Documentaries

Poison in the Womb
Kerry Hudson explores the effects of a drug activists are calling the 'silent thalidomide'
10 Mar 2023,28 mins
The Hidden History of the Attic
Rachel Hurdley discovers a part of the home full of memory, mystery and possession.
23 Apr 2023,28 mins
What Would Bagehot Say?
What does Bagehot's The English Constitution mean today? Adrian Wooldridge investigates.
19 Dec 2017,38 mins
The Bishop and the Prisoner
Episode 3
Going soft? The Bishop of Liverpool considers whether community sentencing works.
16 Jan 2012,30 mins
More episodes
Shoplifting
Exploring the changing nature of stealing from shops
01 Mar 1984,28 mins
Pausing Puberty
How safe are the drugs used to delay puberty in transgender children?
29 Jan 2019,28 mins
Great Fire 350
Behind the scenes of London's Burning, a spectacle marking 350 years since the Great Fire.
03 Sep 2016,30 mins
Redeeming Ricky
Ex-offender Ricky has a deeply troubled past. And now he's set to help others like him.
02 Oct 2023,28 mins
Andy Warhol: Time Regained
Lenny Henry unveils the mysterious contents of Andy Warhol's Time Capsules.
11 Sep 2014,28 mins
Mind the Gender Pay Gap
Emma Griffin takes a historical look at the gender pay gap.
12 Mar 2018,28 mins
Repainting Giverny
Irma Kurtz travels to Monet's Giverny garden to hear how losing his sight changed his work
27 Sep 2011,30 mins
Inside the Ebola Lock-Down
Tim Mansel on Sierra Leone's 5.8m asked to stay home for 72 hours in a bid to stem Ebola.
29 Sep 2014,28 mins
The Barbershop
Stephen Smith reports from inside the High Street 'freemasonry' of the barber's.
08 Aug 2011,28 mins
Beating the Detector
Anjana Ahuja examines the use of polygraphs, or lie detectors, on sex offenders.
31 Mar 2015,28 mins
Searching for cosmic dust
A jazz musician becomes a cosmic dust hunter.
30 Apr 2023,28 mins
The Music That Melted
Under a full moon and the Northern Lights, Richard Coles hears the Ice Music of Norway.
08 Feb 2011,30 mins
Mind Reading
Gaia Vince explores how scientists are trying to read others' minds..
17 Aug 2016,28 mins
European Court Of Justice
Exploring the rules and decisions of The European Court of Justice
19 Aug 1983,26 mins
Hack My Hearing
Frank Swain, aged 32, is losing his hearing. But could he create a new super sense?
06 Jan 2014,28 mins
Warsan Shire on a Nation of Poets
British-Somali poet Warsan Shire investigates and showcases Somalia's rich poetic life.
05 Jan 2023,28 mins
Pilgrimage for a Pint
Julie Fowlis and Karine Polwart journey to the most remote pub in mainland Britain.
24 Dec 2023,28 mins
Memorial No More? A History of Russian Forgetting
Nobel prize-winning, on trial and hated by the Russian State. The story of Memorial.
28 Aug 2023,28 mins
Music in the Shadow of Ground Zero
The story of two New York churches that survived 9/11 and are now healing the community.
08 Sep 2015,30 mins
The Business of Genetic Ancestry
Adam Rutherford investigates what a DNA test can and cannot tell us about our ancestry.
26 May 2015,28 mins
From Kabul to Manchester
Documentary following a group of Afghan families settling into new lives in Manchester.
09 Aug 2022,37 mins
Notes From a Northern Irish Childhood
Marie-Louise Muir revisits youth orchestras set up during the Troubles in Northern Ireland
04 Jun 2015,30 mins
Ayo Gorkhali: The Gurkhas Are Coming!
Military historian Hew Strachan on 200 years of Gurkha service to the British Crown.
08 Jun 2015,28 mins
Connections
Douglas Alexander examines whether recent crises have helped bring people together.
19 Apr 2022,37 mins
Glasgow: Satellite City
How Glasgow quietly transformed itself into Europe's leading producer of small satellites.
02 Sep 2026,27 mins
The 21st Century Curriculum
If teenagers had more say in what they learn, would they be more engaged with school?
05 Nov 2019,28 mins