The Documentary Podcast: Archive 2009

To what extent did communist regimes intrude into the lives of ordinary people? And how are they dealing with those transgressions now the files have been made publicly available?

Six years ago, the second Palestinian Intifada – or uprising – was raging in the West Bank town of Nablus in the Israeli-occupied territories. This was an era when Palestinian militants regularly battled the Israeli Defence Force in the streets. The BBC’s Alan Johnston reported from Nablus during those dark, dangerous days. Now, for Assignment, on his first reporting trip back in the Middle East since he was kidnapped in Gaza, he returns to Nablus to find out how life has changed for the town.

The second part of Jonathon Porritt's report from China, where, amidst the toxic power stations and burgeoning numbers of cars, he finds some extraordinary and pioneering green solutions.

Quentin Peel, International Affairs editor of the Financial Times, presents the first of a two-part series looking at the communist regimes and movements 'orphaned' by the collapse of the governments of the Soviet Union and eastern Europe.

Did I turn out to be the son you wanted? What was the saddest moment of your life? Questions like these have arisen out of StoryCorps - an American oral history project described as "a story-foraging mission of epic proportions".

Twenty-five years ago, a gas leak at a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal killed 8000 people. Allan Little returns to the scene of the disaster to find out why people are still suffering.

Jonathon Porritt reports from China, where, amidst the toxic power stations and burgeoning numbers of cars, he finds some extraordinary and pioneering green solutions.

In the final part of this series, Owen Bennett-Jones examines the Islamic leader who confronted the might of the British Empire.

How would you like to leave a record of your life for your great-great-great-grandchildren? That's the future for participants of StoryCorps, an American oral history project. What do people choose to talk about?

Twenty seven years after Britain and Argentina went to war over the Falklands, or the Malvinas islands, Argentine army officers are facing prosecution. Not for the way they treated the enemy, but for crimes allegedly committed against their own troops.