The Documentary Podcast

The Kafkaesque story of the brutal killing of a woman who was found dead by the side of a lake in Sweden. Agneta Westerlund had moved some years before to a small village from Stockholm along with her husband Ingemar. The couple had first met as teenagers and had been together for 40 years. Her body had suffered a series of bizarre and horrific injuries: one wound on the side of her back was the size of a wheel. Police arrested Ingemar and accused him of murdering his wife by running over her with a lawnmower and then dumping her body by the lake. So did he really kill Agneta?

Open Ear features documentaries from producers across the world being rebroadcast by the BBC World Service. This episode first aired on Sveriges Radio in Swedish.

(Photo: Lake shore in Sweden. Credit: Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images)

Protecting cows has now become the focus of armed Hindu vigilante groups intent on asserting Hindu radicalism under India's Hindu nationalist government.

Tito worked as an entertainer in Egypt’s hotels. All gone. Now, his livelihood wrecked, he takes us on a personal and moving exploration of his country’s tourist crisis. He introduces us to life inside the tourist resorts that have no tourists, and to the people whose lives have changed forever:

Tito is 30. He has worked as an entertainer in Egypt’s illustrious hotel scene all his working life. He sings, he dances, he is a comedian and he has entertained thousands of western tourists over his 15-year career. Those tourists aren’t there anymore, neither is the work and neither are most of the hotels Tito has worked in.

The historic but violent Egyptian revolution, the bombing of a Russian plane in Egypt, the stabbing of British tourists in Hurgada and most recently the downing of another passenger plane, have left Egypt’s tourist industry beleaguered. What was once a thriving fifteen billion dollar trade in 2010 is now struggling to achieve half that in 2016. But behind the economics are real human stories of despair including Tito’s himself.

Image: An Egyptian guide walks by the pyramids at Giza, Credit: Getty Images

Black sporting talent is still struggling to break through into South Africa's top teams.

For the eight-year-old Louisa Smith, a day trip to the beach with her father became an experience which shaped her life. The family car was stopped by an armed man, who makes it clear he is prepared to kill them unless he is driven to where he wants to go. But Louisa’s father is a Vietnam veteran, with a unique insight into how to unsettle their abductor.

Bola Mosuro explores attitudes towards sex and sexuality in her country of origin, Nigeria. Talking openly about sex, desire and pleasure is still mostly a no-go area - especially if you are a woman. Today, however, women are breaking through religious and cultural barriers to claim equality in the bedroom.

President Rodrigo Duterte was elected to power in the Philippines promising to tackle crime and to feed the corpses of drug dealers to the fish. In the months since he took office almost 5,000 people are believed to have been killed by police and vigilantes. The BBC Trending team investigates how Duterte's 'war on drugs' is playing out in real life, and how a sophisticated social media strategy is ensuring support for the controversial policy.

Sun City is one of America's biggest retirement communities and home to the Poms, a group of amazing women aged between 55 and 85. We follow the Poms as they rehearse for one of their biggest parades of the year. Their story is one of courage in the face of mortality and a high-kick against ageism.

Linda Pressly and Albana Kasapi investigate the 'Green Gold' rush in the Balkan nation

The BBC’s Security Correspondent, Gordon Corera, interviews the CIA Director, John Brennan.