Original version

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

The Fifth Floor

Factual: Life Stories

Global stories from the BBC’s 40 Language Services, with Faranak Amidi

Faranak Amidi presents global stories from the Fifth Floor, home to the BBC’s 40 Language Services.

Faranak Amidi presents global stories from the Fifth Floor, home to the BBC’s 40 Language Services

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

The Fifth Floor: Imprisoned in ‘The Spiral’

El Helicoide (credit: ARCHIVO FOTOGRAFIA URBANA/PROYECTO HELICOIDE)

08/02/2019 GMT

Imprisoned in ‘The Spiral’

BBC World Service - The Fifth Floor, Imprisoned in ‘The Spiral’

Revealing the lives of Venezuelan prisoners in a shopping mall turned detention centre

Inside El Helicoide; a trip to an Afghan tea-house; remembering the Iranian revolution; a Russian sex scandal; My Home Town: Dar es Saalam, Tanzania; meeting Lev Tahor

How do you film inside a high-security detention centre without permission, and when you’re not even in the same country?  Karenina Velandia of BBC Mundo tells us how, with the help of an artist, she was able to recreate life inside El Helicoide in Caracas. 

A trip to the chaikhana 
There used to be a chaikhana or tea-house on the corner of every Afghan street.  In cities today, they're being displaced by coffee shops.  But BBC Pashto's Auliya Atrafi has a soft spot for the traditional chaikhana, where people can chat and watch the world go by. 

Iran Revolution: I was there 
The 1979 revolution is remembered by colleagues from BBC Persian and BBC Monitoring:  schoolboys shouting slogans, Tehran protests, and Iranians taking to rooftops to see if Ayatollah Khomeini's face really had appeared on the moon.

Russian sex and politics 
Yacht parties with Russian oligarchs, and hints about recordings linking Russia to the US elections: BBC Russian's Nataliya Zotova interviewed the woman at the heart of the story keeping Russian audiences gripped, Nastya Rybka.  

My Home Town: Dar es Salaam 
We jump over the school wall to go dancing with BBC Swahili's Zuhura Yunus in her home town, Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

Lev Tahor in Guatemala
Lev Tahor is an Orthodox Jewish sect based in Guatemala. They are a controversial group, with members accused of kidnapping their own relatives.  Ana Gabriela Rojas of BBC Mundo got exclusive access to a member of this secretive sect. 

(Photo: El Helicoide in Caracas. Credit: Archivo Fotografia Urbana/Proyecto Helicoide)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Fifth Floor

Imprisoned in ‘The Spiral’

Genres

Brand

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

About BBC World Service