The Documentary Podcast

Following his time at Cern, Haroon Mirza has been creating a major installation based on his research there. The piece, made with his collaborator Jack Jelfs, is a sculptural art work which uses a circle of eight speakers, a large screen and an octagonal chandelier sculpture of LEDs to compose light, sound and video. Combined with a careful manipulation of spatial acoustics, the viewer is cocooned in a truly immersive experience. O...

James Coomarasamy speaks to BBC correspondents around the world about the people and places, trends and technology that they are going to be keeping an eye on over the next 12 months.

Much of that will be shaped by what has already happened in 2025 - we entered the year still focused on the wars in Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan. Now, people are worried about conflict spreading further.

Topics like trade, technology, migration and the he...

Gold prices have reached record highs this year, resulting in changes in buying habits, investment patterns and traditional customs. For the Fifth Floor, BBC language service journalists reflect on changing practices around gold in their regions and from the BBC's Delhi Bureau, Abhik Deb explains how sky-high prices are making a huge difference to Indian weddings, including his own.

Around a fifth of Guatemalans leave their home co...

Actress Jennifer Aniston sparked controversy recently when she said that, despite years of unsuccessful fertility treatment, she is not interested in adopting a baby. Instead, she wants “my own DNA in a little person.” Four women from India, the US and UK share their experiences of trying to have children by several different routes. Sometimes, their choices bring judgement. Imogen, in the UK, always wanted to adopt, yet family and...

Michael Flatley is the most famous Irish dancer in the world, rising to stardom for his leading roles in Riverdance and Lord of the Dance. Colm Flynn travels to meet Flatley at home, where he reflects on the highs of his remarkable career and the personal experiences that shaped his outlook on life and faith. Born in Chicago to Irish parents, Flatley grew up surrounded by music, dance, and the values of hard work and perseverance. ...

Our present to you is the science of gifts. First, we investigate the health benefits of donating blood, and find out about the predator sharing a feast of food in the Arctic. We are then joined in the studio by physicist Dr Krishma Singal from Rice University, who unravels the soft-matter physics and brilliant engineering potential of knitting. Next, we discuss the reputation of piranhas, enquire about the uniqueness of our sneeze...

2025 on The Interview

In 2025, the BBC launched The Interview, bringing you the best conversations from across the BBC. People shaping our world from all over the world.

This special episode for The Documentary features three of the most compelling conversations from The Interview across the year. Senior politicians are held to account by experienced BBC journalists, who also bring a unique and personal insight to the conversation, w...

After decades of extinction, wild jaguars are once again roaming in Northern Argentina. It has been at least thirty five years since a wild jaguar cub was spotted in this dry and dusty part of Argentina. But in August 2025, a baby appeared on the chocolatey-brown banks of the River Bermejo. Its existence was a great success for the team from Rewilding Argentina, a non-profit foundation that started reintroducing these magnificent b...

There’s a tradition among poets to write a poem to put inside the Christmas cards they send. So, the BBC World Service has commissioned one specially from the poet, dramatist and novelist Michael Symmons Roberts, whose Christian faith is important to his identity and work. But his art is not a direct expression of this, and instead he follows the poet Emily Dickinson’s instruction to "tell all the truth but tell it slant".

Michael ...

Celebrating 25 unbroken years of humans living in space, former international director of the UK Space Agency Dr Alice Bunn charts how nations put aside differences to create the ultimate symbol of human ingenuity and collaboration – a space station orbiting our planet that has been home to more than 300 people from 24 different nations.

Using mission control audio, news archive and personal stories, Alice illuminates acts of epic s...

In February, American President Donald Trump signed an executive order which said that South African Afrikaners - descendants of mainly Dutch settlers who arrived in the 17th Century - could be admitted as refugees in the USA as they were "victims of unjust racial discrimination". President Trump’s move to prioritise the resettlement of white South African farmers reignited global controversy when he referenced what he has describe...

The Australian government says it will crack down on hate speech following the deadly shooting that targeted a Jewish festival at Bondi Beach. People had come together to celebrate Hanukkah when two gunmen opened fire, killing fifteen people.

Australia’s new laws aim to target those who spread “hate, division and radicalisation". In our conversations, Jewish Australians discuss their personal experiences of antisemitism in Australia...

Imagine being able to see your place of worship, but not be able to reach it. For many Palestinian Muslims in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, stricter Israeli security measures, rising tensions with settlers, and movement restrictions introduced after the 7 October attacks, have made access to mosques increasingly challenging. Reporting from Hebron and East Jerusalem, Emily Wither explores how these pressures are reshapi...

Botswana is home to about a third of Africa’s remaining savanna elephants, over 130,000. But it is a burden as well as a blessing. It puts pressure on local communities, and the cost of conservation is huge. Climate change means elephants are moving into new areas in their search for water and in some parts of this sparsely populated country there are more elephants than people. Jo Dwyer travels to northern Botswana, where safari-b...

As the USA and Soviet Union race for supremacy in the 1960s, Premier Khrushchev sizes up his rival, President John F Kennedy. Presenters Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva, relatives of the superpower leaders, explore their rise to power - one wealthy, smooth-talking and Harvard educated, the other a hardened Soviet war leader from a peasant family. As they prepare to meet for the first and only time as world leaders, the stakes coul...

In plain sight, in a modern city, a colleague offers to drive you home after work. How would you respond? One woman in Kazakhstan accepted the lift only to find herself kidnapped or ‘stolen’ as a bride. She got away, rescued by the police, but for many Kazakh women kidnap leads to marriage. Human Rights lawyer Khalida Azhigulova reckons that thousands of women are forced into marriage each year in Kazakhstan, including many who are...

Sean Allsop goes behind the scenes inside the legendary Jim Henson's Creature Shop in New York, where fabric and materials bring life to characters beloved around the world. Sean joins the team as they work on their famous franchise Fraggle Rock, a series which started in the mid-80s. They're currently creating human-size walk-about characters for a brand new live show. Creative supervisor Jason Weber and the team work through cost...

One year after the fall of Syria's dictator, Bashar al-Assad, interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa has undergone a significant image makeover. He's regularly seen playing basketball or pool on social media and his posts are amplified by a network of government-backed influencers. BBC Monitoring's Samia Hosny has been watching and reflects on what this PR campaign is saying – and what it isn't.

 The special administrative region of Mac...

Donald Trump says Somali immigrants in the US should “go back to where they came from.” The President’s comments come after allegations of large-scale fraud in Minnesota's social assistance programme, implicating several Somali immigrants. Trump has repeatedly criticised the community saying he does not want Somali immigrants in the United States and that their country is “no good for a reason.” In our conversations we bring togeth...