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Categories: Documentaries

  1. The Straight Man

    Nicholas Parsons presents a potted history of the 'straight man' in comedy double-acts.

    BBC Radio 4

  2.

    Nicholas Parsons: A Man of Many Parts

    Paul Jackson celebrates the many showbiz lives of the irrepressible Nicholas Parsons.

    BBC Radio 4

  3. The New Deal - A Story For Our Times

    Marybeth Hamilton explores how America responded to the Great Depression with The New Deal

    BBC Radio 4

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  4. Black Star Line: The Story of Marcus Garvey

    A look at the life of black activist Marcus Garvey.

    BBC Radio 4

  5. Surviving Unemployment

    Three newly jobless young people learn from survivors of the 1980s unemployment crisis.

    BBC Radio 4

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  6. Anatomy of Touch

    How important is touch to us? Claudia Hammond reveals the BBC Touch Test results.

    BBC Radio 4

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  7. Long Covid

    Adam Rutherford explores the science behind why recovery from covid can be so protracted.

    BBC Radio 4

  8.

    Back to School

    Radio 4 goes Back to School to explore the new world of socially distanced education.

    BBC Radio 4

  9. One Zoo Three

    Following three young brothers who happen to own their own zoo.

    CBBC

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  10. Packing Up The Family Home

    Geoff Bird and his siblings clear fifty years’ worth of stuff from their old family home.

    BBC Radio 4

  11.

    Cannadine on Class

    Professor David Cannadine argues historians and politicians have overplayed the class card

    BBC Radio 4

  12.

    Hip-hop’s Laughing Stock

    Joe Jacobs is a failing rapper trying to make a career as a stand-up comedian.

    BBC Radio 4

  13. Two Minutes Past Nine

    25 years on, journalist Leah Sottile investigates the legacy of the Oklahoma City Bombing.

    BBC Radio 4

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  14. The Green Lady in the Toilets

    Emmy the Great seeks musical inspiration from the ghosts of the school toilets.

    BBC Radio 4

  15. Blood Lands

    A true story of a murder investigation which takes us to the heart of modern South Africa.

    BBC Radio 4

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  16. Vaccines, Money and Politics

    What will it really take to vaccinate the world against Covid 19?

    BBC Radio 4

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  17. Extinction: The Facts

    Sir David Attenborough investigates the loss of biodiversity happening around us.

    BBC One

  18. The Austerity Audit

    Paul Johnson offers an in-depth analysis of the UK's decade of austerity.

    BBC Radio 4

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  19. Broad Spectrum

    Helen Keen had a diagnosis of autism as an adult: she explores how it appears in women.

    BBC Radio 4

  20.

    Pause the Plié

    Tatum Swithenbank explores the meaning of creativity after a life changing diagnosis.

    BBC Radio 4

  21.

    Universities in Crisis

    Sam Gyimah investigates if Britain's universities can survive the crisis they now face.

    BBC Radio 4

  22.

    Anatomy of Guilt

    Helena Kennedy QC explores guilt as a legal, psychological and political idea.

    BBC Radio 4

  23.

    Nsukka Is Burning

    Inua Ellams on how one town became a centre of writing and resistance in Nigeria.

    BBC Radio 4

  24.

    My City in Lockdown

    Dr Fozia Hayat investigates attitudes to localised lockdowns in Bradford.

    BBC Radio 4

  25. A Short History of Solitude

    The historian of emotions, Thomas Dixon, explores the surprising history of being alone.

    BBC Radio 4

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  26. From the Mayflower to the Moon (and Back Again)

    A 400-year journey into the creation of the United States with the writer Joe Queenan.

    BBC Radio 4

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  27. When Bob Marley Came to Britain

    How Bob Marley influenced politics and culture in the UK in the turbulent 1970s.

    BBC Two

  28.

    The Empty Cases

    Gary Younge looks at how the Black Lives Matter movement may change British museums.

    BBC Radio 4

  29.

    Code-Switching

    Lucrece Grehoua reveals the cost of hiding who we really are in the workplace.

    BBC Radio 4

  30.

    Scotland’s Uncivil War

    Dani Garavelli tells the story of a deep schism at the heart of Scottish politics.

    BBC Radio 4

  31.

    Inside the Bruderhof

    The story of an unusual village in Sussex where there’s no crime, debt or homelessness.

    BBC One

  32.

    Led by the science

    How does scientific advice lead to government policy at the best of times, and the worst?

    BBC Radio 4

  33.

    Fighting Together in Korea

    How the Korean War forced the US military to desegregate.

    BBC Radio 4

  34. Cuba: Castro vs the World

    The story of how Cuba has challenged the world for 60 years.

    BBC Two

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  35. Taking on Trump

    Jim Naughtie examines Joe Biden's election chances as he takes on Donald Trump in November

    BBC Radio 4

  36.

    The Death Row Book Club

    How starting a book club helped Anthony Ray Hinton survive 28 years on death row.

    BBC Radio 4

  37. The Crisis Of American Democracy

    Ben Wright assesses the health of America's increasingly partisan electoral democracy.

    BBC Radio 4

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  38. The Homeless Hotel

    What happened to rough sleepers during the coronavirus lockdown - and what happens next?

    BBC Radio 4

  39. How They Made Us Doubt Everything

    Investigating claims there could be asbestos in make-up and the industry's response.

    BBC Radio 4

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  40. Nazi sa Ghaeltacht

    Kevin Magee investigates the true story behind rumours of a Nazi spy in Donegal in 1937.

    BBC Two Northern Ireland

  41.

    Mohammed and the Market

    Does a financial system with roots deep in the past have answers to modern economic woes?

    BBC Radio 4

  42.

    Archiving Black America

    Maya Millett speaks to the archivists amplifying the buried stories of African-Americans.

    BBC Radio 4

  43. The Punch

    Aged 19, Jacob Dunne was convicted of manslaughter for killing a man with a single punch.

    BBC Radio 4

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  44. The Call Up

    Phil Carradice presents the testimonies of the Welsh men affected by National Service.

    BBC Radio Wales

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  45. What If Everyone Was Disabled?

    Mat Fraser imagines how different our world would be if everybody had a disability.

    BBC Radio 4

  46. The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty

    The incredible story of Rupert Murdoch’s influence on world events.

    BBC Two

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  47. The Political School

    Timandra Harkness examines how we could change our political system for the better.

    BBC Radio 4

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  48. Once Upon a Time in Iraq

    A closer look at the realities of war and life under Isis.

    BBC Two

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  49. A Deadly Trade

    Even through lockdown boatloads of refugees made the dangerous crossing by boat to the UK.

    BBC Radio 4

  50.

    Granda Harry and the Coathanger Horse

    A Belfast writer imagines an artist's life for the grandfather who raised him.

    BBC Radio 4

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