The Documentary

Injuries meant wrestler Dan Russell missed out on two opportunities for glory at the Olympics back in the 1990s. But missing the chance to fight for gold twice was not what left him feeling empty when he retired from the sport. Dan had a difficult childhood, suffering abuse from neighbours and enduring a brutal training regime, being made to wrestle all day, every day, by his father. Once retired, Dan’s past traumas began to haunt him, leading to a deep depression. Dan had trophies and medals from his sporting days, but what next? And where was God in his life when he needed Him most? Then, a call from USA Wrestling asking Dan to head up Wrestling for Peace, a charity project bringing people together through wrestling and humanitarian work, changed the course of everything. A dream told him he was destined to move and work in Jordan, in the Middle East and Dan and his wife Joy, moved to Jordan to set up the charity there. Can Dan find redemption as he continues to wrestle, now with life itself rather than in

In a bonus edition of World Book Club following the death of the acclaimed Irish author Edna O’Brien, who died aged 93 in July 2024, we look back to an interview with Edna from 2008.Edna O’Brien was born in rural County Clare in 1930, and found her education by nuns suffocating. She moved to Dublin, and subsequently spent much of her life in London. The Country Girls tells the story of two girls from rural Ireland growing up in a convent school before moving to Dublin to begin their adult lives.World Book Club is a series where the world's great authors discuss their best-known novel. For more episodes, search for World Book Club wherever you got this podcast.

In a bonus episode of The Global Story podcast - Divorce: The art of breaking up. The Global Story brings you one big story every weekday, making sense of the news with our experts around the world. Insights you can trust, from the BBC World Service. For more, go to bbcworldservice.com/globalstory or search for The Global Story wherever you get your BBC podcasts.Divorce rates have been in decline across the West for decades. Experts put this down to a variety of factors, from fewer marriages to a widening dating pool, but cultural differences mean it is difficult to draw broad conclusions on the trends around splitting up. So how can we judge how attitudes to divorce have changed? On today's episode Lucy Hockings is joined by divorce mediator and former BBC presenter Joanna Gosling, as well as Marina Adshade, a professor at the University of British Columbia who focusses on the economics of sex and relationships. They interrogate some of the stats on divorce, and discuss how the process of dissolving marriage

In a special edition of HARDtalk Stephen Sackur looks back at some of the guests who have risked their personal freedom to disclose secret information. What motivates these whistleblowers?This is a bonus episode from HARDtalk, a show that brings you in-depth, hard-hitting interviews with newsworthy personalities. For more episodes search for HARDtalk wherever your get your BBC podcasts.

Dr Willard Wigan MBE creates the smallest handmade sculptures in the world. He uses high powered microscopes and custom-made tools formed from shards of diamond, hypodermic needles, and paintbrushes made from eyelashes. Willard’s talent and determination propelled him to international acclaim. His work sells for six-figure sums, and he has exhibited internationally. However, his path to success has been far from easy. As a schoolboy, he struggled with reading and writing due to unrecognised autism, his teachers dismissed him, and he endured routine bullying and racism. Willard's latest sculpture, a tribute to Charles Darwin, is crafted on the end of a pencil – a canvas rich in symbolism.

We visit the Las Patronas women 30 years on from when the young Romero Vazquez sisters first threw a loaf of bread onto the infamously dangerous La Bestia train. A train meant only for cargo, but which has become a dangerous mode of transport for more than 400,000 migrants every year. It begins from near the border of Guatemala, and along its 2000 mile journey migrants from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Mexico itself cling to its roof, heading north to America. Norma Romero guides us through the last 30 years since her and her sister first made the decision to help the passing migrants.

In countries like Somalia and Iran, where women are largely expected to present themselves with modesty, what role can make-up play? Bella Hassan of BBC Focus on Africa is from Somalia and Mina Joshaghani of BBC Persian is from Iran. They tell us about how make-up functions in a conservative society. Produced by Caroline Ferguson and Hannah Dean.(Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich)

Could a woman of colour be the next president of the United States? That is what much of America has been asking this week and it is at the heart of our conversations. Race remains a major political and social issue in the US and there is plenty of discussion about Ms Harris’s background as a black and Asian-American woman. We bring together three black women Democratic party supporters: Kay in New York, Ashley in Oklahoma City and Keosha in Washington DC. With President Biden standing down, we get their reaction to the new choice for Democratic candidate in November’s elections.

On a busy street in Los Angeles a group of people in yellow vests are holding a ladder against a lamppost. Up the ladder, 34-year-old Evan Clark is ripping down a sign that is nailed to the post. It reads “Jesus: The way, the truth, the life”. These are members of the Atheist Street Pirates, local activists who track and remove religious signs affixed to public property. This group say that there are laws that forbid the erection of religious messages on public property. Nastaran Tavakoli-Far travels to Los Angeles and joins the Atheist Street Pirates out on a hunt for religious signs.

In the industrial town of Haryana in Northern India, young girls are breaking barriers training hard to become the next generation of gold medal-winning wrestlers, following their idols who have tasted Olympic glory abroad and made a stand against attitudes to women at home. But their success has come at a price. BBC journalist Divya Arya looks at what it takes for these girls to become an Indian wrestling heroine.

In 1993 the legislators in Cobb County Atlanta passed a resolution stating that “lifestyles advocated by the gay community are incompatible with the standards to which this community describes“. The northern suburb was due to welcome the Olympics in 1996 as host of the volleyball competition. This is the inspiring story of a small campaign group who forced a change. After months of high-profile protests the organising committee stripped Cobb County as a host venue and diverted the torch relay away from its streets.

The Apartheid Killer. All the victims were black and the youngest was just 12 years old. Some relatives are still searching for the graves. They were killed during a three-year bloodbath in the 1980s in the South African city of East London – by one person. After years of investigation, we tracked him down. To hear more, search for World of Secrets, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. You can also listen here https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xtvs0/episodes/downloadsSince this trailer was recorded, the “apartheid killer”, Louis van Schoor, has died. There will be more about this during the series.World of Secrets is the home of major BBC global investigations and gripping storytelling, holding the powerful to account. Follow or subscribe to catch up on previous seasons and to hear what’s coming up in 2024.

Massimo Bottura’s Osteria Francescana has twice been named the world’s best restaurant. Situated in Bottura’s hometown of Modena, a place renowned for racing cars and balsamic vinegar, the triple Michelin-starred establishment blends traditional Italian cooking with a truly avant-garde sense of design and creativity. Bottura is the leader of the culinary movement that sees food as edible art. Food journalist and cookbook author Emiko Davies spends a weekend in Modena with Bottura and his restauranteur wife Lara Gilmore.

The destruction of the Roma by the Nazi state and allies and their subsequent post war fate is little understood and still being written. Historian Celia Donert tells the story of this forgotten holocaust and explores its contested memory and legacy.

What is it like to cover such a globally significant sporting event such as the Olympic Games? We've invited three of our Fifth Floor colleagues to discuss what the Olympics means to their audiences and to tell us about some of the lesser known stories behind this year's games. Joining us are Celestine Korey from BBC Sports Africa, based in Nairobi and Pooria Jefereh from BBC Persian, who are both heading to Paris for the games. We'll also hear from BBC Uzbek’s Firuz Rahimi who has spent the past few years following the incredible story of two sisters from Afghanistan who'll represent their country in the cycling despite the road to geting there being anything but smooth. Produced by Caroline Ferguson and Hannah Dean.(Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich)

The former President, with his face bloodied, surrounded by Secret Service agents, the American flag behind him, his fist in the air defiant – how much will that image change the United States? This is the focus of our conversations in this week’s edition of the programme. We bring together witnesses to the shooting in Pennsylvania and hear from people at this week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There, supporters with tears in their eyes and bandages on their ears, show their love for Donald Trump.

In Tbilisi, Georgia, a radical experiment in interfaith relations is taking place. The Peace Project is one of the world’s first to bring a mosque, synagogue, church, and other places of worship together under one roof. Sounds of Muslim prayer, Shabbat services, and Georgian hymns fill the air as worshippers from different faiths mingle and break bread in the communal Hall of Abraham. The project is the brainchild of Malkhaz Songulashvili, a maverick Bishop of Georgia’s Evangelical-Baptist Church, and is attracting attention from religious leaders around the world.

Former Brazilian model, wellness influencer and spiritual life coach Kat Torres was an inspiration and a lifeline to women all over the world. More than a million people on Instagram followed her extraordinary career trajectory from extreme poverty in Brazil, to a European modelling career and a life of luxury in the US. But behind the perfectly curated posts is a story of witchcraft, sexual exploitation and human trafficking; a dark and secretive sorority that led to missing women and sent their families and the FBI on a desperate search to find them. After months of investigations, a team from BBC Eye and BBC News Brasil uncover a wellness empire built on half-truths and lies. For the documentary Hannah Price tells the story of her enslaved followers and the heavy price they paid. And for the first time - in a surreal confrontation behind the walls of a Brazilian prison - we hear from the self-proclaimed “guru” who exerted absolute control.

In this second part of his journey from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, across the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel, reporter Tim Whewell continues his exploration of the physical and human reality behind the slogan “From the River to the Sea”, a phrase which creates intense controversy. Tim descends from the high ridge of the West Bank hills to the Israeli Mediterranean coast at Herzlia, known for its beaches and high-tech industry – and then continues along the sea, to end his journey at the ruined ancient city of Caesarea. He encounters a Palestinian dry stone waller, an Israeli hairdresser, and then, crossing into Israel, he talks to Jewish Israelis including teachers, activists and a journalist – and to Palestinian citizens of Israel. What future do all these people hope for?This programme was edited on 19th July 2024.

Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas last year, the cry “From the River to the Sea” has been heard more and more as a pro-Palestinian slogan. But what river? What sea? And what exactly does the phrase mean? It is the subject of intense controversy. Reporter Tim Whewell travels from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea, across a tiny stretch of land – just over an hour by car if you don’t stop - that is perhaps the most argued-over in the world. He goes from the Jordan, through the Israeli settlement of Argaman, the Palestinian herding community of al-Farisiyah and the Palestinian village of Duma, ending up at the Israeli settlement of Shilo. What do people in those places think now and do they have any hope for the future?