Documentaries

The Other Black Door
How a group of organisations in one Westminster building affected a decade of UK politics.
19 Sep 2022,28 mins
Qaanaaq – World made of Water
One of the most northern communities on earth – Qaanaaq, Greenland
01 Jan 2003,22 mins
I'm Here. Where Are You?
Early-bird poet Ian McMillan investigates why people are early or late.
02 Aug 2017,30 mins
Conjuring Halie
Cerys Matthews celebrates one of her musical heroines, gospel singer Mahalia Jackson.
01 May 2012,30 mins
Tiger Tales
Battle of Okinawa
The bloody battle in 1945 that has defined Okinawa and its people to this day
12 May 2004,22 mins
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The No.219 Sodcast Project
Ian McMillan fights the cause of the sodcasters, perpetrators of tinny mobile phone music
14 Jun 2011,30 mins
A Name to Remember
Graham Hughes
Dr Graham Hughes talks about the condition that bears his name
09 Sep 1999,13 mins
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Edward Thomas and the Song of the Path
Robert Macfarlane and Johnny Flynn with Edward Thomas's Poems and Songs for the Open Air.
18 Dec 2022,28 mins
Bella Hardy Goes Home
Radio 2's Folk Singer of the Year 2014 goes back to her roots, Edale in Derbyshire.
24 Jun 2014,30 mins
House, Bridge, Fountain, Gate, Pitcher, Fruit-Tree, Window
A radio hymn to the things around us inspired by Rainer Maria Rilke’s Duino Elegies.
17 Nov 2022,28 mins
Simpson in Afghanistan
John Simpson reports from Afghanistan and asks how things have gone wrong.
10 Sep 2009,30 mins
Alice's Restaurant
Ian McMillan discovers how Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant became a Thanksgiving anthem.
17 Nov 2012,30 mins
The Treasury Under Siege
How Whitehall's most powerful department found itself at the heart of a political storm.
25 Oct 2022,28 mins
Inheritors of Partition
The legacy of the division of the Indian subcontinent in Britain today
08 Aug 2022,42 mins
Air Eaters
How a microbe pulled from an Arctic dump could help our fight against climate change.
12 Aug 2026,28 mins
Police on Steroids
How big a problem is steroid use in the police?
14 Aug 2023,28 mins
Up Close And Personal
Clarke Peters follows the croon and practitioners of the art including Rudy Vallee.
17 Sep 2016,30 mins
Living with the News
23/12/2022
Oliver Burkeman argues we need to pay less, not more, attention to the news.
23 Dec 2022,14 mins
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The Lost Art of the TV Theme
Comedian and musician Richard Morton recalls the heyday of the classic TV theme.
09 May 2015,30 mins
Casting a Wider Net
The women making a living out of commercial fishing, one of the last all-male bastions.
29 Nov 2022,28 mins
The Ballad of the Blade
The story of knife crime, told in verse by the weapon itself.
17 Sep 2018,28 mins
Britain's Communist Thread
The Party's Over
Historian Camilla Schofield explores a century-long thread of communism in Britain.
02 Dec 2022,28 mins
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Car Stories
Ferrari
The glamour and mystery of Ferraris
18 Aug 1999,28 mins
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The Call of the Arab Spring
Zubeida Malik meets young British Arabs who took part in the Arab uprisings.
16 Sep 2011,30 mins
Trapped in the System
Roddy Russell shares his brother Robert's story of an indeterminate prison sentence.
17 Apr 2023,28 mins
Buying Defence
Is Britain wasting billions through bad defence procurement? Francis Tusa investigates.
27 Dec 2011,40 mins
21st Century Relaxation Tape
A hypnotic half-hour of aural bliss taking you inside the world of 'wellness sound'.
09 Apr 2023,28 mins
Dying for a Transplant
Emmanuel Sonubi examines the lack of organ donors from ethnic minority backgrounds.
17 Jul 2024,28 mins
Duelling Scars
Horatio Clare meets the German student duellists for whom a scar is a badge of honour.
26 Oct 2015,28 mins
Black Flight and the New Suburbia
Hugh Muir charts the movement of ethnic minorities from cities to the English countryside.
10 Jul 2016,30 mins