Katie Smith is in New Orleans on the eve of Super Bowl LIX to bring you the atmosphere and the stories ahead of Philadelphia Eagles v Kansas City Chiefs. Katie meets Jackie Wallace who had it all, but the three-time Super Bowl star had a demon he could not deal with. After retirement, he slipped into addiction and lost everything. New Orleans is the home of Jazz, and the father of Jazz is Fats Waller. His great grandson, Darren Waller was a big name in the NFL. He retired last year to turn his m...
Feb 09, 2025•50 min
Aalia Farzan of BBC Afghan services left her life in Afghanistan after the Taliban retook the country in 2021 and came to London, and it was there she met her now husband. She speaks about this unlikely love story, and sheds some light on what Afghan courtship entails. Ilona Hromliuk of BBC Ukrainian has spoken to women who travel thousands of miles across Ukraine, to go on a date with their husbands who are fighting on the frontlines. Presenter: Feranak Amidi Producers: Caroline Ferguson and Al...
Feb 08, 2025•26 min
Many countries have condemned President Trump in recent days for his proposal to “take over” the Gaza strip while “resettling” Palestinians in neighbouring countries. We hear from two women in Gaza, returning to what’ is left of their homes. Weam shares with us an audio diary of her recent experiences and we bring her together with Farida to discuss why they want to stay where they are. Donald Trump’s proposal for Gaza would be the largest shift in US policy on the Middle East in decades. Many o...
Feb 08, 2025•23 min
The Muslim feminist movement is growing in Turkey with young women becoming increasingly vocal about their rights and place in a traditionally patriarchal society. Emily Wither has been speaking to the co-founders of the country’s first Muslim Feminist association about how they have overcome pushback from their own communities, threats to their organisation and navigated a civil society that’s rooted in secularism.
Feb 07, 2025•27 min
After talks in Germany on government spending collapsed, chancellor Olaf Scholz was forced to dissolve his coalition and call for snap elections, to be held on 23 February. The new chancellor looks like a foregone conclusion - opposition leader Friedrich Merz. But there is so much more at stake in these elections than the next few years in the chancellor's seat. In the run up to Germany’s snap general elections Jeremy Cliffe goes to Ludwigshafen, a symbol of Germany's economic woes.
Feb 06, 2025•26 min
In September last year, musician Michael Smith of North Carolina was charged with stealing millions from music streaming services. The US Department of Justice has accused him of using artificial intelligence tools and thousands of bots to fraudulently stream songs billions of times - taking millions of dollars of royalties which otherwise would have been paid to real artists. The case has been labelled as ‘unprecedented’ and ‘the first of its kind’. But could fraud on music streaming services a...
Feb 05, 2025•18 min
Spain is the world’s largest producer of olive oil. But successive, brutal droughts have led to plummeting production, whilst prices have reached record highs. For 2024 / 2025, the weather’s been better - Spain’s predicted to increase the quantity of olives harvested. Even so, this remains a stressed industry. Climate change hasn’t gone away - as we saw so devastatingly last year in Valencia. And in some areas of Spain, the scarcity of water has persisted, with predictions of a near 90% drop in ...
Feb 04, 2025•27 min
Since President Trump was inaugurated in January, migrants – and especially the border the US shares with Mexico - have dominated the news. In this bonus edition, we share an episode first broadcast in March 2024 and provide updates on the people we met. The first part charts some of the fallout from the first Trump administration’s policy of forcibly separating migrant children from their parents on the southern border back in 2017/2018. The second half explores the deeply troubling impact of o...
Feb 03, 2025•56 min
BBC Eye investigates police abuse of psychiatric detention in China. In 2012, China introduced a law to curb the widespread abuse of psychiatric hospitals by the authorities, but it hasn’t worked. We reveal how the police found ways to circumvent the law, allowing them to punish protesters without going through the criminal justice system. With almost no checks and balances, the number of people being illegally sent to psychiatric hospitals is said to be surging. Testimonies from protestors, det...
Feb 02, 2025•27 min
Thousands of women in Iran were arrested in 2022 after the Woman, Life, Freedom protests against the mandatory hijab. Many of them were sent to Evin, a notorious prison known for housing people with political charges. Through multiple reliable sources BBC Persian has pieced together what day to day life is like for women in Evin and turned it into an animation, 'Songs from Inside'. Presented by Faranak Amidi. Produced by Caroline Ferguson, Alice Gioia and Hannah Dean. 'Songs from Inside' is part...
Feb 01, 2025•22 min
Hours after his inauguration, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency at America’s southern border with Mexico. He vowed that "all illegal entry will be halted" and that millions of "criminal aliens" would be deported. Many undocumented residents in the United States, who have been living, working and paying taxes there for years, are now fearful that they too will be deported. Alejandra was born in Mexico and was brought to the US by her undocumented parents when she was five. She ...
Feb 01, 2025•23 min
In Spirituality in Sin City, presenter Rajeev Gupta takes listeners on an unexpected journey through the hidden spiritual side of Las Vegas—a city famed for its glitz, glamour, and indulgence. Beyond the flashing lights and high-stakes casinos, Las Vegas is home to a growing community of spiritual practitioners and seekers, drawn to the city in search of transformation and meaning. The documentary explores stories of resilience and renewal, including Erin Raymond, a mother navigating profound pe...
Jan 31, 2025•26 min
Ghana has a reputation for staging some of the most eccentric funerals in the world – boasting extraordinary displays of colour, dancing, deep rooted history, and a strong association with Ghanaian royalty. Hannah Ajala takes the listener on a compelling aural journey as she uncovers the stories behind this unique and complex tradition. In West Africa, end of life celebrations are a far cry from those in the Western world. Each funeral can take weeks or months to plan and they are often more lav...
Jan 30, 2025•27 min
Three years since Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine, BBC Trending speaks to Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) analysts and fact checkers who have worked diligently throughout the war to verify online content from the front line and push back against malicious propaganda. Their efforts documenting war crimes and debunking misleading content has taken a toll - what keeps them going and how do they avoid burnout? Presenter: Olga Robinson Producers: Alex Murray & Yana Lyushnevska Editor: Fl...
Jan 29, 2025•18 min
Saudi Arabia is rolling out the red carpet to filmmakers and foreign companies as it sets out to establish itself as a major player in the entertainment industry. After lifting a 35-year ban on cinemas in 2018, the Kingdom is now luring Hollywood with cash incentives to shoot in the desert, and playing host to a glitzy international film festival. The move is all part of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman's ‘Vision 2030’ - a grand blueprint to rewrite the Kingdom's script, diversify its economy aw...
Jan 28, 2025•27 min
Professor Shirli Gilbert explores the story of Żywulska. Imprisoned in Auschwitz, Żywulska turned to poetry and music, creating some of the most remarkable songs of this tragic era. Born in Poland in 1914, Jewish political prisoner Krystyna Żywulska was sent to Auschwitz in 1943. There she was given a very unusual job. She worked at the Effektenkammer, the storage facility for the personal items confiscated from arriving prisoners. This role turned out to be a gift. It gave Żywulska the space an...
Jan 27, 2025•26 min
The Old Oak will be Ken Loach's last feature film and Sharuna Sagar was granted exclusive access behind the scenes of this landmark movie. She joins the 86-year-old director on his swansong as he brings together his loyal team for one last time. As with his previous two films, I, Daniel Blake and Sorry We Missed You, Ken returns to the North East of England, to tell the story of Syrian refugees who have been housed in an ex-mining village. With him are his long-standing partners, producer Rebecc...
Jan 27, 2025•51 min
A bonus episode from the Sportsworld podcast. Julien Alfred made history in 2024 when she won the women’s 100 metres gold medal in Paris becoming Saint Lucia’s first ever Olympic medallist. The sprinter sits down with Sportsworld’s Lee James to look back on her historic year, as we find out what it took to become an Olympic champion and the strategy she used to win the race. We also discover the impact of her victory on the Caribbean island and the hero's welcome she received when she returned h...
Jan 26, 2025•49 min
There have been at least 12 police raids on gay clubs in Russia since November 2023, when the country’s Supreme court banned what they call 'the global LGBT movement'. BBC Russian Anastasia Golubeva has been talking to activists on the ground to find out how these restrictions are affecting them. Five years ago, COVID-19 was spreading around the world, causing millions of deaths. How did the pandemic change our lives, and what lessons have we learnt from it? With Martin Yip from BBC Chinese and ...
Jan 25, 2025•27 min
We witness the first Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners being released following the signing of the ceasefire deal. More exchanges are expected over the coming weeks. Meanwhile some displaced people in Gaza have begun returning to see what is left of their communities, and convoys of lorries have started delivering humanitarian aid. We hear from both sides of the conflict. While many welcome the end to the fighting, there is recognition of the trauma caused and uncertainty about whether ...
Jan 25, 2025•23 min
When Father Père Basile was 12 years of age, he started thinking of a religious life. But it never crossed his mind that he would someday be living in a cloistered abbey in the south of France producing wine. The monastery is the site of the oldest papal vineyard in the world, dating back to the 14th Century. When Pope Clement V moved the papal capital from Rome to Avignon in France, his palace needed a steady stream of wine and so the vineyard was planted in Le Barroux. Abandoned for decades, t...
Jan 24, 2025•27 min
What will it mean for Palestinians if Israel bans Unrwa, the UN agency that provides vital aid and essential services to millions of refugees in Gaza and the West Bank? The proposals have drawn widespread condemnation and warnings of a humanitarian catastrophe. Israeli politicians have accused UNRWA staff of taking part in the 7 October attacks alongside Hamas, and have designated it a terror group. We visit refugee camps across the occupied territories to hear about the role UNRWA plays in educ...
Jan 23, 2025•27 min
Dating in Medellín, Colombia is being promoted to foreign men on YouTube, TikTok and other social media platforms. Lots of the videos, in English and Spanish, contain misogynistic language and suggest that the local women are both accessible and easy. These videos are part of a wider trend of “passport bros” many of whom are American men, seeking life abroad in places marketed by content creators as being good for meeting women. In theory, adult men going to meet adult women is not a problem, bu...
Jan 22, 2025•19 min
How a town in Poland – once in Germany - is discovering its troubling past. Eighty years ago Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi extermination camp. Over 1.1 million people, mainly Jews, were murdered there. However, there is an aspect of those terrible days which is less well known and which 80 years later is still being uncovered and still resonating: the death marches. As Soviet troops approached, in January 1945, SS soldiers at Auschwitz-Birkenau forced some 60,000 p...
Jan 21, 2025•30 min
In an old schoolroom in the Scottish Highlands, sculptor Michael Visocchi is working on Commensalis, a huge work that will be installed thousands of miles away, in Grytviken, an abandoned whaling station on the Antarctic island of South Georgia. Whaling ships and equipment were taken Grytviken and assembled there. Now it is an industrial scrapyard; ships rust on the shore, huge tanks decay and millions of left over rivets remain. Visocchi was struck by the similarity of shape of these rivets and...
Jan 20, 2025•26 min
America through the looking glass, a world where nothing is as it seems. Gabriel Gatehouse follows a cast of characters who have propelled Trump into the White House – twice. Many of them are now set to take power and inject their reality-bending world views into America’s health, security and intelligence infrastructure.
Jan 19, 2025•27 min
When BBC Mundo journalist Ana Maria Roura found out she couldn't get pregnant, she decided to turn the camera on herself and document her struggle to become a parent through in vitro fertilisation, or IVF. Her documentary, Infertile, is available in Spanish and in English. Plus, the science of super-centenarians, with BBC World Service journalist Fernando Duarte. Presented by Faranak Amidi. Produced by Alice Gioia and Caroline Ferguson. (Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)...
Jan 18, 2025•27 min
Vast areas of Los Angeles have been destroyed since these fires began on 7 January. Thousands of homes and businesses have been lost, and tens of thousands of people have been forced to evacuate. We hear from Kelly, who had just minutes to gather a few possessions before her home was destroyed, and DJ describes seeing a nearby hillside glowing, the sky lit by flames, as he and his family fled. Teddy whose family had to abandon their house and lost their restaurant in the fire says “We landed in ...
Jan 18, 2025•23 min
Elie Wiesel, Nobel Prize winner and Holocaust survivor, once told Michael Goldfarb of people going to their deaths at Auschwitz asking who will say Kaddish for me? Kaddish is the Jewish prayer for the dead. On the 80th anniversary of Auschwitz' liberation Michael Goldfarb explores the origins and meaning of Kaddish. How did a prayer for the dead, in which death is not mentioned, become the centrepiece of Jewish mourning?
Jan 17, 2025•26 min
In many countries around the world, prison populations are bursting at the seams. However, in some Northern European countries, prisons are closing and reoffending rates are down, which many have attributed to a novel approach to justice - taking a mental-health first approach. Jenny Okolo, a forensic occupational therapist, seeks to determine whether global prison systems could benefit from a similar approach and whether the solution is as simple as it seems.
Jan 15, 2025•23 min
