Our World Episode Rating Graph
Jun 2007 - present
Jun 2007 - present
6.4
Browse episode ratings trends for Our World. Simply click on the interactive rating graph to explore the best and worst of Our World's 264 episodes.
S16 Ep1
8.5
21st Jan 2022
Abortion has long been a fault line in American politics. Now those who want to ban it scent a famous victory, with implications for millions.
S17 Ep12
8.0
23rd Jun 2023
It is a year since millions of Americans were blocked from accessing an abortion. And the debate is as divisive as ever. Our World has travelled across two neighbouring, but very different, states - Florida and Alabama - to see how restrictions are impacting essential healthcare.
S17 Ep9
7.5
26th May 2023
South Africa is struggling to keep the lights on. Its power system is crumbling, leading to regular and extensive blackouts and it is the poorest who are hardest hit. Why is it in such bad shape, and what hope is there of South Africa kicking its addiction to coal and switching to greener sources of energy? Andrew Harding uncovers a story of corruption and vested interests at the heart of South Africa’s power failure.
S18 Ep3
7.0
17th Feb 2024
Journalists in Pakistan say they are under attack, with 140 targeted in just 12 months. They describe physical assaults, detentions, and even killing, often after criticising Pakistan's powerful military. Mobeen Azhar investigates their allegations of a campaign of fear and violence.
S18 Ep2
7.0
14th Feb 2024
When a family gets caught up in Europe's greatest refugee crisis since World War Two the strains are unimaginable. Where should they run to? Who will give safety and shelter?
S18 Ep1
7.0
2nd Feb 2024
Powerful earthquakes that struck in February 2023 left south-eastern Turkey facing a devastating aftermath. A year on, hundreds of thousands have left the region, and much of it still lies in ruins. Many local people have been left homeless, schools are destroyed, and crucial agricultural work is at risk. But the women who stayed are determined that their cities are rebuilt. As they confront this challenging task, their fears rise even further when construction plans pose a threat to their livelihoods. Our World follows the stories of women over the course of a year, as their roles as mothers and activists evolve in their fight to protect their home for the generations to come.
S17 Ep13
7.0
30th Jun 2023
Hong Kong is facing its biggest exodus since records began. Hundreds of thousands have left since Beijing imposed a draconian national security law on the former British colony. Critics say that Hong Kong has become a police state. The majority of the political opposition have either been detained or are now living in exile. The BBC’s Danny Vincent has been following Hong Kongers determined to start a new life in the UK and those determined to stay.
S17 Ep11
7.0
14th Jun 2023
For more than three years, North Korea has sealed its borders. People are banned from leaving or entering the country. Almost every foreigner who was inside has packed up and left. The world's most secretive and tyrannical state is now an information black hole. For months, three people inside North Korea have risked their lives to tell the BBC what is happening. What they reveal is shocking. Years of hard labour for those found watching foreign films and TV programmes, and execution for the ones who try to escape. Jean Mackenzie, the BBC's correspondent in South Korea, asks: is this a new dark age for North Korea?
S17 Ep10
7.0
2nd Jun 2023
Russia is supplying the Myanmar military with advanced fighter jets and training their pilots how to use them in a war against their own people. More than two years on from the coup, the country's military is facing a countrywide armed uprising and their troops are struggling to hold ground and recruit foot soldiers. So, the strategy is turning increasingly to the air with devastating consequences. BBC's Asia editor Rebecca Henschke follows those fighting back on the ground and in the air. And she meets defectors from the air force who give exclusive insight into the strategy and psychology behind those operating these deadly machines.
S17 Ep8
7.0
19th May 2023
Once dubbed the 'murder capital' of the world, for nearly three decades, rival gangs ruled the streets of El Salvador through a regime of violence, extortion and fear. That is, until now. For the last year, the country's young, media-savvy president has launched a full-scale war on gangs, imposing emergency constitutional measures and giving police sweeping new powers of arrest. As the State of Exception passes its one-year anniversary, more than 65,000 people have been arrested and dramatic images of a new 'mega prison' hit headlines around the world. But as the country transforms before people's eyes, this newfound freedom hides a dark reality. The government is accused of locking up thousands of innocent people without trial and in flagrant abuse of their human rights. Will Grant meets families impacted by both sides of this controversial policy to uncover the hidden cost of peace on the streets.
S17 Ep7
7.0
8th May 2023
Azdyne Amimour is looking for his granddaughter, and trying to make amends for crimes he did not commit. Azdyne's son Samy was one of three gunmen who killed 90 people at the Bataclan theatre in Paris, in November 2015. He himself was also killed. Samy left behind a daughter, who was born in Syria shortly after the attacks. Now Azdyne is out to find her and give her the love and security she needs. Finding Alaa is the story of families struggling to live with the consequences of acts of terror and the story of one man's search for a child.
S17 Ep6
7.0
25th Mar 2023
Facial recognition technology is at the cutting edge of fighting crime in the United States. Police forces across the country can upload your image and search databases containing millions of photos scoured from the internet. Whether you’ve uploaded the photo yourself, or someone else has without your knowledge – you can be identified and tracked down. James Clayton investigates the accuracy of this controversial technology and asks whether it is invading your privacy and should be a part of law and order in America.
S17 Ep5
7.0
11th Mar 2023
In February 2022, a video emerged of a young Afghan woman screaming for help whilst her door was being kicked in by the Taliban. Little is known about what took place after - where was she taken, and for what reason? Yalda Hakim travels to Afghanistan after gaining access to her and her family once they are released from prison, and as they plot their escape from Afghanistan to Europe.
S17 Ep4
7.0
3rd Mar 2023
Puppies are a multi-billion Euro industry in Europe. But where are all these puppies coming from? Our World unveils a criminal underworld of puppy traders trafficking dogs across Europe.
S17 Ep3
7.0
24th Feb 2023
Following the work of the MHA Nation's recovery clinic and their own drug enforcement team as they try to turn a rising tide of addiction.
S17 Ep2
7.0
11th Feb 2023
Since Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine a year ago, many British nationals have travelled there to fight. Some have prior military experience, others have none; but all are inspired by the idea that they are making a difference. With exclusive access to months of extraordinary footage filmed on the frontline, Emma Vardy meets the soldiers who are drawn to this conflict and the family members of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.
S17 Ep1
7.0
4th Feb 2023
In June 2020, three friends filmed themselves finding bodies in a suitcase. As their videos went viral, the lives of the victims, Jessica and Austin, were lost to rumour and speculation as people online combed through their story. Over the course of the two year trial, the programme follows the families as they try to get justice for their children, lost in a social media storm.
S16 Ep21
7.0
8th Oct 2022
In July 2022 former Iranian official Hamid Nouri was convicted by a Swedish court of murder and war crimes. BBC Persian’s Omid Montazeri tells the story of how a killer was caught. In July 2022 former Iranian official Hamid Nouri was convicted by a Swedish court of murder and war crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment. His offences were committed in Iran’s prisons in 1988, when an estimated 5000 political prisoners were killed. For the survivors and the families of those who died it was a crucial breakthrough in their long campaign for justice. BBC Persian’s Omid Montazeri, whose own father was killed for his communist beliefs in the massacres, follows the trial for Our World and tells the story of how a killer was caught.
S16 Ep20
7.0
1st Oct 2022
On the 50th anniversary of the expulsion of South Asians from Uganda, BBC reporter Reha Kansara follows her mum and aunt as they return to the country together for the first time. In 1972, Idi Amin publicly condemned Ugandan Asians as the enemy, enforcing a brutal policy that ordered them to leave the country within 90 days. It is estimated that up to 70,000 South Asians left Uganda in fear for their lives. On the 50th anniversary of the expulsion, BBC reporter Reha Kansara follows her mum and aunt as they return to Uganda together for the first time. Setting off from the English suburbs, they journey to the sugar plantations of Kakira and the home in Jinja they were forced to leave in a hurry. They are re-united with old friends, and discover how the expulsion changed the country they left behind.
S16 Ep19
7.0
24th Sep 2022
In recent weeks, tens of millions of people in China have again been confined to their homes in coronavirus lockdowns. This is not without political risk, especially in the run up to the twice a decade Communist Party Congress. BBC China Correspondent Stephen McDonell travels across the country and meets people struggling to stay afloat with their country showing no signs of abandoning its "Zero-Covid" policy.
S16 Ep17
7.0
22nd Jul 2022
For many Russian oligarchs, their superyachts are their most prized assets. But when Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine earlier this year, those superyachts soon became targets for an unprecedented set of sanctions coordinated by the US, EU, and UK authorities. Some yachts were seized or frozen, others tried to escape in a hurry, and some simply disappeared. Our World tells the inside story of the game of cat and mouse between the yacht hunters and Russia's wealthy set.
S16 Ep16
7.0
16th Jul 2022
In March this year, the town of Bucha was occupied by a shock invasion of Russian troops trying to reach Kyiv. What followed was a massacre that has shocked the world. But what happens when - against all odds - somebody survives to tell the story? In this compelling film, the sole survivor of a terrible crime in Ukraine joins the wives and mothers of his dead comrades to tell an extraordinary story. While the executions were meant to dehumanise and wipe the victims' presence from the world, this is a powerful account of love in the face of terror.
S16 Ep15
7.0
2nd Jul 2022
Our World has spent the last year with journalists and protestors as they live through the most turbulent period in Hong Kong's recent history. When the British government transferred sovereignty back to China 25 years ago, it promised to protect freedom of speech, but new laws have effectively silenced all criticism. Street protests have all but stopped, pro-democracy lawmakers have been replaced by Beijing loyalists and Hong Kong's new Chief Executive is its former Security Chief, who led the crackdown. Reporter Danny Vincent has been following those who have lived through the street protest movement, both as activists and reporters, many of whom are now in prison.
S16 Ep12
7.0
21st May 2022
With exclusive access to Ukraine's winning Eurovision entry, Our World follows Kalush Orchestra from the war-torn outskirts of Kyiv to their triumph in Turin. Reporter Viktoriia Zhuhan tells the inside story of how the band's song Stefania struck a chord with viewers across Europe and brought the Eurovision trophy home.
S16 Ep11
7.0
27th May 2022
For decades temples across Cambodia were looted and their treasures stolen, smuggled, and sold abroad. But now the Cambodian government wants them back. Celia Hatton has exclusive access to the Cambodian authorities' fight to trace and reclaim their precious antiquities. We visit rarely seen temples, track down former looters turned state witnesses, and unravel the tale of the controversial British art collector who many believe was at the heart of the trade. The statues aren't stone objects for many Cambodians - they're living Gods that need to return home.
S16 Ep9
7.0
29th Apr 2022
During the first year of the pandemic, San Francisco had more deaths from drug overdoses than Covid. In December, the mayor declared a state of emergency in parts of the city - in a desperate attempt to tackle the problem. In a spectacular U-turn, she declared the city needed 'tough love' and reversed her policies on defunding the police.
S16 Ep8
7.0
22nd Apr 2022
Myanmar is now in a state of civil war. What started in February 2021 as a mass protest movement against the military coup is now a nationwide armed uprising. The junta is under attack across the country from a network of civilian militias called the People's Defence Forces, fighting to restore democracy. The BBC gained rare access to the jungle training camps where young protesters are turned into soldiers. We follow a single mother and a student who have sacrificed everything to join the fight. They're up against a well-trained military willing to use brutal tactics to stay in power. As the death toll mounts and the world looks away, can they restore democracy?
S16 Ep6
7.0
12th Mar 2022
Fergal Keane tells the stories of the people on platform 5 of Lviv train station hoping to escape, the staff who bravely keep the station running and those who are left behind.
S1 Ep1
4.0
16th Jun 2007
As Darcey Bussell takes her final curtain call, she reflects on nearly 20 years as principal dancer of the Royal Ballet in London. Bussell talks to Louise Minchin and explains why she is retiring at the peak of her powers
S16 Ep10
4.0
6th May 2022
Axie Infinity is a hugely popular online game in which players breed, battle, and trade fantasy creatures. But for many people around the world, it's now much more than that - it's a way of making a living. The game's phenomenal growth is part of a bigger trend, as workers realise that they can make more money in the virtual world than they can in the real one. Our World follows players in the Philippines and Venezuela who are trying to escape economic problems at home by working in the metaverse. Could this be a glimpse of the future?
S16 Ep7
6.0
17th Apr 2022
1974, Beirut. It's the height of the Cold War. A prominent Yemeni politician is shot dead in his car. Some say, had he lived, Yemen would be a different country today. The killer was never caught, the assassination never investigated. Almost 50 years later, his granddaughter Mai Noman, a BBC journalist, seeks answers.
S16 Ep13
6.0
28th May 2022
On 24 February, Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, ordered a military invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, triggering the largest refugee crisis in Europe since the Second World War. Almost six million Ukrainians have fled the country, half of them to next-door Poland. During a week in April, Our World follows Warsaw's mayor, Rafal Trzaskowski, as well as refugees and volunteers living through the crisis. How have the people of Warsaw dealt with such a sudden increase in the city's population. And what is the long-term plan for all the new arrivals?
S16 Ep14
6.5
24th Jun 2022
In 2021, anti-government protests took place across Iran. They were triggered by a severe water shortage in the south of the country, in a province called Khuzestan. Once lush and green, rivers are now running dry, crops are failing and tap water is scarce. So where has the water gone? BBC Persian's Siavash Ardalan investigates what is behind the shortage.
S16 Ep18
6.5
12th Aug 2022
When the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, they assured citizens that they had changed since their regime in the 1990s and said they would protect women's rights. Eight months ago, Alia Azizi, a 45-year-old policewoman from Herat, disappeared. Her family has not heard from her since. Yalda Hakim travels to Afghanistan to investigate the case. She speaks with female activists and protestors who have been scared into silence, asking the Taliban why they are not doing more to investigate the disappearance of women like Alia.
S5 Ep29
7.0
3rd Sep 2011
The destruction of the twin towers was a site that became the definition of terror. It was an onslaught that killed nearly three thousand people - but a decade later, the attack isn't over. The dust that overwhelmed the streets of Lower Manhattan became a weapon. The clouds contained particles of pulverized concrete, asbestos, lead from fifty thousand computers, mercury from countless light bulbs -- a million tons of poisonous fallout. Now nearly 20,000 people are receiving treatment for a range of illnesses, many of them serious. And more than 60,000 are registered as at risk. The BBC Our World team first broke the story globally in 2006. They return 5 years later to investigate a worsening tragedy and followup with those who shared their stories.
S6 Ep1
7.0
26th Oct 2012
As a wave of protests and self-immolations continues against the rule of China on the Tibetan plateau, Sue Lloyd-Roberts asks the Dalai Lama if the dream of increased independence for Tibet is dead.
S10 Ep22
7.0
16th Jul 2016
In 2015, Iran agreed a long-term deal on its nuclear program with a group of world powers known as the P5+1 - the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany. Our World reports on the process that led to the agreement.
S10 Ep34
7.0
19th Nov 2016
More Americans die from drug doses than car crashes or gun fatalities. The majority of the deaths involve the use of heroin or prescription painkillers. Over the past year, Ian Pannell has followed a number of addicts as they try to kick the habit.
S11 Ep1
7.0
28th Jan 2017
Gabriel Gatehouse reports from Louisiana. How much of a difference did Barack Obama's presidency make to the lives of African-Americans?
S11 Ep7
7.0
11th Mar 2017
Our World investigates allegations of mass murder and rape among Myanmar's displaced Rohingya minority. Asking why Burmese leader and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has failed to stop what the UN is calling crimes against humanity.
S11 Ep18
7.0
1st Jul 2017
A brilliant student, Mashal Khan, was brutally murdered by a mob on a university campus in Pakistan earlier in 2017 after he was accused of blasphemy. The killing caused widespread outrage in Pakistan and has even led to calls to change the country's strict blasphemy laws. Who was Mashal Khan and why was he murdered? Secunder Kermani investigates.
S13 Ep5
7.0
Our World spent the New Year party season in Ramallah, Bethlehem and Haifa documenting the personal views of young Palestinians on the Israeli occupation, and how it impacts their music. The rave scene, with its vibrant electronic music and dance culture has, for some Palestinians, become a focus for political dissent and protest, for others an escape. It's also a source of tension between some conservative parents and a younger generation.
S13 Ep6
7.0
19th Sep 2019
When the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded 33 years ago in Soviet Ukraine, it was the largest ever accidental release of radioactivity into the environment. The cause, and who was to blame, is still being debated. But what's become of the people who refused to leave the exclusion zone, and the wildlife left behind? Just how contaminated is the area now? The BBC's Science correspondent, Victoria Gill, has been given rare permission to go inside the zone - and the plant itself.
S13 Ep27
7.0
2nd Nov 2019
Google, Apple and Facebook-owned Instagram are enabling an illegal online slave market by approving and providing apps used for selling domestic workers in the Gulf. For Our World, BBC News Arabic’s undercover investigation exposes the people in Kuwait breaking local and international laws on modern slavery, including a woman offering a child for sale. At the centre of this powerful investigative film is Fatou a 16 year old in Kuwait City who has been there for nine months. We follow her rescue and journey back home to Guinea, West Africa and ask what’s being done to control these apps?
S14 Ep1
7.0
17th Jan 2020
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.
S14 Ep2
7.0
25th Jan 2020
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.
S14 Ep3
7.0
31st Jan 2020
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?
S14 Ep4
7.0
7th Feb 2020
Antarctica is one of the most remote and inhospitable places on earth. Reporter Justin Rowlatt travels to Thwaites, the so-called Doomsday Glacier.
S14 Ep5
7.0
14th Feb 2020
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?
S14 Ep6
7.0
21st Feb 2020
Our World gained unprecedented access to enter Indonesia’s prison to witness both Garil and Sarah meeting the bombers who killed their parents.
S14 Ep7
7.0
28th Feb 2020
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.
S14 Ep8
7.0
13th Mar 2020
With exclusive access to two film-makers inside the Chinese city of Wuhan, Our World tells the story of life under lockdown.
S14 Ep9
7.0
20th Mar 2020
Umaru Fofana investigates trade in trafficked rosewood worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
S14 Ep10
7.0
28th Mar 2020
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.
S14 Ep11
7.0
17th Apr 2020
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.
S14 Ep12
7.0
24th Apr 2020
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.
S1 Ep1
4.0
16th Jun 2007
As Darcey Bussell takes her final curtain call, she reflects on nearly 20 years as principal dancer of the Royal Ballet in London. Bussell talks to Louise Minchin and explains why she is retiring at the peak of her powers
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The first episode of Our World aired on June 16, 2007.
The last episode of Our World aired on March 30, 2024.
There are 264 episodes of Our World.
There are 18 seasons of Our World.
Yes.
Our World is set to return for future episodes.