This World
Season 2006
Award-winning BBC documentary strand reporting on social issues and current affairs stories from around the world.
Where to Watch Season 2006
15 Episodes
- Munich: Operation BayonetE1
Munich: Operation BayonetDuring the 1972 summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, 11 Israeli athletes were killed by the Palestinian terrorist organisation Black September. Within days of the massacre, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir secretly ordered Mossad (Israel's intelligence agency) to hunt down and assassinate all those responsible for the planning and execution of the Olympic massacre. During the next seven years, more than a dozen suspects and suspected terror masterminds were killed throughout Europe and the Middle East. This campaign, conducted by a specially trained hit-team - code named "kidon" (bayonet in Hebrew) - has been the subject of many accounts by writers, journalists and filmmakers, and is the basis of Steven Spielberg's new feature film "Munich". Up until now, no one in Mossad has been permitted to speak in detail about the extraordinary series of events. Global terrorism Bayonet operatives reveal their secret missions in compelling detail, including the assassination of Ali Hassan Salameh, mastermind of Black September and CIA contact, in Beirut. One former Bayonet member - referred to in the film as "T" to hide his real identity - revisits France and Norway to walk through the undercover operations carried out there 30 years ago. Some considered these operations a success, given the total eradication of Black September, but they did not always go to plan. Munich: Operation Bayonet features extensive interviews with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, the former head of Mossad Shabtai Shavit and ex-CIA agents. With its unique access, this film draws a clear picture of the clandestine 1970s operations that changed the face of global terrorism. - Kidnap CopsE2
Kidnap CopsIn Brazil, football has always been sacred. But this changed last summer, when kidnappers began targetting footballers' mothers. Over a period of just five months in 2005, five footballers' mothers were abducted. The first was Marina Souza Da Silva, mother of Real Madrid superstar Robinho. She was held captive for 41 days until a ransom of $75,000 (£46,000) was paid to her kidnappers. This World spent six months following this intriguing case, filming with the player, obtaining exclusive footage of his mother in captivity, and even interviewing the kidnapper responsible. Escaping poverty But this film is not just about football and kidnapping. Set in Sao Paulo - a city where mansions and private swimming pools defiantly back onto the poor favella slums - it also exposes one of the most unequal societies in the world. Young boys dream of escaping poverty through football, but for the vast majority, crime is the only reality. The film intertwines the lives of three people who all came from the slums and who, in their own ways, escaped. As well as interviews with footballer Robinho, we talk to the mastermind behind the kidnapping of Robinho's mother, Marcelo Da Silva, and the head of the Sao Paulo anti-kidnapping squad. During the first two weeks of filming alone, four members of Sao Paulo's anti-kidnapping squad were murdered in shoot outs with criminal gangs. - Killer's ParadiseE5
Killer's ParadiseTwo women are murdered every day in Guatemala and many are hideously mutilated. In 2005, 665 women were killed - more than 20% up on the previous year and 10 times the equivalent rate in the UK. But in Guatemala, not one killer has been caught. There is no fingerprint or DNA database, no crime or victim profiling and no real forensic science. No one investigates and witnesses do not talk. So why, after 36 years of civil war, are the guns and the knives being turned on women? And who is responsible for these murders? Some people point to the street gangs, while others blame domestic violence or serial killers. But no one really knows because the crimes are not investigated. Is this just incompetence? Or is the justice system in Guatemala designed to protect the guilty? The award-winning team of Olenka Frenkiel and Giselle Portenier follow the search of those who still believe they can find justice, and those who have lost all hope that the killers of their loved ones can be caught. Who shot law student Claudina Velasquez? Who tortured and killed 13-year-old Stephanie Lopez? And who murdered the nameless woman whose dismembered body was found in a refuse sack? Someone knows... but no one will tell. - Putin's PalaceE6
Putin's PalaceWhat is life like inside the Kremlin? And what does the future hold as Putin's presidency nears its end? The Kremlin is the political heart of the largest country in the world. For centuries, strong and secretive men have dominated Russia and often terrified the outside world. But since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, things have been different. The Kremlin machine has tried to sell Putin to the West as a "liberal democrat", while at the same time selling him to the Russians as the "hard man" their country needs. In office for the last six years however, in less than two years from now Putin must relinquish the presidency. And as presidential candidates start to jockey for position, This World discovers what really goes on behind the scenes. Inside stories Twenty-three years ago, documentary film maker Richard Denton first went to what was then the Soviet Union, to make a series for the BBC called Comrades. Now he has returned to film what he could never film before: the people who work within the Kremlin. From Dimitri Pescov, the president's most urbane spin doctor, to Konstantin Krivorotov, a soldier in the presidential regiment who stands guard over the tomb of the unknown soldier, Denton meets the men and women who work for Putin. At the time of filming there are scandals in the Russian army and British diplomats are allegedly caught spying. And all the time, meanwhile, Russians inside and outside the Kremlin walls are beginning to ask the question: after Putin, who will be the next president of Russia? - Psychic VietnamE7
Psychic VietnamThirty years after the end of the Vietnam War, some families still searching for loved ones missing in action are turning to psychics for help. Millions died in the Vietnam War and 400,000 of them have never been found. But some families of the missing have found new hope in the form of a group of psychics. Accepted, if not approved of, by the government, these psychics believe they can talk to the dead. In 1996, they set up a centre devoted to the research of psychic phenomena. One man who works at the research centre is 37-year-old Nguyen Phac Bay and is said to have found over 500 bodies last year. The film also follows one female psychic through minefields and jungles in search of the dead. Nam Ngia, an ex-army nurse, works alone and has devoted her life to the task of finding those who went missing during the war. Apparently, when she is said to be speaking to the lost spirits, they pass on details that shock the living relatives - details they swear no one else could know. It may seem unlikely, but in Vietnam and much of South East Asia many believe that contact with dead ancestors is normal - that the dead can connect to the living. This film raises the question of what is belief and what is hope when so many are mourning the missing from the Vietnam War. - Prisoners of Katrina
E8Prisoners of KatrinaA year after Hurricane Katrina, This World finds out what happened inside Orleans Parish Prison as panicked inmates, left without food or water, rioted and broke out. Prisoners released from Orleans Parish Prison in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina are held on a bridge in the city "What about the prisoners in the jail?" the sheriff had been asked as city leaders ordered the people of New Orleans to flee the hurricane heading their way in August 2005. "The prisoners will stay where they belong," he decided. It was a decision he would later regret. In the chaotic days that followed Hurricane Katrina, the image of thousands of orange-clad prisoners crouching on a broken bridge - held at gunpoint by a few overstretched guards - was an unforgettable image. This is the untold story of almost 7,000 inmates - some murderers and rapists, but others never even charged - who found themselves trapped in the city jail as it flooded. Olenka Frenkiel reports on a justice system already near to collapse, and on its final tipping point: Katrina. - Black and White (And Read All Over)E9
Black and White (And Read All Over)This is a film about the newspaper revolution of sub-Saharan Africa's biggest selling daily. The Daily Sun's lurid headlines like "Boyfriend Ate My Grandson!" have made the politically correct squirm. But the paper has become a national phenomenon, attracting millions of black readers. This World follows the newspaper in the run up to its 1,000th edition. A reporter visits a woman claiming she is cursed by a demon. A girl, aged 14, tells how her rapist is still free. And the crime correspondent is the first at a shoot-out which turns into a bloodbath. It is the controversial white part-owner, Deon du Plessis, who gives the stories their tabloid spin and critics accuse the paper of sensationalism with its gory front pages. The newspaper, however, claims it merely reflects the reality of township life. - The Tea Boy of GazaE10
The Tea Boy of GazaMahmoud is a 12-year-old boy who supports his family by selling tea in Gaza's biggest hospital. He struggles to make a living on the wards and has to avoid the shoot-outs that occur inside the hospital itself. Filmed before and during the recent Israeli re-occupation of the Gaza Strip, this observational documentary uses Mahmoud's experiences, as well as remarkable access inside the Hamas prime minister's office, to show the reality of life under the new Hamas government. Gunmen, policemen and various "security forces" all patrol the hospital seeking to protect their own injured comrades. "I told them many times to leave... they refuse," says surgeon Dr Jomma Al Saqqa, who believes working among the militants is fraught with risks. Each group uses its muscle to try and get preferential treatment, and the doctors bear the brunt of their threats. Mahmoud's business is rapidly shrinking. None of the doctors and nurses have been paid since the election of Hamas in January, at which point the international community suspended $1bn (£584m) in aid to the region. The borders of the Gaza Strip have been sealed and trade suspended, meaning food and fuel are becoming scarcer and increasingly expensive. Mahmoud has to pay almost double for his tea leaves, but his profits have been cut in half. "I hate politics," he says. - Will Israel Bomb Iran?
E11Will Israel Bomb Iran?Just as Israel ends one war, is it getting ready for what may be its next armed conflict? This time, the enemy is Iran, accused of arming Hezbollah's militia and planning to develop nuclear weapons. This film reveals Israel's view of the threat and gets inside the intensely secret world of the Israeli military, which speaks openly for the first time about what they see as the "existential" threat to Israel, posed by Iran's alleged atomic weapons programme. Three of Israel's former prime ministers come together on this issue, comparing the danger to a "new Holocaust". This World gains rare access to Israel's highly protected missile factories and satellite surveillance centres, where the arms needed for any potential raid are manufactured. As diplomatic efforts over Iran's nuclear programme continue, this film examines the Israeli discussion on whether they should, or could, launch a raid to knock out Iran's nuclear programme. - Kidney for SaleE12
Kidney for SaleThis World films inside one of Iran's kidney donor clinics. In Iran, the buying and selling of kidneys is legal and regulated by the state. As a result, the Iranians claim to have eliminated waiting lists for people on dialysis. The only problem is that if you do not have the money for a new kidney then there is no list to get on. There is an official price list, where the state pays donors $1,000 (£531) while the recipient and their family pay $2000 (£1,062). But once donor and recipient are introduced the haggling starts. With the average salary in Iran being around $200 (£106) a month, the stakes are high for both sides. This documentary gives a fascinating insight into ordinary life in Iran through the eyes of two young Iranians who have decided to sell a kidney. Mehrdad lost his job on the railways and now faces mounting debts. He wants to sell a kidney to fund a new job as a taxi driver. And Sohaila, who already works long shifts at night but since her father died six years ago, she has had to support two younger sisters. Her wage alone is just not enough. - Poison, Murder and Putin - Anna's Last WordsE16
Poison, Murder and Putin - Anna's Last WordsRussian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a fierce critic of Russia's President Putin, was shot dead in October 2006 following a suspected poisoning attempt and death threats. Broadcast here for the first time is one of the last interviews she gave, to the BBC, about her fears for her country, coupled with a stark warning to the West about Russia's future. Ex-spy Aleksander Litvinenko - who died on 23 November 2006 and who said he had been poisoned himself - was investigating her death. This has fuelled allegations of a deadly campaign against Putin's opponents... despite Kremlin denials of involvement. Olenka Frenkiel reveals Anna's final warning, of a Russia in the grip of the old KGB, breeding a new generation of terrorists and a return to Stalinism.