Navi Pillay
Navanetham 'Navi' Pillay has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2026. The 85-year-old South African jurist and former UN Human Rights ch...
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The Documentary
The best of BBC World Service documentaries and other factual programmes.
Episodes
20 of 2,207 episodes
The silence of the oligarchs
Russia's super-rich once ruled the country, holding deep influence over the country's politicians in the years immediately after the collaps...
The dolphin whisperer of the Amazon
Deep in the Amazon jungle, pink river dolphins are under threat from pollution, deforestation, illegal mining and climate change. As a power...
China and the UK: After the golden era
Journalist and author Paul Kenyon investigates rising suspicions over China’s presence in the UK. From shadow policing operations, to spies...
What China's solar panel obsession means for the world
China's latest trade data show another huge surplus, putting the country on course for what could be a record $1.5 trillion trade surplus th...
Shadowmen: Russians working with Ukraine
A network of Russians say they are secretly fighting their own country. They claim armed resistance to stop Russia winning in Ukraine is the...
Afghan refugees: Back to zero
Why are millions of Afghans pushed into circular migration and what awaits them in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan? In this series, The Global Jig...
Afghan refugees: Life in exile
Why are millions of Afghans forced to go home and what awaits them in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan? In this series, The Global Jigsaw explores...
Afghan refugees: The exodus
Why are millions of Afghans pushed into circular migration, and what awaits them in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan? In this series, we explore on...
Final moments with death row inmates
Two cases in recent weeks have reignited debate around capital punishment in the United States after the failed attempt to execute Christa P...
Living lands of Hawai'i
After 23 years in the US military left him broken, Native Hawaiian park ranger Keoni Kaholoaʻā finds healing in Kīlauea, one of the world's...
The dream academy
Sean Allsop has had insomnia for much of his adult life and now sees it as a problem he wants to understand. He explores what countries are...
Breaking the code of silence
We travel to the Italian island of Sicily to see how Palermo residents are fighting back against the influence of the mafia. Presenter Myra...
Hungary after Orban
Hungary under Viktor Orban was a model for the populist right the world over. But in April 2026 he and the party he led, Fidesz, was decisiv...
Why are birth rates falling across the world?
Birth rates are falling across much of the world, raising questions about the future of ageing populations and economies. We look at why peo...
Recommending: Trouble with Hubble
A brand new season of the BBC’s space podcast explores the story of the revolutionary Hubble Space Telescope and the tiny flaw that almost d...
The politics of water: Iraq and Turkey
Two rivers helped build civilisation. Now they are at the centre of a geopolitical struggle that casts a shadow over the future of the Middl...
What goes on in a US college frat house?
The President of Cornell University says it "must do better" after a woman alleged she was drugged and raped by a group of men at a fraterni...
Jamaica: Shaken, not broken
From historic buildings linked to emancipation to tiny village chapels, Jamaica is home to the world’s highest density of churches. The Cari...
America’s gerrymandering civil war
Electoral battle lines are being drawn and redrawn in the United States right now, as Republicans and Democrats up the ante in an electoral...