The Documentary

Have you ever heard a woman being described as “pretty for a dark skinned girl”? This podcast hears frank and often painful first-hand stories about 'shadeism' or 'colourism' – discrimination based on skin tone. We are told how decades ago, some African American organisations used the “brown paper bag test” to decide who could become members, with those with darker skins excluded. And we investigate how this prejudice is still affecting people, including in their relationships. For many, the former First Lady, Michelle Obama, has become a role model. By being married to a man with lighter skin, has she changed how black women and girls see themselves? Contributors include the singer-songwriter India Arie.

A crash in the Egyptian currency has left a critical lack of drugs, and left thousands desperate for help. For some of those in need, it’s a race against time.

Media headlines often fuel fear about refugees and amongst refugees. But what happens when refugees pick up the microphones and tell their own stories? Refugee Radio Network, in the German city of Hamburg, is a project that is tapping the power of community radio stations and the internet to give voice to refugees from wherever they have come.

Aboriginal people from across Australia share their words, wisdom and concern for the future of that crucial resource, water. Watched by crocodiles on the bank of a tropical Northern Territory stream; sitting in a peaceful desert water dreaming place; interpreting a significant rock art site; dancing and singing the country back to life - water is embedded in identity, culture, spirituality and survival.Brad Moggridge, a Murri from the Kamilaroi Nation, is a hydrogeologist who’s passionate about promoting Aboriginal ecological knowledge and he links the traditional with a contemporary scientific take on water management.In this, the driest inhabited continent on earth, understanding water has been essential for tens of thousands of years. Today, as Brad says, "Mobs all over the country still talk about water places, dream about water places, have laws about water places and teach the next generation about water places. Water is a key part of who we are".Image: Water at Bermagui Yuin Country, Credit: BBC

A master communicator with a passion for global development, the world has lost a legend with the death of the Swedish statistician Han Rosling. He had the ear of those with power and influence. His friend Bill Gates said Hans "brought data to life and helped the world see the human progress it often overlooked". In a world that often looks at the bad news coming out of the developing world, Rosling was determined to spread the good news with his captivating presentations about extended life expectancy, falling rates of disease and infant mortality. He was fighting what he called the ‘post-fact era‘ of global health. He was passionate about global development and before he became famous he lived and worked in Mozambique, India and the Democratic Republic of Congo using data and his skills as a doctor to save lives. Despite ill health he also travelled to Liberia during the Ebola outbreak in 2014 to help gather and consolidate data to help fight the outbreak. On a personal level he was warm, funny and kind an

Mariko Oi returns to her home country to witness the astonishing incentives encouraging young people to marry and have children. Japan’s birth rate is plummeting, its population is ageing and a demographic disaster is looming. In the next 40 years, Japan’s population is expected to fall from 127 million to 92 million, squeezing the economy and causing national debt to soar.

How one of the world’s greatest wildlife reserves has built its success on a hardline conservation policy that includes shooting suspected poachers

Real Madrid are the world's most valuable football club. They're the reigning European champions and have won more European Cups than any other club in history. Now they've opened their doors and their books to outside scrutiny for the first time, giving Columbia Business School professor Steven Mandis unprecedented access to every part of the business.How does an organisation co-owned by 92,000 fans operate? How was the club transformed from the brink of bankruptcy 16 years ago? What's the relationship between success on the pitch and off the pitch? What role do values play in the business? What lessons are there for other sports teams and for businesses more widely?Through conversations with fans, players, coaches and board members - including a rare in-depth interview with club president Florentino Perez - Professor Mandis uncovers the secrets of Real Madrid's sporting and financial success.(Image: Professor Mandis and Real Madrid president Florentino Perez. Credit: Real Madrid)

Just outside Lynchburg, Virginia, there is a sprawling mental institution on a hill with a sinister history. For decades, the Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded, (now called Central Virginia Training Center) participated in America’s forgotten eugenics program. In a landmark ruling in the Supreme Court case of Buck v Bell, eugenics became the law of the land, and set a legal precedent for sterilising anyone deemed “unfit”. Thus began one of the darkest chapters in American history; between 60,000 and 70,000 people were forcibly sterilised across the country.

The solution is logical and simple. Bermuda's only source of natural water is rain and so every drop of rainwater is collected from roofs, where it drains into a tank and is then pumped towards taps when it's needed. 1.2 billion people live in areas where water is scarce and experience water shortages. Could Bermuda's harvesting system work elsewhere? Find more innovative ideas from the first series go to www.bbcworldservice.com/perfectcountry

Economic growth benefits the poorest families in Peru. A fast-growing economy provides funds for social projects, such as giving $30 a month to each female head of a household. The poverty rate in Peru has halved in ten years from 55% in 2005 to 22% in 2015. Can poverty continue to be cut further? Find more innovative ideas from the first series go to www.bbcworldservice.com/perfectcountry

Futons and martial arts-trained police play a part in Japan's low gun crime. Just one person was killed with a gun in 2015 – a mob crime boss – and in the same year, just six shots were fired by the nation's law enforcers. A pacifist culture and stringent tests, inspections and penalties also contribute to the absence of gun violence. Find more innovative ideas from the first series go to www.bbcworldservice.com/perfectcountry

A Muslim country with a cosmopolitan outlook, Tunisia is both liberal and conservative. The code of personal status introduced by Tunisia's first president Habib Bourguiba established equality laws for women after Tunisia's independence. But inequalities and violence towards women persist. How long will it be before there is true equality?Find more innovative ideas from the first series go to www.bbcworldservice.com/perfectcountry

Becoming a maths master is within reach for every pupil taught the Shanghai model for teaching maths. There is no streaming according to ability, a highly trained, specialist teacher moves slowly through topics and does not move on until every single pupil gets it.But does the method come with too much pressure?Find more innovative ideas from the first series go to www.bbcworldservice.com/perfectcountry

Bollards disguised as cigarette butts indicating smoking areas, high prices, compulsory plain packaging, advertising campaigns showing how smoking damages your health, an app to support giving up, and a culture of shame: anti-smoking messages come at Australians from all angles. Only around 13% of Australians smoke. Find more innovative ideas from the first series go to www.bbcworldservice.com/perfectcountry

Did a white US police officer break the law by shooting dead an unarmed black youth?

The BBC exposes the illegal trade in baby chimpanzees, captured in Africa and exported to the Gulf or Asia as pets or for private zoos. Capturing a baby chimp means killing the parents and often other adult chimpanzees. The trade is starting to threaten chimp populations in the wild. Reporter David Shukman infiltrates a smuggling ring based in Abidjan, the capital of the Ivory Coast, and discovers the scale of this illegal trade which crosses several continents.Photo: A captured baby chimpanzee is freed during the police raid of an illegal wildlife smuggling ring, Credit: BBC

Former US Secretary of Defence William J Perry has spent his entire seven-decade career on the nuclear brink. A brilliant mathematician, he became involved in the development of weapons-related technology in the aftermath of World War Two. He reflects on the nuclear nightmare, and lays out his formula for nuclear security in our changing world.

RB Leipzig, the saviour of a city or the unacceptable commercial face of football?

Malawi’s parliament is now poised to vote on a controversial Termination of Pregnancy Bill after more than two years of fierce debate and consultation. But, as Chipiliro Kansilanga reports, the issue has split Malawian society and put many politicians and health officials at odds with religious leaders.