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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 war in Sudan, to the legacy of football icon Mo Salah, 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

Drug overdose has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans. Fentanyl – a synthetic opioid mass produced in Mexico and smuggled across the border – drove the increasing number of fatalities ever higher. But there’s a good news story that hasn’t been widely reported… Drug-related deaths fell year on year from 2023 to 2024 by around 25%. In some states, the decline was even more dramatic - North Carolina was one of them. In a two-part series for Assignment, Linda Pressly first visits the state capital of Raleigh to report on some of the reasons why fewer people are dying from illicit narcotics.

But drug-related fatalities haven't fallen everywhere in the US. In Nevada, those mortality statistics have continued to tick up. In the second in this Assignment series, Linda travels to Las Vegas and Reno to find out why this desert state is bucking the trend.

This episode of The Documentary comes to you from Assignment, investigations and journeys into the heart of global events.

(Image: Kayla, a former fentanyl user and now a client of a LEAD programme (Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion) in North Carolina that diverts substance abusers away from crime. Credit: Tim Mansel/BBC)

Drugs, Overdose, Hope - North Carolina and Nevada

How fixed is the borderline between human music and the sounds of nature? That is a question that guides the work of Los Angeles-based composer Alexey Seliverstov. In this programme, Regan Morris follows Alexey’s creative process from recording the dawn chorus in the Santa Monica mountains, through the ingenious transformations of the field recordings to the finished multi-channel and multi-sensory installation for the Shelemay Sound Lab at Harvard University. 
There is more to Alexey’s music than first meets the ear: some of the ‘birds’ are actually the sounds of his own and his brother’s voices recorded when they were children and altered beyond recognition by Alexey’s sophisticated processing. Adding ear-prints of empty spaces to the sounds of chirping synthesisers, similar to the effect of repeated exposures on an old-fashioned camera film, draw us further into Alexey’s imaginary landscapes. Are these soundscapes artificial or still mostly natural? How does mixing the sounds of nature and sounds that we associate with humans, such as pianos, alter our idea of what music can be?

Alexey Seliverstov: Bionic birdsong

During the Brazilian military dictatorship, the Krenak indigenous people were banned from speaking their language, imprisoned in reformatories and forcibly displaced from their land. In 2024, the State asked them for forgiveness. Can it be granted? 
Journalist Pūlama Kaufman travels to the remote city of Resplendor in the south-east of Brazil to meet up with Brazilian environmental journalist, Cristina Serra. Together, they are welcomed into the Krenak Indigenous territory where they speak with Karnak elders, philosophers and community leaders. 
The Documentary uncovers the many layers to what Brazilian Civil Prosecutor Edmundo Dias calls an intentional, “genocide” of the Krenak, lead by Brazilian federal agencies. For decades, very little was known about what the Krenak suffered during the dictatorship, but now they are speaking out. And in 2024, the Amnesty Commission made its first ever apology to an Indigenous group when the president of the Commission got down on her knees in front of the Krenak.

Brazil's Miracle: an Indigenous disaster

India is known for its close knit families and communities, but modern work practices mean more and more people are living far from home, and suffering from loneliness. Reporter Sumedha Pal in Dehli shares the stories of some of the people in India who are trying to find creative solutions to connect with others. 
Animated film 'K-pop Demon Hunters' has topped streaming and music charts globally, pitting a demon hunter girl-group Huntrx against a would be soul-stealing boy band, Saja Boys. It's an English language film, but Koreans have taken the protagonists to heart, as BBC Korean Yuna Ku reports. 
Plus, why do mosques in Kashmir have such a distinctive look? We discuss with Aliya Nazki from BBC Urdu. 

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. 

Presented by Faranak Amidi 

This is an EcoAudio certified production.

Tackling loneliness in India

President Donald Trump recently addressed what he described as the “horrible crisis” in autism, and rapid rise in reported cases over the last two decades. Previously, he has suggested a link between some vaccines and autism, and in his latest remarks, he warned pregnant women to avoid taking the painkiller Tylenol, or Paracetamol as it is known in many countries. Scientists around the world have condemned his remarks. They say the rise in reported cases of autism is due to increased understanding and diagnoses, and that there is no evidence to show that autism is caused by painkillers or vaccines. We speak to autistic people and the parents of autistic children to discuss their reactions to President Trump’s comments.

Trump and autism: People affected speak out

After two long years President Trump has announced a ceasefire agreement which should see the remaining hostages returned home in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners. How have the families of Israeli hostages and their loved ones, held captive in dark tunnels for hundreds of days, managed to hold onto hope? Do people deepen their faith during periods of immense suffering, or turn away from religion? For this edition of Heart and Soul, Naomi Scherbel-Ball explores how, two years on since the October 7th attacks, hostages and their families see their lives and their faith. Many of those held hostage in Gaza come from the kibbutzim, largely secular communities that border Gaza, or were taken from the Nova music festival. Some of those released have spoken about reconnecting with their Jewish faith, with one female hostage even translating her prayers into Arabic so she would be allowed to continue to pray by her captors. Others speak of the strength they found in their family, the kibbutzim movement and community. 65-year-old American-Israeli Keith Siegel, who was kidnapped with his wife Aviva, explains how his connection to Judaism deepened during nearly 500 days in captivity. On his release, his daughter asked what he would like for their first family shabbat meal together after nearly 500 days. “What I want most is a kippah and a kiddush cup”, he answered, referring to the head covering worn by observant Jewish men and the symbolic cup that is held during the Friday night blessing in Judaism. Now back with his family in Israel, he says his heart is not whole until the remaining hostages return. 

This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from Heart and Soul, exploring personal approaches to spirituality from around the world

Produced and Presented by Naomi Scherbel-Ball 
Executive Producer: Rajeev Gupta 
Editor: Chloe Walker

Searching for hope as a hostage in Gaza

Frank McWeeny heads to the dancefloors of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) to uncover what Vietnamese alternative culture looks and sounds like today. With 70% of the country under 35, young people are the driving force behind a different image of Vietnam, far away from poverty and war. They are asserting their identity through music, fashion and their own take on traditional values. They are changing perceptions of what it means to be Vietnamese in 2025.
We hear from DIY music collective Dismal, forward-thinking underground club The Observatory, and members of the nightlife and fashion scenes.

Producer/presenter: Frank McWeeny
Editor: Susan Marling 
A Just Radio production

Global dancefloor: Saigon

We have identified seven members of an anti-Islamic biker gang who oversaw security teams at aid sites for starving Palestinians, run by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Correspondent Andy Verity unearths who they are, what they believe and how their ideology may have fuelled their trips to Gaza. 

Presenter: Andy Verity
Producers: Reha Kansara, Tom Beal and William Dahlgreen
Editors: Flora Carmichael and Anisa Subedar

The biker gang ‘securing’ deadly Gaza aid sites

With their pleated skirts and bowler hats the “cholita” women are a common sight in Bolivia’s administrative capital La Paz. They’re often from indigenous Aymara and Quechua cultures. Until recently cholita was used as a derogatory term to talk about their distinctive traditional clothing and they were discriminated against.

Jane Chambers travels to Bolivia to find out how these women are reclaiming their cultural heritage and going from outcasts to icons and what it says about society. Join her to meet the cholita wrestlers, fashion designers and mountaineers changing public opinion.

This episode of The Documentary comes to you from Assignment, investigations and journeys into the heart of global events.

Bolivia’s Cholitas – From Outcasts to Icons

After growing up in the north of England British milliner Stephen Jones went on to become a pioneering British hat maker working in Paris. He has been creating avant-garde designs for the last 45 years, inspired by Surrealist art, trailblazing fashions at New Romantic club nights, and cinema. He was friends with pop star Boy George who wore his hats, and he famously created a tweed crown for Vivienne Westwood. Rather than a mere accessory, he aims to transform a hat into a statement of identity, and has collaborated with designers like Jean Paul Gaultier and Dior, helping to revitalise fine hat-making skills inspired by looks from copies of Vogue from the 1940s, 50s and 60s. The prestigious Palais Galliera fashion museum in Paris holds exhibitions every year, showcasing how fashion has evolved from the 18th century to the present day. Its focus is on the most iconic designers and Stephen Jones is one of only two hat makers ever to be included – a huge honour. Rosa Johnston-Flint joins Stephen in Paris as his retrospective is about to close and visits his workshop as he prepares his Spring-Summer 2026 collection for London Fashion Week.

Stephen Jones’ hats: A party on your head

An estimated five million tonnes of plastic waste is exported each year, with the majority coming from 10 high-income countries. 

Malaysia has become a global hub for plastic waste imports and recycling. But how clean and safe is the recycling trade and how much plastic can actually be recycled?

For Assignment, Leana Hosea travels to Malaysia to meet those who are risking their lives to stem the tide of foreign plastic waste. She tracks unfolding research into microplastics and people’s health, and gains access inside recycling factories to reveal the dirty truth behind the trade.

Assignment: Plastic recycling’s dirty secrets

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