Documentaries

A year ago, the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico creating a huge oil spill. In the aftermath, the BBC's Robyn Bresnahan spent a month in the American state of Louisiana with fishing families to see how they were affected. She found many communities on the brink, with fishermen fearing they would never fish again. One year on, she has returned to meet with some of the same families.

From the news coverage of the 1923 wedding of the future King George VI to Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, to the moment Lady Diana Spencer stepped out of the glass coach, we look back to the glamour and gossip, the spectacle and romance of British Royal weddings.

In dense blocks of flats and social housing, just 10 minutes away from the Olympics Park, young people with nothing much else to do, are at risk of getting involved with gangs. The BBC's Nina Robinson explores the problem of crime for those affected.

Assignment reports on the shocking sectarian violence in the Nigerian city of Jos. But Rob Walker finds one neighbourhood where Christians and Muslims have come together to prevent the violence. This programme contains graphic descriptions of violence.

A committed republican and ardent monarchist examine the case for and against monarchy as a form of government. Part two looks at America - whose very creation involved rejecting kingship - and those who prefer a crown to a republican constitution.

Great Expectations follows the lives of people who live in the diverse ethnic mix of east London, on the doorstep of the 2012 Olympic Games. It looks at their view of the changes and money being spent around them from where they live - in a deprived part of the inner city, in dense blocks of flats and social housing - known as an estate in the UK. The BBC's Nina Robinson reports in the first of two programmes on the incidence of poverty in the area and how this is reflected in the lives of residents.

In this week's Assignment Sue Lloyd Roberts reports from Saudi Arabia where custom and religion are keeping women covered up and largely hidden. But behind the scenes Sue finds women pushing for change.

A committed republican and ardent monarchist examine the case for and against monarchy as a form of government. Part one looks at Sweden - home to one of the world's oldest and yet most modernised courts. Why is it that opposition to keeping the king as head of state is growing?

"It just takes 26 letters to create the universe, the word is dismantled and then reassembled through the lens of a pen and verse." The South African poet Lebo Mashile contemplates the role of poetry in her country.

It’s twenty years since Somaliland declared itself independent but it still remains unrecognised as a nation state. For Assignment, Mary Harper reports from Hargeisa, the capital, where she finds many people happy to be going it alone.

In a society where the sexes are strictly segregated, it is common for boys to dance for men in Afghanistan at weddings and traditional gatherings. But the tradition exposes the boys to sexual abuse.

Lucy Williamson reports on why Mexico, a developing Catholic nation, is the latest country to turn away from marriage.

"I was sentenced to 12 years for writing poetry." Russian poet and dissident, Irina Ratushinskaya contemplates the role of poetry in her country.

Albania's paranoid Cold War dictator stockpiled vast amounts of ammunition to threaten potential invaders. Albania now wants to get rid of the old ammunition -- and quickly. It's even willing to give it away. For Assignment Neal Razzell meets those trying to shift what the government calls "the heavy burden of the past."

Throughout history donkeys, pigs, dogs, rats, even insects have been put on trial and some convicted and sentenced. Frances Fyfield, looks at these extraordinary cases of animals in court.