The Documentary Podcast

The story of Peru's drug 'mules' - the youngsters who hike cocaine from a tropical valley up to highland towns in the Andes, and out towards the border with Brazil.

Roger Harrabin examines the science behind climate change. Predicting the future climate is a pretty tricky business and over the last 25 years or so it has had a chequered history. Roger talks to the scientists about their models and asks if they are accurate enough or should they just be consigned to the dustbin.

Pope Francis has brought together nearly 300 bishops from all over the world for a special Synod on the Family. He has asked them to speak frankly and with courage about his Church’s most divisive teachings – those that affect the sex lives of more than billion people. Liberal Catholics would like Rome to relax its teachings on homosexuality, birth control and divorce and remarriage but in Africa many believers want their bishops to uphold tradition and doctrine.

Aasmah Mir hosts an intimate and revealing discussion between three women from the Bangladeshi diaspora in east London about the changes within their community.

Aasmah Mir hosts an intimate and revealing discussion between three women from the Bangladeshi diaspora in east London.

In Norway, the sacking of a newspaper editor, allegedly after pressure from Russia, has caused a political storm over media freedom, and raised questions over what price the country should pay for good relations with its powerful eastern neighbour. Thomas Nilsen is a veteran environmental activist who edited a paper in the far north of Norway, in a region which has enjoyed a unique cross-border relationship with Russia. Now that’s threatened by rising tension between Russia and NATO. And relations have been further strained by the flow of refugees, now coming through Russia into the far north of Norway. Tim Whewell reports on what it means for the Norwegian outpost of Kirkenes, where Norwegians and Russians work closely together in the oil and fishing business and where cooperation and friendship go back decades.

Produced by John Murphy

(Photo: Norwegian Lion and a Russian Bear - A delicate Dance)

Why are children hooked on the game Minecraft? Even when they are not playing the game themselves, millions of children enjoy watching other people playing in YouTube videos. Parents worry that their children find the Minecraft universe so rewarding that they are losing interest in the real world, in face-to-face contact, or in non-screen-based play. Rather than having a moral panic about it, should we be harnessing children's enthusiasm and taking Minecraft into schools, as some educationalists propose?

How do Catholics in Kenya view the Church's controversial rules on sex and the family? Helen Grady reports from Kenya and speaks to Archbishop of Nairobi Cardinal John Njue, who takes an uncompromising approach to his Church’s rules about sex. She also speaks to young professionals, DJ NRuff and a lesbian mother passing as heterosexual for fear of rejection.

Known by many simply as 'The Lady', Aung San Suu Kyi has become one of the world's most famous politicians. And yet she has never exercised any power in her country Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Under the current constitution, she is forbidden from becoming president. But will she find a way of ruling the country if, as is expected, her party The National League for Democracy has won this weekend's elections?

Lyse Doucet visits Cairo’s presidential palace for an exclusive interview with Egypt’s new strongman, President Abd-al-Fattah al-Sisi.