Beyond Borders

For generations Europe’s oldest living culture was told to be ashamed. Its language silenced, its identity suffocated. Now a new fight is unfolding in the Arctic. Not against the past but over progress, and the use of traditionally Sami territory for Europe’s clean energy goals.

But this time the struggle isn’t just against the government, it comes from within, and the unspoken power-struggle inside the Sami hierarchy.

Watch the full programme here: https://youtu.be/d2tPbbE3AHQ?si=3aMppGSzmW2nnx_h

Hosts: Adam Charlton, Caoimhe Louise...

Welcome to Liberland, the self-declared micronation in the heart of Europe, that claims to be building a new country from scratch. Sold as a tax-free utopia with no government interference and a crypto-powered economy, Liberland has attracted libertarians, adventurers, and digital nomads from around the world.

But is this bold experiment in freedom a genuine blueprint for the future of nation-building, or an elaborate illusion built on disputed land that it may never legally control?

Beyond Borders investigates the vision, the politics, the believers, and the controversy behind one of the wor...

Welcome to Europe’s most closely watched town.

High above the Arctic Circle, on the Norwegian border with Russia, is a place where some say the Cold War never ended. Where a memorial to the Soviet soldiers who defeated the Nazis has a darker meaning since Russia invaded Ukraine. And where those trying to report what’s happening have been targeted by Moscow’s spy network. This is a community living with the threat of war between NATO and Russia, and the suspicion that hangs over everyone.

Watch the full episode here: https://youtu...

Land remains one of South Africa’s most divisive issues. Thirty years after apartheid, communities still clash over race and space. From Orania’s whites-only enclave to calls for redistribution, Beyond Borders explores the voices shaping this struggle - white farmers fearing displacement, black farmers building new futures, Khoi and San reclaiming ancestral land, and families returning to homes lost under apartheid. From Cape Town to the Kalahari, we investigate how history, identity, and politics collide in the fight for South Africa’s soil.

Hosts: David Foster & Adam Charlton

Show Producer: Connor McLaughlin

Exec...

Land remains one of South Africa’s most divisive issues. Thirty years after apartheid, communities still clash over race and space. From Orania’s whites-only enclave to calls for redistribution, Beyond Borders explores the voices shaping this struggle - white farmers fearing displacement, black farmers building new futures, Khoi and San reclaiming ancestral land, and families returning to homes lost under apartheid. From Cape Town to the Kalahari, we investigate how history, identity, and politics collide in the fight for South Africa’s soil.

Hosts: David Foster & Adam Charlton

Show Producer: Connor McLaughlin

Exec...

This is a story 200 years in the making - a recreation of Charles Darwin's famous voyage of discovery.

Beyond Borders is in South Africa to meet the young scientists assembled from all over the world trying to save the planet, and the creatures we share it with.

From reintroducing injured penguins to the wild, to stemming the spread of rabies in seals, and emergency operations on giant injured turtles - this is an evolution of the understanding about our precious, natural world.

Hosts: David Foster & Adam Charlton

Producer: Connor McLaughlin<...

Rival gangs are fighting for control of South Africa’s untapped gold, creating a black market worth billions - and costing the country a fortune in lost revenue. Beyond Borders is on the trail of the so-called Zama Zamas, as they are hunted by police, to uncover their deadly underground world - and ask whether the government is guilty of using inhumane tactics to stop them.

Hosts: David Foster & Adam Charlton

Producer: Connor McLaughlin

Executive Producer: Alice Tegg

Podcast Editor: Connor McLaughlin

Programmes Manager: Mark Klusener

TR...

Human trafficking is at a record high in the UK. Insiders say as many as 100,000 people are affected. Many of them come from Romania, where poverty, unemployment, and woeful social support makes vulnerable individuals - especially women and children - easy targets for traffickers.

The US government says Romania doesn’t even meet the “minimum standards” for the elimination of trafficking.

So why is Romania still such fertile ground for modern slavery?

BeyondBorders talks to survivors, their saviours, and confronts the shame of their abusers - who are somehow still able t...

The fall of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989 exposed the horrors of Romania’s state-run orphanages. David Foster and the Beyond Borders team return to uncover the legacy of one the darkest chapters in the nation’s history. We visit abandoned institutions that still echo with pain, speak with survivors of the system and meet those fighting to end institutional care for good. How far has the country really come? And can it ever shake the shame of this dark legacy?

Join the Beyond Borders team for this companion podcast to the full show, bringing you t...

Sri Lanka has been plagued by civil war, natural disaster, political turmoil, and economic collapse. Beyond Borders meets those determined to rebuild their country after decades of misfortune, from a new government taking on a powerful political dynasty, to children freed from years of unbelievable cruelty, and China's multibillion-dollar bet on the island's future.

Join David Foster and the Beyond Borders team in this companion podcast to the full show, bringing you the story behind the story - crocs and all.

Watch the full episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h...

Sri Lanka has been living with wounds that won't heal since its decades-long civil war ended. Beyond Borders travels to Sri Lanka to meet the women clearing mines, ex-child soldiers reintegrating into society, war widows finding new opportunities, and families still convinced their missing loved ones are alive.

In this companion podcast to the full show, David Foster and the Beyond Borders team bring you the story behind the story - including a close call with an insanely hot chilli.

Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/sfJs13opt9I