The Documentary Podcast

The Ghanaian artist Amoako Boafo has attracted global fame for his bold and sensual portraits. He paints bodies and faces using his fingertips instead of a brush, capturing form through direct, tactile gestures. When he went to art school in Vienna, he was struck by the extent to which Black subjects had been overlooked in global art. Determined to change the status quo, he drew inspiration from early 20th Century Viennese artists ...

Roughly a third of all global mammal extinctions in the last 500 years are thought to have occurred in Australia. At least 34 species have gone extinct since European colonisation, and over 2,000 species of mammals, birds and invertebrates are now listed as critically endangered or threatened. Without substantial and rapid change, this list is almost certain to grow. Ruth Evans investigates what can and should be done to prevent f...

Earlier this year, the Egyptian TV drama Lam Shamseya aired across the Arab world. It tackled sensitive topics, including child sexual abuse, and sparked difficult conversations in society. Faranak Amidi discusses the issues raised by this hit show with Ahmed Abdallah from BBC Arabic.

If you have been affected by the issues discussed in this episode, you could speak to a health professional, or an organisation that offers support. ...

After the fatal shooting in Pakistan of a teenage social media influencer, Sana Yousaf, we bring together female influencers around the world to share their experiences. Sana’s death has ignited a fierce debate about women on social media and the safety of influencers. We hear from three women in Pakistan. Between them, they have hundreds of thousands of followers on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube but face abuse every day. Zenith Ir...

In March 2022, the senior pastor of The Redeemed Christian Church of God - Jesus House Parish, Ghandi Afolabi Olaoye, resigned from his position at a church in Washington D.C., to ascend a traditional throne as Soun of Ogbomoso kingdom of Oyo state, in south-west Nigeria. His decision sent shock waves in the community as the role is considered part of traditional African spirituality - something an evangelical pastor is not expecte...

Every year the UK produces around 50 million tyres for disposal. They are supposed to be sent for recycling. Instead, big money is being made by diverting tyres to illegal and dangerous 'pyrolysis' plants where they are melted down to extract oil and steel. Together with a team of journalists from Source Material, a not-for-profit group specialising in climate and corruption, we follow the tyres from the UK to India using tracking ...

On 12 May, 59 Afrikaners arrived in Washington to receive “refugee” status. At a press conference, President Trump said he had acted because Afrikaners - the white minority community that ruled South Africa during apartheid - face an existential threat. His words echoed the views of his South African born former adviser, Elon Musk, who has repeatedly used his X platform to amplify false claims of a “white genocide”. Many South Afri...

In the last two decades thousands of men have disappeared in Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest region. Activists and some of their families accuse the Pakistani authorities of enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings. The government is fighting an insurgency in the region, but denies any involvement in the disappearances. It says some of the missing men have joined militant groups or have simply left the province.

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Brian D’Souza, aka Auntie Flo, is a Scottish musician, DJ and sound recordist who has played at some of the biggest festivals and clubs around the world. His compositions fuse field recordings from around the globe with cutting edge production techniques to transport the listener to different places and states. He has spent the last few years trying to bring together the natural and electronic worlds, experimenting with a complex s...

Moldova is a country torn between pro-Western and pro-Russian factions. In September this year, Moldovans will vote for a new leadership, and pro-European observers are worried that Russia will try to influence the outcome of these elections. Why? Natasha Matyukhina from BBC Monitoring explains.

This episode of The Documentary comes to you from The Fifth Floor, the show at the heart of global storytelling, with BBC journalists from ...

For well over a decade, civil war blighted the lives of Syrians, as rebel forces battled against former President Bashar al-Assad and his brutal regime. More than 600,000 people were killed and 12 million others were forced from their homes during this time. In December last year, everything changed when Assad’s dictatorship was abruptly overthrown by his opponents. We hear from a range of people living and working in Syria as they...

In the wake of the Assad regime’s fall in Syria, thousands of Alawites, a minority Shia sect historically linked to the former regime, have fled to Lebanon. They are seeking refuge from discrimination and sectarian violence that has left over 1,000 civilians dead, including women and children. The late Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father, became the most powerful Alawite when he seized control of Syria in a coup in 1970. Under the rule...

The Israeli government’s push to transform the media landscape has been described by critics as a “hostile takeover” that poses a threat to press freedom. The Global Jigsaw takes a look at what people in Israel see about the war in Gaza on their TV screens. We examine the methods and the motives behind the prime minister’s media squeeze, and ask what this means for the country priding itself on being "the only democracy" in the Mid...

Informers are playing a key role in helping the Russian government silence dissent, now one victim has turned detective to uncover their persecutor’s true identity. In today’s Russia there is a hunt for the enemy within. Anybody who is accused of voicing opposition to the war in Ukraine can face losing their job, or being prosecuted and facing a fine, or in many cases prison. Academic Aleksandra Arkhipova was denounced by a mysteri...

The former rebels who now rule Syria dismantled the old regime’s security forces as soon as they came to power last December. Overnight, half a million soldiers, police and intelligence officers, and some civil defence workers lost their jobs and income. Many of those sacked were guilty of atrocities. But the majority probably were not. Tim Whewell reports on the reconciliation process which deprived servicemen of their jobs – but ...

Grigor Atanesian from BBC Russian joins us to discuss the theories around 'grey zone' warfare techniques and if, why, and how Russia is deploying them against the UK.

This episode of The Documentary comes to you from The Fifth Floor, the show at the heart of global storytelling, with BBC journalists from all around the world.

Presented by Faranak Amidi Produced by Caroline Ferguson and Alice Gioia

(Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tric...

Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas and recent warnings of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, have led to a ratcheting up of pressure on Israel, not just from its critics, but from its international allies. Emotions run deep amongst Israelis themselves, and opinions differ about their country’s military response. Simon King, a survivor of the 7 October attack on Kibbutz Be’eri remembers the horror of the day clearly and says the event h...