Our World — Season 14

Aired 17 January 2020 • 30 min

Colombia has long been the world's largest producer of cocaine. A historic peace deal in 2016 was meant to reduce the amount of cocaine being produced by offering farmers alternatives to growing coca. But last year the UN estimated that its output was the largest since records began. Our World traveled to the Cauca Valley to find that farmers are now being caught between new criminal gangs with devastating consequences.

Aired 25 January 2020 • 30 min

In October 2019, a rising star of Syrian democratic politics, 34-year-old Hevrin Khalaf, was brutally murdered in the Kurdish-governed north east of the country.

Aired 31 January 2020 • 30 min

In 2017 a group of fishermen found a hoard of precious coins on the sea bed off the coast of Gaza. They were decadrachms from the reign of Alexander the Great- and they were worth a fortune. 3 years on, they have disappeared. So what happened to them, and why are rare coins so hard to trace?

Aired 7 February 2020 • 30 min

Antarctica is one of the most remote and inhospitable places on earth. Reporter Justin Rowlatt travels to Thwaites, the so-called Doomsday Glacier.

Aired 14 February 2020 • 30 min

Panzuto was a mafia boss, and a hardened killer. For years he played a key role in Naples' Camorra, but now he has turned state witness and is helping put his former associates behind bars. Dominic Casciani gains exclusive access to an Italian anti-mafia prison to meet Panzuto and hear his story of love, murder and betrayal. It's a tale which took him from the back streets of Naples to a caravan park in Blackpool. We hear from those at the sharp end of the ongoing battle against organised crime in Naples, and from those who believe the tide has finally turned. Above all we hear from the man himself: why did he decide to break with the Camorra, and what does the future hold for him?

Aired 21 February 2020 • 30 min

Our World gained unprecedented access to enter Indonesia’s prison to witness both Garil and Sarah meeting the bombers who killed their parents.

Aired 28 February 2020 • 30 min

Few events are more nerve wracking than meeting the parents of someone you love. For black and Asian couples in South Africa, it's even more challenging.

Aired 13 March 2020 • 30 min

With exclusive access to two film-makers inside the Chinese city of Wuhan, Our World tells the story of life under lockdown.

Aired 20 March 2020 • 30 min

Umaru Fofana investigates trade in trafficked rosewood worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Aired 28 March 2020 • 30 min

Our World follows two North Koreans as they gain fame in front of the camera capitalising on their defector status yet struggle to move on from their past.

Aired 17 April 2020 • 30 min

On Easter Sunday 2019 eight co-ordinated suicide bomb attacks across Sri Lanka killed over 270 people and injured hundreds more. One year on, Jane Corbin returns to the island and meets three of those whose lives were changed that day and who have set out to help rebuild the Sri Lanka they love.

Aired 24 April 2020 • 30 min

Deforestation has skyrocketed in Colombia since the Peace Deal of 2016. Our World joins a team of scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew as they go on a mission into virgin tropical rainforest; they hope to discover and save rare plant species, before they are destroyed and vanish forever.

Aired 1 May 2020 • 30 min

Oil-rich Venezuela has been in an ever-growing state of crisis since Hugo Chavez died in 2013, and global oil prices crashed.

Aired 8 May 2020 • 30 min

In India a child goes missing every 8 minutes. The children are often trafficked into domestic labour or the sex trade - many are never seen again.

Aired 16 May 2020 • 30 min

Irish society has changed in recent years, but discrimination against travellers remains widespread. Our World meets three women fighting to bust the myths about their community.

Aired 23 May 2020 • 23 min

Spain is one of the countries hardest hit by coronavirus. Our World follows the lives of some of those at the heart of the crisis.

Aired 30 May 2020 • 30 min

New York has been the epicentre of America's coronavirus outbreak. This is the story of four of those on the frontline - told through their video diaries as the crisis unfolds.

Aired 5 June 2020 • 26 min

Laura Bicker tells the inside story of South Korea's virus hunters. How did they manage to keep the death toll so low, and what can the rest of the world learn from South Korea?

Aired 20 June 2020 • 30 min

The lockdown in Wuhan has now been lifted, and the city is trying to recover. But just how normal is daily life in Wuhan now - and how are its people adjusting to a new world?

Aired 27 June 2020 • 26 min

Our World looks at the worst invasion of desert locusts East Africa has seen for decades. Just an average swarm can eat the same in a day as 2500 people for a year.

Aired 4 July 2020 • 30 min

More than 25 million people go on cruises each year. As coronavirus spread, cruise ships suffered devastating outbreaks that resulted in thousands being infected and dozens dying.

Aired 11 July 2020 • 30 min

Brazil has been devastated by coronavirus. More than 1.4 million people have been infected and the numbers are rising fast. Our World travels to Sao Paulo.

Aired 19 September 2020

Iran has been hit hard by coronavirus but its government has gone to great lengths to keep the true extent of the outbreak hidden from view. Now, with the help of videos posted by Iranians on social media, Our World reveals what life is really like inside the country during the pandemic. From illicit lockdown parties to hospitals which are struggling to cope - this is Iran as you've never seen it before.

Aired 26 September 2020 • 23 min

The killing of George Floyd, caught on camera by eyewitnesses, has led to an outpouring of anger in America. But what happens when the cameras are turned off?

Aired 3 October 2020 • 30 min

Anna Holligan travels across Europe to see how people are getting on their bikes and asks if the surge in cycling is the start of a much bigger change in the way we travel.

Aired 10 October 2020 • 23 min

Lebo Diseko meets Christian voters in the swing state of North Carolina and explores how important faith will be in a contest that Biden has billed as a battle for America's soul.

Aired 17 October 2020 • 30 min

On 8 September, the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos went up in flames. Gabriel Gatehouse investigates the events surrounding the blaze.

Aired 24 October 2020 • 26 min

TikTok is one of the fastest growing apps in the world and has now been downloaded more than two billion times. It is most famous for lip-syncing teenagers and out-of-control pets, but its phenomenal growth means it is starting to change the world - and nowhere is that clearer than in the US presidential election. Donald Trump may not be a fan, but his supporters and Joe Biden's are now fighting for the future of their country on TikTok. With just over a week to go until America decides, Sophia Smith-Galer delves into the crazy world of TikTok and meets its breakout stars - from the Republican Girls to the Minnesota state senator who is using it to get out the Democrat vote. How is TikTok changing US politics, and what influence will it have on who the next resident of the White House will be?

Aired 31 October 2020 • 30 min

Bangladesh has the world's second largest garment manufacturing industry, which for decades fuelled Europe and America's appetite for fast fashion. But as coronavirus spread around the world, over two billion pounds’ worth of clothing orders were cancelled and many factories were shut. It was a devastating blow to the sector on which many livelihoods depend. Our World follows factory owner Mostafiz Uddin, who now stands to lose everything, and meets the women workers whose jobs have disappeared. Has coronavirus changed the way we buy clothes forever - and what about those who are being left behind?

Aired 7 November 2020 • 23 min

Jiyar Gol follows a trail of destruction across Europe - Could the Iranian regime have orchestrated assassinations and an attempted bombing on European soil?