Social & External
The people behind it
Spectacular crimes in German criminal history: Investigators and experts explain the possibilities and limitations of investigative work at that time – and why the cases still amaze today.
Award-winning filmmaker Reggie Yates travels around the world tackling big issues such as gun violence, racism, gay rights and addiction.
What it felt like to live through the collapse of communism and democracy. A series of films by Adam Curtis.
Documentary series which ranges widely over Britain's social and cultural history, its narrative-led storytelling offering a richly immersive and varied window onto the past.
A politically charged mini-series researched and written by Duncan Campbell which saw dramatic Special Branch raids on BBC Scotland. An entire production office was loaded into transit vans and confiscated by the police. + One: 'The Secret Constitution' about secret Cabinet committees that amount to a secret decision making system at the highest levels of power in the United Kingdom. + Two: 'In Time of Crisis' about secret preparations for war that began in 1982 within every NATO country. This programme revealed what Britain would do. + Three: 'A Gap In Our Defences' about bungling defence manufacturers and incompetent military planners who have botched every new radar system that Britain has installed since World War II. + Four: 'We're All Data Now' about the Data Protection Act. + Five: 'Association of Chief Police Officers' and how Government policy and actions are determined in the fields of law and order. + Six: 'Communications' with particular reference to Zircon spy satellites ...
Pandora's Box is a six-part 1992 BBC documentary television series which examines the consequences of political and technocratic rationalism. The episodes deal, in order, with communism in The Soviet Union, systems analysis and game theory during the Cold War, economy in the United Kingdom during the 1970s, the insecticide DDT, Kwame Nkrumah's leadership in Ghana during the 1950s and 1960s and the history of nuclear power.
A six-part series in which photographer Ruben Terlou travels from Shanghai, the most westernized part of China, to the much more traditional Tibetan city of Shangri-La. Through the stories of people he meets along the 6,300-kilometre river, Ruben discovers the real China, forty years after Mao’s death.
The Essential Lectures of Alan Watts video series was recorded in 1971 above Muir Woods, California, and in 1972 aboard the ferryboat the SS Vallejo in Sausalito. Produced by his son Mark and directed by long-time archivist Henry Jacobs, the series explores core philosophical themes that spawned over Watts' career.
Did democracy actually originate in Greece? Was the plague the worst epidemic of all time? And did we really work harder in the past than we do today? Is it true that ...? questions what we think we know and takes another look at history.
In beautifully crafted episodes, presenter Ben Fogle embarks on a once-in-a-lifetime journey to understand China - to see its most staggering sights, go beyond the stereotypes and discover its true identity. Ben delves into an epic 3000-year tale of how China has got to where it is today - how centuries of Imperial rule gave way to Communist revolution under Chairman Mao and the breakneck economic transformation as the state capitalist China of recent years has emerged. Mixing both the experiences from the people themselves, and a tour of this magnificent region Ben takes the temperature of a country now at the very centre of humanity in the 21st century. So why and how has contemporary China become so important to all our lives?
An irregularly broadcast omnibus series of two-minute mini-dramas based on the 17 goals of the SDGs (UN's "Sustainable Development Goals"). In these short stories, a message is conveyed that we should work together to achieve a society where no one is left behind, and how Japanese society, culture, and traditions are facing each goal.
Telling the story of an image: From its creation to its impact on our vision of the world, how can we explain its power? The World in Images offers an interpretation that asks us to look beyond the first glance.
China's history of the last 200 years seems like a boomerang, returning to the West what it once unleashed. The series reveals how devastating the struggles for identity and power have been for the population since the fall of the "Middle Kingdom," and how closely these tragedies are intertwined with our own. Great hopes were placed in a wide variety of visions for the future—and each time, bitter disappointment ensued. From the decline of the empire to its resurgence as a superpower, China's history is both a dream and a nightmare, in which human life is of little value.
Artist Sir Grayson Perry visits Silicon Valley to explore how AI and robotics will shape the future, in a series that raises profound questions about what it is to be human.
Infographics and archival footage deliver bite-size history lessons on scientific breakthroughs, social movements and world-changing discoveries.
An in-depth look at the history and pop cultural significance of horror films.
Motoring programme featuring reviews of and reports about cars of all types.
The history of the sport of baseball in America, told through archival photos, film footage, and the words of those who contributed to the game in each era. Writers, historians, players, baseball personnel, and fans review key events and the significance of the game in America's history.
Explores WWII from Germany's invasion of Poland through the atomic age, examining pivotal battles, wartime leaders like Churchill and Roosevelt, and the human cost of total war.
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.
Don Wildman unearths relics from the world's greatest institutions to reveal secrets from the past. He examines each artifact to illuminate history's most incredible triumphs, sensational crimes and bizarre encounters.
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.
Come one, come all to The Circus. This real-time documentary series pulls back the curtain on the current political stories, revealing the intense, inspiring and infuriating stories behind the headlines. Key characters and events are presented in real time, as they are happening.
Explores the experiences of James Safechuck and Wade Robson, who were both befriended and sexually abused by singer Michael Jackson, and the complicated feelings that led them both to confront their experiences.
An insider's look at the engineering and scientific miracles behind the things that form the modern world.
Filmed across six continents, this docuseries uses cutting-edge camera technology to capture animals' nocturnal lives, revealing new behaviours filmed in full color like never before.
Explore the surprising things we know (and don’t know) about why people are the way they are through expert interviews, rare footage from historical experiments, and brand-new, ground-breaking demonstrations of human nature at work.
Horizon tells amazing science stories, unravels mysteries and reveals worlds you've never seen before.
In this true-crime documentary, a cult expert and filmmaker infiltrate a polygamist sect to expose a self-proclaimed prophet and bring him to justice.
TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.
Will Smith whose curiosity and wonder is positively infectious—is guided by National Geographic Explorers traveling to different corners of the world to get up close and personal with the weirdest, most unusual, dangerous and thrilling spectacles of the planet.
Mark Gatiss examines the history of the horror film, from classic Hollywood monsters to Hammer's glory days and beyond.
Explore American cinema through the decades and the cultural, societal and political shifts that framed its evolution.
This immersive series follows the world's most magnificent creatures, capturing never-before-seen moments from the heartwarming to the outrageous.
