Explore TV Series

PBS' premier science series helps viewers of all ages explore the science behind the headlines. Along the way, NOVA demystifies science and technology, and highlights the people involved in scientific pursuits.

Arena is a British television documentary series, made and broadcast by the BBC. Voted by leading TV executives in Broadcast as one of the top 50 most influential programmes of all time, it has run since 1 October 1975 with over five hundred episodes made, directed by the likes of Martin Scorsese, Alan Yentob, Roly Keating, Frederick Baker, Volker Schlondorff and Vikram Jayanti. Arena's subjects are a roll-call of the world's best known cultural figures from the 20th and 21st centuries, from singers Bob Dylan and Amy Winehouse to academics Edward Said and Eric Hobsbawm, from writers Jean Genet and V S Naipaul to artists Francis Bacon and Louise Bourgeois. The current series editor is Anthony Wall.

The Bathurst 1000 is a 1,000.29 kilometres (621.6 mi) touring car race held annually on the Mount Panorama Circuit in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is run as part of the Supercars Championship, the most recent incarnation of the Australian Touring Car Championship. In 1987 it was a round of the World Touring Car Championship. The race originated with the 1960 Armstrong 500 with a 500 mile race distance at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit; it was relocated to Bathurst in 1963 also with the 500 mile distance and has continued there every year since, extending to a 1,000 kilometer race in 1973. The race was traditionally run on the New South Wales Labour-Day long weekend in early October. Since 2001, the race has been run on the weekend following the long weekend, generally the second weekend of October.

The best in the performing arts from across America and around the world including a diverse programming portfolio of classical music, opera, popular song, musical theater, dance, drama, and performance documentaries.

Vetenskapens värld is a popular science TV documentary program broadcast on Swedish Television (SVT).

TV's original home-improvement show, following one whole-house renovation over several episodes.

Fantástico is a Brazilian weekly television newsmagazine broadcast on Sundays on Rede Globo.

The South Bank Show is a television arts magazine show produced by ITV between 1978 and 2010. A new series began on Sky Arts from 27 May 2012. Presented by Melvyn Bragg, the show aims to bring both high art and popular culture to a mass audience.

20/20 is an American television newsmagazine that has been broadcast on ABC since June 6, 1978. Created by ABC News executive Roone Arledge, the show was designed similarly to CBS's 60 Minutes but focuses more on human interest stories than international and political subjects. The program's name derives from the "20/20" measurement of visual acuity. The hour-long program has been a staple on Friday evenings for much of the time since it moved to that timeslot from Thursdays in September 1987, though special editions of the program occasionally air on other nights.

Motoring programme featuring reviews of and reports about cars of all types.

Now the longest-running music series in American television history, ACL showcases popular music legends and innovators from every genre.

Antiques Roadshow is a British television show in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom to appraise antiques brought in by local people. It has been running since 1979. There are also international versions of the programme.

This show addresses issues related to the Brazilian way of life, highlighting matters such as health, education, work and nature.

A magazine-style television series on BBC1 which was broadcast from May 1973 to June 1994, presented by Esther Rantzen, with various changes of co-presenters. The show presented hard-hitting investigations alongside satire and occasional light entertainment.

A BBC documentary film strand, with the focus on investigative journalism.

V.I.P.-Schaukel is a 45 minute documentary-family-news-talk show starring Margret Dünser as Host. The series premiered on Sun May 09, 1971 on ZDF and Folge 37 - Final Show last aired on Fri May 09, 1980.

The Family was a 1974 BBC television series made by producer Paul Watson, and directed by Franc Roddam. It was a fly-on-the-wall documentary series, seen by many as the precursor to reality television. It was similar to an American documentary which had aired the previous year in 1973, called An American Family. It followed the working-class Wilkins family of six of Reading, through their daily lives, warts and all, and culminated in the marriage of one of the daughters, which was plagued by fans and paparazzi alike.

Wildlife on One was, for nearly thirty years, the BBC's flagship natural history programme. First broadcast in 1977, each edition ran for half an hour. The narrator was David Attenborough. When repeated on BBC2, the programmes were retitled Wildlife on Two. The series came to an end in 2005.

Weekend World was a British television political series, made by London Weekend Television and broadcast from 1972 to 1988. Created by John Birt not long after he moved to LWT, the series was broadcast on the ITV network at lunchtimes on Sundays. Produced by Nick Elliott and David Elstein, it began by mirroring CBS's "60 Minutes" featuring several stories each week but gradually devolved into a show that featured a forensic interview with a major political figure each week. It was presented by Peter Jay initially when first broadcast in 1972, but was best-remembered for being anchored by former Labour MP Brian Walden between 1977 and 1986. Conservative MP Matthew Parris took over in 1986, resigning his seat, and presented the programme until the series ended in 1988.

Each week the fifth estate brings in-depth investigations that matter to Canadians – delivering a dazzling parade of political leaders, controversial characters and ordinary people whose lives were touched by triumph or tragedy.

Flick Flack was a Canadian television series broadcast by Global Television Network in 1974. The series featured interviews with motion picture industry personalities combined with excerpts from films. William Shatner was the regular series host. "It was a TV show produced for Canadian TV. A handful of shows that aired every fortnight for a few months in the 70’s." @WilliamShatner · Sep 15, 2020

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.

Les Cent Livres des Hommes (ORTF, 1969-1973) was a series of literary programs created by Claude Santelli and Françoise Verny, and produced notably by Santelli, Jean Archimbaud, and Serge Moati. Planned for one hundred episodes but completed at thirty-nine, the series aimed to introduce great literary works, 'chefs-d’œuvre', to a younger audience through a mix of dramatization, reading, and documentary techniques. It marked a transfer of cultural legitimacy from writers and critics to a generation of television producers, offering a new model of educational and creative literary broadcasting - 'télévision d’auteur'.

Hollywood Greats was a BBC Television series, which began in 1977. The film critic Barry Norman wrote and narrated a series of in depth profiles on major Hollywood film personalities, in which he interviewed surviving associates. He later made a series called British Greats in 1980. A series of books, entitled The Hollywood Greats, The Movie Greats and The British Greats, which were authored by Norman were subsequently published. A series of the same name was later presented by Jonathan Ross from 1999 to 2006.

El hombre y la Tierra is a 1974 television series produced by Radio Televisión Española.

From Bonaparte to Casanova, history is cast in the light of famous escapes from various European countries.

Téléfoot is a French football programme created by Pierre Cangioni and produced by TF1 Production for TF1.

Weekly anthology series of original dramas, often with period settings.

Movie expert Elwy Yost interviews industry people on both sides of the camera, encouraging them to talk about themselves, the state of their art, and its history. The series features many famous film personalities who, along with producers, directors, designers, screenwriters, and critics, offer candid insights into the making of motion pictures.

In Search of... is a TV series that was broadcast weekly from 1977 to 1982, devoted to mysterious phenomena. It was created after the success of three one-hour TV documentaries produced by creator Alan Landsburg: In Search of Ancient Astronauts in 1973, In Search of Ancient Mysteries and The Outer Space Connection, both in 1975. All three featured narration by Rod Serling, who was the initial choice to host the spin-off show. After Serling's death, Leonard Nimoy was selected to be the host.

Molière pour rire et pour pleurer recounts the life of Jean‑Baptiste Poquelin, from his childhood in an artisan family to his rise as Molière, a central figure of French theatre. The series shows his difficult decision to abandon the family trade and join Madeleine Béjart to found L’Illustre Théâtre, marked by debts and repeated setbacks. While touring the provinces, he shapes his style and discovers the power of comedy. Back in Paris, he makes a name for himself with Les Précieuses ridicules, but his sharp satires provoke fierce opposition, especially during the Tartuffe scandal. Supported by Louis XIV, he continues despite attacks, literary rivalries, and tensions within his troupe, particularly with Armande Béjart. The miniseries also follows his growing exhaustion, his determination to perform at any cost, and his final breath after Le Malade imaginaire, the ultimate symbol of an artist who lived — and died — for the stage.

The satirical film magazine Mozalan (The Gadfly) was founded in 1971 at the Azerbaijanfilm film studio named after Jafar Jabbarli. To date, more than 180 issues of the film magazine have been published, each containing 3-4 stories. The stories can be fictional, documentary, and even animated. The aim of the satirical film magazine Mozalan is to combat negative situations and convey the shortcomings of society to the people through the language of satire. The main style of work of the Mozalan film crew was to suddenly appear at manufacturing enterprises, capture shortcomings, and convey them to the people.

The story of life, from the first primitive cells to the plants and animals that now live around us.

Based on extensive interviews, shot on 16mm in a series of static long takes, Filmemigration aus Nazideutschland, is one of the most fascinating examples of "Film history on film" ever produced. Straschek devoted years to researching the topic and accumulating both film and non-film materials. Apart from some radio features and articles, however, this 290-minute TV programme remains the only published trace of Straschek's lifelong work on the emigration of film personnel. He had intended to publish a three-volume book, encompassing all available data about 3,000 emigrants originating from the centre and peripheries of film production, but the book never materialised.

In this radically unconventional television series, Godard and Miéville analyze the political economy of personal and mass media communications in relation to society, culture, family and the individual. Their inquiry focuses "on and beneath" communications in a provocative critique of the power of media images in contemporary culture and everyday life. Each of the six programs is constructed of two complementary segments: A discursive visual essay on one aspect of the production and consumption of images is paired with a related interview on labor and leisure with an individual — an amateur filmmaker, a dairy farmer, the mathematician René Thom, Godard himself. These extended interviews provide a subjective counterpoint to the theoretical essays on work, economics and mass cultural imagery.

Produced for television by Claude-Jean Philippe, the « Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma », recounts the history of French cinema from its birth to the beginning of the 1960s. With commentary read by Jean Rochefort.

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.

Miniseries dramatizing the life of the Italian Renaissance polymath Leonardo da Vinci.

James Earl Jones hosts an interview and performance series exclusively for African-American musicians, comedians, and performers.

Children's television icon Fred Rogers interviews various well-known figures in this series aimed at older audiences.

This devil of a man plunges the viewer into the very heart of the Voltaire whirlwind, that incandescent mind who shook his century. The series follows his meteoric rise, his exiles, his battles and flashes of genius, in a Europe still tightly bound by absolutism. We discover an unbowed, charming, formidable man whose pen makes ministers, kings and fanatics tremble. Between glittering salons, damp prisons and passionate loves, Voltaire crosses the Age of Enlightenment like a meteor. Each episode reveals a confrontation, a flight, a victory wrested through the sheer force of intellect. Carried by elegant direction and a sweeping, novelistic energy, the series paints a vibrant portrait of a fighter for freedom. A journey into the life of a man who never stopped thinking, loving and provoking.

The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards are a continuum of the AFI Awards, which have honoured screen excellence in Australia since 1958. The AACTA Awards recognise film, television and documentary screen craft excellence - including screenwriting, producing and acting, through to cinematography, composition and costume design - across over 40 Awards. As Australia's highest film and television Awards, the AACTA Awards are Australia's equivalent of the Oscars and the BAFTAs. The AACTA Awards are held annually in Sydney in recognition and celebration of Australia's highest achievements in film and television, as judged by the industry itself. AFI | AACTA also recognises screen excellence, regardless of geography, through the AACTA International Awards, held each January in Los Angeles.

MARC was a British television series presented by T. Rex lead singer Marc Bolan. It was produced in Manchester by Granada Television for the ITV network. The last episode featured Bolan duetting with his friend David Bowie. Before the song had reached its end, Bolan tripped over a microphone cable and fell off the stage. Bowie is said to have called out "Could we have a wooden box for Marc [to stand on]?". The final show was recorded on 7 September 1977, but not broadcast until after Bolan's funeral on, which was also attended by David Bowie and Rod Stewart, among others.

Originally intended as a chronicle of the daily life of the Louds, a Santa Barbara upper-middle-class family, the groundbreaking program documented the breakup of the family via the separation and subsequent divorce of parents Bill and Pat Loud.

The Ascent of Man is a thirteen-part documentary television series produced by the BBC and Time-Life Films first transmitted in 1973, written and presented by Jacob Bronowski. Intended as a series of "personal view" documentaries in the manner of Kenneth Clark's 1969 series Civilisation, the series received acclaim for Bronowski's highly informed but eloquently simple analysis, his long unscripted monologues and its extensive location shoots.

A series of ten one-hour documentaries which explores Arab history, culture and society from within through the lives and opinions of Arabs today.

In Search of the Dark Ages was a television series, written and presented by Michael Wood, and first shown in 1979. It is also the title of a book written by Wood to support the series, which was published in 1981. The television series consisted of a series of separate programmes, hence the collective title is often written as In Search of ... The Dark Ages. It began with In Search of Offa, recorded in 1978 by BBC Manchester, and shown on 2 January 1979. Subsequent programmes in the first series were on Boadicea, King Arthur and Alfred the Great, shown with a re-run of Offa over successive nights in March 1980. The first series was such a success when shown in an off-peak slot on BBC Two that a second series was broadcast in 1981, with subjects including William the Conqueror, Ethelred the Unready, Athelstan and Eric Bloodaxe.