Global Affairs Documentaries
Is China Watching You?
China’s surveillance and facial recognition technology is arguably the most advanced in the world. Their products account for over 40% of global sales to places like Germany, Ecuador, Uganda and the UK. However, this documentary reveals that some are worried that the countries going big on digital CCTV might also be opening the door to being spied on, but do these fears have any foundation?
Gay Under The Taliban
For LGBTQ youth in Afghanistan, in the years before the return of the Taliban, life was showing signs of improvement. But when the Taliban retook control in 2021, those freedoms quickly evaporated and gay people were forced back into hiding. This LGBTQ documentary follows the story of a handful of people trapped in hell, running for their lives for the crime of being nothing but themselves.
Boxing Day Tsunami
First came an earthquake deep below the Indian Ocean. Minutes later, in the early hours of Boxing Day 2004, a 100-foot wall of water ripped through Indonesia. Then the tsunami reached Thailand, leaving unimaginable devastation in its wake. Using eye-witness accounts, BBC Select presents this gripping documentary investigating this horrific natural disaster. Could the catastrophe have been averted?
The Shamima Begum Story: The Girl Who Joined ISIS
Shamima Begum left London aged just 15 and disappeared inside the Islamic State group. She emerged four years later in 2019, a vilified figure who had her British citizenship revoked. Now Shamima gives the definitive account of everything that happened to her. In this exclusive interview she explains how she was radicalized, what life in ISIS was like and her hopes for the future.
The World's Biggest Bomb
Why did American and Soviet scientists race to explode the biggest bomb of all time?
In 1954, the USA exploded its first hydrogen bomb in the South Pacific. It remains America’s biggest bomb. A few years later the USSR detonated a device even larger and more devastating. It’s one of the most extraordinary tales in the history of science, yet one which is largely unknown. This fascinating history documentary examines why these superpowers raced to build the world’s biggest bomb.