BBC DOCS AND SPECIALS

Each month, the BBC World Service offers new documentaries and specials selected specifically for U.S. audiences, with in-depth, relevant reporting. Typically one-hour, or two half-hours on a similar topic, they offer great content for any time of day, and satisfy audiences' needs for deeper narratives and more reflective listening.

Monthly offerings are available via ContentDepot, complete with promos and billboards. Click on individual titles to visit and subscribe to unique ContentDepot pages, where you can access programs as air windows open.

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World Book Club: Kate Mosse

November 2 - December 31, 2024
One hour

Kate Mosse talks about her bestselling historical thriller Labyrinth. Ahead of its 20th anniversary early next year, the author Kate Mosse talks to Harriett Gilbert and readers from around the world, about her globally bestselling novel, Labyrinth. A historical thriller set between medieval and contemporary France where the lives of two women, living centuries apart, are linked in a common destiny. In 13th century Carcassonne, seventeen-year-old Alaïs is given a mysterious book by her father which he claims contains the secret of the Grail. While 700 years later, archaeologist Dr Alice Tanner discovers two skeletons in a forgotten cave in the French Pyrenees and sets out to investigate their origin.

The Forum: Jewellery

November 23 - December 19, 2024
One hour

The timeless allure of precious ornaments. The earliest known precious personal adornments continue to puzzle archaeologists and historians: what were our ancestors using them for tens of thousands of years ago? Since then, why have we continued to ascribe so much value to what are either shiny metals or colourful stones? And why is no traditional wedding in places such as India complete without copious amounts of gold? These are some of the questions that Iszi Lawrence will be asking jewellery makers, art historians and World Service listeners.

Me and My Digital Twin

November 30 - December 27, 2024
One hour

How to build a digital you – Professor Ghislaine Boddington investigates. Ghislaine aspires to be interconnected with an AI digital companion that advises and supports her, keeps her healthy and represents her around the world. A twin that could live on after her death, or for as long as someone pays the subscription. This is not some private fantasy but, as technologies converge, a potential near-future for many of us - or at least those of us who can afford it. Researchers and companies are already experimenting with ways of combining virtual worlds, gaming avatars, fitness sensors, health apps and AI.

In practical terms, a digital bio-twin is made up of continuously measured multiple biological signals from your body. These might include your heartbeat, breath, temperature and muscle tension, as well as food intake, exercise and mental health - all fed into an avatar body. By combining AI and, for example, scanning our bodies and faces, cloning our voice and mannerisms, our virtual twin will become more and more like us.

In a journey that involves an MRI heart scan, dancing in a Belgium basement and a discussion about digital death, Ghislaine explores how existing technology is making a digital human twin possible. She hears from cardiologists, engineers, performance artists and tech entrepreneurs as she learns how to build her own digital twin.

World Book Club: Douglas Stuart - Shuggie Bain

December 8 - January 10, 2025
One hour

The Scottish-American writer Douglas Stuart talks about his Booker Prize winning Shuggie Bain. The powerful, heartbreaking story of a young boy's love for his addict mother, and a mother's chaotic love for her son.

World Questions: South Africa

December 14 - January 10, 2025
One hour

A political experiment is underway in South Africa. For the very first time the ANC has lost its majority and joined forces with their bitter rivals, The Democratic Alliance and eight other parties. Is the Government of National Unity a cause for optimism? Or has governing South Africa become even more difficult? Democracy has been respected, the Rand has strengthened and many hope corruption will be put on the back foot, but the country’s big problems remain. Jonny Dymond is joined by a panel of leading figures across government and opposition to debate the big issues, with an audience on location in Cape Town.

The Documentary: Srebrenica's forgotten refugees

December 19 - January 15, 2025
Half hour

Thirty years after the war in Bosnia, survivors and their descendants find themselves permanently displaced in their own country. BBC reporter Lauren Tavriger visits the Tuzla region where families fleeing atrocities, including the Srebrenica massacre, have been living for decades in makeshift settlements originally designed as temporary. She talks to families about their experience, discovering why traumatised people are still living in a state of internal exile, and reports on controversial efforts by the Bosnian authorities to clear camps and rehouse their inhabitants.

The Forum: Fandom

December 28 - January 24, 2025
One hour

Fandom is something we recognise today across the globe. In areas as diverse as sport, music, film and TV (to mention just a few), fans are not just passive consumers as the recent activities of Swifties (Taylor Swift fans) demonstrate. They’re actively engaged, creating content of their own and connecting with others to nurture a shared identity. The internet has made that easier than ever before, with fans now using their platform to influence political discourse too. Iszi Lawrence and guests discuss the history and inexorable rise of fandom, and ask what’s behind the displays of devotion. Plus listeners around the world share their fan stories.

World Questions: Australia

January 11 - February 7, 2025
One hour

Jonny Dymond presents World Questions Australia with a panel of leading politicians who take questions from Australians across the country.

The Evidence: The Burning Problem in Women's Health

January 18 - February 14, 2025
One hour

More than half of all women around the world will develop a urinary tract infection at some point in their lives. For most, the infection will be mild, but for some, it can be quite serious, moving into the kidney’s and even leading to sepsis if not properly treated. However, there’s still widespread debate over the best way to treat UTIs.

With a panel of experts, Claudia Hammond delves into the latest evidence on why UTIs are such a persistent and common health problem, the current discussion around the best methods for treatment, and looks into what the future might hold for this burning problem in women’s health.

Discussion and Documentary: Paths of Return

January 18 - February 14, 2025
One hour

In Freetown, Sierra Leone, we join a group of African Americans who’ve all taken a DNA test and discovered their ancestors came from this country on the West Coast of Africa, before they were trafficked to the United States and enslaved.

Over their two week trip, we explore the bustling city of Freetown - a very different experience to the USA. And yet it has a vibrancy and welcoming spirit which takes the group by surprise. They travel to remote villages where their ancestors may have lived. Here they are each adopted by a local family and given a traditional name according to the ethnic group indicated in their DNA test. We hear from the families about what they are getting out of this unusual partnership.

The Forum: Charisma in Politics and Business

January 25 - February 21, 2025
One hour

Where do charismatic personalities come from? Are they people born with special or even divine gifts? Or have they simply mastered a few effective techniques for cordial social interaction that anyone can learn? As business, entertainment and politics increasingly turn into popularity contests conducted through social media and TV, charisma seems to matter more and more: hence the proliferation of companies offering to teach aspiring leaders how to acquire it. But the influence that magnetic personalities can have on an audience long predates modern screen media: in 1896, a speech brimming with charisma earned one little-known young orator a not just a 20-minute standing ovation but also a US presidential nomination.

Iszi Lawrence explores the role of charisma in politics and business with Julia Sonnevend, Associate Professor of Sociology and Communications at The New School for Social Research in New York and author of Charm: How Magnetic Personalities Shape Global Politics; John Antonakis, Professor of Organizational Behaviour in the Faculty of Business and Economics of the University of Lausanne, and co-author of a political charismometer that predicts US presidential elections among other things; Jeremy C. Young, historian of political culture and social movements, author of The Age of Charisma: Leaders, Followers, and Emotions in American Society; as well as World Service listeners

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