The Documentary

In some places, the nearest safe operating room can be hours or even days away. We find out about a portable operating theatre called SurgiBox that fits in a backpack and inflates in minutes, creating a safe surgical environment for operations almost anywhere. We meet the co-founder of the start-up behind it and see it put to the test, and speak to a surgeon who has used it to save lives far from a hospital. We also hear from Field Ready, whose engineers in Syria are using 3D printing to bring broken hospital equipment back to life, and we hear about Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms — grassroots command centres where volunteers coordinate life-saving help and vital information in the midst of war.for more from People fixing the World search wherever you get your BBC Podcasts.

Two years ago a group of Jewish and Palestinian peace activists stood almost alone in Israel in calling for a ceasefire, as Israel launched a massive offensive on Gaza in response to the Hamas attacks of 7th October 2023. Emily Wither returns to hear how the lives of these activists have changed. She explores whether their message of peace and coexistence is breaking through at a time when societal divisions are deeper than ever.The group Standing Together, known for their matching purple t-shirts, is a group of Jewish Israelis and Palestinian citizens of Israel (referred to by the state as Israeli Arabs, the country’s largest minority making up over 20% of the population).It is unusual in either Israel or Palestine to find a mixed group working together for a shared cause and advocating for coexistence. Standing Together has received criticism from both sides of the conflict; with many Israelis calling them traitors and some Palestinian groups calling for a boycott of the movement. Despite all this the group

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.

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.

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. (Phot

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".

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

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?

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?

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.

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 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 de

Around one fifth of the world's oil tankers now belong to the 'shadow fleet', more than a thousand ships which Russia uses to skirt sanctions and - increasingly - conduct acts of sabotage and hybrid warfare. BBC Russian's economics reporter Alexey Kalmykov explains how, with its opaque ownership structures and uninsured, poorly maintained ships, the shadow fleet presents an ecological, economic and strategic threat. On the night of 13th November 1985, the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in Colombia erupted, and the resulting landslide of mud and debris devastated the nearby city of Armero, causing twenty thousand deaths in the city itself and a further 5,000 in the wider area. In the aftermath, a baby called Jennifer was left with the Red Cross by her mother, who is then believed to have ventured back to the ruins of the family home to search for her partner. She never returned. BBC Mundo's Jose Carlos Cueto tells the story of Jennifer, who has become known as the 'daughter of the volcano' and continues to search for

BBC Tech Editor Zoe Kleinman was about to go live on TV to explain a global outage affecting dozens of websites and apps. Millions would be watching, but she kept forgetting a key technical phrase and had to resort to reading from notes. The ‘brain fog’ Zoe experienced coincided with perimenopause – the start of the menopause and time in life for women where hormone levels are changing. She wrote about the experience on social media, attracting thousands of views and hundreds of supportive comments. Zoe says that, at the time, she felt she had failed and her “professional pride had been dented.” We bring together Zoe with two women with similar experiences.

Claire grew up in a multi-faith household that often looked beyond traditional beliefs for solutions. At 17, everything changed when her mother discovered that Claire was speaking to “dead people.” Convinced it was ungodly, her mother turned to both a medium and her charismatic Christian sect for guidance, asking priests to intervene so that Waswa, Claire’s twin brother who had died at birth, would no longer appear. Soon after, the dreams that had been Claire’s source of comfort vanished, leaving her lonely and confused. Searching for help, Claire eventually encountered a spiritual teacher who introduced her to a path blending African spiritualism and Christianity. Through this, she began to find her voice and discovered others with similar experiences. She is now feeling less alone in her new spiritual community.

Why the traditional kokoshnik headdress is en vogue in Russia, and how it has become a poster image for the Kremlin’s vision of national identity. When President Putin talks not of tanks but of tiaras, it’s a signal that symbolism matters. We unpick the dress code of the Russian “patriot” to explore a deeper idea at the heart of everything from fashion and music to entertainment and literature. We go on a mission to decode the “cultural code” that, in the eyes of Russia’s leaders, makes the nation unique - and morally superior. Contributors: Veronika Malinboym, Yulia Volovik Producer: Kriszta Satori Presenter: Krassi Ivanova Twigg Music: Pete Cunningham

Coastal erosion has become a serious problem for many seaside communities, no more so than in Normandy, in north-west France, where rising sea levels, strong tides and stronger storms have swept away homes, sand dunes and beaches. Every year the sea here is reclaiming several metres of coastline. But there are arguments over what to do about it. In the area around Coutainville beachfront homeowners, oyster producers and campsites are confronting local and national authority plans for some of them to move and to allow nature to take its course. Some locals, suspicious of outside influence, argue this is a conspiracy by environmentalists to get rid of them. And yet others say the growing impact of climate change on coastal erosion is there for all to see. Carolyn Lamboley speaks to those on both sides of the debate about what can be done to stem the tide.This episode of The Documentary comes to you from Assignment, investigations and journeys into the heart of global events.

The Shiralee is a 1955 novel by D'Arcy Niland, telling the story of a wandering swagman on a journey through the Australian outback, accompanied by his 10-year-old daughter. It was made into a 1957 film by Ealing Studios, starring Peter Finch, and now it is being brought to the stage of the Sydney Opera House by the Sydney Theatre Company. Mark Burman talks to the show's cast and crew, including playwright Kate Mulvany, about this Australian classic's journey to the stage. This episode contains a reference to suicide. If you are suffering distress or despair and need support, you could speak to a health professional, or an organisation that offers support. Details of help available in many countries can be found at Befrienders Worldwide: befrienders.org.

For nearly 60 years, the Indian government has been fighting a violent group of Maoists in the country. They are followers of the late Chinese leader, Mao Zedong and have carried out bombings and killings in different parts of India. Now, the Indian authorities claim to be on the brink of defeating these insurgents and has said that they will be fully removed by March 2026. There is one group that has been attributed with the recent success against the Maoists, known as the DRG or District Reserve Guard. They are part of the police, with the sole purpose of defeating the Maoists. But although they have successfully reduced Maoist attacks in recent years, critics have questioned the use of force by the DRG. Jugal Purohit, who reports for the BBC in India, recently travelled to the frontline of this nearly 60 year war, to meet the DRG and the locals who have been affected by the violence.Rare access: Inside India’s claims to eliminate Maoist insurgency https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=848zVNZV7ssIn Thailand, for

Another round of global climate talks is taking place at the COP30 summit, but some are questioning whether there is much point to these gatherings. We bring people together who have decided to take their own action. One guest, Gwynn, suggests the best way to save the planet is to not have children. She has even had surgery so she cannot get pregnant. “Forests and oceans and prairies are being destroyed so I can exist, so I can have my life,” Gwynn tells us. “I decided that I didn’t want to do that, I didn’t want to continue that, and I realised that the most impactful thing I could do is to not make more people.” Gwynn, who is in the US, is joined in conversation with another environmental campaigner, Maja in Sweden. She has three children. We also explore what happens when families disagree about the environment. And, we hear from an airline pilot, Rich, and his son, Finn, a climate activist. Can they find common ground?