The Documentary

A symphony for Syria is the story of how 50 Syrian musicians beat the odds to find their way to Holland to perform together. The Orchestra of Syrian Musicians first played with British songwriter Damon Albarn in 2008. Since then, a civil war has divided their country and forced many to rethink many aspects of their lives. Some have decided to live in Europe whilst others have stayed in Syria and continued to try and perform even as their compatriots have died and lost their homes around them. In a symphony for Syria, Amy Zayed explores their lives through music in Syria and their newly adopted countries. And it puts their music in a rich tradition of Syrian performances dating back three thousand years. We share their emotions as Damon Albarn and Africa Express attempt to reunite his old friends in Amsterdam. Can all the members make it to Holland? Is there time to get the music together? And we follow their first concert and what they hope will be an enthusiastic and emotional reception from a European audi

The former British colony of Belize is a tiny country that boasts rich Central American indigenous culture and a spectacular Caribbean coast. It also suffers a high rate of violent crime, and its one and only prison houses more than its fair share of murderers. The BBC’s Charlotte McDonald has gained rare access to the jail, and to inmates there who have faced capital punishment for their crimes – sometimes coming alarmingly close to being put to death. All have since been spared thanks to an ongoing legal campaign, led by a group of British lawyers. As this programme discovers, the reformists have not only saved lives in Central America, for their campaign has had consequences for prisoners throughout the world. Yet, enduring a rising murder rate and menacing gangs, many local people in Belize remain convinced that violent offenders should go to the gallows.Producer: Mike Gallagher

The towns of east Lancashire in North-West England were among the worst hit by the massive loss of life on the first day of the Battle of the Somme 100 years ago. The Mayor of Accrington, a small textile town, had volunteered to form a battalion of 1,000 local men to help England’s war effort in 1914. Men from neighbouring Burnley and Chorley completed the new battalion, which became known as the Accrington Pals because friends, neighbours and workmates had all joined up to fight together.

What is motivating Ohio's volatile 'independent' voters who are not Democrats or Republicans? Michael Goldfarb travels to the key state of Ohio to meet independent voters. He explores the anger that is motivating independents and places their views in the deeper historical context of changes in American society.

The Syrian conflict has changed people's lives irrevocably and, in this programme, we allow people to reflect on the situation in which they find themselves. We hear from Sam, who has stayed in his home city of Deraa. Alia lives in a rural area which is in the hands of rebel forces. Her son joined up to fight the regime, but was killed. And, Khadija Kamara came to Britain to escape civil war in Sierra Leone. Her son Ibrahim became the first British jihadi to be killed in Syria.

Lucy Ash meets Macedonia’s Special Prosecutors -three women who have become the scourge of the political elite and heroines of the street protests now rocking the tiny Balkan nation. Their job is to investigate claims of wrongdoing and corruption revealed in a huge wiretapping scandal. The former Prime Minister has called them puppets of the opposition but to protestors on the street the fearless trio are Macedonia’s Charlie’s Angels. But will they succeed in their crime fighting mission when they have a tight deadline and most state institutions are either refusing to cooperate with them or dragging their feet. Many argue that a Special Prosecution is not much use without a Special Court. Under the current patronage based system, high court judges are appointed only after the approval of senior politicians and the secret police. Produced by John Murphy

Sa’adat Hassan Manto was a writer who confronted social taboos in Indio-Pakistani society. Even though he died in 1955, an alcoholic and penniless, his work still speaks to 21st Century Pakistan. As a film and radio script writer, a journalist and most significantly as short story writer in Urdu, Manto chronicled the chaos that prevailed in the run up to, during and after the Partition of India in 1947.

Since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, huge numbers of men have been conscripted into service on the frontline. Many are now returning home to a civilian society which has little understanding of their experiences or how the fighting has changed them. Reporter David Stern follows of a group of Ukrainian veterans as they attempt to adjust to life after the war fare. He is with Sasha, a young recruit posted to the frontline, as he experiences an emotional reunion with his family after his demobilisation. But questions remain about his ability to cope away from his unit, and the psychological impact of the fighting. As Europe’s only active conflict in a generation enters its third year, the programme will explore the unique pressures and dilemmas that a huge cross-section of Ukrainian men is facing after demobilisation.

Film-maker Rex Bloomstein, who pioneered a British prison television documentary, gains unprecedented access to the largest sex offender prison in Europe, HMP Whatton in the UK. Since the revelations surrounding high profile figures in the UK entertainment industry, there are more sex offenders in English and Welsh prisons than ever before, around 11,600 out of a total population of 86,000. Bloomstein explores the methods used to get prisoners to confront their offending behaviour and to prepare them to go back out into the world.

In March the award-winning Honduran environmentalist, Berta Caceres, was gunned down at home. Of indigenous Lenca origin, for years she was a prominent critic of the government, and campaigned against the Agua Zarca hydro-electric project in the western highlands. Honduras is the most unequal nation in the Americas, but it is rich in minerals with an enormous capacity for the development of hydro-electric power. Since a coup in 2009 removed the left-leaning President, a business-driven government has granted dozens of concessions for the exploitation of precious national resources. But the race for development is creating bitter – and murderous – disharmony: Honduras has become the most deadly nation on earth to be a land or environmental activist. For Assignment, Linda Pressly, explores how the murder of Berta Caceres is emblematic of profound divisions in Honduras. (Image: A graffiti image of Berta Caceres on a wall in Honduras)

Britain's music scene today is a rich, multi-cultural feast that draws on talent from all corners of society. Unless, that is, your passion is classical music. In Britain, and across Europe, performers, composers, teachers and institutions remain resolutely, predominantly white. Why should this be, and is this a concern?

In Iran, It is not just Ahmadinejad who slams homosexuals, many people also deny homosexuality or know very little about it. So how does one family cope when they realise their daughter is gay? This is the story of the collective struggle of a supportive and close-knit family, who are trying to find a solution for this "crisis", each in their own way.

Each month in a flat piece of English Fenland, a site the size of 40 football pitches, hosts the biggest second hand farm machinery auction in the world. It is both uniquely British and international – buyers from four continents arrive by truck, taxi, or hire car with their tractor shopping lists and hopes.

Speaking together for the first time, four European hostages of so-called Islamic State talk to Lyse Doucet about their period of incarceration between March 2013 and June 2014. Aid worker Federico Motka, journalists Didier Francois and Daniel Rye, and blogger Pierre Torres were all held for between 10 and 14 months each.

Lipika Pelham travels to a remote part of south eastern Bangladesh to report on claims of human rights abuses against indigenous inhabitants of the area. The Chittagong Hill Tracts are home to thirteen indigenous groups with the Chakma, Marma, Chak and Mro mostly practicing Theravada Buddhism. Thousands were forced off their lands from the 1960s until the 1990s. An insurgency that started in the mid 1970s ended in a peace settlement in 1997 under which the army was supposed to withdraw but it continues to maintain a tight grip on the area. The resettlement of tens of thousands of Bengalis from other parts of the country has only added to tensions. Lipika is one of the few journalists from a foreign media organisation to report from there in recent years. She has returned with first-hand accounts of alleged rape and torture and hears claims that soldiers have been involved in evicting people from their homes. Her report carries details of attempts to forcibly convert young children to Islam as well as accus

The BBC's former Pakistan correspondent Owen Bennett Jones continues his exploration of South Asia’s Deobandi Muslim movement. He heads across the border to Pakistan, where Deobandi ideology has provided spiritual guidance for both militant groups like the Taliban and a strictly non-violent missionary movement. So how can a single school of thought follow such different paths? Owen explores the role the Deobandi ideology has played in shaping Pakistan's identity, and how the Pakistani state has tapped into the intolerant elements of Deobandi teachings to fuel state-sponsored jihad - be it fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan or the Indians in Kashmir. Empowered by a ready supply of cash and guns, a relatively small number of Deobandi militants have caused havoc across the country, in the form of sectarian violence, and anti-state violence, as violent groups turn their guns on their masters. Pakistan created a monster by endorsing Deobandi militancy - so how can it bring it under control? (Photo: Owen Bennett J

Valeria Perasso and Alejandro Millán travel to Colombia and witness the search for victims who vanished over the last decade in the country's 50-year-long armed conflict, and hear the voices of families looking for missing young students in Mexico - all with the help of the Equipo Argentino de Antropología Forense, or EAAF as they are best known.

Kabul-based Tolo TV has made a name for itself reporting independent news and putting on hugely popular entertainment shows. But in the last few months the network has itself become the news story. After no fewer than four extremist threats, a Taliban suicide bombing in January this year killed seven staff and injured nearly twenty more. So what is life like for those who remain? Yalda Hakim tells the story of Tolo’s precarious operation – condemned as lewd and immoral by religious extremists, and described as a legitimate military target. In helping Afghans to challenge those in power, promoting women to top appointments, and even broadcasting popular western style entertainment shows, Tolo is helping to change Afghan society. It belongs to a growing media that are giving voice to the voiceless. But in the face of such ruthless enemies, staff are leaving for their own safety and even senior management admit that the channel might one day be forced to close.

Owen Bennett Jones tells the story of India’s Deobandi school of Islam, which has inspired both a peaceful global missionary movement and the Taliban.

The Argentine Team of Forensic Anthropology and their quest for clues from victims' bones, that tell the stories of Latin America's "disappeared". Valeria Perasso and Alejandro Millán discover how the team was born. They visit their lab and and speak to the sons, daughters, mothers and brothers who have received the remains of their long-sought “disappeared” from the forensics’s hands. What do these bones mean to them?