Sixty years ago, four men parachuted onto a Norwegian glacier, carrying only the most basic equipment. Their mission was to prevent the Nazi regime from building an atomic bomb. Now wilderness expert Ray Mears tells the true story of this gruelling campaign, showing how these men's ability to survive in extreme conditions influenced the outcome of the Second World War.
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One hundred years ago the Titanic was launched. We bring you a new and never broadcast HD doc revealing the litany of human error, from the building process, to the tragic events that led her to be rammed into the iceberg that sank her.
Titanic Arrogance
Neil Oliver describes the worst ever railway accident in the UK, which happened a hundred years ago on 22 May 1915, in which three trains collided at Quintinshill near Gretna Green. One of the trains was a troop train taking soldiers to fight in World War I at the Battle of Gallipoli: many of the dead were in this train which caught fire due to escaped gas from the archaic gas lighting in the carriages. The cause of the crash was attributed to a catastrophic signalman's error, but Neil examines whether there were other contributory factors and whether there was a cover-up to prevent investigation of them, making convenient scapegoats of the signalmen.
Quintinshill: Britain's Deadliest Rail Disaster
‘Who Named the Lily?’ celebrates and laments the complicated history of the Crystal Palace. Monster Chetwynd plays the ‘Fact Hungry Witch’, who explores the story of the Amazonian waterlily, and reveals its links to engineering. The artwork brings to light the politics of Paxton’s developments in industry and architecture, however, the protagonist of this story is the waterlily – a catalyst for ground-breaking technological advancement.
Who Named the Lily?
In 1949, at the height of the Cold War, the British and American Governments decided to fight back at the growing Soviet Empire with a secret plan, the Albanian Subversion, in which the CIA and MI6 attempted to overthrow the Albanian government and to weaken the Soviet Union and the role of double agent Kim Philby.
The Cost of Treachery
In one of his last gigs, Ian Dury performs in concert with The Blockheads at Venue 27 in Luton. Hits include Reasons to Be Cheerful, Part 3, Mash It Up Harry and Bus Drivers' Prayer. First broadcast 28 March 2004
Ian Dury and the Blockheads: Live at Luton
Sons, daughters and grandchildren of the greatest generation travel to England to uncover the history of a disappearing World War II air base.
Return to Hardwick
The epic story of Thomas Edward Lawrence the First World War military officer who united the tribes of Arabia against the Ottoman Turkish army. The film reveals that while being one of the most enigmatic figures of the 20th century, he was also a deeply troubled man, delving into his personal torment, the secret his family were hiding, and the punishment he endured.
Lawrence of Arabia: Britain's Great Adventurer
The impact of Marx on the 20th century has been all-pervasive and world-wide. This program looks at the man, at the roots of his philosophy, at the causes and explanations of his philosophical development, and at its most direct outcome: the failed Soviet Union.
The Spectre of Marxism
Franklin's lost ships - the ultimate discovery
A real time recreation of Yuri Gagarin's pioneering first orbit, shot entirely in space from on board the International Space Station. The film combines this new footage with Gagarin's original mission audio and a new musical score by composer Philip Sheppard.
First Orbit
An exploration into the man behind the film-inspired myth, from both Western and Arab perspectives. Thomas Edward Lawrence, a 24-year-old British spy, was a figurehead in the Arab struggle for independence. In 1916, he united Arab tribes and led them in a war against the Turks who ruled over them for 400 years. The consequences of his successes and failures sowed the seeds of conflict that continue to plague the troubled region even today.
Lawrence of Arabia: The Battle for the Arab World
Stonehenge is an icon of prehistoric British culture, an enigma that has seduced archaeologists and tourists for centuries. Why is it here? What is its significance? And which forces inspired its creators? Now a group of international archaeologists led by the University of Birmingham and the Ludwig Boltzman Institute in Vienna believe that a new state-of-the-art approach is the key to unlocking Stonehenge's secrets. For four years the team have surveyed and mapped every monument, both visible and invisible, across ten square kilometres of the sacred landscape to create the most complete digital picture of Stonehenge and the surrounding area over millennia. Operation Stonehenge takes the viewer on a prehistoric journey from 8000BC to 2500BC as the scientists uncover the very origins of Stonehenge, learning why this landscape is sacred, preserved and has been revered by following generations.
Operation Stonehenge: What Lies Beneath
For the first time, the inner secrets of the gunpowder plotters are dramatised using the actual words of their most senior captured leader Thomas Wintour, Guy Fawkes and state interrogators investigating the 18-month conspiracy in which a family circle of militant Catholic gentlemen tried to blow up King and Parliament. Wintour's insider account of this epic tale of faith, fanaticism, persecution and betrayal is told in detail, from his recruitment of both Fawkes and his own brother to his capture in a dramatic siege and bloody shoot-out on 8 November. The hopes, fears and plans for a Midlands rebellion, royal kidnap, the plotters' penetration of the king's bodyguard and Fawkes' attendance, sword in hand, at a wedding attended by the king in December 1604 are shown, as well as a dramatisation of the thrilling, forgotten story of the final days after 5/11 as the conspirators are hunted down and then face the terrible punishments reserved for traitors.
Gunpowder 5/11: The Greatest Terror Plot
Quest for the Lost Ark
Documentary about North Korea, set in the future after the regime has collapsed. Harnessing the power of hindsight the film questions the morality of the current inaction by regional and global powers towards the North Korean dictatorship.
While They Watched
It was one of the greatest heists in British history. £3 million – worth over £40 million today – stolen from a moving train by a gang of thieves who almost got away with it.
The Great Train Robbery
The world-famous Greyhound bus is almost as old as the Wild West. It is a symbol of North America, of progress, and of nostalgia. Reporter Studs Terkel travelled 2,000 miles across the United States by Greyhound. From Seattle to Chicago, he observes his fellow-passengers. He meets a number of travelers who appear to be very interesting people: a Native American boxer on his way to his birthplace in Montana, a bar owner who was a bank robber in a former 'career', a 99 year old woman who is still running a busy hotel, and, of course, a pedigree cowboy. The spectator of this film listens to their personal stories, watches the beautiful scenery, and is treated to famous feature film fragments in which the Greyhound bus plays a part. Seven states and two time zones later, he is back in his cinema seat.
Ridin' the Dog
This chilling documentary brings together medieval manuscripts, new archaeological finds and a shocking interview with a vampire slayer to cast new light on medieval beliefs in vampires
Britain’s Medieval Vampires
What killed King Tutankhamun? Ever since his spectacular tomb was discovered, the boy king has been the most famous pharaoh of all ancient Egypt. But his mysterious death, at just 19 years old, has never been explained. In this BBC One special, presenter Dallas Campbell reveals new scientific research and carries out unique experiments to get to the truth. For the first time, a virtual autopsy of Tut's mummified body reveals astonishing secrets about the pharaoh. Using CT scan data, the programme creates the first ever full size, scientifically accurate image of the real Tutankhamun. Brand new DNA analysis uncovers a shocking secret about Tut's family background, and the genetic trail of clues leads to a radical and revolutionary new theory to explain Tut's sudden and unexpected death. This is an epic detective story that uncovers the extraordinary truth of the boy behind the golden mask.
Tutankhamun: The Truth Uncovered
The night of November 8, 1923, is arguably the most significant and transformative in the history of the twentieth century. A localised uprising in the Bavarian capital of Munich, led by a small man with a toothbrush moustache and a poisonous yet compelling grandiloquence, would have repercussions that would lead to the political shackling of an entire nation, the most abhorrent crimes of the century and a world war. You might say, Adolf Hitler came of age amid the smell of sweat and sawdust of a Munich beer hall. In the political chaos of 1923, he was a local irritant, gaining popularity among workers and soldiers, the ethos of his Nazi Party spreading like a virus. His first attempt at attaining true power came with an attempted putsch on the already separatist government of Bavaria, which left him imprisoned.
Hitler's Putsch: The Birth of the Nazi Party
Thomas Cromwell has gone down in history as one of the most corrupt and manipulative ruffians ever to hold power in England. A chief minister who used his position to smash the Roman Catholic church in England and loot the monasteries for his own gain. A man who used torture to bring about the execution of the woman who had once been his friend and supporter - Anne Boleyn. Diarmaid MacCulloch, professor of the history of the church at Oxford University, reveals a very different image of Cromwell. He describes Cromwell as an evangelical reformer, determined to break the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic church and introduce the people of England to a new type of Christianity in which each individual makes direct contact with God.
Henry VIII's Enforcer: The Rise and Fall of Thomas Cromwell
Dan Snow, Dr Alice Roberts and Dr Albert Lin investigate a series of earth-shattering discoveries at a mighty tomb guarded by the Terracotta Warriors in China.
The Greatest Tomb on Earth: Secrets of Ancient China
The effect of Pervitin on Nazi Germany.
Blitzed: Nazis on Drugs
In the wake of Israel's 2006 bombardment of Lebanon, a determined woman finds her way into the country convincing a taxi driver to take a risky journey around the scarred region in search of her sister and her son.
Under the Bombs
The fascinating story of knighthood, told through the extraordinary life and times of William Marshal, whom many consider the world's greatest knight. From Europe's medieval castles to the holy city of Jerusalem, presenter Thomas Asbridge explores William's incredible life, revealing a rip-roaring adventure story in the spirit of King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table. In a career that spanned half a century, this English soldier and statesman served some of Christendom's greatest leaders, from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Richard the Lionheart. Marshal fought in battles across Europe, survived court intrigue and exile, put his seal to the Magna Carta and proved to be the best friend a king could have, remaining loyal to those he served through disaster and victory. Then at the age of 70, despite all the odds, he saved England from a French invasion.
The Greatest Knight - William the Marshal
A documentary movie covering the 700-year reign in Spain and Portugal of the Moors. It focus on Andlucia and specifically Fes, Granada and Cordoba.
When the Moors Ruled in Europe
Home footage plus reenactments of the life & times of Hitler with his mistress, Eva Braun. Their early days of happiness followed by long separations due the war causing much loneliness for Eva. Up until their suicides in the Bunker as the war was drawing to its inevitable conclusion.
Adolf & Eva
Documentary about Elizabeth II's grandmother, who as Queen Consort was George V's most trusted adviser and became a symbol of national stability, particularly during the crisis that ensued when her eldest son Edward VIII abdicated.
Queen Mary: How She Saved the Royals
In 1890s Cornwall, 15-year-old Mae discovers freedom through a lonely scarecrow. When her uncle begins to get suspicious, she is forced to decide between fantasy and reality.
The Crow's Call
'Figure I' uses a feminist perspective to frame and deconstruct patriarchal techniques of control. This film asks: how was a patriarchal gaze construct-ed, and how has it come to effect biological processes? How have specific tools (like Dürer's Grid) come to shape our technological present and possible futures? Are modern Western scientif-ic/mathematic/technological/medical structures rooted in extractive patriarchal philosophies? 'Figure 1' is composed of re-drawn illustrations of allegorical art historical paintings and etchings, alongside archival footage, Obstetric photography, and rotoscoped animation.
Figure 1
1959 - a great year of success for Aston Martin winning at Le Mans, Nurburgring and the Tourist Trophy
Triple Triumph
Teotihuacan: Curse of the Blood Pyramids
Demand full automation, demand a reduced work week, demand universal basic income, destroy the work ethic.
Inventing the Future
Using drama and documentary this film tells the remarkable story of Cromwell, one of the most important characters of British history, yet revered and hated in equal measure. Charles I has been executed and an East Anglian farmer is about to become leader of all England.
Cromwell: Warts and All
Dire deeds during a winter storm leave Brother Oswin beaten near to death, Sister Hilaria dead, and a pair of young siblings lost in the woods fleeing Lord Stephen's men.
The Virgin in the Ice
Amarna, la cité mystérieuse d'Akhenaton
Just outside Belfast in 1974, a British soldier faces the realisation that he can't stand by and let his superior officers treat the public in a violent and disrespectful manner. Whilst on duty at a roadblock, the consequences of his actions will have a devastating effect on those around him.
Night Shadows
Professor Saul David examines Prince Albert's role in shaping British culture, governmental policy and international relations in Victorian Britain.
Prince Albert: A Victorian Hero Revealed
A group of Welsh settlers decided to emigrate to Argentine Patagonia in 1865. Among them, a woman named Catherine Roberts, her husband, and their three children. Aboard the ship Mimosa they arrived at the current Puerto Madryn, Chubut, on July 28, 1865. Catherine died on August 21 and was buried near the coast, but her traces were lost until 1995 when some bones were discovered by chance. Argentine scientists Silvia Dahinten, Julieta Gómez Otero and Fernando Coronato have been working for twenty years to determine if the remains found are those of Catherine. In 2015, the arrival in Puerto Madryn of a Welsh descendant of Catherine, and new scientific advances, allow us to confirm that the bones found in 1995 are those of Catherine.
The Patagonian Bones
A biopic about British philosopher and logician Bertrand Russell, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950 for his varied and significant writings championing humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought.
Untitled Bertrand Russell Biopic
Historian Lucy Worsley visits the places and houses in England where Jane Austen spent time and which served as inspiration for the settings of her novels.
Jane Austen: Behind Closed Doors
It is 1913. Women across the country, outraged by inequality and prejudice are beginning to rise up and demand change. In York, a revolution is about to take place as an ordinary Heworth housewife risks her life and her family to join the fight. And she's not alone. Across the city, women run safe-houses, organise meetings, smash windows and fire-bomb pillar boxes. It's dangerous, it's exhilarating, it's ground-breaking: and in 2017 the amazing story of York's suffragettes will be told for the first time. Everything is Possible is York Theatre Royal and Pilot Theatre's latest large-scale community production. The play was performed on a spectacular scale with a cast of around 150 and a choir of 80. The performance started outdoors before moving onto the stage at York Theatre Royal. We raised the purple, green and white flags and cried "Votes for Women!" to sold-out audiences.
Everything is Possible: The York Suffragettes
Over 80 years after her death, Maria Skłodowska-Curie remains by far the best-known female scientist. In her lifetime, she became that rare thing - a celebrity scientist, attracting the attention of the news cameras and tabloid gossip. This multi-layered film reveals the real Maria Skłodowska-Curie, an extraordinary woman who fell in love three times, had to survive the pain of loss, and the public humiliation of a doomed love affair. It is a riveting portrait of a tenacious mother and scientist, who opened the door on a whole new realm of physics, which she discovered and named - radioactivity.
The Genius of Marie Curie: The Woman Who Lit up the World
After the United States mounted a covert mission to eliminate America's number-one terrorist target, celebration turned to mounting questions. Now, Peter Bergen obtains rare access to interview former CIA agents, Navy Seal operatives, and a Black Hawk pilot who reveal how the United States gathered the intelligence needed to pull off the surprise attack. He'll talk to White House and Pakistani intelligence officials, as well as neighbors of the Pakistani compound and eyewitnesses to the raid.
The Last Days of Osama Bin Laden
The role of Scots in shaping the concept of the American Dream is a story often celebrated but could Scottish settlers have also had a hand in America’s racist nightmare? Neil Oliver travels over two thousand miles to examine links between racism today and the Scottish settlers that first occupied America's Deep South.
Scotland and the Klan
Historian David Starkey tells the story of the Protestant Reformation and how it transformed the face of modern Europe, unleashing fundamentalism, terror and religious violence.
Reformation: Europe's Holy War
Described by Deadline Hollywood as the "tragic true story" of Chris Gueffroy, it follows one of the last daring attempts to escape across the infamous Berlin Wall.
Whispers of Freedom
An adaptation of the true life story from childhood of the author, Findlay J McDonald, who was born and brought up on the Isle of Harris. Set in the 1930s until he left the island after the Second World War to further his education on the mainland. The highland wit shines through despite the hardships of life on a small croft, a few acres for crops, a cow and a shed to house the loom to weave the traditional Harris Tweed.
Crowdie and Cream
A film about contemporary life in Auschwitz. In an observation from dusk till dawn, it portrays the theater of everyday life around the grim confines and captures the energies and activities of a world fascinated by this former concentration camp.
After
Credited to one 'D.W. Grippet', this amateur parody film attempts to poke fun at the epic docu-fictions of its day. Apparently adapted from Henry Handel Richardson's novel "The Getting of Wisdom".
Out of the Fog
Veterans of World War II describe their experiences of the retreat to Dunkirk in 1940 and the evacuation. On 10 May, the German Army invaded Holland and Belgium. The Blitzkrieg had begun, an entirely new way of fighting war. For the young men aged 18 and 19 who joined up to 'do their bit', it was a terrifying baptism of fire, and for the British Army a shattering blow. Within three weeks, it was a crushing defeat, leading to the largest military evacuation in history. This film is the story, told in their own words, of a group of young men, now veterans, and their first experience of modern mechanised warfare.
Dunkirk: The Soldier's Story
Benjamin Woolley presents the gripping story of Nicholas Culpeper, the 17th century radical pharmacist who took on the establishment in order to bring medicine to the masses. Culpeper lived during one of the most tumultuous periods in British history. When the country was ravaged by famine and civil war, he took part in the revolution that culminated in the execution of King Charles I. But it is Culpeper's achievements in health care that made him famous. By practicing (often illegally) as a herbalist and publishing the first English-language texts explaining how to treat common ailments, he helped to break the monopoly of a medical establishment that had abandoned the poor and needy. His book The English Physician became the most successful non-religious English book of all time, remaining in print continuously for more than 350 years.
The Rebel Physician: Nicholas Culpeper's Fight For Medical Freedom
Filmed on location at Houlgate Village near York, a working Anglo-Saxon settlement, this DVD provides incredible insight into a period of which little is known. The Dark Age is shrouded in mystery - Who were the Anglo-Saxons? How did they live? What were their customs and beliefs? With expert commentary from Ian Wood and Dave Thirlwall, and the use of detailed reconstructions, these and many more questions are answered about a relatively unknown era of British history.
Life In Anglo-Saxon Britain
Confessions of the Fox
A police inspector (Donald Sinden) tracks down Russian anarchist Peter the Painter (Peter Wyngarde) and his gang in circa-1911 London.
The Siege of Sidney Street
Tony Robinson accompanies James Cameron, the Oscar-winning writer, director and producer of the blockbuster film Titanic (1997), on a poignant farewell to the most spectacular shipwreck in history. Nearly 10 years after Cameron's first visit to the wreck, this is his last.
Tony Robinson's Titanic Adventure
In an oil-scarce world, we know there are sacrifices to be made in the pursuit of energy. What no one expected was that a tiny Native community, living down the river from Canada's tar sands, would reach out to the world for help — and be heard.
Tipping Point: The End of Oil
Jonathan Meades explores the architecture of Nazi Germany, from its holiday camps to its concentration camps.
Jerry Building: Unholy Relics of Nazi Germany
Actor and aviator Martin Shaw takes to the skies to rediscover one of the most audacious and daring raids of World War II. On the morning of 18th February 1944, a squadron of RAF Mosquito bombers, flying as low as three metres over occupied France, demolished the walls of Amiens Jail in what became known as Operation Jericho. The reasons behind the controversial raid remain a mystery to this day. This dramatic documentary investigates the missing pieces of the story, with interviews from survivors and aircrew, and tries to find out why the raid was ordered and by whom.