The Documentary Podcast

The people of Venezuela are still reeling from the aftermath of two powerful earthquakes which struck near the capital Caracas in June.

As buildings collapsed, the impact was devastating. Over two and a half thousand are recorded dead but, with tens of thousands of people still missing, the final number will be much higher.

We hear from people who were in Caracas and the nearby port of La Guaira - one of the worst affected areas.

Some have been made homeless. Some are students, who were about to graduate and are now mourning the loss of friends. Some, like Gonzalo, are continuing to search for those who are still trapped beneath collapsed buildings.
While rescue teams have arrived from all over the world, Gonzalo is dismayed at the shortage of aid from his own government.
"As Venezuelans right now we cannot afford to stop and process. We are stuck in the loop of helping, helping, helping, helping, helping. We have to get each other out, we have to get each other out, which is a beautiful thing," said Gonzalo.
"But the painful thing is that it's just a sign of how alone we are. How destroyed the network of this country is and that is the most desolating part of it all."
Host: James Reynolds
BBC producers: Iqra Farooq and Ryan Keane.
Boffin Media producer: Sue Nelson
Editors: Harriet Oliver and Arja Haikonen
An EcoAudio certified Boffin Media production in partnership with the OS team.

Once a respected voice in the pulpit, a Nigerian priest was cast out when his sexuality became known, mirroring a broader pattern in which clergy have been dismissed or barred from ministry in Nigeria over allegations of homosexuality. Listening to his intimate testimony and stark reality, Emily Buchanan explores the cost of authenticity in a society where belief, culture, and law intersect - and where being true to oneself can mean losing everything.

Our bodies are filled with bacteria that have rich social lives and, just like people, these microbial neighbours and families do not always get along. In some cases, it is the bacterial equivalent of The Sopranos. Dr Sally Le Page delves into the bacterial dramas of loners, crowd-lovers, backstabbers and do-gooders that are fighting it out in the world and inside our bodies. Co-operation, cheating and selfish behaviour can all lead to benefits or disease so scientists are studying this behaviour to help produce new medicines and clean up our environment.

Running a restaurant is hard. Long hours, tight margins and constant stress. In this episode of the Food Chain, Rumella Dasgupta travels to Edinburgh, Scotland, to meet Lisa He and her mum Sophie. Lisa has just put her life and acting career on hold, to try and help her mum save the family's restaurant, the China Star. A video she made documenting her attempt has gone viral, with more than fifteen million views.

But is a viral video going to be enough to turn a failing business into a success? Lisa's got to fix the sprawling menu, digitise the paper ordering system and cut costs.

Lisa and Rumella meet restaurant turnaround expert David Hopkins from the Fifteen Group in Canada, who's on hand to give advice and to explain why restaurants are such difficult businesses to run.

Meanwhile the Mand family in Sydney Australia know only too well what Lisa and Sophie are going through. Last year, son Bhav documented his fight to save his dad's failing restaurant. So how's it doing now?

And, in such a difficult industry, when is the right time to walk away? Rumella hears from Carleigh Bond, who made the tough decision to close her vegan fast-food restaurant Forked Up in October 2025.
The Food Chain examines the business, science and cultural significance of food, and what it takes to put food on your plate. To hear more, search The Food Chain wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

Switzerland recently voted on a radical and unprecedented initiative: capping the country’s population to limit migration. It is the latest in a series of referendums around immigration policy in Switzerland, which have spanned decades. In the weeks preceding the vote, Josephine Casserly was in Switzerland to speaking to the people championing this policy to understand why concerns about immigration have grown so strong in this small, wealthy country, famed for its neutrality.