Documentaries
Throughout the week BBC World Service offers a wide range of documentaries and other factual programmes. This podcast offers you the chance to access landmark series from our archive.
- Updated:
Daily - Average duration:
22 minutes
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Recent episodes (10)
Youssou N’Dour at 50
Thu, 5 Nov 09
Duration:
20 minsTo mark the 50th birthday of Youssou N'Dour, Robin Denselow travels to Senegal to profile the best known African musician of recent times.
Assignment - Guinea on the Brink
Thu, 5 Nov 09
Duration:
23 minsMark Doyle reports from Guinea in West Africa on the harrowing events of 28 September when government troops crushed an opposition rally in the centre of the capital, Conakry. This programme contains some graphic description of sexual violence.
A Dollar a Day - Part 1
Wed, 4 Nov 09
Duration:
24 minsWhat keeps a billion people trapped in the most persistent poverty? Mike Wooldridge travels to Nicaragua to meet Justa who hoped for a better life after the Sandinista revolution.
DocArchive:
Mon, 2 Nov 09
Duration:
23 minsThe extraordinary but little-known tale of Russia's three all-female regiments that flew more than 30,000 missions on the Eastern Front. At home they were celebrated as 'Stalin's Falcons' but terrified German troops called them the 'Night Witches'.
Public Places, Private Lives - Part Two
Fri, 30 Oct 09
Duration:
22 minsPublic Places, Private Lives is a series of portraits of well known places that reveal the lives and stories of those people who come to a famous spot not to gaze as tourists, but for work or for their own private reasons. The second programme is set in the Taj Mahal, where we hear the experiences of those people for whom one of the most important sites in India is part of their daily landscape.
Assignment - Dying to Give Birth
Thu, 29 Oct 09
Duration:
23 minsJill McGivering travels to Pakistan's largest city, Karachi, to meet a doctor who is battling against the odds to prevent women from dying in childbirth. Listeners may find parts of this Assignment programme distressing.
Rebranding Nigeria - Part Two
Wed, 28 Oct 09
Duration:
24 minsNigeria is campaigning for a new image and a new reputation in an effort to attract some much needed investment. Reporter Henry Bonsu follows the many steps of this charm offensive.
MI6 - A Century in the Shadows - Part Tree
Mon, 26 Oct 09
Duration:
24 minsThe head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service Sir John Scarlett, talks for the first time about the interrogation of terrorist suspects and MI6’s role in the run-up to the war in Iraq.
Public Places, Private Lives - Part One
Fri, 23 Oct 09
Duration:
23 minsPublic Places, Private Lives is a series of portraits of well known places that reveal the lives and stories of those people who come to a famous spot not to gaze as tourists, but for work or for their own private reasons.
Assignment - Protecting Britain's Children
Thu, 22 Oct 09
Duration:
24 minsWhen a 17 month-old London child died after horrific abuse by his family, it unleashed a barrage of criticism against British social services. For Assignment Catherine Miller gains rare access to the people whose job it is to protect Britain's vulnerable children.
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Play recent episodes
- Youssou N’Dour at 50
- Assignment - Guinea on the Brink
- A Dollar a Day - Part 1
- DocArchive:
- Public Places, Private Lives - Part Two
- Assignment - Dying to Give Birth
- Rebranding Nigeria - Part Two
- MI6 - A Century in the Shadows - Part Tree
- Public Places, Private Lives - Part One
- Assignment - Protecting Britain's Children
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