Explore TV Series

TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.

Since it began in 1983, Frontline has been airing public-affairs documentaries that explore a wide scope of the complex human experience. Frontline's goal is to extend the impact of the documentary beyond its initial broadcast by serving as a catalyst for change.

Consistently stunning documentaries transport viewers to far-flung locations ranging from the torrid African plains to the chilly splendours of icy Antarctica. The show's primary focus is on animals and ecosystems around the world. A comic book based on the show, meant to be used an as educational tool for kids, was briefly distributed to museums and schools at no cost in the mid-2000s.

An annual award ceremony presented by MTV to honor the best in the music video medium.

Watchdog is a BBC television series that investigates viewers' reports of problematic experiences with traders, retailers, and other companies around the UK. It has had great success in changing the awareness consumers have of their purchasing rights and in changing policies of companies, closing down businesses, and pushing for law changes. It is shown on BBC One and is available for online viewing or download via BBC iPlayer.

Natural World is a nature documentary television series broadcast annually on BBC Two and regarded by the BBC as its flagship natural history brand. It is currently the longest-running series in its genre on British television, with more than 400 episodes broadcast since its inception in 1983. Natural World is produced by the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol, but individual programmes can be in-house productions, collaborative productions with other broadcasters or films made and distributed by independent production companies and purchased by the BBC. Natural World programmes are often broadcast as PBS Nature episodes in the USA. Since 2008, most Natural World programmes have been shot and broadcast in high definition.

American Masters is a PBS television series which produces biographies on enduring writers, musicians, visual and performing artists, dramatists, filmmakers, and others who have left an indelible impression on the cultural landscape of the United States.

The people, places and stories making news in the British countryside.

Since its 1988 premiere, this critically acclaimed documentary series has presented hundreds of films that put a human face on contemporary social issues by relating a compelling story in an intimate fashion. "POV" has won virtually every major film and broadcasting award available, including 38 Emmys, 22 Peabody Awards and three Oscars.

This newsmagazine series investigates intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all aspects of the human experience. Over its long run, the show has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, driven the reopening — and resolution — of cold cases, and changed numerous lives. CBS News correspondents offer an in-depth look into each story, with the emphasis on solving the mystery at its heart.

The Discovery Channel's Shark Week, first broadcast on July 17, 1987, is a weeklong series of feature television programs dedicated to sharks. Held annually, normally in July or August, Shark Week was originally developed to raise awareness and respect for sharks. It is the longest-running cable television programming event in history. Now broadcast in over 72 countries, Shark Week is promoted heavily via social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Charles Tisseyre explores the world of science and technology through real-world stories. Each episode features reports delving into technological breakthroughs and developments in scientific research, environmental issues, space exploration, as well as health and medicine.

MTV's acclaimed music series showcases today's top artists and rising stars in the industry performing acoustic versions of their songs.

The Joy of Painting was an American television show hosted by painter Bob Ross that taught its viewers techniques for landscape oil painting. Although Ross could complete a painting in half an hour, the intent of the show was not to teach viewers "speed painting". Rather, he intended for viewers to learn certain techniques within the time that the show was allotted. The show began on January 11, 1983, and lasted until May 17, 1994, a year before Ross' death.

Long-running Channel 4 documentary series covering issues about British society, politics, health, religion, international current affairs and the environment. Known for featuring a mole inside organisations under journalistic investigation.

Timewatch is a long-running British television series showing documentaries on historical subjects, spanning all human history. It was first broadcast on 29 September 1982 and is produced by the BBC, the Timewatch brandname is used as a banner title in the UK, but many of the individual documentaries can be found on US cable channels without the branding.

Prisoners of Gravity was a Canadian public broadcasting television news magazine program that explored speculative fiction — science fiction, fantasy, horror, comic books — and its relation to various thematic and social issues. Produced by TVOntario, the show was the brainchild of former comic retail manager Mark Askwith and writer Daniel Richler, and was hosted by Rick Green. The series aired 139 episodes over 5 seasons from 1989 to 1994.

Biography is a documentary television series. It was originally a half-hour filmed series produced for CBS by David Wolper from 1961 to 1964 and hosted by Mike Wallace. The A&E Network later re-ran it and has produced new episodes since 1987. The older version featured historical figures such as Helen Keller and Mark Twain, or long-dead entertainment figures such as Will Rogers or John Barrymore. The A&E series has placed the emphasis on such people as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Plácido Domingo, Freddie Mercury, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Eric Clapton, Pope John Paul II, Gene Tierney, Selena, Diego Rivera, Mao Zedong and Queen Elizabeth II, and fictional characters like The Phantom, Superman, Hamlet, Betty Boop, and Santa Claus. The program ended up profiling enough figures that in 1999, A&E spun it off into an entire network, The Biography Channel.

Strip-Tease was created by Jean Libon and Marco Lamensch. The aim of the creators was to produce documentary films of a new genre, in which the commentators take a back seat to let the protagonists have their say. The program mainly deals with excerpts from everyday life (family meals, washing up, the life of a farmer's wife). Viewers can thus recognize themselves in their daily intimacy.

Carl Sagan covers a wide range of scientific subjects, including the origin of life and a perspective of our place in the universe.

Bharat Ek Khoj is a 53-episode Indian historical drama based on the book The Discovery of India by Jawaharlal Nehru, that dramatically unfolds the 5000 year history of India from its beginnings to the coming of independence in 1947. The drama was directed, written and produced by Shyam Benegal with cinematographer V. K. Murthy in 1988 for state-owned Doordarshan. Benegal's regular script collaborator Shama Zaidi also co-wrote the script.

This award-winning weekly automotive magazine provides unbiased, consumer-oriented car news with feature stories on related topics.

An Austrian magazine-TV show.

Attention please! Are you ready for an adventurous tour through the human body? With a lot of humour, our physical appearance is being introduced from head to toe along cells and organs in an educational way. The heart, blood, nerves and kidneys, each single one is a miracle which renders life possible.

Rescue 911 is an informational reality-based television series that premiered on April 18, 1989 and ended on August 27, 1996. The series was hosted by William Shatner and featured reenactments of emergency situations that often involved calls to 911. Though never intended as a teaching tool, various viewers used the knowledge they obtained watching the show. Two specials, titled "100 Lives Saved" and "200 Lives Saved," were dedicated to viewers who had written to CBS with their stories on how the knowledge they obtained watching the show allowed them to save the life of someone else. At least 350 lives have been saved as a result of what viewers learned from watching it. The show's popularity coincided with the widespread adoption of the 911 emergency system, replacing standalone police and fire numbers that would vary from municipality to municipality. The number is now universally understood in the United States and Canada to be the number dialed for emergency assistance nationwide.

An Australian media analysis television program currently focusing on critiquing the Australian media.

Weekly current affairs show

National Geographic's Explorer gives viewers special access to the issues of the day.

This documentary series uses drama and commentary to shed light on the lives and works of Joseph Conrad, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, T. S. Eliot, Henrik Ibsen, James Joyce, Franz Kafka, Thomas Mann, Luigi Pirandello, Marcel Proust and Virginia Woolf.

In hour-long, in-depth explorations, CNN hosts examine extraordinary individuals, unexpected events and controversial subjects through interviews, stories, images and videos.

Nightline, or ABC News Nightline, is a late-night news program that is broadcast by ABC in the United States, and has a franchised formula to other networks and stations elsewhere in the world. Created by Roone Arledge, the program featured Ted Koppel as its main anchor from March 1980 until his retirement from the program in November 2005. Nightline airs weeknights at 12:37 a.m. Eastern Time, after Jimmy Kimmel Live!. It previously ran for 31 minutes, but in 2011, the program was reduced to 25 minutes. When the program moved to 12:37 a.m. ET, the program was expanded to 30 minutes. In 2002, Nightline was ranked 23rd on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

The Many Dream Journeys of Meme is a Japanese anime television show created by Nippon Animation. The show originally aired from 1983 to 1985 and was primarily educational. Episodes usually dealt with scientific discoveries and inventions, though there were also a few futuristic and science fiction stories and situations. The series has been translated into many languages, including Spanish, French, Portuguese, Hebrew, and Arabic and Serbo-Croatian.

A series of documentaries focusing on the world of psychotronic movies; focusing on the lives of filmakers such as Hershell Gordon Lewis, Saim Raimi, Doris Wishman, Ed Wood Jr, and Tsui Hark. Covers weird movie genres, like Mexican wrestling movies and Hong Kong horror films.

40 Minutes was a BBC TV documentary strand broadcast on BBC Two between 1981 and 1994. The documentaries could be on any possible subject, the only connection being that they last forty minutes. Some documentaries in the original series were revisited and updated in a 2006 version, Forty Minutes On.

BBC series exploring cultures around the world.

Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years is an 8-part 1981 drama serial based on the life of Winston Churchill, and particularly his years in enforced exile from political position during the 1920s and 30s. It was written and directed by Ferdinand Fairfax and Churchill was played by Robert Hardy. Hardy's brilliant performance as Churchill won critical acclaim and a BAFTA award in 1982. He reprised the role in The Sittaford Mystery, Bomber Harris and War and Remembrance and at the 50th anniversary celebrations of the end of World War II in 1995 when he quoted a number of Churchill's wartime speeches in character.

John Barton holds a master class in how to play Shakespeare, using members of the RSC doing scenes, sonnets, and commentary as prime examples.

The Really Wild Show was a long-running British television show about wildlife, broadcast by the BBC as part of their CBBC service to children. It also runs on Animal Planet in the US. The show was broadcast continuously since 21 January 1986. In April 2006 the BBC announced that the show would be axed that summer, and as such the last ever episode was shown in April 2006, giving the show a run of 20 years.

A 1980 documentary series exploring the establishment and development of the Hollywood studios and its impact on 1920s culture.

An avant-garde omnibus that features works by off-the-wall artists in many different disciplines.

Cult films receive interesting introductions from an expert, before the entire film is screened.

Worzel Gummidge Down Under, adapted from the books written by Barbara Euphan Todd and the children's television programme produced and broadcast in the United Kingdom named Worzel Gummidge, starring Jon Pertwee. The story continued in New Zealand when Aunt Sally was sold to a Museum owner.

Michael Palin attempts to copy the exploits of fictional character Phileas Fogg, by trying to travel around the world (without flying) in 80 days.

"Detective! Knight Scoop" is an amusement programme. Based on requests contributed by the viewers, to protect the public order, morals and peace in society, the chief detective sends out excelling detectives who thoroughly pursuit any task they're presented with.

Great Railway Journeys, originally titled Great Railway Journeys of the World, is a recurring series of travel documentaries produced by BBC Television. The premise of each programme is that the presenter, typically a well-known figure from the arts or media, would make a journey by train, usually through a country or to a destination to which they had a personal connection. There were four series broadcast on BBC Two between 1980 and 1999, with the shorter series title being used for all but the first. In 2010 a similar series also aired on BBC Two, Great British Railway Journeys.

"La Course destination monde" is a Canadian reality television series, which aired on Télévision de Radio-Canada from 1988 to 1999. The series was a filmmaking competition which sent young, emerging filmmakers from Quebec around the world to make short films about their destinations, with prizes awarded at the conclusion of each season to the best films coming out of the competition. The show premiered in 1988 as "La Course des Amériques", sending filmmakers to destinations in North and South America. The second season, "La Course Amérique-Afrique", continued to highlight destinations in the Americas as well as opening to destinations in Africa, while the third season, "La Course Europe-Asie", centred on destinations in Europe and Asia. From the fourth season onward, the show was titled "La Course destination monde", and permitted filmmakers to travel to anywhere in the world.

Dan Darret and his two sisters, Tess and Daisy, are left to run the The Pole Position Stunt Show after their parents disappear during a stunt race. When their uncle Zachary reveals that their parents were government agents using the stunt show as a cover for a secret crime-fighting organization, the kids vow to carry on their parents' work. Along with pet Kuma and two high-tech talking cars, Roadie and Wheels, they become the New Pole Position Force.

The Cook Report was a British current affairs television programme shown on ITV, produced for the network by Central Television from 1987 to 1998.

The Power of Myth is a television series originally broadcast on PBS in 1988 as Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth. The documentary comprises six one-hour conversations between mythologist Joseph Campbell and journalist Bill Moyers.

"From what I gather, people feel they are doing a journey with me. They like following someone who is relatively inexpert, who likes to travel but is by no means an authority."

Investigative news magazine on Chile's social and political contingency.

The challenging and spirited early life of cinema's first great comedic artist, Charlie Chaplin, is portrayed. The innately talented young Charlie must overcome a wayward life of poverty and familial chaos to reach the pinnacle of stardom.

Newton's Apple is an American educational television program produced and developed by KTCA, and distributed to PBS stations in the United States that ran from 1983 to 1999. The show's title is based on the rumor of Isaac Newton sitting under a tree and an apple falling near him—or, more popularly, on his head—prompting him to ponder what makes things fall, leading to the development of his theory of gravitation. The show was produced by Twin Cities Public Television. For most of the run, the show's theme song was Ruckzuck by Kraftwerk, later remixed by Absolute Music. Later episodes of the show featured an original song. An occasional short feature appeared called "Science of the Rich and Famous" in which celebrities appeared to explain a science principle.

Aviation history series which aired on the Discovery Channel family of networks. Originally called Great Planes.

Pillar of Fire focuses on the History of Zionism, beginning in 1896, in the wake of Theodor Herzl's revival of the concept of Jewish nationalism and continues to follow the Jewish People in the 20th century, the early stages of Zionism, followed by the waves of Aliyah prior to the founding of Israel, the Revival of the Hebrew language, the Ottoman Empire's rule in over the Land of Israel, the British Mandate, Anti-Semitism in Europe, the rise of Nazism and The Holocaust, the history of the Yishuv, the Jewish struggle for independence, and ends in 1948, with the Israeli Declaration of Independence.

An 8-part essay film chronicling the history of cinema, examining the history of the concept of cinema and how both relates to the 20th century.