This World
Season 2009
Award-winning BBC documentary strand reporting on social issues and current affairs stories from around the world.
Where to Watch Season 2009
7 Episodes
- Mandela at 90E1
Mandela at 90After years of retirement from political life, the world's most admired statesman has allowed cameras into his private world. Mandela at 90 reveals a man of flesh and blood; irreverent, never cowed by authority and a formidable charmer who, perhaps surprisingly, looks back on his life behind bars with a degree of fondness. Unique behind-the-scenes footage offers a window into his world and his unexpected insights into his northern nemesis Robert Mugabe - Escaping North KoreaE2
Escaping North KoreaThe dramatic stories of North Koreans who are risking everything, including torture and execution, to escape the repression and hunger of their homeland and reach safety in the South. The border between the two Koreas is so heavily guarded that refugees are forced to flee into China, dodging border guards and risking freezing to death crossing the river that divides the two countries. Once in China, they are forced to live secret lives, the women often sold into forced marriages or prostitution, because if discovered, the Chinese authorities will send them back. This film follows two women who have decided to embark on the next stage of the journey, a desperate attempt to reach South Korea. For May, it involves a four thousand mile journey through the jungles of Laos and Thailand, to claim asylum in Bangkok. For Guem Hee, it means buying a fake passport and risking arrest at any moment. For both women, it is a moving story of leaving their loved ones behind in the biggest gamble of their lives. - The Madoff HustleE3
The Madoff HustleOn June 29th, Bernie Madoff will be sentenced for perpetrating an elaborate con. From his headquarters in New York, the capital of American finance, Madoff masterminded a fraud that netted billions of dollars and ensnared thousands, from Palm Beach billionaires and Hollywood movie stars to pensioners across the US. Madoff did not stop at America, however - he went global in his search for victims. Willard Foxton, whose father - a former British army officer - committed suicide after losing his life savings in Madoff's fraud, has embarked on a personal investigation into the Madoff con and the devastation it has wrought. On a 14,000-mile journey that takes him to New York, Florida and California, Willard meets fellow Madoff victims, two of Bernie's former employees and a Madoff family friend, who has known Bernie for over fifty years. - Gypsy Child ThievesE4
Gypsy Child ThievesAcross Europe children are being forced onto the streets to beg and steal. They come from one of the poorest communities in Europe - the Romanian Gypsies. For centuries Gypsies have lived on the margins of society and faced brutal discrimination. Many have resorted to stealing and begging to survive. But in the last 20 years, organised crime has taken over. And since 2007, when Romania joined the EU, Gypsy children have been trafficked and exploited on a much larger scale. In an attempt to understand what is happening to these children Romanian film-maker Liviu Tipurita embarks on a journey through Europe which takes him inside the closed world of the Gypsy community, and talks to the authorities and institutions meant to be dealing with this disturbing phenomenon. - An Iranian 'Martyr'E5
An Iranian 'Martyr'On June 20th, a young Iranian woman was shot in the street in Tehran. The video of her death, filmed on a mobile phone, was seen by millions around the world. This World tells the story of Neda Agha Soltan, with exclusive accounts from those who really knew her. Many young Iranians have claimed her as a 'martyr' for Iran's protest movement; but the Iranian regime has tried to blame the West. - Can Obama Save the Planet?
E6Can Obama Save the Planet?Justin Rowlatt reports on whether President Obama is on target to keep his climate-change promises. Travelling across the States, using public transport only, Justin encounters coal miners and car manufacturers; activists and politicians; a pig farmer and a film star. He goes ice-fishing in Michigan, finds a thriving wind industry in the oil state of Texas and, in Detroit, drives a test car of the future. - Stalin's BackE7
Stalin's BackJoseph Stalin is back. Or is he? Reporter John Sweeney travels more than 5000 miles through the old Soviet Union, from Stalin's birthplace in Georgia to a former labour camp in Russia, to find out if one of the twentieth century's most notorious mass-murderers is really being rehabilitated.