Introducing Searching for Soldier Dad

Introducing Searching for Soldier Dad

Author: BBC World Service April 22, 2026 Duration: 3:01

DNA detectives track down the British soldiers who fathered children in Kenya then disappeared, leaving the children and their mothers without support. In the latest season of World of Secrets, we access every stage of this cutting-edge process, we follow as a team of lawyers and a leading geneticist travel to Kenya to help locate the British soldiers who fathered children then vanished. We witness the groundbreaking legal and scientific detective work used to find the missing dads.

To hear more, search World of Secrets wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

Searching for Soldier Dad is a BBC Long Form Audio production for the BBC World Service. Please note, the image being used is for illustrative purposes only and the child depicted is a model.


From the BBC World Service comes The Documentary Podcast, a series dedicated to immersive audio storytelling that explores the intricate layers of our global society. This isn't about quick news summaries; it's about settling in for a deep, thoughtful listen that brings you directly to the source. Each episode is built around the voices and experiences of people living the stories we often only see in headlines. You might find yourself on the road with Canada’s Sikh truckers, examining the far-reaching implications of China's overseas investments, or standing with communities on the front lines of the climate emergency. The production takes you into the minds of creative thinkers and follows profound personal journeys, all crafted with the BBC's renowned journalistic depth. For anyone with a curious mind looking to uncover hidden truths and make better sense of our complex world, this podcast offers a vital, human-centered perspective. It represents the best of documentary storytelling, where every narrative is an opportunity to listen, learn, and connect to the wider human experience far beyond the daily news cycle.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

The Documentary Podcast
Podcast Episodes
Introducing: Not By The Playbook - Why it is never too late [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:55
First, the story of Mike Flynn whose remarkable resilience and incredible fitness helped achieve his goal to play college football at the age of fifty-nine but at its heart, his is a story of redemption. Living with pain…
Return to Khartoum: War, loss and hope [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:16
Since 2023, Sudan has been engulfed by a brutal civil war. More than 150,000 people have been killed and millions have been displaced. The war began as a power struggle between the Sudanese military and the powerful para…
Mika Obanda: Mosaic art [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:30
Mika Obanda creates vibrant mosaics using egg shells in his Kenyan studio. He gets the eggshells from local hotels and paints them after cleaning and shaping them. Last summer Frenny Jowi visited him as he prepared his l…
Searching for Soldier Dad: Ep 1. Love story [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:49
Why don’t I have a father? Cathy is 10 years old when she starts asking questions. The secret her mum Maggie is forced to reveal changes everything. Years later, when lawyers and a geneticist turn up in their hometown in…
A 93 year old president gets a deputy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:29
At 93, Paul Biya is the oldest head of state in the world. In November he will have been the leader of Cameroon for 44 years and is currently serving his eighth consecutive term. It was announced in April that for the fi…
Sir David Attenborough [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:00
As Sir David Attenborough celebrates his 100th birthday, we bring together conservationists and film-makers to discuss the impact of his long career, and the influence he has had on how we think about nature. We hear how…
Befriending the man who killed my family [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:31
Thirty years after the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, some convicted perpetrators are returning to the communities they once devastated. Felin Gakwaya travels to eastern Rwanda to meet both survivors and perpetrat…
Russia's 'nyet' to the internet [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:42
The Kremlin’s pursuit of a “sovereign internet” has raised fears of a digital Iron Curtain. After months of mobile internet shutdowns, Russian authorities have moved to block major platforms like YouTube and Telegram, al…
Serbia: Under The Canopy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:46
Eighteen months ago, the renovation of the railway station in Serbia’s second biggest city, Novi Sad, led to a tragic accident. A substantial concrete canopy, which ran across the front of the station building, suddenly…