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David Jason: Britain's Favourite TV Star

Sir David Jason is a bona fide TV legend and one of the finest actors of his generation. As part of Channel 5's latest series of tribute documentaries, we celebrate his life and remarkable career. Narrated by Sue Johnston, we tell the real story behind his greatest TV creations, from Pop Larkin to Granville, Jack Frost to Del Boy and much more. We chronicle the superstar's early-stage career and hear what his fellow thespians really thought of the dashing young actor.

David Jason: Britain's Favourite TV Star

NR 2020
Cruel Sea: The Penlee Lifeboat Disaster

A moving documentary made to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Penlee Lifeboat Disaster on 19 December 1981. The eight-man crew of the RNLB Solomon Browne, the lifeboat from the Penlee station in Mousehole, Cornwall, put to sea in an exceptionally severe gale to rescue the five-man crew of the MV Union Star, a cargo ship whose engines had failed two miles off the coast and which was in danger of being swept onto the rocks. The Solomon Browne was initially able to rescue the captain's family and one of the crew from Union Star but, as they attempted to rescue the captain and the remaining crewmate, radio contact with the Solomon Browne was lost and both crews perished.

Cruel Sea: The Penlee Lifeboat Disaster

NR 2006
Comrade Duch: The Bookkeeper of Death

On 28 February 2009 Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, appeared in the ECCC courtroom and made a two-hour speech where he asked for forgiveness for the appalling torture and execution of at least 13,000 prisoners at Tuol Sleng and probably more in the security camps of M-13 and M-99. Until this date, with the exception of a handful of judges, lawyers and a priest, he had not been seen or heard of for the last thirty years. How did a man, known to be kind and generous to fellow students, possibly transform himself into Comrade Duch, the Khmer Rouge's infamous executioner? This documentary revisits and searches for clues. (Storyville)

Comrade Duch: The Bookkeeper of Death

NR 2011
Egypt's New Tomb Revealed

American archeologists have found a new tomb in the desert valley. This is the first find of this magnitude since King Tutankhamun's tomb was uncovered in 1922, according to Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. Called KV 63 - it is the 63rd discovered since the valley was first mapped - the new, intact tomb was found just 16 feet away from King Tut's resting place. A team of archeologists led by Otto Schaden discovered the tomb by accident while conducting "routine digs" on the nearby tomb of King Amenmesses, a 19th Dynasty pharaoh. Explore the wonders of the magnificent lost era.

Egypt's New Tomb Revealed

8.0 2006
Dan Cruickshank: Resurrecting History: Warsaw

Dan Cruickshank returns to his childhood home of Warsaw for the first time in almost 60 years. In a personal and moving film, he recalls his boyhood memories to explore the memories of the city and the memories of its people. No city in Europe suffered so much destruction in the Second World War, no city rose up so heroically from the ashes. The Nazis had razed Warsaw to the ground, but after the war the people fought hard to bring their city back from the dead in one of the greatest reconstruction jobs in history. As a boy, Cruickshank lived in the rebuilt old town and it inspired his love of architecture and made him the man he is today.

Dan Cruickshank: Resurrecting History: Warsaw

NR 2015
Outlandish: Strange Foreign Bodies

Philosopher and heart transplant recipient Jean-Luc Nancy meditates on the history and integrity of bodies in a number of visual and literary passages exploring his onscreen presence, a surgical organ in search of a body and an unaccounted for, displaced invertebrate at sea. Outlandish is a journey between shores and environments, the touching of and proximity between bodies, the vanishing and appearance of crew, dimensions of form and, above all, our relations with strange foreign bodies.

Outlandish: Strange Foreign Bodies

NR 2009
The Secret Life of the Berlin Wall

Berlin is a place that is indispensable to the imagination, a city where history ticks all the boxes. The longest of all the helter-skelter rides that Berliners have taken through the playground of history ended in 1989 when the Berlin Wall shattered into a million souvenirs. Hundreds of people, mainly young, were killed there trying to escape to the West. The people who built the Wall thought they were building a brave new socialist world. But their dream turned into a nightmare as over time the Wall poisoned, corrupted and brutalized the little world it encircled. In The Secret Life of the Berlin Wall, the dreams and nightmares come dramatically back to life as the spies, informers, double agents and interrogators of Cold War Berlin weave their nervy spells of double lives and double dealing.

The Secret Life of the Berlin Wall

NR 2009
Train Entering Hove Station

Most movie fans know that the first filmmakers liked to shoot trains entering stations. This example by Sussex film pioneer George Albert Smith illustrates why. The train's rush towards the audience brings movement and visual drama. The flurry of human activity offers plenty for the audience to engage with - who are these people and where are they going? And the time pressure exerted by the fact that the train must soon depart adds narrative tension - will everyone get on and off in time?

Train Entering Hove Station

5.0 1897
Platinum Beacons: Lighting up the Jubilee

Kirsty Young hosts coverage of beacons being lit around the UK and Commonwealth to celebrate the platinum jubilee of Britain’s longest serving monarch. Carol Kirkwood, Gethin Jones and Holly Hamilton report from events taking place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and Jermaine Jenas is outside Buckingham Palace, where senior members of the royal family will light the principal beacon. Celebrity guests join Kirsty to share their memories of meeting the Queen. The programme also reflects on the celebrations that took place earlier in the day, including an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at EastEnders and the pomp and ceremony of Trooping the Colour with its extended flypast.

Platinum Beacons: Lighting up the Jubilee

8.5 2022
From the Earth to the Moon

Humankind has always dreamt of the night sky. Of the infinite freedom offered by the black void, and of the strong, shining beacon inviting us to ascend. This is a story, a history of the events that led up to our conquest of space, and the consequences throughout wider humanity. The film is a collage. Of genres, documentary and comedy. Of media, drawing from painting and film. Of films, cannibalising all film history. Of truth, both objective and subjective. Watch the small steps and let your mind take a giant leap.

From the Earth to the Moon

NR 2020
Abandoned Goods

Abandoned Goods is an essay film exploring the journey of one of Britain’s major collections of Asylum Art containing about 5,500 objects (paintings, drawings, ceramics, sculptures and works on stone, flint and bone) created between 1946 and 1981, by about 140 people compelled to live in the Netherne psychiatric hospital in South London. Blending archive, reconstruction, animation, 35mm rostrum, and observational photography, the film explores the transformation of these objects from clinical material to revered art objects examining the lives of the creators and the changing contexts in which the objects were produced and displayed.

Abandoned Goods

NR 2014
The Complete 'Citizen Kane'

Documentary looking at Orson Welles and the production of the film CITIZEN KANE fifty years ago, considering the furore that accompanied it and the real life press baron William Randolph Hearst upon whom Kane is based, and his efforts to halt the film, destroy the negative and persecution of people involved with its production and showing. It includes BBC interviews with Welles made in 1960 and 1982, and film historian Robert Carringer looks at the scenes that never made it to the screen. American film critic Pauline Kael also analyses the film's enduring appeal. Extracts from "The RKO Story" (producer: Rosemary Wilton) and "Yesterday's Whitness" (producers: Christopher Cook and Stephen Peet).

The Complete 'Citizen Kane'

NR 1991
Screengrabbed Too: BBC Introducing Arts

Huw Stephens presents an exciting selection of short films from emerging artists and film-makers from across the UK. Topics are fresh, varied and thought-provoking, including a behind-the-scenes look at a zoo closing for the night, an honest account of farming the land, and a powerful love letter from a son to a mother who has cancer. Expect to be moved and challenged by these short dramas, observations and dance, made by a new generation of storytellers. Yew; Echdo; King of the Pit; Two B or Not Two B; Lucky House; Everything Is Fine; The Jacket; Cages; It's Always Been; Mary Lost Her Battle; Between the Dog and the Wolf; From His Perspective

Screengrabbed Too: BBC Introducing Arts

NR 2022
Temptation of Influence

Temptation of Influence is a filmic collage and an essay exploring how architectural ideas are passed down, reinterpreted and – inevitably – misread across generations. Centred on Irish architect Shane de Blacam, it begins in his Dublin study, where Palladio’s plates frame Louis Kahn’s sketches. From Inishmaan to Rome, from Veneto to New Haven, the film follows a path of conversations, buildings and landscapes – tracing the uncertain mechanics of architectural inheritance. Contributors include Kenneth Frampton, Níall McLaughlin, Sheila O’Donnell and others.

Temptation of Influence

NR 2025
The Last Journey of the Magna Carta King

Ben Robinson retraces the dramatic last days of King John, England's most disastrous monarch, and uncovers the legend of his lost treasure. Ten days took King John from ruler of an empire to sudden death, and left the kingdom in ruins. John is famous for the creation of Magna Carta, which inspired our modern democracy. Ben follows in the footsteps of the King's epic last journey, from the treacherous marshes of East Anglia, through Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, to his final resting place in Worcester. He is joined by medieval historian professor Stephen Church. Together they examine the truth behind the legend that has lived on for 800 years. Did the crown jewels really end up in the mud of the Wash? Was the King poisoned? Does he deserve his reputation as our most disastrous monarch? Thanks to unique documents, we can tell this epic tale in the King's own words.

The Last Journey of the Magna Carta King

NR 2015
Between the River and the Sea

What is the future of the controversial relationship of Jews and Arabs in Israel and the West Bank? How do Israelis see the issues, perceive what is happening to their country and themselves, and view the media which brings them distressing news about the effects of an extended occupation? This film draws particularly on the testimony of Rafik Halabi, an Israeli Arab journalist who has covered this beat for Israel Television, and who is the only Arab working in the Hebrew section of Israeli TV news.

Between the River and the Sea

NR 1983
Mother Tuckers: Drag Queens of Glasgow

Just 40 years ago it was illegal to be gay in Scotland, now the country is a leader in LGBTQ+ rights – and Glasgow is home to a thriving drag scene. This documentary takes a glimpse behind the make-up, wigs and corsets to find out what it takes to live a life in drag, why people do it and the daily battles drag queens still face, following three queens at different stages in their drag careers. Barbara La Bush, the self-proclaimed ‘oldest queen in Glasgow’, represents traditional end-of-the-pier drag. She must come to terms with ailing health and the insecurity of a working life spent on the clubs and pubs circuit. Lawrence Chaney, part of the Instagram generation of highly looks-focused performers, seeks approval from a mainstream culture that is out of her comfort zone. And new queen Voss must battle the prejudices of a job in the merchant navy as well as gain parental acceptance.

Mother Tuckers: Drag Queens of Glasgow

NR 2019