For more than three years, North Korea has sealed its borders. People are banned from leaving or entering the country. Almost every foreigner who was inside has packed up and left. The world's most secretive and tyrannical state is now an information black hole. For months, three people inside North Korea have risked their lives to tell the BBC what is happening. What they reveal is shocking. Years of hard labour for those found watching foreign films and TV programmes, and execution for the ones who try to escape. Jean Mackenzie, the BBC's correspondent in South Korea, asks: is this a new dark age for North Korea?

North Korea: The Insiders

In Saudi Arabia's oil-rich Eastern Province, protesters inspired by the Arab Spring have been venting their anger against the government for the last three years. Saudi journalist Safa Alahmad got unprecedented access to the area.

Saudi's Secret Uprising

When the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded 33 years ago in Soviet Ukraine, it was the largest ever accidental release of radioactivity into the environment. The cause, and who was to blame, is still being debated. But what's become of the people who refused to leave the exclusion zone, and the wildlife left behind? Just how contaminated is the area now? The BBC's Science correspondent, Victoria Gill, has been given rare permission to go inside the zone - and the plant itself.

In the Shadow of Chernobyl

With exclusive access to two film-makers inside the Chinese city of Wuhan, Our World tells the story of life under lockdown.

Wuhan: Life under Lockdown

As Darcey Bussell takes her final curtain call, she reflects on nearly 20 years as principal dancer of the Royal Ballet in London. Bussell talks to Louise Minchin and explains why she is retiring at the peak of her powers

16/06/2007

When the Water Runs Out

The destruction of the twin towers was a site that became the definition of terror. It was an onslaught that killed nearly three thousand people - but a decade later, the attack isn't over. The dust that overwhelmed the streets of Lower Manhattan became a weapon. The clouds contained particles of pulverized concrete, asbestos, lead from fifty thousand computers, mercury from countless light bulbs -- a million tons of poisonous fallout. Now nearly 20,000 people are receiving treatment for a range of illnesses, many of them serious. And more than 60,000 are registered as at risk. The BBC Our World team first broke the story globally in 2006. They return 5 years later to investigate a worsening tragedy and followup with those who shared their stories.

Fallout 9/11 Ten Years On

That September Day

Securing New York

As a wave of protests and self-immolations continues against the rule of China on the Tibetan plateau, Sue Lloyd-Roberts asks the Dalai Lama if the dream of increased independence for Tibet is dead.

Human Torches of Tibet

As part of the Big Stories 2014, this is the untold story of the hidden victims of the war in Afghanistan: the women whose husbands were killed in the fight against the Taliban.

The War Widows of Afghanistan

The northern French port of Calais is facing an international refugee crisis. Darius Bazargan has been to Calais to meet the migrants, and the locals, caught up in a growing humanitarian crisis.

Calais: The Final Frontier

It's the first planned Palestinian city, a billion dollar project to build homes for 25,000 people. Though the main building work is largely finished the project, like the peace process, has ground to a halt over disagreements between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

The Billion Dollar Gamble

Eritrea has been described as one of the most secretive states in the world. For the first time in around 10 years, BBC News has been been allowed to to film inside the country.

Inside Eritrea

In a tale of corruption and international espionage Our World asks - who killed Alberto Nisman?

Who Killed Alberto Nisman

Our World speaks to former US prisoners released under a new presidential clemency initiative which is part of a changing approach to tackling drug offences in the United States.

Pardon Me, Mr. President

Mark Urban returns to Bosnia for 'Our World' and discovers how secular Bosnian society has been infiltrated by a militant Islamism which operates to this day.

Bosnia: Cradle of Modern Jihad?

Over the past ten years, thousands of unaccompanied children have fled to the UK from war-torn Afghanistan, but when they turn 18 they have to return or face deportation. Chris Rogers follows some of the young men, who claim their deportation to Afghanistan would be inhumane and that the UK is now their home.

Deported to Afghanistan

In 2015, Iran agreed a long-term deal on its nuclear program with a group of world powers known as the P5+1 - the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany. Our World reports on the process that led to the agreement.

Iran's Nuclear Deal

More Americans die from drug doses than car crashes or gun fatalities. The majority of the deaths involve the use of heroin or prescription painkillers. Over the past year, Ian Pannell has followed a number of addicts as they try to kick the habit.

American Addiction

Gabriel Gatehouse reports from Louisiana. How much of a difference did Barack Obama's presidency make to the lives of African-Americans?

Black in Trump's America

Our World investigates allegations of mass murder and rape among Myanmar's displaced Rohingya minority. Asking why Burmese leader and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has failed to stop what the UN is calling crimes against humanity.

Freedom and Fear in Myanmar

A brilliant student, Mashal Khan, was brutally murdered by a mob on a university campus in Pakistan earlier in 2017 after he was accused of blasphemy. The killing caused widespread outrage in Pakistan and has even led to calls to change the country's strict blasphemy laws. Who was Mashal Khan and why was he murdered? Secunder Kermani investigates.

Murder on Campus

In Ukraine more than 30 thousand children with disabilities are living in state run institutions. A few are orphans but most have families, yet spend much of their lives in children's homes, some in shockingly bad conditions. The Government of Ukraine has vowed to end this practice, with the most radical reforms the country has seen since it gained its independence from the Soviet Union 26 years ago. Nikki Fox, the BBC's disability news correspondent, has this exclusive report.

The Forgotten Children of Ukraine

Lucy Ash reports from Marinka in eastern Ukraine, where a new bakery brings some comfort and sustenance to war-weary locals.

Ukraine's Frontline Bakery

Lele Tao is an internet superstar in China's $3 billion dollar 'live streaming' industry. With more than a million fans she can earn thousands of dollars a day.

China's Chat Girls

Hundreds of industrial towns across Russia face extinction. Once the pride of the Soviet Union, many have now been abandoned and millions have lost jobs and homes after the collapse of their local industry. The government now has a plan to save at least some of Russia's dying towns.

Russia's Ghost Towns

More than two thousand children were taken to France from the Indian Ocean island of Reunion between the 1960s and early 1980s as part of a French government plan to repopulate rural areas. Promised a better life, and an education, many suffered sexual and physical abuse. Some, now middle aged, are seeking an apology and compensation from the French state. Earlier this year, Katie Razzall travels from France to Réunion with two women searching for the families they lost more than 50 years ago.

France's Stolen Children

Basra is in the grip of a crystal meth epidemic. Yalda Hakim has gained exclusive access to Basra's SWAT team and the prison where dealers and addicts are kept in the same cell.

Iraq's War on Meth - with Yalda Hakim

For decades Australians and New Zealanders have had the right to live and work in each other's country - but those rights have now been curtailed by Australia.

Australia and New Zealand; Troubled Neighbours

A decade after returning from Iraq, Our World meets a group of former US soldiers still struggling to adjust to life back home.

Second Platoon - Still Fighting

In Ukraine a new independent Orthodox church is set to reject 350 years of spiritual domination by Russia. Four years into a war against Russian backed rebels many Ukrainians want to sever ties with their closest neighbour. But will the trauma caused by this religious schism further divide Ukraine?

Ukraine's Church: Rejecting Russia

In the wake of the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi, Our World can reveal allegations that close associates of the Prince have been involved in torture and murder in the past.

Saudi's Crown Prince on Trial

Two years ago Qandeel Baloch was murdered in her bed, the victim of a so-called honour killing that rocked Pakistan and the world.

Justice for Qandeel?

Around 25 thousand people from Thailand work on Israel's farms. Filmed over a year, Our World investigates allegations that many are being exploited.

Who Cares About Israel's Thai Workers?

The Chinese government denies locking up millions of Muslims, claiming people willingly attend special 'vocational schools' to combat 'terrorism and religious extremism'.

China's Hidden Camps

BBC investigation has now uncovered evidence of government sponsored torture and killings designed to silence dissent in Burundi, East Africa.

Burundi's Torture Houses

For Our World Yalda Hakim has been to Poland to meet ordinary Poles, some urging immigrants to assimilate or leave.

The Struggle for Poland's Future

For centuries, a significant Sikh minority has grown in relative safety in Afghanistan. But, in the last decade, persecution has seen the population drop.

The Last Sikhs of Afghanistan

In northern Europe's Lapland, temperatures are rising faster than anywhere else in the world, threatening the livelihood of its indigenous Sami people. Central to Sami life is the ancient practice of reindeer herding, but climate change is putting the reindeer at risk of starvation. Many Sami also worry that plans to build a railway, to exploit Lapland's natural resources, will add to the pressure on their traditional way of life. For Our World, Erika Benke has been to Arctic Finland to hear from Sami women about their fears for the future.

Fighting for Lapland

Steve Rosenberg explores how Moscow views the tumultuous events of 1989 and how Vladimir Putin's Russia is trying to regain its influence.

Russia: The Empire Strikes Back

Google, Apple and Facebook-owned Instagram are enabling an illegal online slave market by approving and providing apps used for selling domestic workers in the Gulf. For Our World, BBC News Arabic’s undercover investigation exposes the people in Kuwait breaking local and international laws on modern slavery, including a woman offering a child for sale. At the centre of this powerful investigative film is Fatou a 16 year old in Kuwait City who has been there for nine months. We follow her rescue and journey back home to Guinea, West Africa and ask what’s being done to control these apps?

Silicon Valley's Online Slave Market

For five months protests have rocked Hong Kong, pitting hundreds of thousands of young, idealistic demonstrators against the authorities and the might of China. The clashes between police and protestors have become increasingly violent and neither side shows signs of backing down.

Our World goes beyond the frontline to tell the stories of some of those involved, what drives them - and their hopes and fears for the future.

Inside The Hong Kong Protests

Colombia has long been the world's largest producer of cocaine. A historic peace deal in 2016 was meant to reduce the amount of cocaine being produced by offering farmers alternatives to growing coca. But last year the UN estimated that its output was the largest since records began. Our World traveled to the Cauca Valley to find that farmers are now being caught between new criminal gangs with devastating consequences.

Colombia: The New Cocaine War

In October 2019, a rising star of Syrian democratic politics, 34-year-old Hevrin Khalaf, was brutally murdered in the Kurdish-governed north east of the country.

Who Betrayed Hevrin Khalaf?

In 2017 a group of fishermen found a hoard of precious coins on the sea bed off the coast of Gaza. They were decadrachms from the reign of Alexander the Great- and they were worth a fortune. 3 years on, they have disappeared. So what happened to them, and why are rare coins so hard to trace?

The Hunt for Gaza's Lost Treasure

Antarctica is one of the most remote and inhospitable places on earth. Reporter Justin Rowlatt travels to Thwaites, the so-called Doomsday Glacier.

Journey to the Doomsday Glacier

Panzuto was a mafia boss, and a hardened killer. For years he played a key role in Naples' Camorra, but now he has turned state witness and is helping put his former associates behind bars. Dominic Casciani gains exclusive access to an Italian anti-mafia prison to meet Panzuto and hear his story of love, murder and betrayal. It's a tale which took him from the back streets of Naples to a caravan park in Blackpool. We hear from those at the sharp end of the ongoing battle against organised crime in Naples, and from those who believe the tide has finally turned. Above all we hear from the man himself: why did he decide to break with the Camorra, and what does the future hold for him?

Confessions of a Mafia Killer

Our World gained unprecedented access to enter Indonesia’s prison to witness both Garil and Sarah meeting the bombers who killed their parents.

Facing the Bombers

Few events are more nerve wracking than meeting the parents of someone you love. For black and Asian couples in South Africa, it's even more challenging.

Blasian Love in South Africa

Umaru Fofana investigates trade in trafficked rosewood worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Trees that Bleed

Our World follows two North Koreans as they gain fame in front of the camera capitalising on their defector status yet struggle to move on from their past.

North Korea's Celebrity Defectors

On Easter Sunday 2019 eight co-ordinated suicide bomb attacks across Sri Lanka killed over 270 people and injured hundreds more. One year on, Jane Corbin returns to the island and meets three of those whose lives were changed that day and who have set out to help rebuild the Sri Lanka they love.

Sri Lanka: One Year On

Deforestation has skyrocketed in Colombia since the Peace Deal of 2016. Our World joins a team of scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew as they go on a mission into virgin tropical rainforest; they hope to discover and save rare plant species, before they are destroyed and vanish forever.

Colombia: Saving Eden

Oil-rich Venezuela has been in an ever-growing state of crisis since Hugo Chavez died in 2013, and global oil prices crashed.

Venezuela Falling Backwards

In India a child goes missing every 8 minutes. The children are often trafficked into domestic labour or the sex trade - many are never seen again.

India's Missing Children

Irish society has changed in recent years, but discrimination against travellers remains widespread. Our World meets three women fighting to bust the myths about their community.

Ireland's Traveller Women

Spain is one of the countries hardest hit by coronavirus. Our World follows the lives of some of those at the heart of the crisis.

Spain's Coronavirus Heroes

New York has been the epicentre of America's coronavirus outbreak. This is the story of four of those on the frontline - told through their video diaries as the crisis unfolds.

New York: Coronavirus Diaries

Laura Bicker tells the inside story of South Korea's virus hunters. How did they manage to keep the death toll so low, and what can the rest of the world learn from South Korea?

South Korea: How to Fight Coronavirus

The lockdown in Wuhan has now been lifted, and the city is trying to recover. But just how normal is daily life in Wuhan now - and how are its people adjusting to a new world?

Wuhan: Life After Lockdown

Our World looks at the worst invasion of desert locusts East Africa has seen for decades. Just an average swarm can eat the same in a day as 2500 people for a year.

Kenya's Locust Hunters

More than 25 million people go on cruises each year. As coronavirus spread, cruise ships suffered devastating outbreaks that resulted in thousands being infected and dozens dying.

Coronavirus Cruises

Brazil has been devastated by coronavirus. More than 1.4 million people have been infected and the numbers are rising fast. Our World travels to Sao Paulo.

Brazil: One Virus, Two Worlds

Iran has been hit hard by coronavirus but its government has gone to great lengths to keep the true extent of the outbreak hidden from view. Now, with the help of videos posted by Iranians on social media, Our World reveals what life is really like inside the country during the pandemic. From illicit lockdown parties to hospitals which are struggling to cope - this is Iran as you've never seen it before.

Iran and the Virus

The killing of George Floyd, caught on camera by eyewitnesses, has led to an outpouring of anger in America. But what happens when the cameras are turned off?

Police Brutality - American Witnesses

Anna Holligan travels across Europe to see how people are getting on their bikes and asks if the surge in cycling is the start of a much bigger change in the way we travel.

Europe's Cycling Revolution?

Lebo Diseko meets Christian voters in the swing state of North Carolina and explores how important faith will be in a contest that Biden has billed as a battle for America's soul.

Trump and God

On 8 September, the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos went up in flames. Gabriel Gatehouse investigates the events surrounding the blaze.

The Day Moria Burned

TikTok is one of the fastest growing apps in the world and has now been downloaded more than two billion times. It is most famous for lip-syncing teenagers and out-of-control pets, but its phenomenal growth means it is starting to change the world - and nowhere is that clearer than in the US presidential election.

Donald Trump may not be a fan, but his supporters and Joe Biden's are now fighting for the future of their country on TikTok. With just over a week to go until America decides, Sophia Smith-Galer delves into the crazy world of TikTok and meets its breakout stars - from the Republican Girls to the Minnesota state senator who is using it to get out the Democrat vote.

How is TikTok changing US politics, and what influence will it have on who the next resident of the White House will be?

America's Tik Tok Election

Bangladesh has the world's second largest garment manufacturing industry, which for decades fuelled Europe and America's appetite for fast fashion. But as coronavirus spread around the world, over two billion pounds’ worth of clothing orders were cancelled and many factories were shut. It was a devastating blow to the sector on which many livelihoods depend.

Our World follows factory owner Mostafiz Uddin, who now stands to lose everything, and meets the women workers whose jobs have disappeared. Has coronavirus changed the way we buy clothes forever - and what about those who are being left behind?

Bangladesh: The End of Fast Fashion?

Jiyar Gol follows a trail of destruction across Europe - Could the Iranian regime have orchestrated assassinations and an attempted bombing on European soil?

Iran and the Mystery Murders

Our World tells the extraordinary story of the holidaymakers who found themselves trapped by an almighty wildfire at Mammoth Pools in California's Sierra National Forest.

California Burning

New Orleans was getting ready to celebrate Mardi Gras. But among the crowds was a virus that before long would stop the music and kill thousands in the state of Louisiana.

New Orleans: The Year the Music Stopped

From civil war to the pandemic, 2020 was a deadly year for the Syrian province of Idlib. As doctors, Mohammed al-Sharif and Zeina Hallak were on the frontline of the humanitarian crisis, but as parents, they had to protect a growing family from the dual threat of war and disease. For nine months, BBC Our World followed the couple as coronavirus brought them face-to-face with life and death.

Syria: A Family's Fight against the Virus

Jane Mugo is Kenya’s most famous – and controversial – private investigator. She says she’s solved hundreds of crimes, but some accuse her of playing by her own rules. Reporter Sharon Machira meets the woman they call Kenya’s Spy Queen.

Kenya’s Spy Queen

Human rights activist Azimjan Askarov was imprisoned in Kyrgyzstan in 2010 for a crime he says he did not commit. Ever since then, his wife Hadicha has campaigned tirelessly for his release.

Last Chance for Justice

Over the last few years, Moroccan migrants who are trying to reach the EU have become YouTube celebrities by blogging about the journey online. Our World travels to meet them.

Morocco's YouTube Migrants

The Amazon is the largest tropical rainforest and one of the most biodiverse places on earth. But now chunks of it are being sold off – on social media. Joao Fellet reports.

Selling the Amazon

BBC Europe Editor Katya Adler explores what went wrong at the Austrian resort of Ischgl at the start of the global pandemic and asks what lessons can be learned.

Ischgl: The Superspreader Ski Resort

In January this year, something very strange happened on the US stock market. The shares of GameStop, an unfashionable high street games store, suddenly went through the roof and kept rising. As a result, a group of hedge funds unexpectedly found themselves losing millions of dollars.

The giant price spike turned out to be the work of a committed band of amateur online investors – many of whom were out to get their revenge on the titans of Wall Street for the financial crash. Mayhem on the markets ensued. So was this a David versus Goliath clash as many claim? And if so, who really won?

James Clayton meets the investors who made a fortune trading from their bedrooms, the tech supremos who were watching on astonished and the hedge fund giants who are now nursing their losses.

GameStop to the Moon and Back

In late 2020, a conflict that had lain almost dormant for more than 25 years flared up again. Armenia and Azerbaijan clashed over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh, with Azerbaijan ultimately reclaiming much of the land they had lost in the conflict of the 1990s. More than 6000 people were killed, and thousands more were driven from their homes.

So who really won? And what now for those whose lives were turned upside down during 44 days of fighting? With rare access inside Nagorno Karabakh, Jonah Fisher travels to both Azerbaijan and Armenia. He meets those who won their homes back and those who lost their loved ones – and discovers that a much bigger power is making a comeback.

Who Won the Karabakh War?

Jimmy Lai is a billionaire newspaper proprietor and a self-proclaimed natural born rebel. He owns Apple Daily, Hong Kong’s last opposition newspaper, and he is an outspoken critic of Beijing. As China tightens its grip on Hong Kong, that puts him in danger. In August he was arrested under the strict new national security law. Yet refusing to being intimidated, he continues to speak out. With remarkable access to Jimmy Lai, the BBC’s Danny Vincent meets the man facing possible life in prison after being charged with violating Hong Kong’s new law.

Hong Kong Jimmy Lai's Last Stand

Under cover of Covid, the Amazon rainforest is under attack. Deforestation is at levels not seen for more than a decade. Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, talks of opening up the forest to development while the environmental police is under attack from loggers. Our World has obtained a recording of the Environment minister talking about using the cover of Covid to “change all the rules” in the Amazon. For Our World, Justin Rowlatt, is on a mission to find out how a tribe he visited a decade ago is faring the face of this assault.

Anarchy in the Amazon

More than 700 people have been killed by the Myanmar military since they seized power at the beginning of February. Our World follows a brother and sister now fighting for their future

Myanmar: The Spring Revolution

Reporter Yemisi Adegoke meets the retired Nigerians struggling to survive due to a corrupt and inefficienct pensions system.

Nigeria's Retirement Hell

Afghanistan is in the grip of a new and sinister campaign of violence, in which young professionals - often women - are being deliberately singled out, targeted and murdered.

Killing Hope: Targeted Attacks in Afghanistan

Six years ago, Amsha escaped from captivity in northern Iraq. Like many Yazidi women, she had been held by IS militants. Today, she is risking her life to clear her homeland of unexploded mines. Our World follows her as she sets out to tackle the deadly legacy her captors left behind.

Yazidi Women: Clearing Sinjar’s Mines

In 2019-20, Australia suffered its most intense bushfire season on record. Millions of hectares of land burned and up to three billion animals were killed or displaced. Eighteen months on, Nick Lazaredes travels to some of the areas hardest hit to discover how the wildlife is faring now, and to meet the experts who are still assessing the scale of the damage.

Australia's Wildfire After the Fires

How did one London street make it through the last year? Filmed from the start of the first lockdown, this intimate portrait shows how the residents coped with the pandemic.

Lockdown in London

Kidnappers have seized more than a thousand students and staff from schools in a series of raids across northern Nigeria. The wave of abductions has devastating consequences.

Nigeria's Kidnapped Children

In March this year, Islamist militants attacked the busy town of Palma in the northern tip of Mozambique. In the hours and days that followed, chaos and bloodshed ensued. Many Mozambicans and overseas contractors tried to flee on foot and by boat, while others sought refuge in a hotel compound, awaiting rescue. With compelling eyewitness testimony and mobile phone footage, Catherine Byaruhanga tells the extraordinary stories of those caught up in the attack who were left fighting for survival as the insurgents closed in.

Mozambique: Escape from Palma

Howard Johnson sails to Scarborough Shoal, a large coral reef 120 nautical miles off the coast of the Philippines, to discover how far China is prepared to go to assert its power.

The Battle for the South China Sea

James Clayton travels to Kansas to discover how cutting edge science has identified a woman who was killed 30 years ago and is helping law enforcement in their hunt for the killer.

Finding Grace

Afghanistan is at a critical juncture in its history. As American and allied forces withdraw, the country is now at risk of falling to the Taliban. In episode one of this two-part series, Yalda Hakim returns to the country of her birth to meet people who have benefitted from the last twenty years and spends time with Vice President Amrullah Saleh, who says he would rather die than surrender to the Taliban. What does the future hold for the Afghan people?

Return of the Taliban - Part One

In the second part of this two-part series, Yalda Hakim travels to the country of her birth, Afghanistan, where she gets unprecedented access to the Taliban. She meets with a frontline commander from Helmand Province as well as the Taliban leadership in Doha, learning about their plans for ruling the country after the Americans leave. They claim they have changed and want to work with the Government, but who are the Taliban in 2021, and are they planning a return to the brutal regime of the 90s?

Return of the Taliban - Part Two

This autumn Angela Merkel bows out after 16 years as German Chancellor. In that time she has been a key player on the world stage, but how has she changed her own country?

Merkel's Germany

Nine-year-old Rodwell Nkomazana was attacked by a hyena earlier this year while sleeping outside his church in Zimbabwe. He suffered life-threatening injuries. Now, a team of volunteer doctors in South Africa is battling to help Rodwell by rebuilding his face. Our World follows their groundbreaking work and Rodwell's remarkable recovery.

Building My New Face

Over 17000 migrants have arrived in the UK this year by crossing the English Channel in small boats - that is more than double last year's total. Both the UK and French authorities are talking tough, but the numbers keep rising. So why do two of the richest nations in the world find it so hard to control who crosses such a busy shipping lane? Lucy Williamson goes on patrol with the police tasked with turning the tide - and meets the migrants who are determined to outwit them.

The Battle for the Channel

Not for the first time in its troubled history, Lebanon finds itself facing a crisis. A collapsing currency, severe shortages of basic goods, and a fragmented political system have all led the Lebanese people down a dark and uncertain path. Nowhere are the day-to-day consequences of these challenges felt more acutely than in the nation's hospitals. Our World follows the director of Lebanon's largest public hospital as he tries to stave off disaster and a junior doctor forced to decide between her patients and her own future.

Lebanon on Life Support

Current affairs documentary reporting on issues around the world.

All Episodes of Our World

Season 1

16/06/2007

Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 6/16/2007