The Radio 3 Documentary Podcast
In-depth documentaries which explore a different aspect of history, science, philosophy, film, visual arts and literature. The Sunday Feature is broadcast every Sunday at 6.45pm on BBC Radio 3.
Episodes to download
-
The Radio 3 Documentary: King Kong - the Township Jazz Musical (rpt, Reel Soul Movies Ltd)
Tue 14 Aug 2018
Soweto Kinch uncovers the extraordinary story of King Kong, the township jazz musical.
-
From the Ashes
Sat 8 Jul 2017
Allan Little looks at arts festivals started in the aftermath of World War Two
-
Monteverdi's Women
Mon 13 Aug 2018
Catherine Fletcher explores Monterverdi's pioneering use of female roles and performers
-
The Killers
Thu 9 Aug 2018
Adam Smith traces the birth and afterlife of Hemingway's explosive short story.
-
v. is for Tony
Tue 7 Aug 2018
To mark Tony Harrison's 80th birthday, Paul Farley profiles the unique poet. (R)
-
I Know an Island - RM Lockley
Mon 6 Aug 2018
Jon Gower uncovers the work of the pioneering naturalist RM Lockley.
-
In Search of Yves Klein
Mon 16 Jul 2018
Liliane Lijn explores the work of postwar French artist Yves Klein.
-
Tony Harrison's Prague Spring
Sun 8 Jul 2018
How one of Britain's best known poets experienced the drama of the 1960s Prague Spring.
-
Binary and Beyond: part two
Sun 1 Jul 2018
Emma Smith on how coverage of gender in the arts might help us understand today's debate
-
Binary and Beyond Part 1
Sun 24 Jun 2018
Might explorations of gender in great art of the past help illuminate today's issues?
-
The Summer Forest
Fri 15 Jun 2018
Once upon a time, Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough woke up in the summer forest.
-
David Attenborough - World Music Collector
Mon 21 May 2018
David Attenborough recalls collecting music from around the world, and listens once again
-
Japan's Never Ending War
Fri 11 May 2018
Rana Mitter visits Tokyo to explore how Japan remembers World War Two today through film.
-
Oh Dr Kinsey Look What You've Done to Me
Sun 6 May 2018
Exploring different aspects of history, science, philosophy and the arts.
-
Japan's Never-Ending War
Thu 3 May 2018
Rana Mitter visits Tokyo to explore how Japan remembers World War Two through movies.
-
Japan's Never-Ending War
Sun 29 Apr 2018
Rana Mitter visits Tokyo to explore how Japan remembers World War Two today through film.
-
Sunday Feature: Supernatural Japan
Sun 22 Apr 2018
An alternative look at modern Japan's uneasy relationship with ghosts and ghost stories.
-
Exit Burbage - The Man Who Created Hamlet
Mon 16 Apr 2018
Without Richard Burbage, there would be no Shakespeare. Yet he's virtually unknown - why?
-
-
Sunday Feature - Blind, Black and Blue
Mon 19 Mar 2018
Why were so many of the early blues musicians in America's Deep South blind?
-
Sunday Feature - Concerto: The One and the Many
Thu 15 Mar 2018
Simon Russell Beale explores the dynamics between soloist and orchestra in the concerto.
-
Literary Pursuits - Jekyll and Hyde
Mon 26 Feb 2018
Sarah Dillon discovers the story behind the writing of R.L. Stevenson's horror classic
-
The Radio 3 Documentary: Radio Controlled
Mon 12 Feb 2018
Robert Worby on how post-war German radio was conscripted to fight the cultural cold war.
-
SUNDAY FEATURE THE 40 DAYS OF MUSA DAGH
Mon 29 Jan 2018
Franz Werfel's 1933 novel The 40 Days of Musa Dagh was written as remembrance & warning.
-
New Generation Thinkers: Edmund Richardson and Sarah Jackson
Sun 3 Dec 2017
New Generation Thinkers: Edmund Richardson and Sarah Jackson
-
Resurrecting Mayakovsky
Sun 19 Nov 2017
Ian Sansom attempts to resurrect the spirit of poet Vladimir Mayakovsky
-
Sunday Feature: Emigranti - 1917 Revisited
Mon 6 Nov 2017
How do Russia's latest cultural emigres feel about leaving their homeland?
-
Sunday Feature: New Generation Thinkers
Sun 29 Oct 2017
Features from two New Generation Thinkers on Afrofuturism and German Lieder
-
A Flapper's Guide to the Opera
Sun 22 Oct 2017
Dr Alexandra Wilson steps into the shoes of a flapper for a journey back to 1920s London.
-
Sunday Feature: John Tusa's Opera Journey
Sun 8 Oct 2017
John Tusa revisits the three provincial German towns where he first discovered opera
