The Documentary Podcast

When someone young dies it is very hard for those they leave behind, perhaps even more so when they have taken their own life. Jorge, from Mexico, speaks to Buddhist Nun, Sister Dang Nghiem, about how he struggles to forgive himself after his partner took her own life three years ago. Sister Dang shares her experience of losing her own partner. She suggests that acknowledging part of them lives on within you, and letting that part find peace, might help us deal with the guilt and grief that can arise when a loved one dies.

What would it be like if everyone believed you were dead? Lal Bihari knows exactly what that feels like. When he was 22 years old the Indian farmer was told by his local government office that he was dead and no protestations that he was standing before them would persuade the bureaucrats otherwise – after all, his death certificate was there as proof. Whether the victim of a scam or a clerical error, the end result for Bihari was to lose his business and all the land he was hoping to inherit. It took him more than two decades to reinstate himself among the living during which time he tried everything from going on hunger strike to kidnapping someone in the hopes that the police would be forced to concede that a dead man could not be arrested. Today, more than a quarter of a century later, Bihari runs the Association for the Living Dead of India through which he says he has helped thousands of people who have fallen victim to the same thing. He tells his extraordinary story to Chloe Hadjimatheou for Assignment.

Production Team in India: Ajit Sarathi; Kinjal Pandya; Piyush Nagpal and Praveen Mudholkar

(This programme was originally broadcast in August 2021)

(Image: Lal Bihari holding a banner for the Association of the Living Dead. Credit: Piyush Nagpal/BBC)

It is often claimed that shut downs are required to stop the spread of misinformation online, particularly during times of uncertainty or protest. In India, one of the world's largest democracy, internet shutdowns are a regular occurrence. According to data published by Access Now, an international digital rights, non-profit organisation, India has been responsible for more shutdowns each year than any other country. Felicia Anthonio, a campaigner for Access Now, identifies and verifies internet shutdowns as they happen around the world, and works to raise awareness of the human rights implications.

Each year Unicef, the United Nations children’s charity, procures billions of dollars of goods for delivery to those most in need all over the word. Many of those supplies will either have come from, or been organised by, the men and women working on the outskirts of Copenhagen in the biggest humanitarian warehouse in the world. The world’s disasters roll through here in waves, and as they do the warehouse takes on a purpose of its own.

When the Russian attacks began, after all attempts at diplomacy had failed, Ukrainians were awoken in their beds by the sound of explosions. Host James Reynolds share the stories of ordinary Ukrainians over the course of an extraordinary week. We hear from men and women in different parts of the country as they prepare for war and try to go about their lives as normal while packing emergency bags, filling their cars with petrol and drawing money from banks. Once war begins, Ukrainians describe their fears and hopes for the future - including its effect on families and children.

Is self-love the key to developing confidence? If so, how does it work? Nadia, from Colombia, doesn’t trust in her own ability to succeed, especially in her career and feels trapped by her lack of self-esteem. She speaks to Sufi teacher Iman Jamal Rahman, who shows her ways to help develop self-love. He suggests that by getting used to focusing on the present moment, rather than the past or the future she can become more confident. He also says that by acknowledging painful feelings rather than trying to fix them, she may find that they lose their power.

From pills that resolve chronic pain issues overnight to diet supplements which promise to help shed pounds in days, the internet is awash with adverts making bold - and often outrageous - claims. Some come with a celebrity endorsement, where household names appear to give their personal stamp of approval to a product. But many of these ads are fake, with customers tricked into parting with more money than they ever intended. For Assignment, Athar Ahmad, investigates the global growth of online subscription scams, where customers are unwittingly signed up to schemes which hit them with hidden charges, unexpected monthly fees and products which are made deliberately difficult to cancel. He hears from victims with chronic illnesses desperately searching for a solution to their ailments, who are instead left out of pocket and he speaks to the celebrities furious their names are being used to endorse such products. The programme sheds light on the creation of this global multi-million pound industry, exposing the tools, tricks and technology designed to scam unwitting customers. And Athar travels to Spain in search of answers about one of these schemes, which has left many customers in the UK feeling they’ve been conned.

Reporter: Athar Ahmad

(Image: Using a digital tablet with a credit card. Credit: Natee Meepian)

It is 2020. Covid Britain is in lockdown and the world is working from home. In the depths of the deadly pandemic and when people were at their lowest, someone spots an opportunity. This is the story of how people from all over the world were hired to work for a seemingly glamorous and successful design agency - but the whole thing was fake. Who was behind the con? And what on earth were they trying to achieve? Investigative journalist Catrin Nye and her team expose a tangled web of lies, confronting the boss to get to the truth of what really happened.

Outside a war zone, Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries to be a journalist. In 2021, seven journalists were murdered. In the first few weeks of this year alone, the killing of five journalists has prompted an outcry and concern. We hear what it is like when your job is to try and tell stories in a country where four people are killed every hour and where violent crimes fill your news-feeds. For Adrián López Ortiz, the CEO and editor of Noroeste newspaper in the state of Sinaloa, north-western Mexico, it is a long standing problem since he still suffers from injuries during an attack in 2014.

When someone we trust betrays us, the feelings can be corrosive and long-lasting. Nini, from Myanmar, found out a year ago that her husband of 20 years had been cheating on her for a decade and had a child with another woman. They are now divorced. He has moved on with his life, but Nini finds it difficult to let go of a deep resentment. She speaks to writer and teacher Gary Zukav, who suggests that feeling her emotional pain in terms of physical sensations could help her let these feelings go.