The Documentary

France has questions to answer around inequity and its approach to policing. It follows days of violent protests after the fatal shooting in Paris, during a police traffic stop, of a 17-year-old boy of Algerian descent. The world also witnessed some of the country’s social issues laid bare, as anger around discrimination in some of France’s poorest areas spread across the country and came, once again, to the fore. In this edition, hosted by James Reynolds, we bring together young French men, mothers and those in public office from the capital’s suburbs to share their experiences of school, work and with the police.

Hannah Ajala, a Nigerian-British broadcaster explores the new generation of chieftaincy and royalty in Nigeria. She takes a closer look at some of the key aspects of an inauguration ceremony across various states in Nigeria, and the impact Nigerian royalty has within Diaspora. Hannah speaks to the new wave of Chiefs and Kings embracing this tradition and why they continue with this path whilst integrating more modern practices and preserving their ultimate beliefs.

In 2014, militants of the Islamic State group set out to destroy the ancient, minority Yazidi community of northern Iraq. Thousands were murdered, thousands of Yazidi women and children were enslaved and brutalised. Since the defeat of IS in 2017, the traumatized community has tried to recover. And yet, as Rachel Wright reports, more than 100,000 Yazidis remain stuck in camps, unable to return to their homes.Photo: Bahar, a Yazidi survivor, holds a picture of her missing husband and son. She and her family were captured by Islamic State in 2014. (BBC)Presenter: Rachel Wright Producer: Alex Last Sound Mix: Neva Missirian Production Coordinator: Helena Warwick-Cross Series Editor: Penny Murphy

Russia's once shadowy private military company Wagner hit the headlines around the world when the group’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, ordered his men to march on Moscow. Although the insurrection was short lived, the impact is felt far and wide. The Global Jigsaw from BBC Monitoring examines the Wagner mutiny from the perspective of countries who have a reason to pay close attention.

The British artist, Shezad Dawood is known for his colourful textiles and multimedia artworks, often featuring music and VR to explore issues such as migration, the environment and climate change. His latest exhibition is inspired by the African American composer and musician Yusef Lateef and his 1988 novella Night in the Garden of Love. Join Anna Bailey as she follows Shezad creating his latest commission for the Wiels, Contemporary Art Centre in Brussels, along with his collaborator the American musician and percussionist Adam Rudolph.Audio for this episode was updated on 4th July 2023.

Following the Wagner group march on Moscow, we hear from Russians and Belarusians.

The songwriter, poet and author, Nick Cave has a conversation about grief, faith and the spirituality of music with the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. Nick writes hauntingly beautiful songs – the themes of which tackle deep questions about humanity – often drawing from biblical sources. In 2015, NIck's son Arthur, died in a tragic accident at the age of 15, after falling from a cliff. Last year, Nick’s eldest son Jethro also died in Melbourne at the age of 31. Much of Nick’s art in recent years has dealt with grief, suffering and forgiveness. He reflects on this in his book, Faith, Hope and Carnage, written during the pandemic with the journalist Sean O’Hagan. And he openly explores love and loss with those who write to him on his online forum called The Red Hand Files.

Assignment tells the story of a young street trader from Lagos who ended up at the heart of an organ harvesting plot involving a senior Nigerian politician and a hospital in the UK. The young man was tested, trafficked and tricked into a plot to remove his kidney, to donate to the daughter of one of Nigeria’s most powerful politicians. As Mark Lobel discovers, the criminal trial and conviction is the first of its kind in the UK – and has led to police investigating more potential cases. Presenter Mark Lobel Producer Kate West Editor Carl Johnston Studio mix by Graham Puddifoot

On 1 July 2024, Biniam Girmay made history as the first black African rider to win a stage of cycling’s biggest race: the Tour de France. After a hard upbringing as one of six children in the Eritrean capital Asmara, he has become one of the most talented riders from the continent in the sport’s history. In 2023, Matt Warwick discovered what Girmay's victories have meant for Eritrea and Eritreans, as well as the rest of Africa. He tells the story of his extraordinary early life and examines the significance of what his achievements can mean for such an accessible sport, which, after more than 100 years, remains almost completely white European.

***This programme contains racially sensitive language and themes that may be upsetting.*** Matthew Xia is a theatre director and Olivier award-winning artistic director of the Actors Touring Company. As his alter ego DJ Excalibur, he performed to a global audience of over a billion as one of the headline DJs at the London 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremony. His latest production is a futuristic hip-hop infused performance, Tambo & Bones, at the Stratford East Theatre in London. Written by the US playwright Dave Harris, this satirical play, which is part distorted clown-show, part absurdist Afro-futuristic lecture with robots, explores the commodification and commercialisation of the traumatic black experiences that have been portrayed on stage over the decades. Felicity Finch follows Matthew, his actors and creative team as they develop the work into a playful, funny and provocative show.

Race against time rescue stories have been among the dominating international headlines in the past couple of weeks. There was the missing sub in the Atlantic and before that the incredible survival of the four children who were stranded for six weeks in the Amazon jungle in Colombia. Host James Reynolds brings together other people who have survived against the odds after being lost in the jungle and at sea.

Prof. Robert Beckford interviews Barbara Blake-Hannah the UK’s first black news reporter who returned to Jamaica after just eight years after coming over as part of the Windrush generation. She talks about how racism lead her to embrace the Rastafari faith and what it means to her.

“It’s like living in a cemetery.” Jung Seongno lives in a banjiha, or semi-basement apartment in the South Korean capital Seoul. Last August parts of Seoul experienced major flooding. As a result several people, including a family of three, drowned in their banjiha. Seongno dreams of having a place where the sunlight and the wind can come in.These subterranean dwellings are just one example of a growing wealth divide in Asia’s fourth largest economy. With almost half of the country’s population living in Greater Seoul, the struggle to find affordable housing has become a major political issue. It also contributes to Korea’s worryingly low birth rate. The inability of young people to afford a home of their own means they are not starting families. Many have given up on relationships altogether.John Murphy reports from Seoul, where owning a home of your own is so important and yet increasingly unattainable.Produced and presented by John Murphy Producer in Seoul: Keith Keunhyung Park Studio mix: Rod Farquhar Pro

There is disturbing material, including descriptions of violence and torture of monkeys, from the start of this programme.There's a horrific and disturbing trade in the torture of Macaque monkeys that are filmed and sold online. Rebecca Henschke follows the trade in these videos from the USA to Indonesia to the UK. Who is making them, who is selling them and who is buying them? Why is it that monkeys being put through unimaginable pain is so attractive that people are willing to pay to watch it? Rebecca confronts the people at the centre of this worldwide trade.

Wayne McGregor is a choreographer and director whose future-focused, multi-award-winning works take inspiration from technology, literature and visual art. As resident choreographer for the Royal Ballet since 2006, he has created a catalogue of daring and beautiful dance pieces, pushing the artform in radical new directions. Reporter Eliza Lomas goes backstage at the Royal Opera House, following Wayne as he creates a brand new work. Called ‘untitled: 2023’, the piece developed in collaboration with someone he greatly admires - the late Cuban-American artist Carmen Herrera.

Fifty years on from the first mobile phone call, this programme examines how the device has revolutionised the way we lives our lives. It was 1973 when Martin Cooper, a Motorola researcher made the first mobile phone call to his rival at Bell Labs. The prototype weighed 2 kilograms and measured 23 by 13 by 4.5 centimetres. It offered a talk time of just 30 mins and took 10 hours to recharge. Fast forward five decades and checking the phone is the first thing many people do when they wake up in the morning and the last thing they do when they go to bed. How has the mobile phone revolutionised the way we live our lives?

Hundreds of wildfires are burning across Canada, almost half are classed by officials as ‘out of control’. Their immediate impact is the destruction of homes and businesses, plants and wildlife. But the smoke from those fires is affecting air quality. Maps tracking the spread of the smoke, have shown it covering large parts of Canada, as well as US cities such as Minneapolis and Chicago. We speak to families in Canada and New York who share experiences of the smoke from wildfires in Canada. Plus, mothers from India, Pakistan, and United States discuss the effect of air pollution.

There’s a debate raging in Switzerland over a potential nationwide ban on so-called conversion therapy. We meet Christians whose lives the procedure has changed forever. They explain how growing up in an Evangelical community, they struggled with their faith and sexuality from a young age – driving them to seek help. So-called conversion therapy has been around for centuries. The controversial practice is used around the world to try to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The issue has become a hot topic in in Switzerland, and the parliamentary process to potentially enact a nationwide ban is underway. Claire Jones meets the Christians working to change the law, and those who are against a legislative ban.

An investigation by BBC Eye exposes the men profiting from an ugly business of sexual assault for sale.We find websites selling thousands of videos of men sexually abusing women on trains, buses, and other crowded public places across East Asia. You can even order your own tailor-made assault on these sites.They’re run by a shadowy figure known as “Uncle Qi”. He’s hailed as a guru by an online community of perverts. But who is he?The hunt takes Assignment to Japan, where sexual assault in public is known as "Chikan". We take you inside this dark and twisted world to hear from the perpetrators of these horrific crimes, and meet the women who are fighting back. We visit a “Chikan” sex club where customers can pay to legally grope women in rooms decorated like trains; and we follow plain clothes police searching for sexual predators on Japan’s metro.The investigation goes undercover to expose the identity of the men running these websites who are cashing in on sexual violence.Presenter: Zhaoyin Feng BBC Eye Prod

Producer Steven Rajam travels to the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar to meet some of the women challenging convention, tradition and history at home and across the globe, including hip-hop artist Mrs M, Hollywood actress Bayra Bela and traditional throat-singer Zolzaya, whose fiddle is adorned not with the traditional horse's head, but a swan.