Episodes
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Riding the Graphene Wave
Graphene is a super-strong and super-conductive material. Gerry Northam looks at its move from the laboratory to the commercial world.
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Inside the Fed
The US Federal Reserve, America's central bank, is one hundred years old. Simon Jack tells its surprising story.
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Brazil - Fighting Slavery
Brazil's anti-slavery hit-squads are unique. Linda Pressly joins a raid with a committed band of labour inspectors on an alleged slave labour operation in deepest rural Brazil.
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Who's Left Holding the Baby
Childcare options in Fiji, where children are taken care of by the community, and China where infants as young as three might live away from their parents in boarding kindergartens. Madeleine Morris reports.
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Lines in the Sand
The emerging Jihadi challenge across the Sahara and Sahel regions of Africa. Are there links between various Islamist groups?
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Bangladesh: Trials of Strength
Farhana Haider investigates the prosecution of alleged war criminals from the conflict of 1971 and asks if the trials are being used to target the opposition.
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Notes from Kampala
The story of Kampala Music School told by its pupils and teachers. Kampala Music School began life in 2001 in the basement of the YMCA but is now the international centre of musical excellence in Uganda.
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The Revenge Porn Avengers
When a group of young Texan women found naked pictures of themselves online, they wanted justice, but their critics accused them of trampling on freedom of speech.
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The Harder They Come - Part Two
Forty years after the premiere of Jamaican cult film The Harder They Come, Chris Salewicz asks whether a whole generation of musicians were directly inspired to live a life of crime by the film.
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Madiba's African Footsteps
Mandela's 1962 pan-African journey to explain the mission of the ANC and seek political support, money and military training. What impact did these travels in free Africa have on Mandela the man - and Mandela the politician?
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Mandela - an Audio History
Nelson Mandela on the struggle against apartheid, with words from those who fought with - and against - him. One of the most comprehensive oral histories of apartheid in South Africa ever broadcast.
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Life of Mandela
A look back at the life of Nelson Mandela by the BBC's former South Africa correspondent, Allan Little.
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India: Resisting Rape
One year on from the horrific attack on a student in Delhi, Joanna Jolly hears from three women who've chosen to report a rape in a country that is just waking up to the problem.
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Jamaica - The Harder They Come
The cult classic Jamaican crime film The Harder They Come, its reggae soundtrack - and its legacy. Meet the people who made it and starred in it: Jimmy Cliff, Chappy St Juste and Carl Bradshaw.
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Inside The Vatican
Pope Francis is being acclaimed for his leadership of the Roman Catholic Church - but why did his predecessor suddenly resign? Mark Dowd travels to Rome to investigate.
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It's a Mall World
Be it in Lagos, Minneapolis or Rio de Janeiro, how have shopping malls become such a permanent fixture in modern cities?
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Mexico - Exorcising the Narco-Devil
Vladimir Hernandez meets the Mexican Catholic priests who believe the country's drug wars mean it's in the grip of the devil - and who are fighting it through exorcism.
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The Father of English Football
How decisions noted by Ebenezer Morley in 1863 allowed football to become the most successful of international sports.
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Moldova - Sour Grapes
Tiny Moldova is the world's 7th biggest wine exporter so a ban on exports to Russia has hit hard. Tessa Dunlops asks if Russian politics will crush this thriving industry.
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The Rhetoric of Cancer
Are military metaphors such as 'battling' always appropriate when it comes to dealing with cancer? Andrew Graystone explores the language used to describe cancer.
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JFK: Dallas Remembers
People with a perspective on the assassination and death of John F Kennedy in Dallas: former secret service agent Clint Hill, witness Gayle Newman, former journalist Hugh Aynesworth, doctor Kenneth Salyer and retired dective James Leavelle.
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Colombia Child Soldiers
With rare access to the government's rehabilitation programme Tom Esslemont meets children as they attempt to find their way to back to their families and society.
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Across Jamaica's Gay Divide - Part One
Jamaica's gay rights and anti-homosexuality movements: what it is like to be a gay person in Jamaica from day-to-day.
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Indonesia: The Humungous Healthcare Plan
Can Indonesia create the world's largest public health system? Claire Bolderson investigates.
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Who's Holding the Baby
Madeleine Morris explores alternative childcare with a visit a boarding school where children as young as two are educated away from their parents.
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Melilla’s Border Stories
Melilla is one of Europe’s most southerly land borders with Africa, a town under intense pressure from migration, Linda Pressly investigates.
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Who's Holding the Baby?
Childcare - its costs and its developmental implications - has become one of the most vexed issues for new parents in the developed world. Madeleine Morris looks around the world at alternative approaches to childcare. In the first programme, she visits Fiji.
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The Pink Panthers
The inside story of the world’s most successful gang of jewel thieves, nicknamed The Pink Panthers.
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Lighting Lagos
Neal Razzell spends days and nights in Lagos with the electricity teams who are working to literally bring power to the people.
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Women on the Front Line
Emma Barnett examines which countries in the world do allow women to serve, and contrasts the experiences of three women to present a picture of life for women on the military front line.
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Women Farmers
The toils and tribulations of Polly Apio a smallholder in rural Uganda, where men own the land, but women toil in the fields to provide the food to feed their families.
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Battling Booze in Alice Springs
James Fletcher travels to Alice Springs in Australia to hear first-hand how alcohol is affecting the Aboriginal community there.
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Ageing and Caring
As the global population ages, is it time for a re-think about how we view elderly people? Listen to four very different stories of growing older and how the world cares about ageing.
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Betty in the Sky with a Suitcase
"Anything that can happen on earth, at some point happens in the sky." Air hostess Betty Thesky shares the weird, wonderful, and wacky things that happen on a plane at 35,000 feet.
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The Bucket List
Cancer-fighting BBC foreign correspondent Helen Fawkes shares her list of things she wants to do before she dies... a bucket list, or as she likes to call it, a list for living.
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Malala's Story
The dramatic, disturbing and inspiring story of Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head for campaigning for the right of all girls to an education. She talks about her life in her own words, in an exclusive interview with Mishal Husain.
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After the Collapse - the Rana Plaza Legacy
More than a thousand garment workers died and several thousand were injured in the collapse of the 8 storey factory in Dhaka. Jane Deith reports on whether anything has changed.
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China and America: Harmony and Hostility
The BBC's North America Editor, Mark Mardell, travels to China to explore the most important geopolitical relationship in the world today, between China and America.
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The Iraq War
Lucy Ash looks at the conflicts within Iraq between 2005 and 2012, told from the point of view of senior decision-makers.
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Isolation
Man is a social creature, so how does he cope in situations of isolation - bereft of human contact - or in situations where he or she is confined in the company of just a few individuals for long periods of time? Anahi Aradas explores the effects of isolation and confinement in a tiny community…
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Attack on Nairobi’s Westgate Mall: The People's Story
The BBC’s Anne Soy reflects on what these last few days will mean for the future of her city, Nairobi.
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Venezuela – Out of Stock
Ed Butler follows consumer’s quest for goods, the phenomenon of widespread smuggling, and asks whether the government has a plan to tackle the sense of looming economic crisis.
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The Iraq War
Lucy Ash looks at the mistakes made early in the occupation of Iraq during the period 2003 to 2004 in this documentary about the invasion of Iraq and the ensuing decade of conflict, from the point of view of senior decision-makers.
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The Red Cross Crisis
The Red Cross turns 150 this year, but is their humanitarian role still relevant? Michael Ignatieff investigates.
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Indonesia – The Mercury Menace
Linda Pressly investigates the threat from mercury poisoning to the health of Indonesian gold miners.
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The Iraq War
The inside story of the invasion of Iraq and the ensuring decade of conflict, told from the point of view of the senior decision-makers involved at the time. In this first part: the decision to go to war and the conflict until 2003.
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New Year, New Burma
As Burma (also known as Myanmar), opens up, one new freedom comes in the form of thangyat - the satirical art form, newly legalised after two decades of being banned. Traditionally chanted on stages across the country during the water festival, thangyats are playful skits, criticising politicians...
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China's Leftover Men
Lucy Ash reports on China’s gender imbalance which by 2020 will leave 24 million bachelors looking for love.
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The New Ottomans Part 3
Turkish businessmen have been rapidly rebuilding their links with the Balkan states – and some see this as a first step towards rebuilding of bridges with Western Europe. What is Turkey's relationship with Europe?
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The Congress and the Commander in Chief
The history of tension between the US President and Congress over taking military action. President Obama seems to be setting a precedent by asking Congress to debate and vote in advance of action in Syria. How will this action be judged against 200 years of America deciding between peace and war?