BBC Radio Podcasts from The Documentary Podcast: Archive 2009
24 Hours in Tulsa
A midget street thug on a kiddy bike. Incompetent thieves who resort to stealing units...
John Simpson Returns to 1989 - part three
Twenty years ago, on November 9th, the Berlin Wall came tumbling down.
Assignment: Vancouver Gangland
The Canadian city of Vancouver is routinely named as one of the best communities in in...
Defining the Decade - Part two
Back in the year 2000, the world's leaders did not seem to be troubled by the notion a...
Defining the Decade - Part one
What have been the defining moments of the decade? Edward Stourton explores Google's a...
Internet Cafe Hobo
Nick Baker is on a mission to connect people, stories and places via internet cafe.
State Secrets - Part two
It's estimated that up to one million people were killed during communism in Eastern...
Assignment: Latvia: Coping with Crisis
Until recently, little Latvia appeared to have a rosy future. It was the fastest in...
Internet Cafe Hobo
Nick Baker is on a mission to connect people, stories and places via the internet.
Orphans of '89 - Part Two
Quentin Peel, International Affairs editor of the Financial Times, looks at the and by...
State Secrets - Part One
To what extent did communist regimes intrude into the lives of ordinary people? And...
Assignment - Return to Nablus
Six years ago, the second Palestinian Intifada – or uprising – was raging in the...
Can China Go Green? Part two
The second part of Jonathon Porritt's report from China, where, amidst the toxic power...
Orphans of '89
Quentin Peel, International Affairs editor of the Financial Times, presents the first...
StoryCorps - Part Two
Did I turn out to be the son you wanted? What was the saddest moment of your life? out...
Assignment - Bhopal
Twenty-five years ago, a gas leak at a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal killed...
Can China Go Green? Part One
Jonathon Porritt reports from China, where, amidst the toxic power stations and of he...
The Crescent and the Cross - Part Four
In the final part of this series, Owen Bennett-Jones examines the Islamic leader who...
StoryCorps - Part One
How would you like to leave a record of your life for your That's the future for of an...
Assignment Malvinas War Crimes
Twenty seven years after Britain and Argentina went to war over the Falklands, or the...
Assignment - The Congo Connection
In Assignment Peter Greste investigates whether Rwandans in France and Germany are a...
Short Changing the Planet
The BBC World Service has been investigating the controversial issue of whether poor...
The Crescent and The Cross: Part Three
In the third instalment of The Crescent and the Cross, Owen Bennett Jones examines one...
John Simpson Returns to 1989 - Part Two
The BBC's World Affairs Editor John Simpson tells the story of 20 years of life...
A Dollar A Day - Part Three
In Nepal, severe drought and unreliable monsoon rains have led to acute food shortages.
The Crescent and The Cross: Part Two
Owen Bennett Jones explores five crucial battles in the relationship between and Islam...
Africa's Forgotten Soldiers
Seventy years after the start of the Second World War the overwhelming impression is a...
Assignment: Better Banking
As governments struggle to curb the so-called “casino-banking” practices which for...
A Dollar a Day - Part 2
Thrown off nearby farms at the time of Namibia’s independence, the squatters of a...
The Crescent and the Cross - Part One
The Crescent and the Cross, a four-part series, presented by Owen Bennett-Jones, in...
Youssou N’Dour at 50
To mark the 50th birthday of Youssou N'Dour, Robin Denselow travels to Senegal to the...
Assignment - Guinea on the Brink
Mark Doyle reports from Guinea in West Africa on the harrowing events of 28 September...
A Dollar a Day - Part 1
What keeps a billion people trapped in the most persistent poverty? Mike Wooldridge to...
Russia's all-female military regiments
The extraordinary but little-known tale of Russia's three all-female regiments that on...
Public Places, Private Lives - Part Two
Public Places, Private Lives is a series of portraits of well known places that reveal...
Assignment - Dying to Give Birth
Jill McGivering travels to Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, to meet a doctor who is...
Rebranding Nigeria - Part Two
Nigeria is campaigning for a new image and a new reputation in an effort to attract...
MI6 - A Century in the Shadows - Part Tree
The head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service Sir John Scarlett, talks for the...
Public Places, Private Lives - Part One
Public Places, Private Lives is a series of portraits of well known places that reveal...
Assignment - Protecting Britain's Children
When a 17 month-old London child died after horrific abuse by his family, it unleashed...
Rebranding Nigeria - Part One
Can the home of 419 internet scams, corruption and voodoo ever transmit a positive Is...
MI6 - A Century in the Shadows
In Programme Two, we find out what were spies really up to behind the Iron Curtain.
Assignment Armenia: The cleverest nation on the planet
Every two years teams from all over the world compete with one another in the Chess...
John Simpson Returns to 1989
The BBC's World Affairs Editor John Simpson tells the story of 20 years of life...
MI6 - A century in the shadows
An unprecedented look inside MI6 - Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, which marks...
Memento, part two
Imagine that conflict and violence force you to flee your country, leaving behind all...
Assignment - Three Strike Lifers
A life sentence for stealing a pair of socks. In California the tough 'three strikes'...
Yiddish - a Struggle for Survival - Part One
Yiddish was the language of the Jewish Diaspora, the language of a people on the move...
The Crash: Back from the brink
The third part of the BBC's definitive series on the banking crash tells the story of...
Memento, part one
Imagine that conflict and violence force you to flee your country, leaving behind all...
Assignment - The Mystery of the Arctic Sea
It's straight out of the pages of a thriller novel: a cargo ship, lost without trace;...
Desperate Dreams - Part Two
Presenter Jenny Cuffe sets out to find Fereinatu, a teenage girl who was trafficked...
Assignment - Chasing the Tax Cheats
This week's Assignment looks at the much-vaunted crackdown on tax havens announced by...
The Crash: The Age of Risk
The second of this three-part series that examines the boom before the bust of 2008 at...
Building out of the Recession - part two
Can we build our way out of the recession? The Empire State Building was started just...
Desperate Dreams - part one
Two years ago, Jenny Cuffe followed the journeys of migrants trying to leave Africa a...
The Crash: The bank that busted the world
What were the key moments that led to financial meltdown, and what happened in the The...
Assignment - Dog Fighting in Chicago
If my dog is tough then I'm tough. Killer dogs give teenagers status in Chicago.
Building Out of the Recession
Just weeks after the Wall Street Crash in 1929, work began on the Empire State Building.
Dreams from my mother
President Barack Obama has famously written of the influence exerted on him by his in...
Benjamin Jealous - the future of the NAACP
enjamin Jealous is the leader of America's oldest and largest black civil rights group.
World Stories: Mexico's Missing Island
Bermeja Island is missing. This strategically important island was clearly visible on...
Mastering Business
What role did the business schools play in last year's financial crisis? In this of Ed...
Citizen Journalism - Part Two
n the second episode Michael Buerk visits Cairo and experience for himself how - among...
Why is Africa poor? Part three
Enterprise, money, innovation are all there. Is tapping into a continent's optimism to...
World Stories: Israel's Muslim soldiers
Rachid Sekkai from the BBC's Arabic Service talks to Muslims currently serving in the...
Assignment - China Saving's Habit
Colin Yu is a teacher who lives in Shanghai. He has a job but still struggles to his...
Citizen journalism - democracy or chaos?
Michael Buerk analyses the potential – and the dangers – of citizen journalism.
Why is Africa poor? Part Two
Accusations of tribalism, corruption and complacency have all been offered as to the...
World stories: new media in Kashmir
Violent footage from the Kashmir conflict has been shared almost in real-time by on...
Assignment - Mutiny in Bangladesh
Six months ago there was a short military revolt in Bangladesh that threatened to push...
Gold - part three
Nick Rankin explores how we assess the value of gold.
Why is Africa poor?
Mark Doyle crosses the continent of Africa and finds a place rich in natural resources...
World Stories: Fighting for Pao Culture in Burma
Ko Ko Aung from the BBC's Burmese Service, travelled to Burma to find out why a rebel...
America's African Outpost
Fran Abrams is given rare access to the US base in Djibouti questioning military local...
Gold - part two
Nick Rankin descends into the deepest goldmine in the world – Tau Tona in South for...
Selling cheese to the Chinese
Mukul Devichand tells the story of the Europeans who are trying to persuade China's to...
World Stories: Bombs, Stamps and Throat Singers
American physicist Richard Feynman fell in love with the remote Russian region Tuva of...
Assignment - The Pardon Game
The Afghan drugs mafia is rich, powerful and entrenched, with connections running into...
Gold - part one
Man's long-term obsession with gold and the lengths we have gone to to get it.
William Morris and the Muslims
Navid Akhtar examines the influence of Islamic design and values in the life of poet,...
Tracing the strain
The World Health Organisation has warned that the worldwide spread of the so-called is...
Iran and the West - part three
Iran in the post 9/11 era, a time of friction and unrest over its nuclear ambitions.
Global Perspective: Chungking Mansions
A slice of life at a shabby but popular tenement in Hong Kong's teeming commercial...
Caribbean voices - Part two
Colin Grant reflects on the BBC’s role in boosting Caribbean writing in the region...
Iran and the West: From Khomeini to Ahmedinejad - part 2
The inside story of Iran's war with Iraq, and how the US viewed the conflict - a for...
Global Perspective - Across the Water
Nick Rankin travels to Fair Isle, one of the most remote inhabited islands in the to a...
Assignment - Pakistan - Winning the Peace
In this week's edition of Assignment, Jill McGivering travels through Pakistan, the of...
West African journeys - Part two
Award-winning journalist Sorious Samura drops into the middle of an undercover of a in...
Iran and the West: From Khomeni to Ahmedinejad - part 1
For the first time, the BBC tells the story of Iran's relationship with the West over...
Death Diminishes Me
A soundscape of memory, loss, regret and hope from men who have been living with HIV...
The Greening of the Deserts - part three
In this series, Ayisha Yahya explores climate change issues in the African desert.
From Guantanamo to Paradise
The story of four imprisoned Uyghur men transferred from Guantanamo Bay to the wealthy...
Global Persepctive: Islands of Security
South Africa's wealthy are retreating to high-security gated communities to protect...
Assignment - Land Grab Cambodia
150,000 Cambodians are reported to be facing eviction from their land.
The Greening of the Deserts
In this three part series, Ayisha Yahya explores climate change issues in the African...
Global Perspective: Alert Bay
Teenagers on the island of Alert Bay, British Columbia, talk openly about the beauty a...
Thembi’s Story
Thembi Ngubane’s Radio Diary about living with Aids in a South African Township.
Assignment - The Opus Dei enigma
It's widely regarded as one of the most secretive religious organisations in the world.
The Greening of the Deserts
In this three part series, Ayisha Yahya explores climate change issues in the African...
Iran in crisis
In this special edition of Assignment, John Simpson reveals how the protests, and the...
Blood and lava
When the dried blood of Naples' patron saint fails to liquefy, Neapolitans believe...
Mubarak's Egypt - part two
After 28 years in power, President Mubarak's promise of shepherding his country into a...
Assignment - The Rich in Retreat
In a programme first broadcast in April, Ed Butler reports from New York on how the of...
Farm Swap - part two
In the final part of this series, Mike Gallagher meets a British farmer working vast...
Mubarak's Egypt - part one
After 28 years in power, Mubarak's promise of leading Egypt into stable democracy has...
Dear Birth Mother
Listen to the story of Suzanne, a single woman in her forties who opted for a adoption...
Assignment - America's Somali Bantu
Hundreds of thousands of people have fled from Somalia since civil war broke out there...
Farm Swap - part one
In this series, Mike Gallagher meets two farmers working outside their own countries.
Diabetes: The Silent Killer
Justin Webb goes beyond his role as a journalist to explore the issue from the of a is...
My world: Thailand's Dr Death
The final programme in the My World series explores the story of Pornthip Rojanasunan,...
The Cricket Revolution - part two
In this series, David Goldblatt charts the rise of Twenty20 cricket. In the final he a...
My World: Kades
A poetic story of survival set against the soundscape of the Mathare slums in Kenya.
The Economy on the Edge
Martin Wolf, of the Financial Times, predicted that the global downturn would be much...
Anatomy of a Hijack
Since the beginning of last year, pirates have succeeded in seizing more than 70 ships...
The Cricket Revolution - part one
David Goldblatt charts the recent arrival and rise on the sporting scene of Twenty20...
Anatomy of a Car Crash
Tracing the profound physical and emotional toll on all those involved in the wake of...
My world: A different kind of stroke
Every year, 15 million people will suffer from a stroke, five million of them will die...
The Lost Voices of Tiananmen Square - part two
James Miles, the BBC's China correspondent in 1989, was an eye-witness to the events...
Lincoln and the World
Abraham Lincoln's legacy and political influence is more powerful today than it ever was.
My world: The homecoming
Follow the story of Gemma Tracee Apiku, a former refugee who spent her teenage years a...
Assignment - The Bad Samaritan
Until the end of last year Bernard Madoff was a highly respected financial guru and to...
The Lost Voices of Tiananmen Square - part one
James Miles, the BBC's China correspondent in 1989, was an eye-witness to the events...
Freedom from Slavery in Mauritania
Mauritania is a country with a tradition of slavery, but in August 2007 owning slaves...
On the brink - part 2
Continuing his award-winning reports for the BBC World Service, Michael Robinson looks...
My World - The Infidelity Agency
Vivek Kumar runs India's number one detective agency and business - investigating - is...
West African Journeys - Part Four
In the last of this four part series, Sorious Samura is in a fishing village near in...
Friday Documentary: The Library Cart
Exploring the world of an extraordinary individual. This week, we travel to Colombia a...
On the brink - part 1
Continuing his award-winning reports for the BBC World Service, Michael Robinson looks...
West African Journeys - part three
Award-winning journalist Sorious Samura heads back to his native West Africa for a his...
Assignment - The Rich in Retreat
Just one year ago Wall Street bankers enjoyed widespread regard, even veneration, in...
The Secret Scientists part three
Professor Jim Al-Khalili looks at the legacy of scientists from the Islamic world.
The Secret Scientists part two
Jim Al-Khalili looks at the scientists from the Islamic world who created a legacy for...
West African Journeys Part One
Sorious Samura takes four journeys that explore the challenges and contradictions of...
The Secret Scientists
Jim Al-Khalili looks at the scientists from the Islamic world who created a legacy for...
Escape from Eritrea Assignment
The Eritrean government is turning its country into a giant prison, according to new...
The Atrocity Archives part two
In Guatemala four years ago, 80 million documents were discovered. They contained of...
The Atrocity Archives part two
In Guatemala four years ago, 80 million documents were discovered. They contained of...
Keeping the Peace part one
In 2003 peace was declared between the Liberian government and rebel groups.
Keeping the Peace part one
In 2003 peace was declared between the Liberian government and rebel groups.
Kosovo's Disappeared
Ten years after the war in Kosovo, Michael Montgomery returns to the region for...
Kosovo's Disappeared
Ten years after the war in Kosovo, Michael Montgomery returns to the region for...
The Atrocity Archives part one
In Guatemala four years ago, 80 million documents were discovered in a warehouse.
The Atrocity Archives part one
In Guatemala four years ago, 80 million documents were discovered in a warehouse.
Culture Not Colour
Jared Thomas is an Aboriginal Australian. Born of mixed race parents. We follow his of...
Culture Not Colour
Jared Thomas is an Aboriginal Australian. Born of mixed race parents. We follow his of...
Assignment Turkey's Dirty War
For twenty five years, Turkey fought a dirty war with Kurdish separatist insurgents.
Assignment Turkey's Dirty War
For twenty five years, Turkey fought a dirty war with Kurdish separatist insurgents.
Obama's Pentagon
Mark Urban asks if Barack Obama's presidency will see substantial reform at the Pentagon.
Obama's Pentagon
Mark Urban asks if Barack Obama's presidency will see substantial reform at the Pentagon.
Chinua Achebe A Hero Returns
Richard Dowden joins the greatest of all African novelists, Chinua Achebe, on his trip...
Chinua Achebe A Hero Returns
Richard Dowden joins the greatest of all African novelists, Chinua Achebe, on his trip...
Third Agers Part Four
What is it really like to be old? In this four part series, Jane Little meets Third to...
Third Agers Part Four
What is it really like to be old? In this four part series, Jane Little meets Third to...
Assignment Falling in Love with the Stasi
During the cold war, more than thirty west German women were prosecuted after been to...
Assignment Falling in Love with the Stasi
During the cold war, more than thirty west German women were prosecuted after been to...
Indonesian Journeys Bali
In the run up to the Indonesian elections in April, Anita Barraud explores how tourism...
Indonesian Journeys Bali
In the run up to the Indonesian elections in April, Anita Barraud explores how tourism...
Third Agers Part Three
What is it really like to be old? In this four part series, Jane Little meets Third to...
Third Agers Part Three
What is it really like to be old? In this four part series, Jane Little meets Third to...
Yiddish: A Struggle for Survival part one
Yiddish was the language of the Jewish Diaspora, the language of a people on the move...
Yiddish: A Struggle for Survival part one
Yiddish was the language of the Jewish Diaspora, the language of a people on the move...
Indonesian Journeys West Timor
In the run up to elections, Anita Barraud finds out why poverty and starvation are for...
Indonesian Journeys West Timor
In the run up to elections, Anita Barraud finds out why poverty and starvation are for...
Third Agers Part Two
What is it really like to be old? In this four part series, Jane Little meets people...
Third Agers Part Two
What is it really like to be old? In this four part series, Jane Little meets people...
Indonesian Journeys Aceh
Anita Barraud explores how peace and democracy is working in Aceh, a region that has...
Public Places Private Lives
Trafalgar Square is a must-see destination on any tourist map of the UK.
Public Places Private Lives
Trafalgar Square is a must-see destination on any tourist map of the UK.
Third Agers - Part One
What is it really like to be old? In this four part series, Jane Little meets Third to...
Assignment: Kenya Reconciliation
It's a year since Kenya's political rivals signed a power-sharing agreement to end the...
Indonesian Journeys - Jakarta
In the run up to the Indonesian elections in April, Anita Barraud travels to four of a...
Fresh Start - Part Three
Lucy Ash looks at a successful prison reform scheme in Kansas that is turning crack...
Beatles in the USSR
As Beatlemania swept throughout the world in 1964, it seemed unable to penetrate the...
Fresh Start - Part Two
Lucy Ash looks at why allowing prisoners to raise puppies has proved to be a way of...
The Wildlife Smugglers
Worldwide, the illegal trade in wildlife is worth up to $25 billion US a year.
Assignment - Children for Sale
Nadene Ghouri goes undercover to expose the trade in children by some charities in the...
Fresh Start - Part One
As prison numbers in Britain continue to soar, what can be done to stop criminals In...
The Bicycle Diaries - part three
This three-part series looks at the impact the bicycle has had on people's lives.
Assignment - A City Divided
At the end of last year, violent clashes broke out in Jos in central Nigeria after a...
The Legacy of George W Bush - Part Two
Justin Webb explores the domestic and international legacies of President George W as...
The Bicycle Diaries - part two
This three-part series looks at the impact the bicycle has had on people's lives.
Human Rights and Wrongs at the UN
Is the UN's Human Rights Council fulfilling its role to protect the most vulnerable or...
The Bicycle Diaries - part one
This series features three portraits of the use of the bicycle around the world.
The Legacy of George W Bush - Part One
Justin Webb explores the domestic and international legacies of President George W as...
Obama: Professor President
Kwame Anthony Appiah is one of America’s leading public intellectuals.
The Pardon Game
A US president has a constitutional and inalienable right to grant pardons. Bush.
Brand Cuba - part two
On 1st January 2009, Cuba marks the 50th anniversary of its revolution.
The Story of Braille
Peter White tells the story of Louis Braille, the founder of Braille, and the story in...