The Documentary: Archive 2014

The parents of four teenage girls in the BBC World Service programme All That Stands In The Way, meet and talk for the first time. What did they think of the freedoms and limits to each girl’s life? Has the documentary made them reconsider their views on trust, discipline, relationships and fashion?

Four teenage girls from the BBC World Service programme All That Stands In The Way, meet for the very first time. Lulu from London, Shoeshoe from Lesotho, Vigdis from Iceland and Mira from Jordan discuss what choices and freedoms they have and how they see gender equality, as they stand on the threshold of adulthood.

Simon Cox investigates a notorious miscarriage of justice in Iceland which many see as a stain on the country's justice system.

Finding Nigeria's missing girls has become a global cause with a massive online campaign #BringBackOurGirls. Presidents and prime ministers have joined parents in calling for their release. Nkem Ifejika tells the story of their disappearance and examines what it means for Nigeria - and Boko Haram.

As the World’s media prepares to descend on Brazil for the 2014 World Cup, Julia Carneiro presents the second programme which gets to the heart of Brazilian identity.

Most people who face criminal charges in Kenya go to court without a lawyer. The Kenyan judiciary admit this leads to a great deal of injustice. This programme meets an impressive group of prisoners who are acting as lawyers on behalf of themselves and their fellow inmates. Mostly by discovering flaws in the original cases, they are managing to get large numbers of convictions overturned at appeal.

Across Argentina’s vast GM belt, there are claims of an on-going health crisis. One provincial Minister for Public Health wants an independent commission to investigate.

In the 1960s and early '70s, Addis Ababa's nightlife was electrified by a blend of traditional folk music, jazz, swing, rhythm and blues. Courtney Pine meets some of the veterans of the Swinging Addis golden age of Ethiopian jazz, including Mahmoud Ahmed and Alemayehu Eshete - the 'Ethiopian Elvis'. These Ethiopian heroes, now in their 70s, are like the Buena Vista Social Club stars of their country.

As the World’s media prepares to descend on Brazil for the 2014 World Cup, Julia Carneiro presents the first programme which gets to the heart of Brazilian identity.

After the humiliations of World War Two, France was insistent on reasserting itself as a world power. In their Vietnamese colony the nationalists led by Ho Chi Minh were just as determined to gain independence. The showdown to a seven-year guerrilla war came in 1954 at the battle of Dien Bien Phu. Survivors, politicians and historians explain how the horrors of a 56-day siege ended with the French garrison being virtually wiped out. In Paris, desperate politicians even considered using American atomic weapons to try to save Dien Bien Phu. For the other European powers it marked the beginning of the end for their colonies in Africa and the Far East.

Mark Mardell examines America's Grand Old Party which has been engaged in a civil war; now the Establishment is fighting back against the Tea Party. Can the Republicans win again?

Egyptian author Tarek Osman examines the build up to the Arab Spring. As with the previous experiments with liberalism, nationalism and Islamism, the region's presidential hard men seek to consolidate their power by passing it onto their sons. At the same time, riding the wave of a population explosion which leaves two thirds of the Arab world under 25 years old, a new generation frustrated by the lack of jobs or political freedoms rises up to challenge the old order.

How is technology transforming education, and what will the classroom of the future look like? Sarah Montague turns her attention to universities, in particular, to MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). Some argue these free university online courses, presented by some of the best professors in the world, could - in cash strapped times - be the saviour of higher education and take university to people in some of the remotest regions of the world. Others argue they could destroy centuries of tradition

Neal Razzell spends days and nights in Lagos with the electricity teams who are working to literally bring power to the people.This programme was originally broadcast in October 2013.

Eyptian author Tarek Osman explores the events which converged and led to the rise of Islamism from the 1970s onwards, a force which came to fill the vacuum left by Arab Nationalism. He investigates the reasons for the re-emergence of the Muslim Brotherhood, the influence of the conservative, oil-rich Gulf states like Saudi Arabia, and the three pivotal events in 1979 which boosted Islamism.

How technology is transforming education. How do children learn best? And have traditional teaching methods outlived their usefulness?

The African quarter of Jerusalem, Ethiopian Jews returned to their ancient homeland and African asylum-seekers: Paul Bakibinga travels to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to explore the lives and experiences of people from three different communities.

Vietnamese now cross in their thousands to visit Cambodian border casinos. Ed Butler reports on (some of) the darker aspects of Cambodia’s gambling boom.

Tracing the history of the modern Arab world through some of the great political dreams that have shaped it, from the 19th Century to the Arab Spring. In part two of The Making of the Arab World, Egyptian author Tarek Osman explores the rise and fall of Arab nationalism.

Lu Olkowski reports on New York's growing 'prepper' movement - people who are fearful of the future and who are preparing for the next disaster that will strike the city. They train in self-defence, plan ways to escape, store food and water in their houses and have 'bug out' bags ready at a moments notice if they have to flee. Are these people simply paranoid? Or do they have genuine concerns that all of us should take heed of?