icon Mo Salah on Egypt and beyond
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Tajikistan’s last, lonely hyenas
Tue 12 Aug 2025
One man’s determination to save the last few striped hyenas of Tajikistan
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Has Ghana's ‘Year of Return’ been a success?
Sun 10 Aug 2025
In 2019 Ghana's tourism board encouraged people to return to Ghana but has it worked?
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Why are Chinese micro-dramas so popular?
Sat 9 Aug 2025
What's behind the success of a Chinese short form video trend that has expanded globally
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Israelis and the war in Gaza
Sat 9 Aug 2025
Israelis discuss the war in Gaza and their fears for the hostages being held
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Freddie’s second verse
Fri 8 Aug 2025
Freddie left fame behind to follow Buddhism and find stillness in Hong Kong
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The Engineers: Exploring the human
Thu 7 Aug 2025
Innovations in neuro-science, blood-bubble drug delivery and ingestible electronics
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New Zealand: Heading across the ditch
Wed 6 Aug 2025
What will New Zealand's rapidly changing demographics mean for the country's future?
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Waiting for my Dad - Ukraine's children of the missing
Tue 5 Aug 2025
A pioneering summer camp for Ukrainian children with missing parents
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Luke Jerram: A good yarn
Mon 4 Aug 2025
Artist Luke Jerram creates a big ball of yarn to roll through the streets of Bradford
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Why a South Korean church bought a village in Paraguay
Sat 2 Aug 2025
How the remote rural village of Puerto Casado ended up at the centre of a land dispute
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Hunger in Gaza
Sat 2 Aug 2025
Doctors and journalists share their experiences of the struggle to get enough food
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Bergen-Belsen: Among graves, we were born
Fri 1 Aug 2025
Two women born in Bergen-Belsen Displaced Persons Camp return to their birthplace
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Controlling nature's data
Thu 31 Jul 2025
The London tech firm creating a huge genome database which can help create new products
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The JNIM branch of al-Qaeda
Wed 30 Jul 2025
The JNIM branch of al-Qaeda is one of the world's deadliest jihadist groups
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Can Greenland go it alone?
Tue 29 Jul 2025
Many Greenlanders would like full independence from Denmark – but can they afford it?
