What it felt like to live through the collapse of communism and democracy. A series of films by Adam Curtis.
Social & External
The people behind it
Mikhail Gorbachev
Self (archive footage)
Boris Yeltsin
Vladimir Putin
Bettany Hughes take viewers on armchair travels to explore household-name treasures and new finds from across the world.
Sahar Meradji follows people who, according to the AIVD's definition, are right-wing extremists. What are the words of right-wing extremists? How they see the world, what do they dream of, and above all: why? A non-judgmental sketch of the mounting, far-right reality.
The untold true story behind the Cold War race to put man into space.
Inside NASA's Innovations takes you behind the scenes with one of the world's leading technology innovators. Find out what it takes to collaborate with NASA in developing the next breakthrough in space exploration.
In the spring of 1798, Napoleon set out with 38,000 men and 10,000 sailors to conquer Egypt.
Documentary on Antoine de Caunes, a French television presenter, comedian, actor, journalist, writer and film director.
One family’s fight for survival in a future dystopian Madrid illustrates the disparity between two worlds separated by a fence — and so much more.
This hit podcast turned TV show features four of the BBC's wittiest political commentators, bringing you the most digestible explanations of Brexit along with Westminster gossip, trivia, running gags, and daft small-talk.
1985 serves as the backdrop to the final showdown of the Cold War when Sandy and her partner Jeanne Vertefeuille vowed to find the mole that would turn out to be the most notorious traitor in US history, Aldrich Ames. Sandy is in a race against time to save the Soviet intelligence officers from being caught and killed. Living her own double life at home, this beautiful wife and mother vowed to stop at nothing until she uncovered the truth.
In four chapters, largely based on and illustrated with archaeological finds and sites, Neil Oliver explains how, as far as is known, the Iron Age Celtic tribes known as the Ancient Britains evolved and entered European civilization. Their internecine tribal phase was warlike and partitioned. Overseas contacts, especially metal trade, brought wealth and progress. Ultimately, it attracted the superior Roman empire, which would conquer and pacify Britain into a province, like Gaul shortly before, but Caesar's invasion wasn't the definitive annexation yet, that was left to emperor Claudius; even afterward some Celtic traits and even rebellions remained.
This is the story of a power struggle between two men - one fictional, and one real. In one corner is the master of crime – the greatest detective who never lived, Sherlock Holmes. In the other is writer, physician and spiritualist leader Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Lucy Worsley explores the extraordinary love-hate relationship between author and creation.
The history of the Labor Party in government in Australia from 1983 to 1993 under Bob Hawke and Paul Keating. The series is told entirely through the eyes of all the major players in government and the bureaucracy, including Bob Hawke and Paul Keating.
Working-class, left-leaning Harry Perkins is elected PM. As he works to implement social change via democratic process, the conservatives and their allies quietly begin working to remove him. Perkins' goals include nuclear disarmament, the dissolution of newspaper monopolies, open government and the closure of all US military bases on UK soil. While many members of the govnerment oppose him, he finds some support in Home Secretary Joan Cook and key members of his staff.
In this documentary series, interspersed with historical reconstructions, Tom Waes investigates what has happened since the arrival of the first Homo sapiens, on the 14,000 square kilometers that we today call Flanders.
Renowned author and journalist David Lagerkrantz, along with historians, forensic scientists and investigators, sheds new light on Swedish murders in the past.
The European Union has been beset by a series of comings and goings over the last few years, each triggering its own brand of crisis. The civil war in Syria created the biggest wave of refugees to hit Europe since World War II, sparking contested debates on how to divvy up tens of thousands of refugees across E.U. countries. Meanwhile, in the U.K., Britain's vote in favor of Brexit added to the turmoil. Go behind the scenes with firsthand accounts of Europe's tumultuous last decade and its impact around the globe.
From dangerous explosives and deadly curses that put everyday people at risk, to treasures found in the unlikeliest of ways, each episode digs into the people, the places and historical significance of these discoveries. And sometimes just being in the right place at the right time can make history…because nothing stays hidden forever.
The stories behind innovations such as TV, radio, phones, airplanes, motorcycles and power tools as well as the inventors including Nikola Tesla, William Harley, Alexander Graham Bell, Duncan Black and Alonzo Decker.
Oliver Stone's re-examination of under-reported events in American history.
The documentary series explores different political figures throughout history.
An immersive 360-degree narrative telling the epic story of the Vietnam War as it has never before been told on film. Featuring testimony from nearly 80 witnesses, including many Americans who fought in the war and others who opposed it, as well as Vietnamese combatants and civilians from both the winning and losing sides.
In a quest for world domination, the Nazis built some of the biggest and deadliest pieces of military hardware and malevolent technology in history. This is the stories of the engineers who designed them and how these structures sparked a technological revolution that changed warfare forever.
The story of the Second World War through the personal accounts of a handful of men and women from four American towns. The war touched the lives of every family on every street in every town in America and demonstrated that in extraordinary times, there are no ordinary lives.
With firsthand accounts and access to prominent figures around the world, this comprehensive docuseries explores the Cold War and its aftermath.
World War II In Colour is a 13-episode television documentary miniseries recounting the events of World War II narrated by Robert Powell. The show covers the Western Front, Eastern Front, and the Pacific War. It is on syndication in America on the Military Channel. This series is in full color, combining both original and colorized footage.
A documentary series focusing on the ongoing Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, evolving music industry, the Iran Hostage Crisis, the sexual revolution, and the rise of foreign and domestic terrorism.
WWII in HD is a 10-part American documentary television miniseries that originally aired from November 15 to November 19, 2009 on the History Channel. The program focuses on the firsthand experiences of twelve American service members during World War II, including an Army nurse, a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, a second generation Japanese American and prisoner of war, and an Austrian Jewish immigrant. The twelve members recorded their time in both theaters and some had later interviews; found footage from the battlefield was paired with the stories of the twelve service members. The episodes premiered on five consecutive days, with two episodes per day. The series is narrated by Gary Sinise and was produced by Lou Reda Productions in Easton, Pennsylvania, United States.
A documentary series that gives a historical account of the events of World War II, from its roots in the 1920s to the aftermath and the lives it profoundly influenced.
A series of standalone documentaries powered by the unparalleled journalism and insight of The New York Times, bringing viewers close to the essential stories of our time.
Doctor Who Confidential is a documentary to complement the revival of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Each episode was broadcast on BBC Three on Saturdays, immediately after the broadcast of the weekly television episode on BBC One. The running time of the first two series was 30 minutes, being extended to 45 minutes in the third. BBC Three also broadcast a cut-down edition of the programme, lasting 15 minutes, shown after the repeats on Sundays and Fridays and after the weekday evening repeats of earlier seasons.
Modern history can be divided into two time frames: before 9/11 and after 9/11. This five-part docuseries is a cohesive chronicle of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S., offering illuminating perspectives and personal stories of how the catastrophic events of that day changed the course of the nation.
Surviving power struggles, betrayals and plots, Hitler's inner circle of Nazi leaders seizes control of Germany and designs its disastrous future.
An in-depth look at the history and pop cultural significance of horror films.
A documentary on the American Civil War narrated by Ken Burns, covering the secession of the Confederacy to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
Seconds from Disaster is a US/UK-produced documentary television programme that investigates historically relevant man-made and natural disasters of the 20th century. Each episode aims to explain a single incidental by analyzing the causes and circumstances that ultimately effected the disaster. The program uses re-enactments, interviews, testimonies, and CGI to analyze the sequence of events second-by-second for the audience. Narrators for the show are Ashton Smith, Richard Vaughan and Peter Guinness.
Infographics and archival footage deliver bite-size history lessons on scientific breakthroughs, social movements and world-changing discoveries.
This thought-provoking documentary series examines the harrowing consequences of the Vietnam War, from the Gulf of Tonkin incident to the fall of Saigon.
The American Revolution was at once a war for independence, a war of conquest, a civil war, and a world war, fought by neighbors on American farms and between global powers an ocean or more away. It impacted millions from Vermont’s Green Mountains to the swamps of South Carolina, from Indian Country to the Iberian Peninsula. In defeating the British Empire and giving birth to a new nation, the American Revolution turned the world upside-down. Thirteen colonies on the Atlantic Coast united in rebellion, won their independence, and established a republic that still endures. The American Revolution will present the story of the men and women of the Revolutionary generation, their humanity in victory and defeat, and the crisis that they lived through.
