The Documentary

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

Barcelona is one of the most visited cities in Europe, but has it become a victim of its own tourism success? Millions of tourists visit every year, crowding the narrow streets and public spaces, bringing noise and anti-social behaviour to once peaceful residential neighbourhoods. Local businesses have given way to tourist tat and multinational chains, and some residents are being driven out as apartments are rented to tourists. Tourism is a huge economic boost for Barcelona, but as well as those who are benefiting, Pascale Harter meets locals who are taking to the streets in noisy protests about the impact on their neighbourhood. Are they right to blame home-sharing websites like Airbnb? And all eyes are on Barcelona’s mayor Ada Colau, a former activist and one of the key representatives of the so-called “new politics” in Spain. Can she resolve a tension being felt by cities around the world - between the economic opportunities of tourism and keeping the soul and character of the city that its residents cher

On 12 December 2015, a man’s body was found by a moorland track on Saddleworth Moor in northern England. He had nothing on him showing his identity. No-one knew who he was. And he had died from a rare kind of poisoning. Who was this man? Where did he come from? Why has nobody reported him missing? Their biggest lead was brought to the mortuary within the body itself. It was inside his left leg. And it’s a clue which took the inquiry to Pakistan. Police believe he took his own life but did he travel nearly 4000 miles to die in this particular place? Image: Saddleworth Moor, Credit: Shutterstock

Ghana's World Cup boycott of 1966 was a protest at the number of places at the World Cup given by FIFA to Africa. It is a story of politics, decolonisation and pan-Africanism.African champions in 1963 and 1965, and Olympic quarter-finalists in 1964, Ghana would have been the favourites to qualify for England – but the team, nicknamed the Black Stars, never got their chance. Missing the World Cup meets two players who regret their World Cup absence to this day – Osei Kofi and former team-mate Kofi Pare – and those close to the key agitators of the boycott, with another Ghanaian, Ohene Djan, eloquently leading the protest alongside the remarkable Ethiopian Yidnekatchew Tessema, a onetime Confederation of African Football president who was also a star player, coach and administrator.

When Barack Obama was sworn into office in January 2009 he promised to change the way America behaved abroad. His foreign policy objectives were clear. He would reset relations with Russia, extend a hand of friendship to the Muslim world, bring Iran in from the cold and end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He promised action on nuclear arms and climate change. How the world will look back on Obama’s time in office?

The conventional treatment for chronic alcoholics is abstinence. Not in Ottawa. At the Oaks, a residence for those who were once homeless, occupants are given a measure of white wine at hourly intervals throughout the day. The ‘Managed Alcohol Program’ has improved the health of its participants, reduced their alcohol intake, and in some cases enabled them to stop drinking altogether. It’s also saved the city of Ottawa millions of dollars in public services – one man was hospitalised 191 times in the six months before joining the programme. Hours and hours of police time have been clawed back too – this is a population used to stealing to feed addiction, but the hourly ‘pour’ enables them to refrain from criminal activity. The Ottawa programme has been introduced in other Canadian cities, and it’s now attracting international attention. Linda Pressly spends time at the Oaks to find out how it works.

David McAlmont travels to San Francisco to tell the glittering and sad tale of gay black diva Sylvester James, famed for his disco hit Mighty Real. Sylvester's short life says much about US civil rights movements, the politics of the American music business and the devastating effects of Aids.

A fierce drought in Oklahoma’s ‘No Man’s Land’ – a region that was the heart of the 1930s Dust Bowl – stirs up dust storms, memories and myths. In this parched terrain of ghost towns and abandoned ranches, the wells are running dry, but the stories continue to flow.

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