The Documentary Podcast

Can Route 66 towns survive on nostalgia?

We head west along America's famed Route 66. As the road celebrates its 100th birthday, Victoria Craig finds out whether the pull of neon-drenched nostalgia is still attr

Mapping India: The world's largest count

India is undertaking the biggest population count the world has ever attempted - a digital census designed to capture the lives, identities and realities of more than 1.4

Women in South Africa: 'We just want to be safe'

Warning: contains description of domestic violence In the last few months, nine women – including a young mother out jogging – have been murdered near Johannesburg. South

Mountain spirits of Spiti

Over the last 10 years, Dr Jane Orton has visited the remote Spiti Valley in the Himalayas to speak to the local Bhoti people about their lore and spiritual beliefs. In t

A women's revolt in Germany

A national debate over sexualised violence online has erupted in Germany, and been seized on by Germany's feminist movement. As AI-generated deepfakes and other forms of

Bringing Kashmir’s lakes back to life

Wular and Dal lakes are among Kashmir's most famous natural treasures, but decades of pollution, encroachment and neglect have taken their toll. Chhavi Sachdev follows co

Has Poland fallen out of love with Ukraine?

When President Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Poland opened its doors and their hearts to Ukrainian refugees. Millions of Ukrainians passed th

Where is Austin Tice? 1. 'We believe he’s alive'

American journalist Austin Tice, vanished in Syria, but the US president says he’s alive. For more than a decade Austin's mother Debra has been leading the search for her

From Mao and Nixon to Xi and Trump: A history of China-US trade

With Presidents Xi and Trump expected to meet in the United States this week, Will Bain looks back on the history of trade between the two great nations. It's always been

The dictators' survival guide

Xi Jinping is known to be a ruthless leader. In the last five years alone, China’s richest man, Jack Ma, China’s defence minister and the country’s foreign minister have

Can we live without our phones?

For many of us, our phones are the first thing we look at in the morning and the last thing we put down at night. But with growing pressure over screen time and concerns

How to leave this Earth

Dalia Mogahed is one of the most prominent Muslim voices in American public life. For three decades, she has researched and defended the experiences of Muslim communities

Clever ways to cut waste from nappies to games and desks

We look at three solutions connected to the “three Rs” – reduce, reuse and recycle. The city of Brussels in Belgium is in the process of moving all 40 municipal nurseries

Stories from the New Silk Road: The ‘frenemy’

Katy Watson highlights Australia’s complex, turbulent and evolving relationship with their number one trading partner - China. Having signed a free trade agreement eleven

Turkey on trial: Can courts control a nation?

Political analysts and human rights organisations say Turkey's courts are increasingly being used to silence political dissent and to shape a more socially conservative s

The cost of war: Inside Russia's economic unease

Economic unease is growing among Russian workers as fuel shortages and Ukrainian drone strikes disrupt key sectors of the economy. Ed Butler examines the pressures faci

The Briefing Room: Are Gen Z movements reshaping politics?

In May, the Chief Justice of India unwittingly gave a name to a generational protest. He called unemployed young people “cockroaches” and the mass youth movement that had

The business of modern dating

Evidence suggests that millions around the world are ditching the most popular dating apps to pursue alternative options. Users complain that swiping is not leading to da

The Reunion: The 9/11 Attacks

On 11 September 2001, suicide attackers hijacked two passenger planes flying over the eastern United States and crashed them into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Cente

The Woman Who Saved Me on 9/11

On 11 September, 2001, Paul Carris was working on the 71st floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. When the building was struck, he joined the evacuation and