The Documentary

Philip Dodd looks at the impact that mass tourism on cruise liners can have. He talks to the people who benefit from the arrival of the huge new ships, and those who are unhappy about the environmental impact.

"Archaeology is supposed to be fun and interesting and apolitical and those are the reasons I love it, but none of this is now." Archaeologists like Jesse Casana have lived and worked on sites throughout Syria for years. He describes his feelings about the fate of friends and colleagues left behind. The excavation at Tell Qarqur that he oversaw before the war has now been bulldozed, but he says, "It seems like a fairly small concern compared to the human tragedy unfolding before our eyes."Tell Qarqur is not the only monument of archaeological interest that has been destroyed. The statue of an 11th Century Arabic poet, atheist and vegetarian, al-Ma'arri, was decapitated Islamic militants in 2013. And Aleppo, thought to be the oldest city in the world, is now in ruins. Its sights are remembered fondly by the people who lived there including the elegant, 1000 year old mineret of the Great Mosque destroyed in April 2013. Picture: A Syrian rebel fighter points to destruction in the Great Mosque complex, Aleppo,

In the Colombian capital of Bogota, Lucy Ash meets two people who fear they will never be able to return to their homes. They both come from Choco, which is one of the poorest provinces and most violent parts of the country. Maria, an Afro-Colombian mother of four, fled her town after she was abducted and brutally attacked by paramilitaries. Plinio was trying to help members of his indigenous community go back to their farms when he received death threats from a splinter group of left wing guerrilla (the ELN) and his friend was assassinated.Their stories illustrate a nationwide trauma – the government may be on the brink of a historic peace deal with the FARC rebels, but Colombia has even more internally displaced people than Syria. More than 200,000 have been killed and seven million driven off their land during half a century of war. Lucy travels down the River Baudo to meet people uprooted from their jungle villages in violent clashes earlier this year and finds that Latin America’s longest insurgency is f

The story of the premature babies in incubators on display in amusement park on Coney Island, and how the man who put them there, Martin Couney, changed attitudes to premature babies and saved countless lives.At Coney Island amusement park between 1903 and 1943 there was an extraordinary exhibit: tiny, premature babies. 'Dr Martin Couney's infant incubator’ facility was staffed by nurses in starched white uniforms and if you paid a quarter, you could see the babies in their incubators. Journalist Claire Prentice has been following the story and tracked down some of those babies, now in their 70s, 80s and 90s, who were put in the show. She discovers how Dr Couney brought the incubator to prominence in the USA through World's Fairs and amusement parks, and explores how a man who was shunned by the medical establishment changed attitudes to premature babies and saved countless lives.Image: Coney Island amusement park in 1904, Credit: Getty Images

China is a huge new market for the cruise industry. Philip Dodd cruises across the South China Sea to find out how the Chinese have taken to life on board ship. Boarding in Shanghai Philip meets the passengers and crew who will sail the coast of China down to Hong Kong. The Chinese want different things from a cruise from Westerners – they don’t want to sit in the sun. What they do want though is more of a sense of community on board. Ships are now being fitted especially for the Chinese market with these requirements in mind. As well as Asia, Philip looks to see if there is an appetite for cruising on the continent of Africa. He’ll be talking to the market specialists in South Africa where the numbers are on the rise.Picture: Cruise ship in Hong Kong, Credit: Philip Dodd

In May 2015, the Syrian city of Palmyra was captured by the forces of the so-called Islamic State. Few of the group's excesses have won as much attention as their ravaging of the city. They have waged a campaign of violence against the local population, and they systematically destroyed many of the city's great monuments, including the 2,000 year old Temple of Bel; the Lion of al-Lat, an ancient sculpture of a protective spirit; and the nearby shrine of Mar Elian in the Syrian desert that was beloved by both Christian and Muslim communities for hundreds of years. The three-part series, the Museum of Lost Objects, traces the histories of ten lost treasures through the stories of people who knew and loved them. From sculptures and shrines to tombs and temples, we explore how these ancient treasures have remained present in the lives of Iraqis and Syrians right up to this grim modern era of destruction. What you’ll hear is a recreation of sorts: these places and objects reimagined through local legends, historie

Playing war-games in the woods has become an ever-more popular pastime in Poland as thousands of young people join paramilitary groups to defend their country against possible invasion. Others – so-called “preppers” - are building bunkers and storing food supplies so their families can survive any disaster. Now the government plans to recruit such enthusiasts into a state-run volunteer defence force – to counter a possible Russian threat. But are the authorities stoking fear – and creating an amateur force that’s no use in 21st Century warfare? Tim Whewell reports from the forests of north-eastern Poland, close to the Russian border. Producer: Estelle Doyle

Poet Adélia Prado has shunned the spotlight since her discovery in 1976 – then a 40-year-old mother of five. Her literary career was launched by Brazil's foremost modern poet, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, with the announcement that St Francis was dictating verses to a housewife in the backwaters of the interior state of Minas Gerais. She writes about the transcendent in ordinary life, of how the human experience is both mystical and carnal. Now aged 80, her sensual, devout, sometimes provocative poetry is read and admired around the world. In the company of her long-time translator and fellow poet Ellen Doré Watson, Adélia Prado invites us into her home to talk about her life and work.Picture: Adelia Prado, Credit: Eve Streeter

The Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution declares that anyone born on US soil "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof" is an American citizen. It was intended to give freed slaves guaranteed citizenship in the wake of the 1861-65 Civil War. But today, it also means the children of illegal immigrants to the US automatically become American citizens. This places it right at the heart of the huge controversy over immigration. Adam Smith, historian of 19th Century America, travels to Washington DC and North Carolina to find out.

Inside the secretive world of one of Malawi’s biggest charities - DAPP (Development Aid from People to People). For decades, governments including the US, UK and other European nations have donated many millions of dollars to DAPP for projects ranging from sanitation to teaching. But DAPP has a big secret – it is under the control of a Danish cult-like organisation called the Teachers Group. Simon Cox investigates.*Since uploading this programme the UK's Department for International Development has suspended payments to DAPP and launched its own investigation*

Thousands of angry young Brazilians could not care less about the 2016 Olympics; they would rather paint Rio and São Paulo’s walls with their views about political turmoil, poverty and inequality. Steve Uruqhart meets graffiti writers and street artists in Brazil. Why do they choose to risk their lives, their limbs, their freedom, to highlight their social concerns?

Jeffrey Rosen explores how the US Supreme Court, once derided as the third branch of government, has become the busiest and most powerful institution in American politics, and how that makes the court’s current vacancy a particularly valuable prize in this presidential year.

Away from the sound of bombs and bullets, in the basement of a crumbling house in the besieged Syrian town of Darayya, is a secret library. It’s home to thousands of books rescued from bombed-out buildings by local volunteers, who daily brave snipers and shells to fill it’s shelves. In a town gripped by hunger and death after three years without food aid, Mike Thomson reveals how this literary sanctuary is proving a lifeline to a community shattered by war. Produced by Michael Gallagher and translated by Mariam El Khalaf.*Omar, the FSA soldier who was the last voice heard in this programme has been killed in fighting*(Photo: Omar Abu Anas, a Free Syrian Army soldier reads on the front line)

Edward Stourton examines America's long history of resistance to free trade, and asks why it has again become such a potent political force. Donald Trump's most consistent policy has been opposition to free trade agreements, which he sees as unfair, particularly with China. On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders has been equally opposed, if for different reasons, while Hillary Clinton has had to tack away from her previous support for free trade pacts.

Graffiti’s modern role is evolving rapidly. From Europe to Brazil, street artists are displaying their anger about inequality, invisibility, corruption and control. Artists including Blek Le Rat (the “father of stencil graffiti”), Roc Blackblock, Suriani and Vegan Bunnies defend their actions, and discuss whether such “freedom of expression” on walls should have any limits.

Radio producer Penny Boreham and Sierra Leonean storyteller, Usifu Jalloh, travel from the UK to Kailahun district, the remote eastern area of Sierra Leone bordering Guinea and Liberia, to meet the children they have been working with remotely in a radio project.

Ed Butler explores the secretive and shocking world of Malawi’s 'hyenas'. These are the men hired to sexually initiate adolescent and pre-adolescent girls – some said to be 12 years old, or even younger. It’s a traditional custom that is endorsed and funded by the communities themselves, even the children’s families. We meet some of the victims, the regional chief campaigning to stop the practice, and the hyenas themselves, and ask if enough is being done to stamp out a custom that’s not just damaging on a human scale, but is also undermining the country’s economic development. Reported and produced by Ed Butler.

Mukti Jain Campion attends regular yoga classes and enjoys its many physical and mental benefits while believing it to be the “timeless Indian discipline” so often described in yoga books. But recent research challenges this common assumption. Could modern yoga classes, as now taught all around the world, actually be the product of 19th Century Scandinavian gymnastics as much as ancient Indian philosophy?

On the eve of the Olympics, Shakespeare’s mix of sex, politics and intrigue plays out in Rio. 400 years after Shakespeare’s death, his plays have come to Brazil and are being played to packed houses in front of enthralled audiences who respond instinctively to their passionate mix of political corruption, violence, sex, death and the supernatural.This summer, a unique collaboration between international directors, academics and Brazilian actors has brought one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays, The Tempest – in which he writes about the ‘brave new world’ of the Americas – to Rio de Janeiro.This programme hears from Suellen Carvalho, who will play Miranda in The Tempest. High in the hills overlooking Copacabana she explains how she turned her back on the drug gangs to take up Shakespearean acting. Her brother was killed in gang warfare and so her family has suffered from the violence that plagues the city of Rio. It was Shakespeare that helped her escape. “I thought the language of Shakespeare was very difficult

The first footsteps on the Moon were one giant step for 'man', but from the early days of aeronautics women have also been involved in space travel. In Women with the Right Stuff, presenter, pilot and aspiring astronaut Wally Funk pays tribute to the pioneers, meets some of those involved within today’s space industry, and hears from the woman who might be among the crew for the first human mission to Mars. Wally has first hand experience of the early days of space travel in America. She undertook secret tests to become an astronaut in 1961 and, along with 12 other female pilots, passed the extremely tough physical tests to become an unofficial member of the ‘Mercury 13’ – the women who, given a chance, could have gone into space before Russia’s Valentina Tereshkova made history. Wally hears from astronauts Jessica Meier, Helen Sharman, Eileen Collins and Samantha Cristoforetti; mission control flight director Mary Lawrence; space historian David J Shayler; and shares her 1961 astronaut medical tests with