The Harragas of Algeria

A fuzzy team photo from the 1980s sends Tim Whewell on a journey to track down football players from a small town in northern Syria who were once the champions of Aleppo province. In the last four years of war their hometown, Mare'a, has become a war zone – bombed by the Assad re ... Show More

The Dhnie family find themselves sleeping rough, getting caught up in riots and being detained as they try to reach Europe after their flight from Syria. 

Shahidha traces the story of the sari, explores how it feels to wear one and asks what it meant for women like her mother. She discovers the unexpected ways in which clothing can be imprinted with feelings of nostalgia, love and loss. 

Why are so many young people leaving Algeria? Unlike Syria or Libya, Algeria is supposedly a beacon of stability in a troubled region and it enjoys vast wealth from its oil and gas resources. Yet it remains a major source of illegal migrants to Europe and thousands continue to ri ... Show More

Hundreds of thousands of French people who'd been living in Algeria for generations fled for safety to France in the summer of 1962. It was in the last days of the war of independence in the North African nation. Known as the 'Pieds Noirs', the new arrivals were not generally wel ... Show More

John McCarthy explores the Great Northern Coalfield in North East England with writer Peter Crookston and meets the young family who travelled 4,000 miles across Africa in 2 months. Producer: Chris Wilson. 

Life in exile 

In one of the largest operations of its kind, thousands of migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, were pulled off cramped, unseaworthy boats in the Mediterranean in June. Gabriel Gatehouse has had rare access to the operation. He follows two young men as they try to find a new ... Show More

One boat, two families; trying to escape war in Syria, desperate to start a new life in Europe. In October 2013, dozens of migrants aboard that boat died, as it travelled across the Mediterranean Sea. But some eventually made it to Malta. What happened next? 

When Elaine Mokhtefi landed in newly independent Algeria in the early 1960s, she was only planning for a short visit. But she quickly found herself at the centre of a special period in the country’s history, as Algiers played host to liberation groups from across the world – earn ... Show More