Space Race

Churchill: Winning the War, Losing the Peace

Just weeks after VE day, Winston Churchill found himself in new battle: to be reelected Prime Minister. Confident of his victory after leading through WWII, he never expected his countrymen to turn so vehemently on their Great British Bulldog

Hidden Hands - A Different History of Modernism

Art movements were rife with hocus pocus during the early part of the twentieth century. Commissioning Editor Waldemar Januszczak as part of a major arts series looking at the history of Modernism.

Spying on Hitler’s Army: The Secret Recordings

British intelligence undertook an audacious operation to listen in on the private conversations of 10,000 German prisoners of war without their ever knowing they were being overheard. The prisoners' unguarded reminiscences and unintentional confessions have only just come to light, and prove how closely the German army were involved in the atrocities of the Holocaust. British intelligence requisitioned three stately homes for this epic task, and converted each into an elaborate trap. The 100,000 hours of conversation they captured provided crucial intelligence that changed the course of the war, and revealed some of its worst horrors, from rape to mass executions to one of the earliest bulletins from the concentration camps. But when the fighting ended, the recordings were destroyed and the transcripts locked away for half a century. Only now have they been declassified, researched and cross-referenced.

American Visions

Time magazine critic and writer of the highly acclaimed study of modern art, The Shock of the New, Robert Hughes now addresses his largest subject: the history of art in America.

Stepping Out

A couple's untraditional early morning ritual is observed in a short drama which originally supported Polanski's The Tenant in UK cinemas.

Space Race

The BBC's Space Race is a documentary/drama chronicling the major events and characters in the American/Soviet space race, leading up to the first moon landing. The series concentrates on Sergei Korolev, the Soviet chief rocket designer, and Wernher von Braun, his American counterpart, as their rivalry intensifies and the pressure to be the first builds.

David Starkey's Magna Carta

David Starkey looks at the origins of Magna Carta, the document that has underpinned British liberties since it was created in 1215 to check the abuses of King John.

747: The Jumbo Revolution

At any given moment hundreds of people are soaring above us in a 747. From the moment the very first jumbo jet took off in 1969, it has been the aircraft against which all others are judged. But its 45-year journey has been anything but smooth. This is the definitive story of the Boeing 747, from its milestones and triumphs to its turning points and disasters. Witness its history through rare archival footage and tales from pilots, engineers, designers, and passengers who were there when it all began.

Falklands' Most Daring Raid

Documentary film about the then longest range bombing mission in history, which changed the outcome of the Falklands War.

Churchill: When Britain Said No

Documentary which examines the reasons why Winston Churchill and the Conservative Party lost the General Election of 1945, after Churchill had just led the country to victory in the World War II.

Pearl Harbor: The Accused

This documentary reveals new insight into events leading up to the attack, focusing on the story of Admiral Husband Kimmel, who was stripped of his rank, forced into obscurity, and accused of negligence.

Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire

Turning points in ancient Roman history and some of the Empire's greatest stories are brought to life in this drama documentary series.

Waco: Madman or Messiah

Few had ever heard of the Branch Davidians and their leader until a raid by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms that led to a 51-day stand-off with the FBI. Who was David Koresh and why were many prepared to die for him?

The Bible

The story of God's creation of the Earth and the landmark events leading up to the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Waco: Madman or Messiah

Followers from around the world travel to Mount Carmel to hear the preaching of David Koresh, a local Texas working-class kid turned prophet of God and leader of the religious group The Branch Davidians.

Fighting the Red Baron

Two modern Red Arrows pilots take on the challenges faced by World War I pilots by performing photo reconnaissance, artillery ranging, and bombing missions in period aircraft - culminating in a classic dogfight.

Burning Bush

Based on real characters and events, this haunting drama focuses on the personal sacrifice of a Prague history student, Jan Palach, who set himself on fire in protest against the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1969. Dagmar Burešová, a young female lawyer, became part of his legacy by defending Jan's family in a trial against the communist government, a regime which tried to dishonour Palach’s sacrifice, a heroic action for the freedom of Czechoslovakia.

Kane & Abel

Polish immigrant Abel Rosnovski and Boston banker William Lowell Kane are two men born on the same day, and whose lifelong rivalry shapes their empires and families over decades. Their contrasting paths from poverty and wealth lead to a destructive, decades-long feud for power.

Playing Gracie Darling

When Joni was 14, her best friend Gracie Darling disappeared during a séance. Some 27 years on, the local kids in a small town get their kicks with a game of 'Playing Gracie Darling' – but the seemingly innocent game turns sinister when another girl disappears. Joni, by then a child psychologist, returns to the town and partners with a police sergeant Jay to uncover the truth, while Gracie's sister Ruth faces a mother's worst nightmare when her own daughter vanishes under hauntingly similar circumstances.

The Spy

In the 1960s, Israeli clerk-turned-secret agent Eli Cohen goes deep undercover inside Syria on a perilous, years-long mission to spy for Mossad.

The Crowded Room

In 1979 Manhattan, a young man is arrested for a shocking crime — and an unlikely investigator must solve the mystery behind it.