BBC One

BBC One is a TV channel that started broadcasting on the 20th April 1964. It replaced BBC Television.

BBC 1

BBC1

BBC One Scotland

Scotland

Dictatorland

Documentaries

Factual: Politics

Factual: Travel

The sinister, bizarre reality of life in some of worlds's longest-running dictatorships.

Ben Zand travels to some of the worlds's longest-running dictatorships, discovering the sinister and at times bizarre reality of life there.

Kazakhstan

Dictatorland: Series 1

Ben Zand

Olly Bootle

Mike Radford

Dictatorland: Series 1: Episode 2: Belarus

Belarus

Episode 2

Episode 2: Belarus

Series 1

BBC Three - Dictatorland, Series 1, Belarus

Ben Zand is in Belarus to see the sinister and bizarre reality of life in a dictatorship.

Ben Zand visits Belarus. To find out what life is like in a dictatorship, he bathes in the rumoured source of the president's powers and comes face to face with the KGB.

In this episode, Ben Zand travels to Belarus to experience the sinister and at times bizarre side to living in a dictatorship.

Ben begins his journey in Belarus by heading to President Lukashenko's home town. He sees a small shrine to the president before setting off to find a mysterious spring in the woods which Lukashenko apparently drank from as a child, and to which he attributes some of his dictatorial manliness and prowess.

Ben then heads to Belarus's capital city, Minsk. This is a country that most Brits only hear of once a year, during the Eurovision Song Contest. And so Ben gets an introduction to the place from Belarus's 2011 Eurovision entrant, Anastasia. She sang a song called I Love Belarus, and from Ben's conversation with her it doesn't sound like she was lying. She insists that people in the country are content with the leadership.

But, Ben wonders, perhaps that is because of the infamous KGB. Belarus is the only former Soviet Union country that hasn't bothered to rebrand its secret service, and still calls it the KGB.

Perhaps it isn't surprising - this is a country in which the president apparently isn't worried about PR. When accused of being a dictator by the German foreign minister - who is homosexual - President Alexander Lukashenko responded by saying that he would rather be a dictator than be gay.

Given which, Ben wants to know more about what life is like for gay people in the country. So he heads to one of the most testosterone-fuelled environments he can find - an ice hockey stadium - to talk to a journalist who covers LGBT rights for a channel that's illegal in Belarus and has to broadcast from neighbouring Poland. 

Having had a taste of dissent in Belarus, Ben goes to visit Pavel, a serial protester who at only 28 years old has already been to prison 19 times. Ben hears about his most famous protest, which saw him place teddy bears with pro-democracy slogans outside government buildings. Pavel was arrested, and when a Swedish organisation heard about the stunt, it decided to go even bigger: it flew a plane over Belarus and threw 1,000 teddies out of the window, with more slogans attached. Lukashenko was so terrified of the teddy bear invasion that he fired the head of his air force and expelled the Swedish ambassador.

But Ben also hears from Pavel how Lukashenko seems to be softening up a bit, in a bid to cosy up with Europe. Pavel hasn't been to prison for over a year. And there is even a protest happening in Minsk, which Ben decides to go to.

Though the protest is a promising sign of increasing freedoms in the country, Ben still comes face to face with the KGB, who are busy filming all the protesters - including Ben. It's a surprising and uncomfortable end to a journey through a country that seems to be trying to change, slowly.

BBC Three

A multi-platform service for 16-34s, featuring comedy, entertainment and factual content.

The BBC’s multi-platform service for 16 to 34s, innovating with breakthrough comedy, stand-out entertainment, brave documentary and intellectual factual content.

Simulcast of network BBC One in high definition. From 03/11/2010

BBC One HD

Simulcast of BBC One Scotland in high definition. From 14/01/2013

BBC One Scotland HD

Simulcast of BBC One Northern Ireland in high definition. From 24/10/2012

BBC One Northern Ireland HD

The BBC West region started on 1st September 1957 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One West.

BBC One West

Simulcast of BBC One Wales in high definition. From 29/01/2013

BBC One Wales HD

The BBC South West region started on 20th April 1961 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One South West.

BBC One South West

The BBC South region started on 5th January 1961 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One South.

BBC One South

BBC One London

London

BBC One West Midlands

BBC One region covering Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.

BBC One East Midlands

The BBC East region started on 1st May 1959 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One East.

BBC One East

BBC One North West

The BBC North East & Cumbria region started in 1959 (tbc) as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One North East & Cumbria.

BBC One North East & Cumbria

BBC One Yorkshire

BBC One Oxfordshire

Formerly part of a wider BBC One South East region that included London and part of the South region. Separated from BBC One London 2001-09-03 following reorganisation of the South East region.

BBC One South East

BBC One Cambridgeshire

BBC One Channel Islands

BBC One Yorks & Lincs

BBC Northern Ireland region started on 19th April 1955 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One Northern Ireland.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Dictatorland

Series 1

Episode 2: Belarus

Contributors

Genres

Formats

Brand

Series

BBC One Scotland

About BBC One