The Documentary Podcast

Affordable housing is in widespread crisis. Many cities around the world have failed to build enough houses with good design and make living in them affordable – whether rented or bought. This effects millions, especially young people. One place which seems to have a far better record is Vienna. Rents are modest, the housing is high quality, there’s a good social mix with new estates designed with everyone in mind. So how has the City achieved this? And with pressures like a growing right to buy ethos, how sustainable all this in the face of future challenges? While the great Social Democratic tradition that Vienna’s housing embodies seems to have faded or disappeared across much of Europe, here it seems to have thrived. Is Vienna’s housing dream a one-off, or can it be a place everywhere else can learn from?Reporter: Chris Bowlby Producer: Jim Frank

The poet Nikita Gill has written several volumes of poetry, and enjoys engaging poetically with her audience using social media. Her work often explores Greek myths, and her latest project is a series of four books, each one focusing on a single goddess. For this episode of In the Studio, we join her as she starts with Hekate, often called the goddess of witchcraft, and about whom little is known, other than that she was brought up in the underworld by Styx. Nikita describes Hekate as a dark anti-feminine goddess and a protest against what is expected of women, which is what appealed to her. But how do you go about creating a life for someone who is so mysterious? And as Nikita will also be illustrating her work, how will she decide how to visually portray her? Follow Nikita across several months as she works towards completing her first draft of this exciting new work.Presented and produced by Rebecca Armstrong for the BBC World Service

It’s illegal in around 30 countries in Africa to be in a same-sex relationship and recently there’s been political debate in places such as Uganda and Ghana around stricter laws. We’ve also reported on the BBC in the past few months about violence against LGBT people in Kenya and Egypt, for example. The proposed new law in Uganda is awaiting the president’s assent, and if approved, it may see people who identify as gay, lesbian or queer imprisoned for life. We’ve spent the past few weeks making contact with some of those who are affected.

Gwen was brought up as a strict evangelical Christian. She was taught that women needed to control the way they dressed and acted to control the behaviour of men. When she was sexually abused, she believed it was her fault. But when she first stepped into a nudist community, she felt free. She was naked, with other naked people, and her nakedness was not making other people molest her. She learnt that her body was not something she had to hide. The BBC’s Josie Le Vay visits Gwen at her home in a nudist community in Florida, USA.

How has Finland survived so long as an independent European country, up close to Russia, its aggressive neighbour? Over the decades it’s learnt to live with both the Soviet Union and then post-communist Russia next door and to benefit from the cross-border trade it offered. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has changed attitudes in Finland, seen most clearly in its decision to join Nato. In this edition of Assignment, we report from the border towns of Lappeenranta and Imatra – which have gained economically from Russians crossing into Finland as tourists, for trade, to buy property and simply to go shopping. Now Russian tourist visas have been banned by the Finnish Government and the local mayor says the region is losing a million euros every day. The country’s army has male conscription, defence spending is at NATO levels and Finland’s cities have underground shelters to protect its population.Caroline Bayley looks at Finland’s relationship with Russia – past and present – and asks what’s next for these uneasy neighbours. Producer/presenter Caroline Bayley Editor Penny Murphy Studio Engineer Rod Farquhar Production co-ordinator Helena Warwick-Cross(Photo: Almost deserted border post on Finland’s border with Russia. Credit: Caroline Bayley)

Bulk carriers are the ships that keep the modern world going - like the MV Raeda and the MV Olivian Confidence carrying grain from Ukraine to Turkey, and flour to Afghanistan and Yemen. Zig zagging across the oceans for months at a time, bulk carriers keep us all going even in times of war and pandemic. ‘If it didn’t grow in your garden,’ says broker Aysu Gurgan, ‘A bulk carrier brought it to you.’ Steel, sand, coal, cement - the very fabric of the modern world - all of it reaches us on bulkers. Unseen by the very populations that rely on them, each bulker is also a home to international crews who spend half their lives on board.

In March 2003, the United States led an invasion of Iraq that would topple Saddam Hussein's regime, but would have far-reaching consequences for the next two decades. No-one knows exactly how many Iraqis have died as a result of the war. Estimates are all in the hundreds of thousands. The political instability that followed saw the rise of jihadist extremists including Islamic State. There was a civil war and the spread of violent sectarianism across the region. Host James Reynolds brings together Iraqis to share how trauma continues to impact their lives.

It took Salimata Sylla three hours to get to the away fixture she was due to play with her basketball team mates from the Parisian suburb of Aubervilliers. But it was only a few minutes before the match started that she learned she was going to sit the game out on the bench. Despite playing for more than 10 years in the French Championship, the federation that controls her sport decided to apply the rule that forbids female basketball players from wearing the hijab. Reporter Claire Jones goes to Paris to meet Salimata to find out how she can resolve her wish to express her Muslim faith by wearing a hijab with her desire to play the sport she loves.

Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is destroying lives all over the United States. Manufactured illegally and at a huge profit by drug cartels in Mexico, it’s smuggled across the border into southern California and Arizona. The director at one entry point on the border acknowledges that they’re looking for needles in a haystack. And she says that they drug organisations have more money than they do.In the second of a two-part series, Assignment crosses into the US from Mexico to run a rule over the devastation this lethal drug has left in its wake in San Diego County. Presenter / producer: Linda Pressly Producer: Tim Mansel(Photo: The wall between the US and Mexico from the Mexican side. The city of San Diego is in the distance. Credit: Tim Mansel).

BBC journalist Ramadan Younes investigates the world of genetic eye disease ‘treatments’, where some practitioners claim to cure the incurable. Living with his own visual impairment, Ramadan sets out to explore how clinics around the world, from Sudan to Gaza and from Russia to the United States, target predominantly Arab patients by advertising, selling and conducting procedures that are at best ineffective and can at worst cause total blindness.Producer: Matt Pintus Editor: Clare Fordham

The storming of the Brazilian Parliament and Congress by the supporters of the former president Jair Bolsonaro came almost two years to the day that Donald Trump’s supporters did the same in the United States. And the two events shared another similarity; both sets of supporters were egged-on by social media posts, and mobilised by private messages on apps like WhatsApp and Telegram. They are examples of how technology is being used to erode democracy – but can it also be used to strengthen it?

In the aftermath of the disastrous war in Iraq, the lesson seemed clear: the West should never intervene in foreign conflicts. But then came the Syrian civil war, and the invasion of Ukraine, and the withdrawal from Afghanistan. So 20 years on, Caroline Wyatt – who has reported from Iraq, Afghanistan and Russia – takes us back to the choice of horrors the West faced in 2003, and examines how the legacy of that fateful decision shapes foreign policy today, for good or ill.

Everything Everywhere All at Once ensured it was a historic night at the Oscars. And in doing so it put a spotlight on Asian Americans. The film, which centres around a fictional family of Asian Americans, received seven awards with Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh becoming the first Asian woman to win the best actress Oscar. Catherine Byaruhanga hears stories from Asian-Americans, including three actors who discuss attitudes and prejudice towards them in the film industry.

Fentanyl is deadly. Thousands of Americans die every year from a drug overdose – the majority of them after using a synthetic opioid like fentanyl. Fentanyl was developed as a legal, and effective, pain killer. Now, fuelled by insatiable US demand, it’s illicitly produced in makeshift laboratories in Mexico by organised crime groups. In the first of a two-part series, Assignment travels to the Mexican Pacific port of Manzanillo. This is one of the main entry points for the chemical ingredients required to make fentanyl. It’s a town where Mexico’s powerful cartels have fought for control, and where the mayor lives under armed guard after a failed assassination attempt. Although the primary destination of Mexican-made fentanyl is the US, Mexico too has a rising number of addicts – especially in Tijuana on the Mexico / US border. Presenter / producer: Linda Pressly Producer: Tim Mansel Producer in Mexico: Ulises Escamilla[Photo: The Navy is in charge of security at Mexico’s seaports in a bid to stop the chemicals used to make fentanyl coming in from Asia. Credit: Tim Mansel]

The recent rise in migrant boat crossings between France and the UK is being fuelled, in part, by more sophisticated methods gangs are using to source the boats. The criminal gangs now control the production of inflatables, making it possible to significantly increase profits. Sue Mitchell teams up with former British soldier and aid worker, Rob Lawrie, to investigate how boats used in migrant Chanel crossings are sourced and the huge profits being made.

Since 2020, when the so-called Nth Room scandal revealed how women and children were lured and blackmailed to make explicit videos for distribution through chatrooms, the lucrative online sexual exploitation of women and children has intensified. Sojeong Lee investigates why women in South Korea are so especially vulnerable to online abuse and exploitation and why so little has been achieved by government and police. How have the country’s economic and social characteristics led to this hotbed of digital sex crime?

It is a month since earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria. Official figures suggest that more than 45,000 people were killed in Turkey; and more than 6,000 in Syria. In reality, the numbers are likely to be higher. Millions are without homes - and the search for proper shelter is difficult. Amid rain, snow and cold weather, many people have remained outdoors, too afraid to go into any buildings that are still standing. Host Catherine Byaruhanga brings together survivors and volunteers to share their stories and to hear what happens immediately after such a life changing event.

Ireland’s housing estates continue to ring to the sound of horses with patches of grass used for grazing and garages as stables. Horses used to be an integral part of cities across Europe until the middle of the 20th century. But in Ireland, no matter how hard the authorities have tried to dissuade residents from keeping horses, the tradition survives. Although horses have long been associated with the travelling community, Irish people from all backgrounds have a passion for owning them. For those on lower incomes, that’s often in housing estates and even in city centres. Some horses can be bought for the price of a packet of cigarettes and although there are supposedly strict ownership rules, these are routinely flouted. The authorities are caught between trying to protect animal welfare and respecting a key part of Irish culture. For Assignment, Katie Flannery travels to Limerick and Dublin to hear about urban horses there. Produced by Bob Howard.(Photo by Bob Howard)

Three years after the official declaration of a pandemic, 65 million people - one in 10 who had Covid-19 - still have symptoms. Some are so ill they are yet to return to work. The Economist’s health editor, Natasha Loder, examines the science behind long Covid and hears about the challenges as researchers try to unravel the cause behind a condition associated with around 200 symptoms.

A wooden boat lies broken and wrecked off the coast of Italy after it hit rocks and sank. On board were around 200 people, mostly migrants from countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, Iraq and Iran. Many died. The boat had set sail from Turkey and was attempting to cross seas in rough weather on a journey described as the deadliest migration route on the planet. The disaster has again prompted debate about what is being done to address the issue. Hosts James Reynolds and Krupa Padhy hear stories of people who have made similar journeys.

In the last few years, powerful criminal gangs have terrorised a swathe of north west and central Nigeria. From camps in the forest, gangs of bandits on motorbikes have attacked villages killing and kidnapping men, women and children. So how can Nigeria's new leader restore security? What does it say about the future of security in Africa's most populous nation? Alex Last has been to the north western city of Katsina to meet some of those battling the bandits. Photo: Some of the weapons used by vigilantes in Zamfara state, north west Nigeria, 2019 (Photo by Kola Sulaimon / AFP via Getty Images)Reporter: Alex Last Producer: Abdullahi Kaura Abubakar Sound mix: Rod Farquhar Series Editor: Penny Murphy Production assistant: Helena Warwick-Cross

The Flying Seagull Project travels the world with a simple goal: to enable and empower children in warzones and refugee camps to play. Theirs is a riproaring, irreverent, iridescent carnival that cuts through even the hoariest of cynics - and changes people's lives. From Glastonbury to a primary school in South London and on to a refugee camp in Bulgaria, reporter Georgia Moodie follows Ash Perrin, the founder of the Flying Seagulls as he gets kids from all walks of life to chuckle, yell and play.

March 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the departure of the last American combat troops from Vietnam. Vietnamese journalist Nga Pham uncovers the surprising story of the US veterans who served in Vietnam during the 1960s and early '70s, and have since returned as retirees and decided to make the country their home. Can it just be the cheap housing, affordable healthcare and low cost of living? Or is it a way of healing from the psychological trauma of their experiences serving in the US military during the war in Vietnam?

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has led to tens of thousands of deaths. And it’s estimated around 8 million Ukrainians left the country to find sanctuary. James Reynolds meets mothers and their daughters who share their experiences of escaping the war and the challenges of making a new life for themselves in the UK. We also hear from three young Ukrainian women, currently living in London. They express the guilt they feel about leaving friends and family behind, while also offering observations on some quirks of British culture.

A year on from the invasion of Ukraine, many Russians now inhabit a parallel world that justifies the conflict. How have they been persuaded to support, or accept, a war against a country they had the closest of personal and historical ties with? Assignment talks to some of the persuaders – a celebrated war correspondent, a top talkshow host, a popular singer and poet, and a volunteer fighter – to understand how Russians’ understanding of the conflict has been forged. What are the memories and fears that have been invoked to convince many that it’s Russia, not Ukraine, that’s fighting for its survival?(Photo of Russian war reporter Alexander Kots)

Two countries a world apart are linked by a multi-million dollar corruption scandal, and it is all about fish. At one end, the southern African nation of Namibia where leading politicians and businessmen are facing trial on racketeering charges, accused of running an elaborate scheme that squandered valuable fish stocks, meant to help people out of poverty. On the other a powerful fishing company under scrutiny in Iceland, a country long credited with the image of transparency and honest dealing.

Ahead of the upcoming general election in Nigeria, Alan Kasujja hosts a special conversation from the commercial capital of Lagos. He sat down with around 20 young people to debate and talk about their lives in what many refer to as the “giant of Africa”. Writers, security guards, teachers, web designers and entrepreneurs are among those who join Alan to talk about issues including education, money, safety, corruption and the lack of women in the political landscape.

No part of the United Kingdom has felt the impact of Brexit more strongly than Northern Ireland. Home to the country's only land border with the European Union, the province is the focus of passionate debate about Britain's future relationship with Europe. Three years on from Brexit, the temporary agreement, the so called “Protocol,” that was designed to ease the UK's exit from the EU but left Northern Ireland in legal and political limbo is coming to an end. And what might replace it is causing uncertainty and unease there. David Baker travels to Northern Ireland and assesses the impact of Brexit. He meets businesses that have benefited from the agreement and want it to stay and others who say it’s been damaging and feel their identities are threatened. Producer: Jim Frank(Photo by Stephen Barnes via Getty Images)

The Freedman’s Bank was established in 1865 after the abolition of slavery and the Civil War. The Bank was designed to help newly freed African-Americans in their quest to become financially stable. At its peak, it stretched across huge swathes of America. But what began with huge promise ended in massive failure nine years later, leaving a legacy of distrust in its wake. Szu Ping Chan looks at the history and lessons from the collapse of America's first black bank.

For World Radio Day, we celebrate four vibrant community radio stations on four continents. Northern Malawi’s Rumphi FM supports the Tumbuka tribe while giving young women a space to speak out against early marriage and for education. From Budapest, Radio Dikh broadcasts “about the Roma, but not just for the Roma,” presenting Romany culture in its own distinctive voice. In Nunavik, Northern Quebec, Inuit radio beams Inuktitut music and talk to 14 remote villages, helping to keep an ancient language and threatened tradition alive. And in Myanmar, brave journalists risk their lives to resist the military dictatorship with news and views sent out from portable transmitters, sometimes under fire.

We have been hearing from people in Turkey and Syria since the earthquake struck the region on Monday. Three survivors tell us about their escape from shaking buildings onto bitterly cold streets, including Canan who was staying in a hotel in Gazientep: “We were in PJs,” she says. “We were barefoot and people were screaming and crying.” It’s an anxious and emotional time for relatives watching from abroad. Germany is home to the largest Turkish diaspora in the world and we bring together Aeyna and Hazal, as well as Khalil, who has close family in Aleppo in Syria.

In Germany in 2002 there were some 19,000 small, neighbourhood butchers’ shops. They made and sold, among other things, that “great emblem of Germany’s national diet” – sausages. At last count, in 2021, there were fewer than 11,000 shops left. The German butchers’ trade association says there are “massive problems” finding trained staff and young people who want to learn from the bottom up. In Lörrach, in the south-west of Germany, the Chamber of Handcraft, is now looking overseas in order to preserve local culinary traditions. A group of apprentices from India has just started a three-year training programme at the local college and various shops in the vicinity. The decline of the butchers’ shop – and the threat to the sausage – mirrors a problem in many branches across the whole of Germany; in social care, in bakeries, in the building trade: people at the top of an ageing population are leaving the workforce at a higher rate than those entering at the bottom. “The lack of skilled workers is becoming ever more palpable,” says the chamber of trade. They’ll be going back to India later this year to recruit for other industries.Producer/presenter: Tim Mansel

When speech disorders affect children, it is speech therapists who assist in helping them find their voice, but therapists are rare and it is thought they are largely absent across 75% of the world. Sean Allsop grew up needing speech therapy in the UK. He travels to Turks & Caicos, a place that has no therapists to help its population. He takes the trip with a travelling speech therapist, Mary Weinder who has been asked by the Turks & Caicos Government for help.

Around the world, millions of people live with daily electricity blackouts. In recent days in South Africa, protesters – angry that the electricity keeps going off – marched through Johannesburg and Cape Town. Three women in South Africa share their experiences of their daily struggles to get everything done before the power goes off. Two business owners, in Sri Lanka and Nigeria, come together to discuss the financial impact of power cuts.

Cattle are part of Uruguay’s DNA. There are around 4 cows to every one of their tiny 3.5 million population of people and beef is their main export. But how do they compete against their mighty, better known neighbours; Argentina and Brazil? In this week’s Assignment Jane Chambers travels to the country’s lush, green pastures to find out about how they keep their cash cow flourishing. She hears from cattle farmers and other people in the beef industry about how they’re carving out a niche for themselves and future proofing against the threats of climate change. Produced and presented by: Jane Chambers Country Producer: Lucinda Elliot Studio Mix: Rod Farquhar Production coordinator: Iona Hammond and Gemma Ashman Series Editor: Penny Murphy

Orna Merchant learns how, during World War Two, a desperate Soviet Union created three all-female aerial combat units. The most celebrated of these was the 588th Night Bomber Regiment. Using Polikarpov Po-2 wooden biplanes, as the aviators approached their target they would cut their engines and glide in to drop their bombs. The eerie sight and sound of this – added to the discovery of them having all women crews - led German forces to nickname them ‘Nachthexen’ - the Night Witches.

How do humans cope with sadness? Is it something to be avoided at all costs or part of the human condition? Should we dwell on our sadness, or flee from it? Author Helen Russell explores humanity's history of gloom, and the cultural differences in our approach to tackling it. Helen goes to Lisbon to explore their relationship with melancholy, communicated through a uniquely mournful genre of music called Fado, and an untranslatable word "saudade". She learns about the service which sends a handsome man to wipe away tears in Japan, and hears about joy, sadness and mourning with a Ghanian poet.

Several countries are experiencing a fall in the number of babies being born and this has potentially serious consequences. Japan’s Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, has warned that his country is on the brink of not being able to function as a society. The problem is an increasingly elderly population and not enough younger people to keep the country ticking over. China is seeing record low birth rates and South Korea has the lowest rate of women having babies in the world. Youtubers Sarah and Kyuho in the South Korean capital Seoul, describe some of the pressures and reactions they experienced when they said they are not planning to have kids.

Why did people take to the streets, risking arrest and a barrage of bullets? After protests turned violent and hundreds of people were killed, four Iranians tell the story of why they risked their lives. What has been happening in Iran to drive them out onto the streets to face bullets? ‘Agrin’ tells Phoebe Keane she’s tired of being objectified as a woman, and having no faith that the authorities will take sexual assault seriously when the police themselves are accused of raping prisoners. Mahsoud tells how he was shot during a protest but feared going to the hospital in case the authorities put him in jail. When plain clothed police loitered outside his family home, he decided to leave Iran. Still bleeding and with a metal pellet lodged in his ear impairing his hearing, he finally made it across the border to Iraq. ‘Nazy’ tells of being arrested by the morality police while walking to work and being shoved in a van as the heels on her shoes were too high. She started to protest every day and now walks through the streets with her hair blowing in the wind, an act of defiance. ‘Farah’ remembers a time in Iran when women could dance and sing in public and protests because she wants her daughter to live a life without fear.Presenter: Phoebe Keane Producers: Ed Butler, Ali Hamedani, Khosro Isfahani and Taraneh Stone Series editor: Penny Murphy

In 2002 photojournalist Caroline Irby and former BBC reporter Tom McKinley arrived in Sierra Leone to cover the fallout from the country’s brutal conflict. They travelled with children caught up in the fighting; as they were reunited with their families. Now, just over two decades on, Caroline returns to West Africa to track them down.

As the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union swept over vast areas of Ukraine and Belorussia from the summer of 1941, over three million Jews were deliberately targeted for annihilation. Shot, hung, butchered, a million and a half Jewish souls were buried in vast pits in Babi Yar, Rumbula, Mariupol, Minsk, Kyiv and Riga. Many accounts began to flood into the Soviet Union where journalist and writer Ilya Ehrenburg began gathering testimonies of the mass murder. This became The Black Book, a chronicle of the Nazi extermination of Soviet Jews. Historian Catherine Merridale travels to Riga, Latvia and Yad Vashem, where the Black Book was smuggled, to uncover this complex story of loss, silence and rediscovery.

During World War Two, approximately 1.6 million Soviet, Polish and Romanian Jews survived by escaping to Soviet Central Asia and Siberia, avoiding imminent death in ghettos, firing squads and killing centres. Many of them wrote music about these horrors as the Holocaust unfolded. Singer Alice Zawadzski, whose own family found themselves on a similar journey to Central Asia, and historian Anna Shternshis of the University of Toronto, who led the project to bring these songs back to life, travel to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to retrace the journeys of those Jewish refugees who became music composers.

Since the Taliban returned to power some 18 months ago, women in Afghanistan have been removed from nearly all areas of public life. They are barred from secondary schools, universities and most workplaces and cannot even socialise in public parks. As Afghanistan faces a growing humanitarian crisis, we bring together three students in the country to share their experiences of life under Taliban rule. We catch up with three young women who used to compete in Afghanistan. Footballer, Najma, tells us that in the country many girls wish they had been born boys. We speak to two politicians who had fled the country when the Taliban returned to power.

In 2018 the town of Paradise in hills of northern California was wiped out by one of the worst wildfires in California's history. The disaster made headlines around the world - regarded as a symbol of the dangers posed by climate change. So what does the future hold for communities like Paradise in a region increasingly threatened by wildfire? Four years on, Alex Last traveled to Paradise to meet the survivors who are rebuilding their town.Photo: A home burns as the Camp fire tears through Paradise, California on November 8, 2018. (Josh Edelson /AFP via Getty Images)Reporter and producer: Alex Last Sound mix: Rod Farquar Series Editor: Penny Murphy Production coordinator: Iona Hammond

There’s growing scientific evidence that many animals are not only conscious but they possess a more profound sense of self. They can learn by experience and make decisions that depend on a sense of the future - in other words they are “sentient” beings with the capacity to feel pain, pleasure and emotions. In the second part of this two-part series, Sue Armstrong reports on the latest scientific research into the minds and consciousness of animals and the ethical implications this has on animal welfare and our relationship with animals.

What does it mean to be a citizen? Is it about belonging, or about convenience? Katy Long examines two trends which offer stark alternatives: countries which remove citizenship (or want to), and those which sell it. Sharing stories from Belarus, the Dominican Republic, Malta and Kuwait reveals how very differently different countries think about these questions, about identity, and about the powerful forces shaping our world and our lives, forces over which few of us have any power.

When it came to tackling Covid, China has been among the strictest on the planet. There have been almost three years of travel restrictions, testing and lockdowns. Host James Reynolds also chats with Yanni, Lex and David, who discuss what it has been like to live under China’s ‘zero Covid’ policy and how they have all recently had the disease, following a nationwide surge in cases. We also get a perspective on what’s been happening in China from two foreigners living in the county: Jonathan, a Canadian, and Lee, a South African, who tells us that she has felt unable to leave Beijing for the past three years.

Southern Italy is home to some of Europe's most powerful criminal organisations; the Sicilian Mafia, the Camorra in Naples and the Ndrangheta based in Calabria. For many, crime is a family business. So a judge in Sicily has come up with a radical plan to prevent young people becoming the next generation of mobsters. He’s been taking children away from Mafia families. This controversial policy is now being considered by other countries around the world. Daniel Gordon travels to Sicily to meet those involved in the programme and find out whether it actually works. Photo: A 17 year-old girl, Letizia, supported by her uncle, addresses an anti-mafia meeting in the Sicilian town of Messina. Her mother is missing and is believed to have been killed by local gangsters. (Rocco Papandrea, Gazzetta del Sud.) Reporter: Daniel Gordon Producer: Alex Last Series Editor: Penny Murphy Sound engineer: Graham Puddifoot Production coordinator: Iona Hammond

There is growing scientific evidence that many animals are not only conscious, but possess a more profound sense of self. They can learn by experience and make decisions that depend on a sense of the future - in other words, they are “sentient” beings with the capacity to feel pain, pleasure and emotions. Sue Armstrong reports on the latest scientific research into the minds and consciousness of animals of all sorts, from chimpanzees to birds, bees and cuttlefish.

Edson Arantes do Nascimento, or ‘Pelé’ as he became known, is thought by most to have been the greatest footballer to grace this planet. He died on 29th December, aged 82.James Reynolds has been in Santos, Pelé’s adopted hometown. He was among the crowds on the streets at the funeral procession, as they celebrated this sporting legend’s life.