The Documentary Podcast

No one wants to do Major Serhiy Laziuk’s job. He travels from house to house in Lviv, western Ukraine, bringing families news of their loved ones at the front who are killed or missing in action. ‘I tell them I have a sealed letter, that I must deliver by hand,’ he says. Then he arrives at the door to break the news. Serhiy has delivered hundreds of notifications, often three or four a day. Small wonder that Ukraine is in a military recruitment crisis, with many men of fighting age asking for exceptions, or hiding in their houses. ‘Mykola’ hasn’t been outside for a year and a half for fear of the draft. He and his wife sent their teenage son out of Ukraine in 2022 at the start of the full scale invasion. Of course they want Ukraine to win the war, they say. But the price of sacrificing father or son is too high.
This episode of The Documentary comes to you from Assignment, investigations and journeys into the heart of global events.

Bright geometric shapes make the graffiti work of Kenyan artist Wise Two really stand out. Michael Kaloki tracks how his bold style is evolving as he travels to Mexico where. he says, street art is more widely accepted than in Nairobi, a city where he tends to paint murals in densely populated districts like Kibera and Jericho. On this trip to Mexico, Wise Two has started using a more varied colour palette and not just the traditional primary colours of Maasai masks he was known for. He is also using gold leaf on smaller canvases and abstract shapes on a tricky commission to paint cylindrical air-conditioning vents, not the usual flat surface which graffiti artists decorate.
This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from In the Studio, exploring the processes of the world’s most creative people.

The "Yunarmiya" or 'Youth army' is a movement that was founded in January 2016 by the Russian government. In total, more than 1.8 million children in Russia have joined the movement. As of May 2025, more than 120,000 Youth Army graduates served in the Russian army and other security forces. The Youth Army is also actively recruting Ukrainian children in occupied regions of the country. This began in parts of Ukraine even before Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, in places like Crimea and Donbas. The children are taught to sing the Russian national anthem; kiss the Russian flag; dig trenches and handle guns. Zhanna Bezpiatchuk of BBC Ukrainian has been looking into how these Youth Armies operate in occupied regions of Ukraine.
Simon Bolivar was a nineteenth century soldier and statesman who led six countries - Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Panama - to independence from the Spanish empire and earned himself the title of ‘El Libertador’, the liberator. He left a huge legacy in South America and is still considered by many as a revolutionary hero. Growing up in Venezuela, Juan Alosno of BBC Mundo was very familiar with Bolivar's mythology, because it was taught to him in school. Even as a child, there were a couple of details that just didn't stack up for him.... so he set out to investigate.
At the end of January this year, 6 people were caned in public for violating Sharia law in Aceh, Indonesia. Caning is a common punishment for breaking Islamic law in religiously conservative Aceh, although the practice has drawn criticism from rights groups who say it's cruel. Aceh has a unique identity within Indonesia, and is the only part of the country to practice Sharia. Astudestra Ajengrastri of BBC Indonesian explains Aceh's history and why it chooses to be different from the rest of Indonesia.
This episode of The Documentary comes to you from The Fifth Floor, the show at the heart of global storytelling, with BBC journalists from all around the world.
Presented by Faranak Amidi.
Produced by Laura Thomas and Caroline Ferguson

(Photo: Faranak Amidi. Credit: Tricia Yourkevich.)

Five Iranians join presenter James Reynolds in the Naroon Persian restaurant in central London to share their experiences. In our conversation over dinner, our guests discuss the war, what it is like to be so far from home, fears for family and friends in Iran and their hopes for the future of the country. “One of the things we can all relate to is a big sense of survivor’s guilt,” Rahah tells us. Many people who have left Iran tend to oppose the regime and it is difficult to gauge how much support the government has. One Dutch study suggested it is around 20% of the population and our guests discuss why they decided to leave and what they miss about home

In 2014, Tareena Shakil, then 24, made a decision that would change her life forever. She secretly left the UK, telling her family she was on holiday, and travelled with her young son to Syria to join the Islamic State group. Within months she found herself in the heart of the extremist stronghold and later fled to Turkey before returning to the UK, where she was arrested and became one of the first British women to be convicted for membership of Isis and encouraging terrorism. Shakil was sentenced to six years in prison but was released after serving half her term. In the years since, she has publicly expressed regret for her actions, accepted responsibility for lying about her journey when first questioned by police, and described her experience as a time when she “lost her way”. Rajeev Gupta meets Tareena in Birmingham as she reflects on a path that took her from belief to extremism.
This episode of The Documentary, comes to you from Heart and Soul, exploring personal approaches to spirituality from around the world.