The Documentary Podcast

BBC World Service•www.bbc.co.uk

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 Syria after Assad to rebuilding Ukraine, to how AI changed our lives, 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.

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Episodes

Francis, The Rebel Pope

Following the death of Pope Francis, Edward Stourton looks at the life and legacy of the spiritual leader of more than a billion Catholics worldwide. He was elected at a time of crisis for his Church, but quickly transformed its reputation. He urged Christians to be less judgemental and more welcoming of gay and divorced people. And as the first Pope from the Global South, he put the poor at the heart of the Church’s mission, speaking up for migrants and refugees and those worst hit by the impac...

Apr 22, 2025•49 min

Assignment: Dicing with democracy? Romania’s cancelled election

A cancelled election, a cancelled candidate and a divided country – is Romania’s democracy under threat? Last December the country’s Constitutional Court cancelled the presidential election two days before the final vote, citing outside interference, with the nationalist pro-Putin candidate, Calin Georgescu, riding high in the polls. TikTok sensation and portraying himself as an outsider, Georgescu’s anti-EU and anti-NATO message resonated with an unhappy electorate. His sudden success was unpre...

Apr 22, 2025•33 min

In the Studio: Amin Gulgee - Heavy metal

Amin Gulgee defies easy categorisation: he’s a metal sculptor, a curator, and one of Pakistan’s most innovative and cherished artists, the beating heart of his home city of Karachi’s creative scene. His metalwork is as dramatic and eccentric as Amin is. He’s in your face, uncompromising, a living and breathing performance piece. Amin also comes from a prestigious family: his father, Ismail Gulgee, was one of Pakistan’s most famous modernists, creating abstract paintings that have been exhibited ...

Apr 21, 2025•27 min

Make me perfect: Manufacturing beauty in China

In China today, looking good is seen as key to career success. With beauty videos promoting extreme weight-loss flooding social media, beauty apps making booking surgery click of a button away, China’s cosmetic surgery industry is booming. But the surge in demand has led to a shortage of qualified practitioners and licensed clinics. Hundreds of accidents are happening inside Chinese clinics every day. We talk to young women pressured into cosmetic procedures and expose the surgeon behind one of ...

Apr 20, 2025•26 min

The Fifth Floor: Inside the Taliban's surveillance network

There are over 90,000 hi-definition CCTV cameras in Kabul, watching everyone’s movements. What are the Taliban using this footage for? BBC Afghan Services' journalist Mahjooba Nowrouzi was granted exclusive access into the country’s top security control room. Plus, BBC Mundo's William Márquez on the history of Charles Darwin's house, and Mayuresh Gopal reports for BBC Marathi on the geological and historical relevance of India's Lonar Crater Lake. Presented by Faranak Amidi Produced by Alice Gio...

Apr 19, 2025•27 min

BBC OS Conversations: Colourism

The issue of colourism was highlighted in a recent BBC news report about a Nigerian woman who bleached the skin of her six young children leaving them with discoloured skin, burns and scars. It is a form of racism where light skin is more highly valued than dark skin amongst people of the same ethnic group. In our conversations, we hear from women who share experiences of colourism in India including Chandana who has faced colourism from an early age: “I was six or seven years old when I would f...

Apr 19, 2025•24 min