Episodes categorised as 'Documentaries' available now on BBC iPlayer

2/3. Stephen Webster talks to Professor Clare Lloyd, who runs a medical research lab.

Labour select Peter Mandelson to stand as an MP.

John Waite investigates the work of the Vatican Secret Archives laboratory.

Jon Sopel explores the techniques used by politicians to avoid questions in interviews.

3/3. John Simpson returns to Bucharest 20 years after the bloody overthrow of Nicolae Ceausescu

1/3. Does the press act as freedom's guardian or is it a 'feral beast', in Tony Blair's phrase?

East Germany discusses what do to after dismantling the Stasi.

1/2. James Naughtie asks if British diplomacy is still fit for purpose.

Soviet human rights campaigner Andrei Sakharov dies.

3/4. Frances Fyfield and guests pore over the pages of the manuscript of Holst's The Planets.

Glenn Mitchell celebrates the life and work of entertainer Harry Worth.

Sean Street explores Sable Island, an Atlantic sand dune which is crucial to the world.

1/3. The impact of the internet - dreamt up by visionaries and embraced by commerce.

2/4. Michael examines Neville Chamberlain's 1938 declaration of 'peace for our time'.

Chile elects a civilian president to replace Augusto Pinochet.

3/4. Ben Miller joins Brian Cox and Robin Ince to talk physics and comedy.

Richard Weight reassesses Kenneth Clark and his landmark BBC TV series, Civilisation.

2/3. Andy Hayman examines the challenges facing policing in Britain today.

Mrs Thatcher faces her first leadership challenge and East Germany elects a new leader.

President FW de Klerk meets with Nelson Mandela.

Prof Paul Robertson examines the claims and counter-claims for musical mediumship.

Robert Hodierne reveals the truth about the infamous My Lai massacre of 16 March 1968.

US secretary of state James Baker meets East Germany's de facto leader Hans Modrow.

How the politics of the late 1970s affected the most popular TV series' of the time.

Kate Clark investigates why thousands of Iraqi refugees are still refusing to return home.

Gerry Northam examines the problems being posed by the shortage of organs for transplants.

Jenny Cuffe reports from DR Congo on the scale of illegal gold mining.

5/5. Matthew Parris on valedictories which embarrassed ministers.

Allan Urry investigates the effects of the police force's current funding problems.

4/5. Despatches which changed the course of history.

2/2. Professor Steve Jones challenges the controversial science of evolutionary psychology.

Michael Robinson examines the latest tricks which some banks are using to increase profits

3/5. In their valedictories, diplomats recount the hardships of foreign service.

1/2. Professor Steve Jones challenges the new science of evolutionary psychology.

Top business people discuss the effect that their traumatic childhood had on them.

2/5. How diplomacy requires an ambassador to see beyond the shortcomings of foreign hosts.

1/5. Valedictories in which retiring ambassadors poked fun at the nations where they had served

2/2. The town's hopes are pinned on a good summer season but its fortunes depend on the weather

Julian O'Halloran examines the levels of pay awarded by some councils to their executives.

Michael Dobbs explores the political legacy of the Brighton hotel bombing.

Gerry Northam asks why it seems so hard to buy the right equipment for our forces.

Miriam O'Reilly investigates claims of major problems in community mental health services.

1/2. Following the town's preparations for the make-or-break 2009 holiday season.

Allan Urry assesses the threat of attacks by white, racist, right-wing extremists.

3/3. Edward Stourton reaches the end of his journey as the Jordan flows into the Dead Sea.

2/3. The River Jordan has long been at the centre of conflicts, but are things changing?

1/3. Edward Stourton's journey starts on the melting snows of Mount Hermon, the Jordan's source

4/4. Robert Peston talks to Adair Turner, Chairman of the Financial Services Authority.

6/6. As sea-levels rise, Dan Box witnesses one Pacific island community's climate change exodus

1/5. Stella Collis is united with her German PoW father's military records.

3/4. Robert talks to the chief executive of Barclays, John Varley, about the banking crisis.

How can a landlord be allowed to bulldoze your mobile home?

2/9. Brett Westwood investigates the potential for restoring large areas of heathland.

2/4. Robert Peston talks to hedge fund pioneer Jim Chanos about the global financial meltdown.

The investors who unknowingly bought into Lehman Brothers and could now lose their capital

1/9. Brett Westwood encounters the large blue butterfly on the Somerset Downs.

4/4. Claudia Hammond revisits Langer and Rodin's 1976 Arden House study.

John Waite examines claims that the jobcentre service is badly stretched.

The most recent knowledge of what the land around Britain was like before the Ice Age.

3/4. Revisiting Harry Harlow's surrogate mothers experiment, which revolutionised parenting.

John Waite investigates what schools are doing to tackle bullying and to help its victims.

How can science can stop an upsurge in the slaughter of African elephants for their ivory?

Sue Nelson investigates the humble source of the silicon chip.

2/4. The 1920s experiment in a Chicago factory that gave rise to the Hawthorne Effect.

How local authorities are struggling to tackle the scourge of unlicensed bedsits.

Stephen Grey investigates the relationship between the US and the UK security services.

2/2. Following the barristers, clerks and staff of one of London's leading law chambers.

Scientist and broadcaster Prof Trevor Cox explores a new wave of biomimicry.

1/4. Claudia Hammond revisits David Rosenhan's Pseudo-Patient Study.

John Waite finds out about the funerals organised by councils.

Are some of the UK's biggest corporate fraudsters now practically immune from prosecution?

1/2. Following the barristers, clerks and staff of one of London's leading law chambers.

Richard Hollingham examines British plans for a moon mission.

Angus Stickler examines the safety record of the RAF in recent conflicts.

Owen Bennett-Jones investigates Pakistan's Islamic radicals.

Sue Broom investigates why 26 dolphins were stranded and died in Falmouth Harbour in 2008.

Is Britain's system of public protection from violent offenders still among the best?

Inspiring the inventors who will lead the way in the fight against global warming.

2/2. Ayisha visits the Egyptian settlement of Abu Minqar.

3/3. The fall of the Shah led to the creation of the world's first Islamic republic.

Miriam O'Reilly investigates the no-win, no-fee lawyers who bring claims against the NHS.

Vanessa Collingridge presents the series exploring ordinary people's links with the past.

2/3. The oil crisis of the 1950s led to the overthrow of a democratically elected government.

Janet Radcliffe Richards examines the results of studies into humans' moral choices.

1/3. John Tusa chronicles the making of modern Iran.

Nick Robinson reflects on the reporting of the MPs' expenses scandal and its repercussions

1/2. Ayisha Yahya explores predictions that some deserts could turn greener in the future.

Michael Robinson investigates increases in the cost of building schools, hospitals & roads

Featuring a listener's ancestor who was a hero in a mine rescue in 19th-century Wales.

Michael Blastland asks if 'group-think' is distancing policy from the public.

Professional tree climber James Aldred climbs one of Britain's tallest trees.

Gerry Northam investigates allegations of incompetence in the Learning and Skills Council.

Vanessa Collingridge presents the series exploring ordinary people's links with the past.

Bronwen Maddox considers the prospects of lasting peace for the Iraqi people.

2/2. Danny Shaw tells the story of Sir Ian Blair's tenure as Metropolitan Police commissioner.

Julian O'Halloran investigates claims about the causes of the swine flu virus.

One of the surviving members of the British whaling fleet recalls life on South Georgia.

Financial commentator Martin Wolf assesses what the future may hold for the global economy

1/2. Danny Shaw tells the story of Sir Ian Blair's tenure as Metropolitan Police commissioner.

Jenny Cuffe asks if the policy of preserving jobs for British workers is being undermined.

Vanessa Collingridge presents the series exploring ordinary people's links with the past.

7/8. Chris Sperring explores declining seabird numbers and asks if it represents a crisis.

Gerry Northam goes behind the scenes to investigate 'open source' computer software.

Richard Weight asks why prison policy is so difficult to unlock and if anyone has the key.

2/2. Nick Fraser considers the role of intellectuals in relation to world events.

Allan Urry investigates more claims of bad behaviour on the part of bankers.

Vanessa Collingridge presents the series exploring ordinary people's links with the past.

6/8. Brett Westwood searches for the reasons behind the declining numbers of migrant songbirds.

1/2. Nick Fraser considers the role of intellectuals in relation to world events.

Emily Maitlis asks if the UN's heritage police is a force for good or ill.

The story of John Bellingham, the only person to murder a British Prime Minister.

5/8. Are we being consistent in our approach to non-native plants and animals?

Why are youths in Northern Ireland using social networking sites to spread sectarianism?

Why are scientists and designers are deliberately planning for failure?

Dr Mukulika Banerjee learns about the processes involved in an Indian general election.

The experiences of a painter and decorator from Sale in 19th-century China.

4/8. Huw Cordey meets the people of the tiny island of Anuta in the South Pacific.

Winifred Robinson follows misbehaving children and the work being done to help them.

Navdip Dhariwal investigates the rise of Hindu fundamentalism in Britain.

Could a leaf collection in Southport provide valuable historical research?

3/8. Paul Evans investigates the Amazon, the biggest area of rainforest left on Earth.

Investigating the concentration camps set up in France to hold Spanish Civil War refugees.

Professor Mark Stoyle goes in search of the Civil War dead from the siege of Lyme Regis.

2/8. Paul Evans visits Dorset to find out why heathland birds don't welcome hordes of visitors.

Matthew Hill investigates the drug Champix and its possible links to psychiatric illness.

How children conceived through a sperm donor can make contact with their half-siblings.

Identical twin sisters talk about their different choices to follow Islam and Christianity

Historian Professor Richard Holmes explains how the militia worked in the 18th century.

1/8. A close encounter with two birds that revealed an exquisite courtship performance.

2/2. Winifred Robinson follows the fortunes of violent and damaged youngsters.

Ian Peacock discovers why certain smells can transport us back to our childhood.

Sean Street tells the story of the German wildlife sound recordist Ludwig Koch.

Can Tony Blair's Faith Foundation succeed in promoting religion as a force for progress?

Bridget Long tries to confirm a family story about her late father during World War Two.

8/8. Clement Attlee's lack of charisma did not prevent him transforming post war Britain.

1/2. Winifred Robinson follows the fortunes of violent and damaged youngsters.

Mark Miodownik explores the prospect of a new generation of highly poweful batteries.

Mike Wooldridge reports on the quiet economic inroads into Africa being made by India.

Could a listener's hotel in North Wales once have been the court of Llewellyn the Great?

7/8. Stanley Baldwin led Britain between the wars and was the first premier to master radio.

Why black soldiers in the French army were denied the glory of liberating Paris in 1944.

4/4. Gabrielle examines the intimate relationship between the oceans and our climate.

The Australian government's deal with an indigenous community to take their nuclear waste.

Shari Vahl investigates the adequacy of safeguards to property rights in Britain.

6/8. David Lloyd George, who led Britain in the First World War with a presidential approach.

Mike examines allegations that the CIA sabotaged a shipment of buses from Britain to Cuba.

3/4. Gabrielle considers some of the remarkable resources that the oceans have to offer.

Fran Abrams asks if Britain has become a haven for torturers.

5/8. Benjamin Disraeli, who turned his skills as a novelist to politics.

Uncovering papers which accused the BBC of biased reporting of the Iranian revolution.

2/4. Gabrielle meets oceanographers who have explored the deep ocean.

4/8. Lord Palmerston, whose colourful private life masked his skill at manipulating the press.

1/4. Gabrielle Walker explores why we know so little about the planet's oceans.

3/8. Sir Robert Peel, who put the national interest before party interest.

2/8. Nick asks if history has been fair to Lord North, the prime minister who lost America.

1/8. Sir Robert Walpole, the first and longest-serving prime minister.

2/2. During the 1970s, CERN overtook rival institutions in Russia and the US.

1/2. The institution was created to bring European scientists together after WW2.