Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.
Find out how to listen to other BBC stations
History of Spices: commerce, colonialism and culinary innovation
Join Greg and his guests to learn about the global history of spices and the spice trade.
20 Feb 2026,·57 mins
The Golden Age of Athens
After such success, Athens’ decline is a lesson in great civilisations' rise and fall.
20 Feb 2026,·51 mins
John Keats
How one of the great Romantic poets produced so much in his brilliant but short life.
19 Feb 2026,·48 mins
Jack The Ripper: History’s Darkest Mystery (Part 1)
Join Tom and Dominic as they delve into the darkest days of London’s long history...
24 Feb 2026,·57 mins
Someone Else's Problem: Exporting the Housing Crisis
What happens when homeless families from London are rehoused in the North East?
22 Feb 2026,·28 mins
The Philosopher and the Handyman: The Race Around the World - Part 1
Who will be the first to sail non-stop around the world?
20 Feb 2026,·38 mins
Israel and the Palestinians
10: From 2010 to the present day
Jonny Dymond and guests explore the complicated back-story of the Middle East conflict.
13 Apr 2026,·28 mins
Series 4
60. True Crime on Trial
Lucy Worsley puts true crime on trial and asks are we so obsessed with true crime?
17 Feb 2026,·28 mins
Evil Animals - Sea Otters
Are sea otters – aka Harry Otter – Evil or Genius?
18 Feb 2026,·32 mins
Ireland Under The Brutal Tudors
Professor Suzannah Lipscomb investigates the massacres carried out in Elizabeth I's name.
23 Feb 2026,·46 mins
Putin and the Apartment Bombs
7. Hindsight
Who bombed the four apartment buildings?
12 Jan 2026,·33 mins
The Salacious Sex Life of Charles II
The salacious side of Restoration England and the court of Charles II.
19 Feb 2026,·29 mins
Great Fire of London As It Happened
Reliving the disaster through first hand accounts.
19 Feb 2026,·50 mins
The Aga Khan meets Florence Nightingale
In 1898, Florence Nightingale invited the Aga Khan around to her London home for tea
24 Feb 2026,·10 mins
Pablo Escobar Part 5: The Final Battle
The DEA agents finally discover Escobar’s whereabouts. Pablo’s empire comes crashing down.
18 Feb 2026,·31 mins
The Shetland Bus and toxic shock syndrome
Max Pearson presents a collection of Witness History and Sporting Witness episodes
21 Feb 2026,·60 mins
Vuyisile Mini: The Voice That Defied Apartheid
In 1950s South Africa a powerful new song catches fire among Black communities.
24 Feb 2026,·28 mins
6. Moral Courage
Diane Foley must decide whether to face a man linked to her son’s murder - or not.
10 Feb 2026,·31 mins
An American Journey
4. Life and Liberty
The idea of freedom is foundational to America, but whose freedom, and what kind?
09 Feb 2026,·42 mins
Who Was the Victorian Thames Torso Murderer?
How do you solve a century-old crime?
10 Feb 2026,·39 mins
Two Nottingham Lads
4. Last Days in the Donbas
The final cost of the Donetsk interview becomes clear for Aiden and Graham.
14 Jan 2026,·28 mins
A Haunting at the Higgins
Nat Investigates historic hauntings at the Higgins Bedford.
19 Jan 2026,·57 mins
February 23rd to March 1st
Fascinating, surprising and eye-opening stories from the past, brought to life.
25 Feb 2026,·5 mins
Bonus: The History Bureau
If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that turns out to be flawed?
16 Feb 2026,·28 mins
Chapter 4: After Empire
Once Upon a Time in Kampala
A Ugandan cab driver forms an unlikely bond with a sex worker during the covid lockdown.
22 Dec 2023,·26 mins
Dictators' Kids
What must it be like to be the child of a brutal tyrant?
14 Jan 2026,·27 mins
Titanic: Ship of Dreams
13. Raise the Titanic
Experts weigh the legacy and ponder the future of the most infamous ship in history.
01 Jul 2025,·50 mins
Series 2
Useless Men Jokes
Ian Hislop returns to unearth the oldest examples of five varieties of British joke.
05 Sep 2025,·14 mins
Perfectionists: Martha Graham
Martha Graham was to modern dance what Picasso was to painting.
16 Jan 2026,·14 mins
5. An Honourable History
The Bolton 7 take their fight for justice to one of the highest arenas of law.
25 Feb 2025,·41 mins
