The Documentary Podcast

The rapid spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 is leading to record infection levels in several countries, and vaccination is a key part of the fight against the pandemic. Host James Reynolds brings together vaccination workers in South Africa, Australia, the United States and the UK to share what’s it like to be part of the global effort to vaccinate.We also hear from two people in the US and the UK who turned down a vaccination. After almost dying, they regret their decisions. “I had no idea what was going into me when they [health workers] were saving my life - the same as I don’t know what’s in the vaccine,” says Jade in the UK. “It’s silly isn’t it? You kind of overthink one thing but not the other.”

The US Capitol riot on January 6, 2021 has been described by President Biden as a dark day in US history. A year on since the attack, Ros Atkins examines the legal and political fall-out from it.

It can be hard to choose how to spend our precious time. Imam Jamal Rahman, a Sufi spiritual teacher, offers a joyful perspective to Rebecca from the USA.

A giant new canal for the world’s biggest ships is the most ambitious engineering plan yet proposed by Turkey’s President Erdogan, whose massive infrastructure projects have already changed the face of his country. The proposed waterway would slice through Istanbul, creating in effect a second Bosphorus, the busy shipping lane that is now the only outlet from the Black Sea. The president himself has called the project “crazy”. But he says it would “save the future of Istanbul”, easing traffic in the Bosphorus and reducing the risk of a terrible accident there. But the plan has met a storm of opposition. Istanbul’s mayor says it would “murder” the historic city. Critics claim the canal would be an environmental disaster, cost billions of dollars that Turkey can’t afford – and provoke severe tensions with Russia, which is determined to preserve existing rules on traffic into and out of the Black Sea. Will the canal go ahead? Who would lose – and who would benefit? Tim Whewell reports from a divided Istanbul.(Image: Turkish coastal safety patrol boats in the Bosphorus, Istanbul. Credit: Yörük Işık)

Wafa Mustafa hasn't heard from her dad since he went missing in July 2013. She, like tens of thousands of others in her position, believes he is being detained by the Syrian government, and is searching for him. In this documentary, she explains how she uses the story of his life to campaign for justice in Syria, and how keeping the memory of her father alive is an act of protest and resistance.

Another chance to hear from some of the BBC's acclaimed series examining the seismic events shaping Afghanistan before and after this year's return to power of the Taliban. After last week's episode featuring Taliban founder Mullah Zaeef and former President Hamid Karzai, the BBC's chief international correspondent, Lyse Doucet, hears from a younger generation. Shaharzad Akbar was raised in a refugee camp in Pakistan in the 1990s, became the first Afghan woman to get a degree at Oxford University, and went on to run the country's Human Rights Commission. Arson Fahim and Meena Karimi are both gifted composers with no memory of life before the advent of a US-backed democracy in the country. All see their lives shaped by it, and all three have had to flee Kabul since the Taliban took over. What now for the dreams they cherished?Hear the whole series at bbcworldservice.com/afghanistan

ustin Rowlatt looks at the monumental challenge of weaning ourselves off fossil fuels. Solar and wind could meet all of humanity’s energy needs, but can we switch over before climate disaster strikes? According to clean-tech enthusiast and investor Ramez Naam, we have the means at our disposal. Our fossil-fuelled global economy has enabled a rapid collapse in the cost of renewable energy and electric vehicles. And now we are seeing a snowballing of government action to decarbonise our economies, according to UN climate negotiator Christiana Figueres. But many problems remain. Energy historian Vaclav Smil points out that we still have no easy way to store renewable energy, or use it to make billions of tonnes of cement and steel. Sheffield-based ITM Power hope that their green hydrogen could solve many of these problems. Plus, electricity historian Julie Cohn says another option might be to build a global electricity grid.

Two years after the first cases of a mysterious new virus were reported from China, host Nuala McGovern brings together experts in Switzerland, India and Israel who have been tracking the spread and impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and providing advice to governments and health officials. What have they learnt about the effects of the pandemic? What happens next and what are the lessons for the future?Nuala talks to Dr Emma Hodcroft, a molecular epidemiologist at the University of Bern in Switzerland, Dr Swapneil Parikh in Mumbai, India, and Professor Manfred Green, an epidemiologist based at the University of Haifa in Israel.

The pandemic has meant stopping so many of the everyday things we used to do, including not hugging and kissing others. For Susanna from Italy, not being able to connect with people socially in the way she is used to has led to a deep disorientation. Gary Zukav gives his perspective that it is not the pandemic that has led to her feeling more isolated from others, but rather it is fear of what is different.

Peru has been battered by Covid-19. It has the highest known death toll in the world per capita. But behind the figures there’s another hidden pandemic. By the end of April 2021 around 93,000 children had lost a father, mother, grand-parent, or other primary caregiver to the virus - that’s one in every hundred children. For Assignment, Jane Chambers travels to Lima to meet the families struggling to cope. The immediate urgency of the health crisis is masking a much deeper malaise; that of a generation of children mentally and physically scarred by loss and poverty. Reported and produced by Jane Chambers Editor: Bridget Harney (Image: Jhoana Olinda Antón Silva and her children in their home at the shrine they built for their father who died of Covid-19. Credit: Paola Ugaz)

Reflecting on the life of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the South African priest who became a prominent figure in the fight against apartheid, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.

A chance to hear once again from the BBC's acclaimed series examining the seismic events shaping Afghanistan before and after this year's return to power of the Taliban. The BBC's chief international correspondent, Lyse Doucet, hears from two key players who have shaped the country's recent history: Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, a former Afghan diplomat and co-founder of the Taliban movement; and Hamid Karzai, the country's first elected president. Both talk in detail about the events that shaped their lives, their thinking and what they make of the collapse of the US-backed government in the country.Hear the whole series at bbcworldservice.com/afghanistan

Justin Rowlatt looks at the bonanza provided by coal, oil and gas in just the last two centuries. Our modern comfortable way of life is only made possible by burning through a finite stock of fossilised chemical energy. Today we are a fossil fuel society, according to the noted energy historian Vaclav Smil. Fossil fuels underpin everything we take for granted – our long leisurely lives, our material goods, even the crops needed to feed our gigantic populations. Justin takes a tour through the history of the engine with Prof Paul Warde at London’s Science Museum. He explores the dark library of hydrocarbon fuels with chemist Andrea Sella. And he discovers how coal and natural gas created the materials that built our modern urban worlds.

In the early '80s the idea of a television channel showing nothing but music videos 24 hours a day was completely revolutionary. It posed the first real threat to the dominance of Top 40 Radio across America and went on to completely redefine how artists marketed themselves and the way popular music was consumed by the fans. The arrival of MTV in 1981 quickly led to an explosion in the production of music videos in both Europe and the US, many of which went on to define the decade. From Thriller to Live Aid, Britney to Beyonce; MTV has been the soundtrack to some of the biggest moments in popular culture for the last 40 years.

Vaccines, vaccine hesitancy, Delta and Omicron – what is it like reporting on the pandemic? Host Nuala McGovern links up with journalists in Brazil, the United States and Germany to hear how they have been covering the coronavirus pandemic over the past year. How have things changed, and what are their predictions for 2022? Barbara Carvalho, from Globo News in Brazil, explains why vaccine take-up is high in a country where the national leadership has been sceptical of vaccination. We are also joined by Kathrin Wesolowski, a reporter and fact-checker in Germany, who warns of the dangers of misinformation around the pandemic. And Apoorva Mandavilli, Global Health and Science Reporter for the New York Times, tells us how her feelings go from despair to optimism.

How do you find inner happiness when life in your home country is very hard? Eduardo is a young man in Venezuela facing daily struggles in his life. He finds it difficult to accept he cannot leave his country. Sister Dang Nghiem, is an Amerasian Buddhist nun, born during the Vietnam war. She talks to him about how we might find happiness and personal fulfilment wherever we are.

Female athletes faced brutal choices as allied forces withdrew from Afghanistan - to flee their homes and country or to stay and possibly abandon all hope of pursing their sporting dreams. Some made it onto those final flights out of the country, others faced dangerous journeys across borders with their friends and families. BBC journalist Sue Mitchell examines what has been happening to those who escaped and to the team mates they have left behind. Sue has been following the fortunes of teenage football players settling into new lives in the UK and female athletes stuck in limbo in Pakistan. When the UK Government announced it was granting asylum to the Afghanistan girls development youth football team there was relief that the teenagers could continue to play. Weeks on from that decision the girls are still in Pakistan awaiting visas, new homes and training opportunities. The uncertainty is compounded by stories of brutal acts committed against female athletes still in Afghanistan and worries about family members they have left behind. Kashif Siddiqi, the co-founder of charity Football for Peace, played a leading role in helping the girls flee Afghanistan. He said their perilous journey involved traveling in small groups and crossing the border wearing burqas. He is optimistic that sport can help them rebuild their lives and settle in communities linked by football. In Portugal a group of girl soccer players who were part of the Afghanistan under 15 and under 17 programs are already adjusting to their new lives. They are being helped by the former captain of the Afghanistan women’s soccer team, Farkhunda Muhtaj, who was already acutely aware of how difficult things were for the girls even before the Taliban returned to power. She fears that girls left behind will never play again. Those fears have recently been compounded by reports that a member of the Afghanistan women’s youth volleyball team has been beheaded by the Taliban in Kabul. Former team player, Zaharia Fayazi, relays the increasing anxiety she and others feel about those left behind.

Hundreds of young women from Sierra Leone, West Africa, have been trapped in the Arabian sultanate of Oman, desperate to get home. Promised work in shops and restaurants, they say they were tricked into becoming housemaids, working up to 18 hours a day, often without pay, and sometimes abused by their employers. Some ran away, to live a dangerous underground existence at the mercy of the authorities. Now, they are being rescued with the help of charities and diplomats. Back home, some have empowered themselves for the first time, joining a women’s farming collective. But others can’t easily recover from the ill-treatment and isolation they suffered in Arabia. (Updated version of a programme first broadcast earlier this year.) Reporter: Tim Whewell. (Photo: Sierra Leonean women hoping for repatriation after leaving their employers in Oman. Credit: Do Bold)

Humera Iqbal enters the remarkable world of Children of Deaf Adults, or CODAs. At a young age they take on the mighty responsibility of interpreting for their mums and dads outside the home…in a world built for the hearing. That means they are often emotionally switched on, assiduously punctual, confident and super-organised. Humera, associate professor of psychology at University College London, meets CODA children as they chat and translate while their parents are out and about getting things done.

Justin Rowlatt explores what was the original solar energy revolution – harnessing the sun’s rays to grow food. Some 10,000 years ago our ancestors began to till the soil, producing the energy surpluses needed to feed the first cities and civilisations. Growing crops was gruelling work, as Justin discovers at Butser Ancient Farm, when he tries to till some soil himself with a replica Stone Age mattock. But what first prompted our ancestors to take up such an arduous way of life in the first place?

Seventy-five years ago, when aching hunger dominated people’s lives in post-war Europe, a food parcel seemed like a miracle. Particularly when it had come all the way across the Atlantic from the United States. And there is one type of parcel that changed people’s lives across continents: The CAR.E parcel. In 1945, the American relief organisation CARE set out to ease the suffering of starving Europeans after World War Two.

Covid-19 infections in several countries are causing pressures on hospital resources to rise again. At the same time, polarising views persist over vaccination and some health workers have witnessed rising hostility and abuse from the public. Hosts Nuala McGovern and James Reynolds hear from two health workers in Canada and the UK about the escalating problems they have experienced.

This year started with the focus on Covid-19 vaccine rollouts and ends with the emergence of a new coronavirus variant, Omicron. Ros Atkins looks at how the pandemic has evolved in 2021 and the challenges that lie ahead.

When our bodies recover from a life-threatening illness, it can sometimes be hard for the mind and morale to follow suit. People can even say they resent their body for 'letting them down'. This was the Anne's experience. She speaks to Sister Dang Nghiem for advice about learning to love her body again and having the confidence to live a full life once more.

With crypto currencies – like Bitcoin and Troon - booming there’s never been a better time to mine for crypto online. Mines in this context describe hundreds of computers that solve complex mathematical puzzles to produce cryptocurrency. And with many wanting to jump onto the crypto band wagon mines are springing up across the world - even fake ones. For Assignment, James Clayton speaks to two Indian victims of a crypto scam - who thought they were investing in a mine, which in fact did not exist. He looks at how one of his own BBC reports was used by the scammers as part of the deception. And he investigates how scammers were able to extract money from victims with seeming impunity. With India close to banning crypto currency currencies all together - are crypto scams ruining the Bitcoin dream? Reporter: James Clayton Producer: Regan Morris Editor: Bridget Harney(Image: Hacker in front of a computer. Credit: Witthaya Prasongsin)

Justin Rowlatt goes right back to the origin of our species two million years ago to explore how the mastery of fire by early humans transformed our metabolism, helping us to evolve our uniquely energy-hungry brains. The physical evidence for early use of fire is frustratingly thin on the ground, according to archaeologist Carolina Mallol. But primatologist Jill Pruetz says she has learned a lot from observing chimpanzees interact with wildfires on the African savanna.

Several countries are seeing the pressure that a new wave of Covid-19 is placing on their hospitals once more, and they’re reintroducing measures to try and slow down the spread of infections.Host Nuala McGovern brings together people working in the healthcare sector to think about the pressures on people’s mental health after almost two years of caring for those who are sick or dying due to the pandemic.Nuala talks with hospital workers in the Dominican Republic, the United States and South Africa. For some it’s constant stress, anxiety and burnout. For others, it’s led to even more serious outcomes including post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD.

The new Omicron variant poses a potential risk of spiralling coronavirus infections globally and governments around the world are putting plans in place to tackle it. One solutions is to make Covid vaccines compulsory. This week, Ros Atkins, looks at the debate around Covid vaccine mandates. (Photo: A health worker prepares a dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. Credit: Getty Images)

Thousands of people – mostly migrants from the Middle East - are camped in freezing weather at the Poland-Belarus border. Many have spent thousands of dollars to fly into Belarus on tourist visas, with the hope of an easy crossing into the EU. They’re pawns, trapped in a battle of wills between Belarus’ autocratic president, Aleksandr Lukashenko, and Poland and the European Union. The Polish government is taking a tough line, imposing an exclusion zone along the border and sealing off the area to journalists and aid workers. Migrants caught in the forest are arrested and sent back to Belarus. Several, including two children, have died from the cold and more deaths are expected as winter sets in. Meanwhile local residents are divided about how to deal with the humanitarian disaster unfolding on their doorstep. For Assignment, Lucy Ash visits towns and villages in the area to see what impact the crisis is having on people’s lives. Reporter: Lucy Ash Produced by: Lucy Ash and Eva Krysiak Editor: Bridget Harney Research: Grzegorz Sokol(Image: Polish volunteers provide relief to injured migrants stranded in the icy forest. Credit: Agnieszka Sadowska / Agencja Wyborcza.pl)

“It’s alright (I’m only bleeding)”. In 2017, these words were emblazoned on the Stockholm subway or tunnelbana, alongside a giant poster of an ice-skater with a red-stained crotch. The deliberately provocative image was the work of Swedish cartoonist Liv Strömquist, who was on a mission to destigmatise periods. But even in one of the most feminist countries in the world, showing images of menstrual blood in a public space offended many, and triggered a national debate. Stockholm-based broadcaster Maddy Savage meets the artist, and discovers some of the taboo-busting initiatives in culture, business and education that have ridden on the coat-tails of her impact.

Jacob Zuma, South Africa's former president, believes the world is out to poison him. He has claimed that the CIA, MI6, local traitors, and perhaps even one of his wives, have tried to kill him. No wonder he has ordered toxicologists to test everything he eats. But is Zuma the victim of an elaborate international conspiracy that has its roots in the Cold War and South Africa’s liberation struggle? Or is he simply trying to distract attention from a mountain of corruption allegations?

At this time of the year, many people traditionally begin to think about coming together for gatherings of family and friends to celebrate events such as Christmas, Kwanzaa and Hanukkah. But for millions of people, their festive plans are in upheaval after the World Health Organisation identified Omicron "a ‘variant of concern" resulting in travel bans and restrictions across a number of countries. The WHO has since told nations they must prepare for coronavirus surges linked to Omicron.

The US Supreme Court has heard arguments in the most important abortion case in a generation. It is the biggest challenge to a 1973 ruling that legalised abortion nationally, and could change reproductive rights in the country. Ros Atkins looks at the abortion debate in the US and asks why this case is happening now.

Korea is one of the most stressed and tired nations on earth, a place where people work and study longer hours than anywhere else. And statistics show they are finding it increasingly difficult to switch off and relax; they sleep fewer hours and have higher rates of depression and suicide than almost anywhere else. And as a result sleeplessness and stress has become big business in Korea; from sleep clinics where doctors assess people overnight, to ‘sleep cafes’ offering naps in the middle of the working day, to relaxation drinks. Even Buddhism is moving in on the action with temple retreats and monk-led apps to help stressed out Koreans to relax. There is a lot of money to be made but some Koreans have become worried that in trying to sell religion to the next generation, some faith leaders might be losing touch with Buddhist principles themselves. For Assignment Se-Woong Koo reports from Seoul on a nation that’s wired on staying awake. Producer, Chloe Hadjimatheou.

Internet instigators are organising protests and campaigns using social media and other internet tools and apps to promote their causes. Nina Robinson explores the methods used by activists to create online communities, spearheaded by their charismatic and authentic personalities and hard-hitting visual content.

The World Health Organisation has been sounding the alarm about the path of the pandemic in Europe, as Covid infections and deaths continue to rise across parts of the continent. Affected countries are listening and responding: mandatory vaccines, vaccine passports and movement restrictions on the unvaccinated are dominating the debate in several European countries. In this episode we bring together people who are resisting or refusing to get the jab.

France and Britain are caught up in disagreements over who needs to do what to stop any more people dying on small boats crossing between the two countries. 27 people were killed in the English Channel on Wednesday, hoping to migrate to the UK. Even after the tragedy, people continue to attempt the dangerous journey in unsafe dinghies. Ros Atkins looks into this political and humanitarian issue

Memory Sidira is buzzing with excitement as she talks about what she is learning during her course at Malawi’s Drone and Data Academy - the first of its kind in Africa. The Academy’s aim is to build local expertise for Malawi’s expanding drone industry and to teach young Africans from across the continent 21st Century skills in drone flight and data analysis. Ruth Evans hears how drones are inspiring young Africans like Memory to reach for the sky.

BBC special correspondent Allan Little addresses the gulf between the reality of war and our ability to comprehend it from afar. His mission as a reporter has been to convey the experiences of people in the midst of war, to draw attention to injustices; to celebrate acts of heroism. So what stops us the listener or viewer, from engaging? Inspired by the philosopher Susan Sontag's essay.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that Europe is once again “at the epicentre” of the Covid pandemic. The WHO reported that deaths from coronavirus in the continent have increased by 5% - making it the only region in the world where the numbers are going up. Host Nuala McGovern hears from doctors in Romania, The Netherlands and Austria about what is happening in their country, the concerns and hopes for the future. We also hear from two Austrians about why they refuse to get a vaccine, despite the rising Covid-19 cases, and why they believe the new restrictions there have serious implications for the future freedom of their country.

President Putin has said that the West was taking Russia's warnings not to cross its ‘red lines’ too lightly. This comes amid rising tensions between Russia and the West. Ros Atkins has been looking into it.

Sockeye and Chinook salmon make one of the world's great animal migrations, swimming 900 miles from the Pacific Ocean up 6,500 feet into Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains, where they spawn and die - but that journey may not happen much longer. In addition to the gauntlet of predators the fish face, from orcas to eagles, they are also running into a man-made obstacle: huge concrete dams. Most scientists agree the dams need to go for the fish to live, but the dams provide jobs, clean energy, and an inexpensive way for farmers to get their crops to international markets. However, US Congressman Mike Simpson, a Republican representing Idaho, has a plan to save the salmon. He wants to blow up four dams on the Snake River and reinvent the region's energy infrastructure - a plan which has been overwhelmingly rejected by his own party. Heath Druzin investigates how a bitter fight is now playing out in America's Pacific Northwest, pitting Native American tribes and conservationists against grain growers and power producers. Presented by Heath Druzin Produced by Richard Fenton-Smith(Image: Sockeye salmon. Credit: Mike Korostelev)

New apps that provide access to stock markets are revolutionising the world of trading, but they are also creating problems. A new generation of traders are emerging, fuelled by social media and with dreams of earning a fortune. Seoul journalist Grace Moon visits the Korea Centre For Gambling Problems to explore if easily accessible trading apps are fuelling addictions, before hearing worldwide stories of stock market highs and lows.

In 2009, someone broke into the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia in the UK and stole emails. The material was distributed online - mainly on blogs linked to climate change sceptics. It was used to make the case that scientists were surreptitiously twisting the facts to exaggerate climate change. That was not the case. But before that became clear, events would take on a life of their own, sparking a global media storm. BBC Security correspondent Gordon Corera goes on the trail of this ‘cyber cold case’ to try and discover who was behind ‘Climategate’.

Frontline medical teams in the UK have fine-tuned the physical treatment of severely ill Covid patients. But one thing that has gone largely unnoticed is their efforts to help those patients – often on ventilators for weeks – keep up the will to live, and enable their families to stay connected with these patients.

Moving away from the use of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas has been a major talking point at the COP 26 climate conference. Two coal mine workers in the United States and Canada discuss their concerns for their jobs, families and businesses within their communities. They are unhappy that coal is being painted as the “evil thing” and that all will be better if you get rid of it. They tell us at the moment they are working six days a week and can’t get enough coal out.

The husband of a British-Iranian charity worker held in Iran since 2016 has been on hunger strike again to push for her release. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been held there on spying charges, which she denies. Ros Atkins looks at how her story is part of a complicated history between Iran and the UK.

With the UN climate conference in Glasgow drawing to a close Assignment brings us the final programme in a series which has been telling the story of three places devastated by extreme weather events. In this final edition, Maria Margaronis travels to the Greek island of Evia. Here vast areas of centuries old forests, olive groves and houses were burnt by a week-long inferno. And now come the rains, bringing polluted water and mudslides. Presented by Maria Margaronis and produced by Mark Burman(Image: A firefighter tries to extinguish wildfire on the island of Evia, August 2021. Credit: Reuters/Nikolas Economou)

This year Zimbabwe has had a bumper crop of the staple food, maize. It is only the second time in two decades that it has grown enough food for the whole population. Last year they barely had half of what was needed and 7.7 million people went hungry. Better rainfall is largely to thank, but a new farming technique, called Pfumvudza is also being celebrated as having a dramatic impact on the amount Zimbabwe’s smallholder farmers have produced, increasing their yields up to four times. Dr Matthew Mbanga is CEO of the organisation which designed Pfumvudza explains the “more yield, less field” principle, which encourages farmers to more intensively cultivate a smaller area of land.

Usually protests against climate change take the form of marches or protests but for some activists this is not enough. Host Nuala McGovern hears from three people in Malaysia, France and Germany about why they have taken their fears about the climate much further - from interrupting a fashion show to risking their lives. For others, their concerns about the climate provoke emotional and mental challenges that are referred to as ‘climate anxiety. Two UK-based activists explain how worrying about climate change is causing their daily lives to be affected by feelings of anger, fear and grief.