The Documentary Podcast

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Anna-Karin Karlsson: Sunglasses made for icons Dec 08, 2025

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From a quiet forest outside Stockholm to the world’s most glamorous runways, Swedish designer Anna-Karin Karlsson has built one of fashion’s most distinctive eyewear brands. Her bold, sculptural glasses and sunglasses are worn by Beyoncé, Snoop Dogg, Madonna and Elton John – yet their inspiration comes from a quiet life surrounded by trees and animals. Cultural journalist Anna Åkerlund steps inside Karlsson’s world. We discover how the designer blends fantasy with craftsmanship, and challenges the conventions of both global luxury brands and Swedish restraint.

Steel from shipwrecks Dec 07, 2025

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In recent years component parts of historic shipwrecks have started to disappear, with reports of mysterious vessels and scavengers floating around. This phenomenon has been reported in Indonesia, Australia, and the Netherlands. One theory is that the target for plunderers is pre-atomic steel, i.e any steel produced before the nuclear testing era, and therefore free of radioactive particles. Its purer material composition makes it essential in the manufacturing of specialist scientific tools such as MRI machines, and as such is highly valuable. Shipwrecks - oftentimes war graves - are one of the few remaining sources for this material. Materials scientist Anna Ploszajski investigates a murky picture of illegal plundering across the globe.

Reporting the Nigerian school kidnappings Dec 06, 2025

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More than 300 children were kidnapped from a school in the Western Nigerian village of Papiri in November, but in the aftermath, accounts of the kidnappings were confused and misleading. BBC Africa's Madina Maishanu was part of a team of journalists who faced huge risk to visit the site of the kidnappings and hear the testimonies of parents.

In October this year, a young Chechen woman living in Armenia, Aishat Baimuradova, was killed. She'd previously escaped a repressive life in Chechnya but is now believed to be the first Chechen woman in exile to be killed outside of Russia. BBC Russian's Zlata Onufrieva and Olga Prosvirova set out what is known about Aishat's life and death, and consider the implications of her killing for Chechen women living in exile.

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.

Produced by Laura Thomas, Caroline Ferguson and Hannah Dean.

(Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)

Australia’s under-16 social media ban Dec 06, 2025

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From 10 December, Australian children under 16 will be banned from most social media platforms including TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat. The ban is designed to protect teenagers from harmful content and other risks such as cyberbullying and grooming. Surveys suggest the legislation is popular with many parents, but it has been challenged by social media companies and some young campaigners have argued it disregards children’s rights. We bring together two families in New South Wales who are on opposite sides of the debate. We also hear from three young Australians with tens of thousands of social media followers, including Ella who says, "it’s the content that needs to be removed, not us".

The mosque for Bangladesh’s transgender women Dec 05, 2025

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On the banks of the Brahmaputra River, a remote village in northern Bangladesh serves as a sanctuary for the hijra (transgender) community, a once-revered but now persecuted group. In March 2024, a mosque built by and for hijras offered a rare haven for worship without fear. After the August 2024 protests that toppled the secular government, a surge in religious extremism has fueled renewed violence against minorities, including the hijra community. Their mosque, once a beacon of hope and inclusivity, now faces significant threats. Reporter Sahar Zand gains rare access to this embattled community, following their leader, Tanu Hijra Guru, who fights tirelessly for the women she calls her daughters. Outside the village, Sahar witnesses the harsh realities of survival - begging, beatings, prostitution - and speaks to hijras forced to live as men under family pressure. This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from Heart and Soul, exploring personal approaches to spirituality from around the world

Made in Russia: The Kremlin’s economic rebrand Dec 04, 2025

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How Moscow is working around international sanctions: promoting self-sustainability, elevating Russian brands and deepening trade with friendly countries. After Western companies retreated as the full-scale invasion of Ukraine started, Russian consumer habits and the economy began to shift. We explore how sanctions reshaped everyday life and ask the million-dollar question: can Russia sustain a forever war?

From rocks to riches Dec 03, 2025

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Meteorites are pieces of space rocks, which having survived a fiery journey through the atmosphere, land on the earth’s surface. No-one knows the exact number which make it to the ground each year, but this extra-terrestrial material holds the secrets to the beginnings of our solar system. If you are lucky enough to come across one, you might disregard it as just a dusty old rock. But others know exactly what they are looking for and their worth. With rare specimens often out of the price range of scientists and institutions, they end up in the hands of private collectors - but what is the impact of that on those trying to study them?

Joana Vasconcelos: Mask of mirrors Dec 01, 2025

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The Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos is renowned for her large-scale sculptural pieces which have featured in galleries across the world. She has used materials such as fabric, plastic and even tampons to construct her works. In June 2018 her exhibition I’m Your Mirror opened at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. For this Joana made a series of new sculptures, including an enormous Venetian-style mask, made of overlapping mirrors. The construction of the huge mask was a process full of challenges as the enormous structure took shape in Joana’s Lisbon studio. In this programme Anna McNamee follows Joana through the process of working with the mirrors and explores how the piece is designed, shaped and packed up ready to begin its journey to Bilbao.

Young and stateless Nov 30, 2025

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What does it mean to belong nowhere? Across the world, millions of people are denied citizenship and live without a country to call their own. It is estimated half of these are children. The majority of people become stateless or are born stateless through no fault of their own, but the onus is often put on the individual to fight for access to basic human rights that citizens take for granted. With insight from long-time experts, we discover how borders, nationality laws, histories and gender discrimination continue to exclude millions. We hear what it means to grow up without a passport, to be denied access to education, jobs and healthcare, to navigate Kafka-esque bureaucracy. Yet this is also a story of resilience, of young people who are holding state actors to account and shaping a global movement for recognition and pride.

Ireland's new alcohol warning Nov 30, 2025

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Ireland has become the first country in the world to introduce labels linking alcohol with cancer and liver disease. Some producers began re-labelling their products this year and they're already on sale in pubs and supermarkets across the country. The rest of the drinks industry was due to follow suit next year but the Irish government has decided to delay the compulsory introduction of these labels until 2028. They blame uncertainty with world trade, but critics believe it’s the result of lobbying by the drinks industry which claims the labels are both excessive and fearmongering.

Ireland has a complex relationship with drinking, with its pubs venerated in many parts of the world and huge brands such as Guinness and Jamesons major exports. But alcoholism has been a long running issue putting a strain on the Irish health service. While overall alcohol consumption in Ireland is falling, binge drinking and drinking amongst teenagers and young people is increasing. Are Irish people and the country as a whole developing a new relationship with drink, and if so, which direction will win out? Katie Flannery heads out with the drinkers and non-drinkers in Dublin to find out.

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

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