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BBC World Service

A window into our world, through in-depth storytelling from the BBC. Investigating, reporting and uncovering true stories from everywhere. Award-winning journalism, unheard voices, amazing culture and global issues. 

From Trump’s new world order, to protests in Turkey, to the headphone revolution, The Documentary investigates major global stories.

We delve into social media, take you into the minds of the world’s most creative people and explore personal approaches to spirituality. Every week, we also bring together people from around the globe to discuss how news stories are affecting their lives. 

A new episode most days, all year round. From our BBC World Service teams at: Assignment, Heart and Soul, In the Studio, OS Conversations, The Fifth Floor and Trending.

The Documentary Podcast

The Delacorte Theater, home to New York's beloved free outdoor Shakespeare performances in Central Park, has undergone an $85 million refurbishment. Now clad in redwood timber from disused water tanks from each of New York’s boroughs, the structure has been made accessible for disabled audiences, actors and backstage workers. It's also been made water and raccoon-proof. Presenter Jeff Lunden has been following its progress – from a hard-hat tour in freezing February to the summer previews of a new production of Twelfth Night, starring Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave actor Lupita Nyong’o, Sandra Oh from Killing Eve, and Game of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage.
This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from In the Studio, exploring the processes of the world’s most creative people.

The Delacorte Theater

The Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs celebrates the life and legacy of Sir Paul McCartney, from his Liverpool roots to Beatlemania and beyond. It is a journey that moves from the late 1950s spanning McCartney’s skiffle start with John Lennon in The Quarrymen, through to his long solo career, taking in Mersey Beat; the rise of the Fab Four to 1960s icons; and Wings’ 1970s success. Susanna learns how The Beatles could only have come from Liverpool, and how a visit to McCartney’s old grammar school led to a significant legacy: the formation of the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts (LIPA). Joining Susanna are author of recent biography Fly Away Paul, Lesley-Ann Jones; veteran songwriter and member of 10cc, Graham Gouldman; LIPA founding principal and chief executive, Sir Mark Featherstone-Witty; Beatles historian and author, David Bedford; lifelong Beatles enthusiast Jean Catharell; BBC Radio Merseyside broadcaster Paul Beesley; Universal Music Group chairman and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge; plus two LIPA alumni - award winning composer Hannah Peel, and singer, songwriter and guitarist Natalie McCool. Giving the narrative an intimately familial contribution is McCartney’s younger brother, Mike McCartney.

Paul McCartney: Beatles and beyond

Russian soldiers were told that they would be the country's 'new elite' by President Putin. But many of them have reported being robbed and scammed out of the money that they earned fighting on the Ukrainian front lines. They also face mental health problems, and post-traumatic stress disorder after months or years at war, but suitable treatment is scarce and hard for them to find. BBC Russian's Sergei Goryashko has been looking into the soldiers who have been robbed and scammed, whilst Sofya Volyanova has spoken to the people in Russia attempting to treat soldiers for PTSD and depression. 
South Korea banned dog meat in the country last year, and the practice will be entirely phased out by 2027 ending a generations long practice. Hyunjung Kim of BBC Korean has been speaking to people affected by the ban and explains why it got put in place. 

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. This is an EcoAudio certified production. 

(Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)

Scammed, robbed, traumatised – life after war for Russian soldiers

Many parts of Pakistan have been experiencing intense rainfall in recent weeks. Since June, at least 800 people have been killed, homes and businesses lost, and thousands forced to evacuate their communities. In our conversations, we bring together people affected by this year’s monsoon to share their experiences. They include Saad, from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northern Pakistan, who lost his family home and business: “Many of the houses of the people are completely destroyed and those remaining are full of mud and water,” he tells us. Although it only produces a small fraction of greenhouse gas emissions, scientific evidence suggests that Pakistan is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Three journalists share their stories of the flooding and their perspectives on the challenges the country faces.
This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from BBC OS Conversations, bringing together people from around the world to discuss how major news stories are affecting their lives.

Surviving the floods in Pakistan

In the ancient Yererouk Basilica in Armenia, near the border with Turkey, young engineers are using 3D digital technology to scan every part of the building. The aim is to recreate the church on a screen, in full-colour and in three dimensions. This is the digital preservation initiative, created by TUMO, the Center for Creative Technologies, based in Armenia’s capital Yerevan. It is training young Armenians to use new technology and also to connect them to their their 2000-year-old Armenian Christian heritage. In 2023, the country lost control of numerous important religious sites, when the province of Nagorno-Karabakh was taken over by neighbouring Muslim Azerbaijan. The mountainous enclave, known as Artsakh to Armenians, has long been a disputed territory between the two countries. Despite the new peace agreement signed recently, the province is still closed to Armenians. International observers using satellite technology say dozens of important Christian sites have been damaged or destroyed. Julia Paul travels to Armenia to find out how drones and lasers are helping young Armenians to connect to and preserve their ancient Christian heritage.
This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from Heart and Soul, exploring personal approaches to spirituality from around the world.

Digitally preserving Armenia’s Christian heritage

Earlier this year, Chinese student Zhenhao Zou was jailed for 24 years for drugging and raping ten women in the UK and China. He has been described by police as one of Britain’s “most prolific sexual predators”. After his trial, detectives said they feared he may have attacked 50 more women – many of whom are yet to be identified. Following connections on Chinese social media, reporter Wanqing Zhang from the BBC’s Global China Unit has been speaking exclusively to several of Zou’s victims, and a translator who has helped them, revealing shocking details about his crimes.

Student predator: Surviving Zhenhao Zou

In Early June, the Auschwitz Memorial posted a warning about AI-generated Holocaust victims flooding Facebook. BBC Trending has since tracked several accounts pushing these false narratives and other pages posting so-called ‘AI slop’. The investigation has uncovered how these “digital creators” in Pakistan are just one part of a global economy of deception and emotional manipulation exploiting Meta payment models to profit from dubious content.

The Facebook grifters making money off AI Holocaust victims

President Trump has called illegal immigration an “invasion” and what has followed is a huge rise in the arrest and detention of migrants. Some have ended up in ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ - an immigration detention centre that was speedily constructed in June, deep in the Florida swampland. ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ is now subject to a number of lawsuits. Immigration attorneys say they have not been granted proper access to clients inside; environmentalists claim the detention centre is harming the protected wetlands that surround it. Within the last few days, a judge has ruled that much of the detention centre must be dismantled and no new migrants taken there. It is a preliminary ruling and the government immediately filed an appeal. Josephine Casserly follows immigration lawyer Mich Gonzalez as he attempts to meet his client inside the detention centre. 
This episode of The Documentary comes to you from Assignment, investigations and journeys into the heart of global events.

Suing 'Alligator Alcatraz': Immigration in the US

Adeju Thompson, the founder and creative director behind the Nigerian fashion label Lagos Space Programme, attempts to establish the label on the global fashion scene. Lagos Space Programme blends Yoruba heritage (notably Adire dyeing) with queer and futurist aesthetics, taking inspiration from Lou Reed, traditional Ife sculptures, and the photography of Rotimi Fani-Kayode and Robert Mapplethorpe. Thompson talks about his dedication to slow fashion, gender-fluid creations, and detailed artisan craftsmanship, blending traditional techniques with contemporary designs. Tayo Popoola follows Thompson to Paris where he unveils his collection, based on the idea of "rock'n'roll consciousness". We then join him at his studio in Surulere, Lagos where he discusses his new designs for 25/26.

Adeju Thompson: Taking fashion label Lagos Space Programme to the world

The incredible true story of how The Avontuur was locked down at sea for 188 days during the Covid-19 pandemic, with 15 people on board. The journey begins for ship’s cook Giulia Baccosi when she accepts a last-minute job aboard the sailing cargo ship The Avontuur. She tells the captain that she will stay with the ship until it reaches Mexico, in about three months’ time. After saying goodbye to her partner, Giulia settles into life on board and the responsibilities of feeding the Avontuur’s crew of 15. But before Giulia and the crew know it, everything they’re counting on will be thrown to the winds.
This extraordinary story, narrated by Siobhán McSweeney, is from the Lives Less Ordinary podcast, from the BBC World Service.

Bonus: Lives Less Ordinary presents, Hold Fast!

A doctor in New York, Anjoli has been longing for a space to practise spirituality within a like-minded community, but she does not want to go to her parents’ Hindu temple. Whilst she likes the rituals and the sense of community, she feels torn over the teachings about race and caste. She's one of a flock of people signing up to an online community called The Nearness - a group brought together by people with Divinity School backgrounds who yearn for a community where they can explore big spiritual questions, but outside the confines of tradition religion. Research suggests that many millennials are hungry for spiritual communities but wary of mainstream religious ones, so they are trying to create their own. But is it possible to do this in a lasting way, without the history, traditions and rituals of an established faith?

Heart and Soul: Online spiritual communities

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