The Documentary Podcast

When Peter White jets, sails or walks into a new city, it is the sounds, not the sights, which assail him. He sets off to Rio on the eve of the Paralympics. In Rio he finds a city poised with excitement as the Paralympics are set to begin. Like some of the arriving athletes, he is forced to navigate a strange environment without being able to see his way around.

Katty Kay reports from Washington on the much anticipated face-to-face encounter between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in the crucial first Presidential Debate on 26 September. She explores the business of preparing candidates for their make-or-break one-on-one confrontations.

The story Yusra Mardini, the teenage Syrian refugee who swam to survive, and was then selected to compete in the pool for the refugee team at the Olympic Games in Rio. Freelance journalist Magdalena Sodomkova travelled with Yusra, her sister and other refugees as they approached the Hungarian border, eventually making their way to Germany, and beginning a new life in Berlin.

When President Obama stepped into the White House back in 2008, many hoped his mixed heritage would help unite the country but eight years on America has never appeared more polarised. From Dallas to Nashville Chloe Hadjimatheou retraces a journey she took before Obama’s election across the southern states and stumbles across a gay community under attack, unfettered poverty in trailer parks, the last abortion clinic in Missouri and convicted murderers to find out why liberal and conservative, black and white, religious and secular Americans harbour so much animosity towards one another. (Photo: People boarding a riverboat)

India has some of the world's most dangerous roads. The government says almost 150,000 people died on them last year. Nowhere saw more crashes than the booming city of Mumbai. The carnage is relentless, affecting people at every level of society. Neal Razzell meets the Mumbaikers who are saying, enough: a vegetable seller who fills potholes in his spare time after his son died in one; a neurosurgeon whose experience treating victims has led him to try to build trauma centres along one of the worst roads; and an unlikely combination of engineers, activists and police officers with an ambitious plan to bring the number of deaths on a notorious expressway down to zero. It’s hoped there will be lessons in Mumbai for all of India. The country is in the midst of an historic road-building push. By 2020, Prime Minister Modi wants to pave a distance greater than the circumference of the earth.

Produced by Michael Gallagher

Peter White explores the American capital, Washington DC, through the sounds of the city. He finds a city struggling to develop a transport system, which properly caters for all communities and he explores the gulf between the well off and those living hard at heel.

Every year, Cyprus carries out thousands of weddings for couples from across the Middle East. The Mediterranean island promotes itself as the birthplace of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, but its popularity as a wedding destination is much more prosaic - it offers civil marriages.

BBC World Service drives across the United States to find out why Americans seem more divided than ever.

Can you learn to code if you’ve spent your life studying religious texts? Can you be part of the fast-paced, secular world of technology and startups if you’re from a conservative religious community? Israel has been called the "Startup Nation", with a flourishing technology sector playing a big role in the country’s economy. But one group who haven’t traditionally been involved are ultra-Orthodox Jews, known as Haredim. They often live apart from mainstream Israeli society and adhere to strict religious laws covering everything from diet to dress and technology. Many men don’t work or serve in the army, spending their lives studying the Torah, subsidised by the government. It’s a way of life that leaves many Haredim in poverty, and other Israelis resenting picking up the tab. But in recent years, the ultra-orthodox have been increasingly joining the high-tech world, working in big international tech companies and founding their own startups. David Baker travels to Israel to meet the new breed of high tech Haredim, and find out how they reconcile taking part in the "Startup Nation" with traditional Torah life.

Produced by James Fletcher.

Peter White explores Nairobi through the sounds of the African city. He listens to local radio, he takes in the sounds of restaurants, travel systems and the voices of the locals. In Nairobi he finds a city struggling to reconcile expansion and commercialisation with the hit and miss access to disabled facilities and the worries about safety around the city.