Bearing Witness

Former Jehovah's Witnesses reveal culture of fear and secrecy

The Jehovah’s Witnesses are a religious group with eight million followers in multiple nations. A knock on the door and an earnest offer to share their teachings is the only interaction most people will have with this god-fearing organisation. Few would know the extreme nature of their beliefs.

The Huddle

These are our colours - this is our history

Though separated by a stretch of sea, Glasgow and Belfast share elements of political, sporting and religious culture rooted in the difficult, unresolved events faced by the Irish community during the twentieth century. The Huddle tells the stories of two Irish communities brought together by a devotion to the Celtic Football Club, and a shared faith in football. Exploring the contradictions between two cities facing radical ideological divides yet brought together by full stadiums, these are the interwoven and personal accounts of journalists, musicians, political militants, IRA fighters—all united by their love of football—on what it means to be Irish.

A Portrait on the Search for Happiness

The story of the former diamond-diving village of Port Nolloth in South Africa

Three diamond diggers in South Africa are searching for the precious stone that will change their future forever. In their pursuit of happiness and prosperity, a story ignored by the media unfolds.

On These Grounds

The school incident that exposed the division at America’s core

An explosive video goes viral, showing a white school resource officer in South Carolina pull a Black teenager from her school desk and throw her across the floor. An outraged nation divides over who is at fault and what role race played in the incident. Healer-Activist Vivian Anderson uproots her life in NYC and moves to South Carolina to help the girl and dismantle the system behind the "Assault at Spring Valley". To contextualize this incident, geographer Janae Davis treks the surrounding swamps to unearth the overgrown and neglected homes of formerly enslaved people of African descent, drawing a throughline connecting trauma from the past to present.

Wine and War

The untold story of wine in the Middle East

Woven into Lebanon’s ancient history is a rich tale of wine-making, resilience, and entrepreneurial spirit. Unravelling the story of the world’s fist wine merchants, Wine and War is a complex testament to the Lebanese people’s courage in the face of adversity, and a deep dive into the history of a nation which has bred masters of crisis management; a skill personified by the winemakers who for thousands of years have gone about their work in war, famine, occupation and the constant hum of political instability.

Undercover Jihadi

What drives a person to extremism?

Each time a young man leaves a quiet suburb and runs off to join ISIS, the baroquely violent group determined to carve out a caliphate of brutality, we are shocked. Why do they do it? How can they be stopped? Or brought back to our world? And if they come back, what to do about them? These are the questions that drive Mubin Shaikh on his quest to stop potential jihadis. Mubin Shaikh went from militant extremist to undercover operative, exposing a major terrorist cell. Now as a well-connected Counter-Terrorism expert, Shaikh takes to the frontlines of the battle against violent extremism around the world.

Russia's Libyan Front

Inside the Wagner Group

The Wagner Group is a shadowy Russian private military contractor renowned for their secrecy and brutality. Now, two former employees have unveiled the motivations of those who join the mercenary group.

Murder in the Cove

What happens when members of a tight-knit community kill one of their own?

A cluster of postcard-perfect Acadian fishing villages off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada made international news in 2013 when Phillip Boudreau, a local man known for poaching lobsters, was killed by fishermen in a crime the media dubbed ‘Murder for Lobster.’ But as anyone from the community will tell you, it’s a lot more complicated than that. People don’t just go around killing each other over lobster.

The Colonel's Stray Dogs

When dreams of revolution die, what is left behind?

For over 40 years Ashur Shamis was a member of the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood and Colonel Gadaffi’s enemy number one in exile with a $1m bounty on his head. His dream of a ‘free’ Libya almost cost him his life and his family. When the 2011 revolution rid the country of their dictator, Ashur finally returned home to a hero’s welcome but soon found a land vastly different to the one he left. As Libya slipped into civil war he was rejected by the new country and found himself exiled once again. His dream of Libya now distorted, Ashur’s son uncovers a dangerous past and questions the choices his father made to inherit the mess Gadaffi left.