Original title
This World
Released
1/4/2004
Origin country
GB
Genre
Documentary
Production companies
BBC
Status
Returning series
Number of seasons
13
Number of episodes
122
The series is mainly focused on social issues and current affairs stories around the world. International current affairs documentaries, replacing "Correspondent".
As the planet heats up, the number of days where the temperature reaches 50C has doubled since the 1980s, global BBC analysis has found. The BBC's Life at 50C season, produced by BBC News Arabic documentaries, set out to find out the impact of this on people living on the front line of climate change. Now, BBC teams in Mexico, Iraq, India and elsewhere tell the story of how they overcame the challenge of filming in such heat.
The strand opens with a documentary on the seemingly unstoppable rise of some of the world's most dangerous men. The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club's membership is rapidly growing in number, with new sub-factions springing up across the world, everywhere from Brazil to Liechtenstein. The rock-loving bikers have for many years been associated with violence, but many police officers now believe that the Angels have also become a sophisticated international crime organisation, with links to the wholesale trafficking of drugs. In Canada and Scandinavia, the expansion of the gang has led to violent turf wars involving shootings, bombings and hundreds of deaths.
In 1984, with Ethiopia in the grip of famine, Michael Buerk filed two shocking reports highlighting the plight of the sick and the dying. The harrowing images prompted aid efforts from around the world, yet 20 years on the situation remains desperate, with twice as many people now on the brink of starvation. Buerk returns to Africa to meet those whose lives were irrevocably affected by the tragedy first time around - including an aid worker who found herself in the impossible situation of deciding who should live and who should die - and asks whether the developed world has helped to create a nation wholly dependent on charity.
As South Africa celebrates a decade of democracy, this film follows the fortunes of two of the country's promising young footballers. Both possess their share of talent but Seth is white, and from a wealthy background, while Thuso is black and sleeps on his granny's kitchen floor. What has a free South Africa come to mean for the two young sportsmen? Director: Dominic Ozanne Editor: Karen O'Connor
Why are more and more of America's teenagers saying no to sex? The Bush administration is allocating large amounts of dollars to abstinence programmes, many of which are faith-based. One such organisation is the Silver Ring Thing, which claims that 65 million Americans have sexually transmitted diseases, and that its campaign of abstinence pledges for teenagers is a response to this medical crisis. This film follows a group of kids as they help spread the word. Director Richard Alwyn ; Editor Karen O'Connor
Crisis talks over North Korea's nuclear weapons have already begun but, away from the show-city of Pyongyang, there's evidence that the communist power is testing its chemical weapons on women, children, families of dissidents, and political prisoners. Gaining unprecedented access, reporter Olenka Frenkiel uncovers fresh proof of this barbarous conduct from those who, until now, have been silenced. Producer Ewa Ewart ; Editor Karen O'Connor
In June 2003 photographer Zahra Kazemi returned to her native Iran, after 30 years in exile, to photograph student protests. Three weeks later she was dead. Jim Muir looks into the circumstances surrounding her death, revealing an extraordinary battle for the heart of Iran waged by hard-liners as the country prepared to go to the polls. Director Diana Hill ; Producer Angeli Mehta
Every minute, two people are killed in conflicts around the world, but little is known about those fighting and dying. Here, starting a new run of the This World strand, film-makers follow 16 different people on a single day in war zones, from the jungles of Laos to the Black Sea, revealing the human stories behind the conflicts, including battles over disputed homelands, power and deeply held convictions.
October 2002: can Los Angeles - the murder capital of America - be made a safer place? New LA police chief William J Bratton is brought in to reduce the chilling statistics of 658 people killed in 2002 and restore faith in the force following the beating of Rodney King , OJ Simpson 's trial and the Rampart corruption case. Cameras spend a year with the officers at the forefront of the homicide problem, following struggles between City Hall, rank-and-file cops and the gang members plaguing the streets. Producer Richard Bee ; Editor Karen O'Connor
Sai Baba is India's most prolific guru. To his millions of followers around the world he is also the embodiment of God on Earth. Many devotees, however, who sought his spiritual enlightenment received more than they bargained for. Reporter Tanya Datta investigates a disturbing story involving magic, murder and allegations of sexual abuse. This World returns after a short break on 8 July. Producer Eamon Hardy ; Editor Karen O'Connor
The harrowing story of one man's efforts to stop children being sexually exploited in Costa Rica. Bruce Harris infiltrated a paedophile porn ring and went undercover as a customer in a child brothel to get evidence that has finally led to prosecutions - but also death threats. The film reveals the wider world picture of a growing trade that needs individuals, international governments and the tourist industry to act together to make a difference. (Postponed from 10 June) Producer Phil Wright ; Editor Karen O'Connor
On 15 February this year Aboriginal teenager Thomas "TJ" Hickey died from an injury his family claim was sustained after being chased by a police patrol in a rundown area of Sydney. Hickey's death sparked some of the worse race riots ever seen in Australia, with scores of youths fighting running battles with police near Sydney city centre. With unique access to the family of the boy, reporter David Akinsanya investigates why Aboriginals have disastrously failed to integrate into their own country, and why so many white Australians have a negative stereotype image of their indigenous neighbours. Director/Producer Guy Smith
Saudi Arabia's rich and secretive royal family is facing a growing predicament in the aftermath of 9/11, the US-led invasion of Iraq and the recent al-Qaeda bombings across the kingdom. Having fended off the assaults of modernity and democracy for 72 years, the House of Saud is now compelled to walk a perilous tightrope between the introduction of reforms to its citizens, and the continuation of the strict and puritanical religious code. What happens here matters -the holiest Islamic sites are located in this country, and more than a billion Muslims look to the kingdom for spiritual guidance. This World's Simon Reeve is given a rare opportunity to discuss this make-or-break struggle with Saudi citizens, from leading princes to reformers and women. Producer Anthony Makin ; Editor Karen O'Connor
Thailand's Bang Kwang prison, often dubbed "the Bangkok Hilton", is arguably the most infamous jail in the world. As the Thai authorities try to crack down on drug trafficking, This World gains the first ever access to the prison in which all inmates are serving sentences of more than 30 years, usually for drugs offences. The human stories from inside include a young British man struggling to stay sane and a death row prisoner pleading for a second chance. Producer: Chris Jones Editor: Karen O'Connor
New series 1/5. The This World team return with an investigation in Japan into the links between those who slaughter dolphins in traditional hunts and those who put the mammals on show for entertainment. Paul Kenyon reports. Series producer Sandy Smith ; Exec producer Karen O'Connor
Experimental drug trials are condemning children to painful lives and even death. In New York, children born to HIV-positive mothers are being used as test subjects for Aids/HIV drugs. Relatives who refuse are seeing children taken away and are having to battle against the social work authorities. This World investigates. Producer Jamie Doran ; Series producer Sandy Smith
Boot camps are all the rage for American parents looking to tame their troublesome teens. Raphael Rowe travels to the deceptively named Tranquility Bay in Jamaica, where unruly children have been made to lie on the floor, sometimes for days on end, following forcible removal from their homes. Is this tough love or child abuse? This World reports. Producer Esther McWatters: Series producer Sandy Smith (AD)
Twenty years from now, the media is reporting record low levels of violent crime. In this world, Liam, a hard-to-control youngster, has failed preliminary tests to establish the scale of his problem. He will be treated, but how hereditary is violent behaviour? This drama-documentary, based on rigorous research and including interviews with experts in the field, explores to what extent potential violent behaviour can be identified by clinical testing. A debate on the issues raised follows. Writer: Mark Hayhurst Director: Carl Hindmarch Producer: Roy Ackerman
Documentary. Four classmates from different backgrounds were given cameras to capture everyday life in Baghdad. What does the future hold for these teens?
Shot by an Iraqi doctor, this film reveals the conditions of a civilian ER in Baghdad where the ambulance crews go from one dangerous mission to another.
International investigative documentary series. This film tells the story of beautiful Laleh Seddigh, who has become Iran’s national motor sports champion.
Liberian Charles Taylor was on trial in the Hague in January for, allegedly, backing rebels in neighbouring Sierra Leone. Is he as evil as the West claims?
Tom Mangold returns to the school in Jena, Louisiana to investigate the events that triggered the biggest black civil rights march since the 60s last year.
Documentary series. Every spring, staff at women's prison UF 91-9, Siberia, organise a beauty pageant to lift spirits and help inmates win time off for good behaviour.
International documentary series. The eighth amendment of the US Constitution bans 'cruel and unusual' punishment - so should American prisons use lethal injection?
Duncan Bannatyne, the scourge of Dragons' Den, journeys to Africa to explore the rise in the number of kids smoking and the activities of one tobacco company in particular.
Documentary. With the worldwide Anglican Church on the brink of an historic split, this film goes behind the scenes with the key players in the splinter movement.
Investigative documentary series. Here, the story of Himalayan mountaineers who witnessed the shooting of Tibetan refugees by Chinese border guards in 2006.
Accused of being one of the most notorious arms dealers and sanction busters in the world, Russian businessman Viktor Bout languishes in jail in Bangkok. This World tells the story of the dramatic international sting which finally brought him to justice, and the battle to extradite him to the USA.
Investigative documentary series. Is America facing a greater threat to its economy than the meltdown of its banking system? David Walker, former US Comptroller General, thinks so.
Investigative documentary series. Saira Khan investigates the dramatic stories of British Asians taken to Pakistan by their parents and forced to marry against their will.
After years of retirement from political life, Nelson Mandela, the world's most admired statesman, allows cameras into his private world.
The dramatic stories of North Koreans who are risking everything, including torture and execution, to escape the repression and hunger of their homeland and reach safety in the South. The border between the two Koreas is so heavily guarded that refugees are forced to flee into China, dodging border guards and risking freezing to death crossing the river that divides the two countries. Once in China, they are forced to live secret lives, the women often sold into forced marriages or prostitution, because if discovered, the Chinese authorities will send them back. This film follows two women who have decided to embark on the next stage of the journey, a desperate attempt to reach South Korea. For May, it involves a four thousand mile journey through the jungles of Laos and Thailand, to claim asylum in Bangkok. For Guem Hee, it means buying a fake passport and risking arrest at any moment. For both women, it is a moving story of leaving their loved ones behind in the biggest gamble of their lives.
Investigative documentary. Willard Foxton, whose father committed suicide after falling for an elaborate con, heads to the US to investigate the fraud and its fallout.
This World examines the shocking phenomenon of Romanian Gypsy children across Europe forced to beg and steal, and the racism and discrimination suffered by the Romani people.
Investigative documentary series. The story of Neda Agha Soltan, an Iranian woman who was shot in Tehran in June 2009, and has been claimed as a martyr for Iran's protest movement.
International investigative documentary series. Justin Rowlatt reports on whether President Obama is on target to keep his climate change promises.
Joseph Stalin is back. Or is he? Reporter John Sweeney travels more than 5000 miles through the old Soviet Union, from Stalin's birthplace in Georgia to a former labour camp in Russia, to find out if one of the twentieth century's most notorious mass-murderers is really being rehabilitated.
On his second day in office, President Obama pledged to close the Guantanamo Detention Centre within a year. Michael Portillo finds out why he's not been able to keep his promise.
Documentary following the lives of ordinary Americans who voted for Barack Obama and had high hopes for his presidency. How have their lives been changed in Obama's first year?
Documentary telling the powerful story of how the survivors of the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004 have tried to rebuild their lives.
Violence is running out of control in Mexico as rival drug cartels battle over the smuggling routes. Katya Adler journeys deep into the heart of a shocking conflict.
Lucy Ash investigates bride stealing in Chechnya, following two families as they struggle to negotiate a compromise over the fate of a young woman abducted in the street.
Filmed over the six months after the Haiti earthquake, This World follows four of the few who were rescued from a death beneath the rubble.
A shocking look at heroism, grief, combat, drugs, alcohol, brutal murder and the consequences of multiple tours and post-traumatic stress for a generation of American soldiers.
The story of the kidnapping of Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and her assistant Clara Rojas. Both of them spent six years in the jungle before their rescue.
As the US prepares to vote in crucial mid-term elections, political journalist Andrew Neil investigates the right-wing Tea Party, the fastest-growing political movement in the US.
Documentary. Jane Corbin travels with Doctor Shershah Syed through the flood ravaged Sindh province in Pakistan as he performs life-saving operations.
Film following the agents of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as they track down, arrest, and extradite American paedophile sex tourists.
A profile of controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders, known for his anti-Islamic stance. The film follows him on the campaign trail in the 2010 Dutch general election.
Emily Maitlis travels to Paris to find out why the French have fallen out of love with the man they nicknamed President Bling-Bling.
After confronting death 800 meters under the Chilean desert, 33 trapped miners were thrust into the media spotlight. How are they reacting to the fame that followed their freedom?
Investigative documentary. How a tiny island in the Mediterranean is changing the face of immigration in Europe, with the arrival of over 40,000 migrants from Tunisia and Libya.
Investigative documentary. Reporter Mark Franchetti investigates Italy's deadliest mafia, the Camorra, to learn how it's survived for so long in a country at the heart of Europe.
This World investigates claims of corruption in Thailand's prosecution of army violence, which led to the deaths of 90 people in clashes in central Bangkok in 2010.
Documentary series. Katya Adler reveals the impact of Spain's stolen baby scandal, meeting those who were separated at birth and who are now desperate to find their relatives.
Investigative documentary following the return of the 'Lost Boys', child refugees forced to flee South Sudan during the civil war who now seek their old homes and a new life.
Investigative documentary. A year-long look at the lives of three young revolutionaries as their differing visions for the new Egypt collide following 2011's Arab Spring.
Investigative documentary. A look at 2011's tsunami that swamped Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, making 100,000 people homeless and causing nuclear meltdown and a radiation leak.
Investigative documentary series. Following the lives of three people in rural China as their tiny farming community is transformed by a massive government urbanisation project.
Investigative documentary series. This World explores Interviews before Execution, an extraordinary Saturday night talk show in China which interviews prisoners on death row.
International investigative documentary series. John Sweeney investigates Mormonism, the belief system of Mitt Romney, the potential Republican candidate for the 2012 US election.
This World tells the story of the 2011 massacre in Norway, offering insight into the life and mind of the perpetrator, Anders Breivik, and exposing the hatred that inspired him.
Decades of clerical abuse and cover up have left the Catholic church in Ireland at breaking point. Now Darragh MacIntyre reveals new evidence of a scandal that goes to the very top of the Irish church.
Michael Portillo visits Germany, Europe's economic powerhouse, and debt-stricken Greece. Is this the moment the Eurozone becomes more united, or will it be pulled apart?
Documentary which captures the moment when the Nobel Prize-winning dissident Aung San Suu Kyi took the huge, risky step into everyday politics in Burma.
With days to go before the US presidential election, Andrew Marr assesses Barack Obama's first term in office, talking to those who have worked closely with him in the White House.
Simon Reeve heads to Cuba to find a communist country in the middle of a capitalist revolution and asks if the new economic openness could lead to political liberalisation.
Investigative documentary series. Paul Mason travels to Spain to examine how a once thriving economy became the latest casualty of the Eurozone crisis.
Child poverty has reached record levels in America. This documentary offers a unique perspective on the nation's flagging economy, told from the point of view of the children.
A History of Syria with Dan Snow
Documentary. The father of an RAF reservist killed in Basra in 2007 travels to the Iraqi city to discover the impact of the war and the subsequent occupation on ordinary Iraqis.
In August 2012, 34 miners were shot dead by police as they protested outside a mine. Peter Hain MP uncovers a day of shocking brutality and disturbing allegations.
Author and mafia historian John Dickie uncovers the truth about Italy's most powerful mafia, the 'Ndrangheta', believed to be Europe's biggest cocaine traffickers.
Investigating the obesity epidemic engulfing India's growing middle class. Anita Rani travels to Mumbai to meet some of India's overweight teenagers.
Professor John Marsden heads to Colorado, which voted to legalise the recreational use of cannabis in November 2012, to investigate the impact this could have on teenage drug use.
In January 2013, 39 people died and dozens of workers were held hostage when terrorists stormed a gas plant in Algeria. British survivors tell their dramatic and harrowing stories.
Dan Snow travels to Congo to reveal how its troubled history has turned one of the world's potentially richest countries into one of its poorest.
As Japan faces a future which could see its population shrink by a third in just 40 years, Anita Rani explores the reasons why the Japanese are not having enough babies.
In crowded Manila, the capital of the Philippines, Anita Rani follows the lives of three different women and visits a hospital where up to 100 babies are born each day.
Statistician Professor Hans Rosling presents a spectacular portrait of our rapidly changing world, showing how the problems of rapid population growth are starting to be conquered.
Adventurer and journalist Simon Reeve heads to Kenya and Uganda to uncover the stories behind Britain's favourite drink, meeting the people who pick, pack and transport tea.
Simon Reeve heads to Vietnam to uncover the stories behind the morning pick-me-up. He travels to the central highlands, where he meets the people who grow, pick and pack coffee.
Robert Peston travels to China to investigate how the economic giant could actually be in trouble. It is a story of spending and investment on a scale never seen before.
As Brazil prepares to host the World Cup, Copacabana Palace follows the lives of the staff and guests at one of Latin America's most iconic hotels.
Documentary in which Ade Adepitan explores the afterlife of some of the clothes we donate to charity shops. He follows the trail to Ghana, the biggest importer of our castoffs.
Documentary about survivors of the 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza, an eight-storey commerical building in Bangladesh, and the safety of the Bangladeshi garment industry.
Journalist Martin Sixsmith hears the moving stories of the parents and children involved in a transatlantic adoption run by the Irish Catholic Church during the 1950s and 60s.
Following attempts by the new warden of Maine State Prison to reform the practice of solitary confinement, which has seen inmates locked up alone for days, years or even decades.
Revisiting the terrorist attack on Kenya's Westgate Shopping Mall in September 2013, when four gunmen killed 71 people. Featuring CCTV footage and interviews with the survivors.
Documentary series. This World reveals evidence that challenges the accepted story of one of the most horrifying events of the late 20th century, the Rwandan genocide.
Investigative documentary following three families involved in the Sandy Hook shooting, as they try to make sense of the tragedy and find a way to move on and rebuild their lives.
International investigative documentary series. A look at the continuing success of the Sinaloa Cartel in the wake of its leader's arrest in February 2014.
International investigative documentary series. In the wake of the country's economic stagnation, Robert Peston examines the rise of Marine Le Pen and the Front National in France.
Investigative documentary. Britain's Jihadi Brides reveals how the sophisticated recruiting tactics of IS have shattered so many lives.
Jane Corbin travels across the Middle East to some of the holiest places in Christendom and finds that hundreds of thousands of Christians are fleeing conflict and persecution.
Documentary. The inside story of how a small band of fanatical jihadists became the world's richest terror army. Peter Taylor looks at the wealth of the so-called Islamic State.
The inside story of how and why the worst Ebola outbreak in history wasn't stopped before it was too late. This film exposes tragic missteps in the response to the epidemic.
Investigative documentary. Jane Corbin examines the evidence for the supposed conspiracy about Bin Laden's death.
Investigative documentary. Hans Rosling examines the world goal of eradicating extreme poverty.
Documentary piecing together the events of the terrifying Paris shootings of January 2015, which began with an attack on staff at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
A committee of senior former British military and diplomatic figures comes together to war-game a hypothetical 'hot war' in eastern Europe.
Robert Peston explores China's dramatic economic slowdown and its potential impact on Britain, revealing how China has built up one of the biggest debt bubbles in world history.
Reggie Yates investigates the global super-rich's appetite for luxury goods. Top of the list are animals, but how much do we know about the origins of exotic skins and furs?
Liviu Tipurita goes inside the world of Romania's super-rich Gypsy popstars - a world of fast cars, lavish houses and gangsters - to look at a type of Gypsy music called Manele.
During one term at the University of Central Florida, This World follows the life of a group of frat boys as they embark on the pledging process.
Film following the murder trial of a white police officer in Portsmouth, Virginia, accused of shooting an unarmed black teenager.
The story explores the divisive debate over whether a child should be free to make permanent changes to their gender. Dr Kenneth Zucker once ran the largest public clinic in Toronto for treating children and adolescents with gender dysphoria: an often violent feeling that the body they were born in does not match their true gender. But then he was fired and his clinic closed down amid comparisons to a religious zealot trying to 'cure' homosexuality. His supporters believe he is a victim of a virulent form of transgender politics that stifles freedom of speech. It features interviews with Zucker, his patients, the families, the clinicians and transgender activists.
The European Union faces the biggest challenge in its 60-year history, with the rise of populist eurosceptic movements across the continent. As Britain prepares to begin the process of withdrawing from the EU, the BBC's Europe editor Katya Adler asks whether the Union itself can survive.
With the conflict between Russian and England supporters at Marseille during the last summer on 2016 European Championships, Russian hooligans injured over 100 England supporters with two people in a coma. It has raised major concerns before Russia hosts the 2018 World Cup. The story then follows the filmmaker Alex Stockley Von Statzer, who travels to Russia to track down, for a rare interview, members of the Orel Butchers - uncovering a world where aggressiveness has become a sign of honour and a icon of newly resurgent Russian masculinity.
Documentary in which NHS doctor Oscar Duke, who has albinism, uncovers the discrimination and persecution of people with albinism in Tanzania and Malawi in East Africa.
With the UK terror threat level at "severe", the drama-documentary episode based on real-life stories focuses from inside the UK’s counter terrorism unit. It tells the incident of an ISIS-inspired terrorist group planning a firearms attack, and follows with the ongoing police investigation. The story follows with Joseph, a young man who, while in prison on drugs charges, is recruited and radicalised by an Islamic extremist. Through drama and interviews, it also reveals how UK agencies are working to keep the public safe from what experts fear is the most likely scenario for a UK next major terror attack.
Simon Reeve travels to Colombia - as 50 years of civil war draws to a close in the wake of a recently signed peace deal. He meets guerrilla fighters who have pledged to lay down arms, but also discovers a negative consequence of their disarming, as the paramilitary gangs that control the drugs trade grow in power. He travels through the country with coca farmers, who discuss the government support they will need in the turbulent times ahead, as poverty and land ownership becoming pressing issues.
The story follows the assassination of the North Korean dictator’s half-brother, Kim Jong-nam - who was attacked at Kuala Lumpur airport in February by using the lethal nerve agent VX. The incident - caught on CCTV - uncovers the activities of North Korean secret agents who were at the airport on the day of his murder, as well as to unravel the family feud that led to it and the international business network that has allowed the Kim family to stay in power for nearly 70 years.
Filmed deep inside the notorious migrant camp, this film charts the final days of the Calais Jungle as Europe's largest migrant camp erupted into flames.
Jane Corbin explores whether the aspirations of The Balfour Declaration were doomed to inevitable failure or if there is still hope of a peaceful solution in the Holy Land.
The episode follows the life of Samia Shahid before she travels to Pakistan and is killed six days later in July 2016.
Part one of a two-part documentary exploring the country in the aftermath of the recent humanitarian crisis in which thousands of Rohingya Muslims were driven from their homes by the military. Simon visits Burma's Buddhist heartlands, including the ancient capital of Bagan, and meets the city's controversial nationalist monks. While the region affected by the military crackdown is off limits, he is able to visit the world's biggest refugee camp in Bangladesh, and meet people traumatised by the violence.
The episode follows a group of school girls as they adapt to life after their imprisonment at the hands of Boko Haram at Chibok in Northern Nigeria. Until recently, they were set to be released and reunited with their family members whom they have not seen since that day they went missing and the process of coming to terms with what has happened to them. It also meets some of the 'Forgotten Girls' who have fallen prey to Boko Haram in Maidugari. They have deeply disturbing stories of their treatment and their troubles have not ended on their escape from the forest - as they are often treated with suspicion due to their connection with Boko Haram.
The story of Princess Latifa, daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who attempted to escape Dubai in early 2018 but was captured and hasn't been heard from since.
Following the lives of four young people trying to survive the Israel-Hamas war as they hope for a ceasefire - a vivid and unflinching view of life in a warzone.
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