All times in Pacific
Change
Help

Wednesday Documentary (BBC WS) (Commentary)

Visit the show website

Next available on BBC World Service Europe London, United Kingdom in 3 hours 24 minutes
Find another station or time for this program on one of 74 other stations & times
Host: Peter Taylor
collection of BBC World Service documentary series.
Add to Presets

Genres: Commentary
Location: United Kingdom
Language: English
Networks: BBC

Last updated 76 days ago Update program info

Recent Topics

DocArchive: Feeding Haiti: Assignment

Thu, Sep 4

Haiti, one of the very poorest countries in the world, has been hit hard by soaring food prices. Earlier this year riots led to the sacking of the prime minister. In Assignment, Orin Gordon looks at the ongoing struggle for Haitians to feed themselves.

DocArchive: The 66 Club

Thu, Sep 4

Ruth Evans tells the extraordinary story of 11 women brought together on the internet by one man's sperm.

DocArchive: The Presidential Contenders - Part Two

Mon, Sep 1

John McCain: a profile of the man who talks of honour and patriotic duty and admits having a legendary short fuse.

DocArchive: What Lies Beneath - Part two

Fri, Aug 29

Win Scutt finds out how the maritime treasure hunting industry has boomed in recent years.

DocArchive: Spain's Civil War - Breaking the Silence

Thu, Aug 28

Following recent legislation in Spain the government has agreed to offer support to families wishing to find the remains of their loved ones killed during the country's brutal civil war of the 1930s. For Assignment, Mike Williams travels to Spain to visit an exhumation of bodies and asks if the government's attempt to end the political silence of that period is working.

DocArchive: Al-Qaeda's Internal Debate

Tue, Aug 26

BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner talks to former allies of Osama bin Laden who are now engaged in countering the terrorist leader's agenda.

DocArchive: The Presidential Contenders

Mon, Aug 25

Barack Obama:the profile of one of the two individuals who are the presumptive nominees in the US presidential election.

DocArchive: A young life of crime: Assignment

Thu, Aug 21

The experience of growing up in a socially deprived, inner city neighbourhood is a common one, no matter where you may live in the world. In Britain's main cities, police and politicians say a worrying trend has developed where some young people are now carrying and using both knives and guns at an ever younger age. The BBC's Nina Robinson takes a day out of the life of two youngsters in the English city of Birmingham to find out a little more about what it is that shapes their lives.

DocArchive: What Lies Beneath - Part One

Thu, Aug 21

International seas are largely unregulated, meaning most underwater archaeological wealth can be retrieved and sold without any obstacle. Can a new UNESCO convention bring some order?

DocArchive: Why they're dying in the Congo - Part Two

Wed, Aug 20

BBC World Affairs correspondent Mark Doyle continues travelling from the west to the east of the DR Congo on a journey to find out why so many people have died and continue to die in that country.

DocArchive: Rehearsing for War

Mon, Aug 18

The extraordinary US military base at the heart of a vast shift in American military strategy, aiming for nation-building and peacekeeping.

DocArchive: Secrets in the Family - Assignment

Thu, Aug 14

During Argentina's Dirty War of the seventies and eighties thousands of leftists and dissidents vanished after being abducted by the security forces. Many of the women detained gave birth in detention centres before being killed and their babies were given to military families to bring up. Now, as Daniel Schweimler reports for Assignment, those babies have come of age in Argentina and some are trying to seek justice for what happened to them.

DocArchive: Your Right to Know - Part 2

Thu, Aug 14

What do Freedom of Information laws actually achieve? Are they sometimes more symbolic than practical in their impact?

DocArchive: Why they're dying in the Congo - Part One

Wed, Aug 13

BBC World Affairs Correspondent Mark Doyle explores why over five million people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the past decade.

DocArchive: The Billion Dollar Election: Part 2 - Ambassadors

Fri, Aug 8

Prestigious job. Exotic location. Stately home, fine food and wine, and many other perks thrown in. Yours for only $200,000. The position a US ambassadorship. Around a third of all US ambassadors are not career diplomats; they're political appointees and almost all of them are major donors, wealthy businessmen. Is this really the way for the US to run its foreign policy?

DocArchive: Soft Jihad: Assignment

Thu, Aug 7

In the United States a small but increasingly vocal group of people believe that members of the country's Muslim community are working from within to turn America into an Islamic state. This group of right wing thinkers believe this so-called 'Soft Jihad' is being carried out in schools, universities and other institutions across the country and they want to put a stop to it. In Assignment, Pascale Harter travels to America to find out how this fear is finding a foothold in public opinion...

DocArchive: The Right to Know - Part 1

Thu, Aug 7

Freedom of information is well on the way to being seen as an essential prerequisite for a modern democracy. But there's almost always a backlash from politicians and officials.

DocArchive: The Trouble with Money - Part Two

Wed, Aug 6

Will there be a return to the dreaded days of "stagflation" with weak growth and rising inflation. Can economic policymakers find a way to deal with this double danger? Or is further pain inevitable?

DocArchive: The Billion Dollar Election - Part One - 527s

Fri, Aug 1

The United States is due to have the first billion-dollar election in its history. The BBC's Steve Evans presents this two-part investigation into election spending done in collaboration with the Centre for Public Integrity in Washington DC.

DocArchive: South Africa's Promised Land: Assignment

Thu, Jul 31

After the ending of apartheid in South Africa, the transfer of land from white to black was a key ANC promise - a proud calling card to correct the injustices of apartheid. But many critics argue that the reform programme has gone badly wrong. For Assignment Rosie Goldsmith reports on the struggle for South Africa's promised land, which is driving a political, economic and racist wedge down the middle of an already tense country.

DocArchive: The Trouble with Money - Part 1

Tue, Jul 29

With the world's economy now threatened by what some believe is the most dangerous crisis since the depression of the 1930s, Michael Robinson looks at the deepening international financial turmoil.

DocArchive: Secrets in the Blood - Part Two

Fri, Jul 25

In this two-part investigation, Matt McGrath sets out to expose corruption, drug use and cover-ups at the highest levels in sport.

DocArchive: Building Better Health - Part Two

Wed, Jul 23

Jill McGivering explores whether China is doing enough to provide healthcare to 1.3 billion people and what it can learn from the struggles of the developed world.

DocArchive: Trouble in the Townships: Assignment

Wed, Jul 23

In May violence against African immigrants exploded across South Africa. Two months on thousands are still displaced, living in camps and shelters. Robert Walker travels to one of the townships in Johannesburg where the attacks started and asks whether the violence could happen again.

DocArchive: Secrets in the Blood - Part One

Fri, Jul 18

In this two-part investigation, Matt McGrath sets out to expose corruption, drug use and cover-ups at the highest levels in sport.

DocArchive: Beijing Calling - Part One

Fri, Jul 18

Russell Fuller follows the difficult journeys of six hopefuls from around the world in the run up to the Beijing Olympics.

DocArchive: Football's Conmen - Assignment

Thu, Jul 17

An undercover BBC investigation has exposed how young African footballers are being defrauded by conmen posing as talent scouts from English Premiership clubs. Victims are duped into parting with thousands of pounds in the false belief that they are paying an official fee for a trial to play with their favourite teams. Gavin Lee reports from Nigeria for Assignment.

DocArchive: Building Better Health

Tue, Jul 15

Part One: Jill McGivering compares two very different free health systems in the developed world: the British NHS and that of the US state of Massachusetts.

DocArchive: Policing the Poppy Fields - Part Two

Fri, Jul 11

In the second part of this series, Kate Clark reports from those provinces where an opium ban is in force, but farmers are feeling the pressure.

DocArchive: Congo's Contract of the Century

Thu, Jul 10

In a multi billion dollar deal China has promised to rebuild DR Congo's crumbling infrastructure in exchange for a valuable slice of Congo's vast mineral wealth. What's being called the Contract of the Century was negotiated in secret and has left some people in the country wondering who stands to benefit most from the deal - for Assignment Tim Whewell travels to the DR Congo to find out.