BBC World Service Documentary Archive Podcasts

In this documentary-fantasy we bring the danger back to Dickens. Slipping in and out of his weird and brilliant imagination, we see modern London as he might have done, travelling through the city's streets at night to crack dens and strip-joints as the police sirens wail. We meet characters from his novels and characters who would be in his novels if he were still alive today.

Undercover in Damascus for Assignment. Tim Whewell enters the dangerous world of the Syrian opposition to find out how strong they are – and what they really want.

Nina Robinson reports from two Olympic cities - Beijing who were hosts in 2008 and Rio de Janeiro, who will be hosts in 2016.

Australia's mining boom is proving lucrative for its so called Fly in Fly Out (FIFO) workers but as James Fletcher reports in Assignment, it can come at a cost.

The gap between the super-rich and the rest has grown sharply around the world. Michael Robinson examines its effects on London.

Nina Robinson reports from two Olympic cities - Beijing who were hosts in 2008 and Rio de Janeiro, who will be hosts in 2016.

Assignment goes inside the fast and furious world of North American ice hockey. Alex Capstick reports.

The gap between the super-rich and the rest has grown sharply around the world. Michael Robinson examines its effects on London.

Karen Bowerman retraces the route of Antarctic explorer Frank Wild - Sir Ernest Shackleton's second-in-command - as Wild's ashes are taken to South Georgia for burial next to Shackleton.

For Assignment Gabriel Gatehouse asks whether the autonomous Kurdish region in Northern Iraq should be a model for the Middle East to follow or avoid?

Farayi Mungazi looks at the role of sport in shaping the country's national identity and asks whether sporting success will always be part of Australia's soft power.

Women were at the forefront of the revolution in Egypt. Hanan Razek discovers why many are disappointed and angry at the Egyptian revolution's failures.

Allan Little investigates allegations of NGO inefficiency, political bias and lack of transparency in Haiti. Why, despite the vast effort and resources that flowed after the earthquake two years ago, are people still living in tents without basic amenities?

Farayi Mungazi explores the power of basketball to create a national identity in newly independent South Sudan, as well as give its people a sense of dignity and pride.

John Tusa presents memories and archive about the BBC World Service in Bush House, from 1941 to leaving Bush House in 2012.

China's economy depends on a system regulating workers from around China and beyond. In Guangzhou, the migrant metropolis, Mukul Devichand hears stories of anger and reform.

John Tusa presents memories and archive about the BBC World Service in Bush House, from 1941 to leaving Bush House in 2012.

Allan Little investigates allegations of NGO inefficiency, political bias and lack of transparency in India. Who really benefits from the work of NGOs?

The Children's Choir of the USSR sang to their leaders, they sang to their people, and through their songs projected a bright, happy dream of the Soviet Union to the furthest reaches of the Red Empire. Then, in 1991, the world they had sung about ceased to exist and the Soviet Union passed into memory. Monica Whitlock goes in search of The Children's Choir of the USSR.

France has long been a country with a reputation for some of the best food in the world. But in recent years, many critics have argued that French cuisine has lost its way. Now there's a new generation of food-lovers hoping to change that. But what do the traditionalists make of it all? Robyn Bresnahan reports.