The Documentary Podcast

Ahead of COP26, the big climate change summit in Glasgow, Ros Atkins looks at the climate promises of two of the world’s biggest polluters – the US and China.

The worst effects of climate change are often framed as a problem for the future. But for some, the worst has already happened. As world leaders prepare to gather in Glasgow to talk about how to bring down emissions, Assignment tells the story of three places which have been at the sharp end of extreme weather events. In June, the Canadian village of Lytton smashed national heat records three days running, reaching an astonishing 49.6 degrees Celsius. Then, it burned to the ground. This documentary, the first in the series, is a vivid portrayal of a place in the crosshairs of climate change, where people don’t just have to imagine the future. They’re now figuring out how to build it.

Justin looks at the period since the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs, which had seen a steadily cooling climate - until we humans turned up. What can the last 66 million years teach us about the likely consequences of climate change? And can our species make the next big evolutionary leap needed to tackle it? Adrian Lister of the Natural History Museum gives Justin a fossilised tour of how the Earth's fauna adapted to this changing climate.

When Aids began to emerge in the USA and Europe in the 1980s, South Africa was a fractured country, divided by Apartheid. During this time, the ruling National Party seemed disinterested in preventing a disease which was mainly affecting black people and gay men. The fall of Apartheid and the inauguration of President Nelson Mandela didn't improve the situation - the country's first black president was overwhelmed with rebuilding a fragile nation, and the problem of HIV-Aids was pushed down the list of government priorities. But perhaps the most malignant factor shaping South Africa's response to the Aids crisis, was the influence of President Thabo Mbeki, who bought into conspiracies and misinformation, propagated by a fervent Aids denialism movement.

As world leaders, scientists and activists prepare for the UN climate change conference in Scotland, host Nuala McGovern hears how sea level rise is affecting islands in the Caribbean Sea, the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean. People from the Bahamas, the US Florida Keys and a beach restaurant owner in Jamaica share their experiences of disappearing landscapes and their concerns for the future.

More than 50,000 Covid cases have been recorded in the UK for the first time since mid-July. Hospital admissions are also rising, however, daily deaths have fallen slightly. Ros Atkins examines what’s behind the infections and what should happen next.

A unique project aimed at reducing harm to women selling sex in Copenhagen… Every weekend night in Copenhagen’s red light district of Vesterbro, a group of volunteers pull up and park a Red Van. This is no ordinary vehicle. The interior is lit with fairy lights. There is a bed – and a ready supply of condoms. The Red Van constitutes a harm reduction strategy like no other. It is designed for use by women selling sex on the streets – somewhere they can bring their clients. Just as health workers might argue addicts should have a safe place where they can take their drugs to prevent overdoses, the Red Van NGO’s volunteers believe they are creating a more secure environment for Copenhagen’s sex workers or prostitutes. Producer / presenter: Linda Pressly (Image: The Red Van with some of its volunteers – Pauline Hoffman Schroder, Sine Plambech and Aphinya Jatuparisakul. Credit: BBC/Linda Pressly)

After recovering from pneumonia for the third time, journalist James Nestor took decisive action to improve his lungs. He questioned why so many humans - and only humans - have to contend with stuffy noses, snoring, asthma, allergies, sinusitis and sleep apnoea, to name but a few. James hears remarkable stories of others who have changed their lives through the power of breath. His deep dive into the unconscious and oft-ignored act of human respiration offers us all a way to breathe easier.

Justin Rowlatt discovers how phosphorus may have held evolution back for a billion years. How plants first colonised the land - precipitating an ice age in the process. And why volcanoes have both rescued and almost wiped out life on the planet, thanks to the carbon dioxide they emit. Anjali Goswami of the Natural History Museum takes Justin on a tour of the big five mass extinction events in the fossil record over the last half billion years.

It began in March of 1987, when the playwright Larry Kramer gave a speech at the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center in New York’s West Village, telling half the room to stand up. He bluntly informed those in attendance, that many people would be dead from Aids in just a few years, if they didn’t fight back. The US government’s response to the HIV-Aids crisis had been slow, with President Reagan reticent to offend the conservative morals of the Christian Coalition who helped secure his election. In response, the Aids Coalition to Unleash Power - Act Up - took to the streets to demand politicians and public health agencies do more.