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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 the debate over abortion in the US, to voices from the Middle East conflict, to climate change in Somalia, 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.

During a short commute

While preparing your breakfast

While doing household chores

Nice duration for a walk

BBC OS Conversations: Living alongside Mexico's drug gangs
The Fifth Floor: Who runs Russia's African Initiative?
Heart and Soul: The dead are not dead
The children's hospital of Entebbe
In the Studio: Mia Lehrer and the LA River
BBC OS Conversations: Israelis remember the hostages
Heart and Soul: Reclaiming yoga
Bonus: People Fixing the World
Bonus: The Conflict: Israel and Gaza one year on
US local news 2024: On the front page frontline
The Fifth Floor: The rise of caste influencers in India
BBC OS Conversations: Life in Venezuela
Bonus: HARDtalk - The Whistleblowers
In the Studio: Willard Wigan
Las Patronas
BBC OS Conversations: Supporters of Kamala Harris
The Fifth Floor: Make-up and rebellion
Heart and Soul: America’s Atheist Street Pirates
India's wrestling school for girls
In the Studio: Massimo Bottura
The Fifth Floor: From Paris to the world, Olympics 2024
BBC OS Conversations: After the attempted assassination of Donald Trump
Heart and Soul: Georgia's maverick Bishop and his peace cathedral
BBC OS Conversations: Beauty pageants
Heart and Soul: Hervé's Way, the story of a one-legged pilgrim
Denmark's esports revolution
Trending: Long Covid: Think yourself well?
Assignment: The Caspian crisis
In the Studio: Zoë Barrett and Patrick Eley
Heart and Soul: The whale worshippers of Vietnam
Assignment: Armenia's lost garden
In the Studio: David Haig and Max Webster
BBC OS Conversations: Living in Israel
The Fifth Floor: My emergency kit list
Heart and Soul: Should I change my name?
The poker parent
Assignment: Reggaeton - the pride of Puerto Rico?
Bonus: The Global Story on Iran-Israel attacks
In the Studio: Helle Nebelong
The Fifth Floor: A journalist's life in Israel
BBC OS Conversations: Sudan's war - One year on
Assignment: New Caledonia - new agreement needed
In the Studio: Ellie Simmonds
The Fifth Floor: My Ramadan
BBC OS Conversations: Living with cancer
Heart and Soul: The caste faultlines in Modi’s India
Azovstal: The 80 day siege
Assignment: Secret Sisters. Political prisoners in Belarus
In the Studio: Maria Grachvogel
Bonus: HARDtalk
Heart and Soul: An ‘Encore’ for Jesus
Assignment: Choking in Chiang Mai
Assignment: Educating Tibet
Diving With a Purpose
Tumaini
In the Studio: Ghawgha
Bonus: The Global Story
BBC OS Conversations: Beyoncé and the changing face of country music
Heart and Soul: The new iconographers
Assignment: Botswana - living with elephants
Storm over a teacup
In the Studio: Claudia Piñeiro
Bonus: Hardtalk - Defying Putin
BBC OS Conversations: Ukraine war babies and returning home
Three Million: 3. The f-word
Three Million: 2. The cigarette tin
Heart and Soul: Ladino - Saving Greece’s ancient Jewish language
Three Million: 1. War
Three Million: 5. Ghosts
Assignment: Pakistan - journalists under fire
Two Years of War: Voices from Russia
Assignment: Bones that speak
An octopus's garden
The approach
In the Studio: Manal AlDowayan
HARDtalk: Past notes
BBC OS Conversation: Adventurers
Assignment: Bolivia’s giant fish intruder
HARDtalk: 2023 in review
In the Studio: Andrea Hernández - Photographing Venezuela
Football and faith
BBC OS Conversations: The Taylor Swift phenomenon
Heart and Soul: Irish myths and fairy tales
Assignment: Ukraine - building back better
Rewilding the orphaned elephants
BBC OS Conversations: Ukrainians and hope
Heart and Soul: Queer and Christian in Kenya
Queer and Christian in Kenya
Assignment: Ukraine - fighting for openness
Stories from the New Silk Road: Iceland
In the Studio: Kengo Kuma
BBC OS Conversations: Climate change and the young
Heart and Soul: The Sarajevo Haggadah
The Children of Paradise: A deadly mixture
The Children of Paradise: Without hope you're dead
The Children of Paradise: The future must change
Stories from the New Silk Road: Norway
Filmmaker Iryna Tsilyk: Animating Ukraine’s War
Kissinger’s Legacy
BBC OS Conversations: Israel and Gaza - securing freedom
Heart and Soul: Follow God, not the people
Assignment: Poland's forest frontier
Gaza diaries
Sweden: Living With Guns and Gangs
Sweden: Living with guns and gangs
In the Studio: Danny Boyle
The Cultural Frontline: K-drama
BBC OS Conversations: Hostages, prisoners and peace
Florida's political refugees
In The Studio: Damon Galgut - Adapting The Promise for the stage
BBC OS Conversations: Hate against Jews and Muslims
Heart and Soul: Israel – Gaza: Can interfaith work prevail?
The mighty Mekong’s last hope
A Man Without Bees
In The Studio: Jenn Lee: Taiwan fashion designer
In The Studio: Carol Morley
BBC OS Conversations: Palestinian losses
Heart and Soul: Finding Falun Gong
Assignment: Taught to fear - corporal punishment in the classroom
The Raspberry Visa
In the Studio: Kieran Stanley - Designing a Zoo
BBC OS Conversations: Jewish-Palestinian couples
Heart and Soul: The New York Supreme Court's first female Hasidic judge
Assignment: The Life, Death and Rebirth of a Russian Theatre
In the Studio: PAC NYC
BBC OS Conversations: Fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh
Heart and Soul: Young Catholics on the Francis revolution
Gabon’s dark football secret
Will the unicorns of the sea fall silent?
In the Studio: The visitors
BBC OS Conversations: War and fatigue in Ukraine
Heart and Soul: The Hare Krishna MC
Germany: Jail for fare-dodging
Donor babies: A question of identity
In the Studio: Ken Loach: The Sequel
BBC OS Conversations: The floods in Libya
Heart and Soul: Poland's nuns lifting the veil
How a war has changed a Norwegian town
Cricket and the maidens
In the Studio: Vhils
Bonus: The Explanation
The Explanation: What is a war crime?
Remembering Buthelezi
BBC OS Conversations: The earthquake in Morocco
Heart and Soul: Faith, terrorists and mercy at Guantanamo Bay
Missing in Syria
Building power: India’s new parliament
In the Studio: Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh
BBC OS Conversations: Climate change in Africa
Slovakia divided
Surviving Greece's migrant boat disaster
In the Studio: Robyn Weintraub
OS Conversations: American voters
Heart and Soul: My sex work and my faith
Singing Morocco's new identity
A new term in Myanmar
In the Studio: France's Rugby World Cup kit

On your way to work

Ideal for a road trip