In 2012, Azhar was part of a team reporting from
Waziristan in
Pakistan on US
drone strikes on the
Afghan border for a
BBC Panorama special,
The Secret Drone War. In August 2013, he investigated gay life in urban Pakistan for
Assignment: Inside Gay Pakistan on the
BBC World Service and on
BBC Radio 4. Azhar has written about and reported extensively on musician
Prince. In 2015, he presented BBC documentary ''Hunting for Prince's Vault'', and in September 2016, Azhar's debut book
Prince Stories from the Purple Underground: 1958–2016 was published by
Welbeck Publishing. In 2016, Azhar joined a police team of "Taliban Hunters" in
Karachi, Pakistan, as part of documentary reporting for BBC's
Panorama. During filming he was shot at by the
Taliban. In February 2016, Azhar presented the BBC Three documentary
Webcam Boys, spending a couple of months with men who make money from performing in online sex shows. In 2019, Azhar presented BBC documentaries
The Satanic Verses: 30 Years On, A Black and White Killing: The Case that Shook America and
The Best Pakistani Transgender Retirement Home. The same year, Azhar also presented six-part BBC documentary series,
Hometown: A Killing, reporting on the police
shooting of Yassar Yaqub in
Huddersfield in 2017. Yasser Yaqub's father, Mohammed Yaqub, who featured in the series, claimed Azhar had attempted to "smear" his son's name.
Huddersfield MP
Barry Sheerman also criticised the programme, claiming it depicted the town as "a hotbed of violent crime". The
docu-series went on to win several awards. During the same year, Azhar became a presenter on the BBC Three show
Plastic Surgery Undressed, alongside
Vogue Williams. In 2020, two additional episodes of
Hometown: A Killing were released on BBC Three and BBC One. An accompanying six-part podcast was released on
BBC Sounds. In May 2021, Azhar presented a BBC Two documentary
The Battle For Britney: Fans, Cash, And A Conservatorship, reporting from
California and
Louisiana on the
#FreeBritney movement who claim music star
Britney Spears is being "kept a virtual prisoner in her own home" through a conservatorship managed by her father. Spears was reported to have criticized the documentary, describing it as "hypocritical". In July 2021, Azhar presented
Secrets of an ISIS Smartphone on BBC Three and BBC One. Filmed in the UK, the documentary used footage from the smartphones of British men who had travelled to
Syria to join
ISIS. The
Financial Times said the film provided "an unexpected insight". In August 2022, Azhar presented a five-part BBC series
Scam City: Money, Mayhem and Maseratis, investigating the world of
Instagram scams, forex trading and
pyramid schemes. In November 2022, Azhar presented a six-part true-crime series
Santa Claus the Serial Killer on the relaunched
BBC Three channel, exploring the case of serial killer
Bruce McArthur. The series was filmed in Canada and explores themes of race, faith, culture and sexuality.
The Guardian criticised the series: "At times there is a sense that this is less an investigation and more a whistlestop tour of the Bruce McArthur murder tourism industry. These people have told their stories countless times now, and there is something truly unedifying about Azhar's (and the audience's) willingness to rubberneck at so much well-worn trauma." Azhar was appointed a member of the advisory board for the 2022
Edinburgh International Television Festival, led by
Afua Hirsch, appointed Advisory Chair in March 2022. In March 2023, Azhar presented
Predator: The Secret Scandal of J-Pop, a documentary exploring
allegations of sexual abuse against Japanese pop mogul
Johnny Kitagawa. Filmed in
Tokyo, the programme was broadcast on
BBC Two.
The Guardian praised the documentary, calling it "a breathtaking look at Japan's paedophile boyband 'god'." The documentary went on to be broadcast on
ABC in Australia,
BBC Select in North America and BBC News Japan. Following the broadcast, Japanese Prime Minister
Fumio Kishida announced a ministerial meeting to address the subject of child sexual abuse. In Summer 2023 a major overhaul of sexual crimes legislation was enacted in Japan. The age of consent was increased from 13 to 16; a new legal definition of rape was also introduced. In August 2023, the
United Nations set up a task force to report on exploitation in the workplace within entertainment, concluding that Kitagawa had acted "with impunity" and recommended that survivors of abuse receive compensation. An external investigation recommended that
Johnny & Associates CEO Julie Fujishima, who is Kitagawa's niece, stand down. In September 2023, Azhar received the Freedom of the Press Award from the
Foreign Correspondence Club of Japan in acknowledgement of his work and the widespread impact of the documentary. In February 2023, the BBC announced Azhar would front a new documentary and podcast about
Kanye West "unfolding against the backdrop of
Ye’s 2024 election campaign, and at a time when his behaviour has sparked outrage and a re-evaluation of his place in popular culture". Provisionally titled
We Need to Talk about Kanye, the documentary was broadcast on
BBC Two and ran alongside an accompanying eight-part podcast series on
BBC Music, called
The Kanye Story on BBC Sounds. The film was acquired by
Binge in Australia,
CBC in Canada and multiple broadcasters in Europe.
The Guardian called the film a "hugely impressive documentary" that "holds the far right figurehead to account." The
Jewish Chronicle review referred to Azhar as "intelligent, disarming and likeable" and concluded the documentary made for "distressing viewing."
The Independent concluded "though focused on West, the documentary ends up as the latest grim snapshot of a nation rapidly sliding into chaos and far-right lunacy". October 27th 2025 Azhar presented
Behind Bars: Sex, Bribes and Murder. A 2- Part documentary about England's prisons for the BBC. This investigation was fuelled by a viral video featuring a female prison officer and an inmate having sex inside HMP Wandsworth. == Awards ==