Philomena Cunk returns with her most ambitious quest yet - venturing right up the universe to examine life and existence. Mockumentary from Charlie Brooker starring Diane Morgan.
2024 • Nature
Simon Reeve embarks on a 3,000-mile journey across the deserts, plains and mountains of Mongolia in search of snow leopards and the nomadic people who hunt with golden eagles.
S2E4 • Wilderness with Simon Reeve • 2026 • Nature
Simon Reeve treks and canoes through Canada’s rugged and frozen Yukon Territory to meet the people who make the wilderness home and to search for grizzly bears, the apex predator.
S2E3 • Wilderness with Simon Reeve • 2026 • Nature
Simon Reeve voyages across Mexico’s beautiful and remote Sea of Cortez, known as the 'aquarium of the world', to dive with rare and dangerous sharks.
S2E2 • Wilderness with Simon Reeve • 2026 • Nature
Simon Reeve journeys through the lost world of Papua New Guinea’s tropical rainforest in search of the tenkile tree kangaroo, one of the rarest animals on Earth.
S2E1 • Wilderness with Simon Reeve • 2026 • Nature
Simon Reeve crosses the parched desert of southern Africa, tracking wildebeest with the famous hunter-gatherers of the Kalahari, before heading to the oasis of the Okavango Delta.
S1E4 • Wilderness with Simon Reeve • 2024 • Nature
Simon Reeve voyages across the Coral Triangle, a remote wilderness of tropical reefs and jungle-clad islands described as the Amazon of the seas.
S1E3 • Wilderness with Simon Reeve • 2024 • Nature
Simon Reeve travels through wilderness of Patagonia, at the foot of the South American continent. A beautiful and rugged land of mountains, ice and endless wild grasslands, Patagonia is whipped by wind, rain, and snow. Simon's journey takes him up to the huge south Patagonian ice field, through the foothills of the Andes towards the great Grey Glacier of eastern Chile - coming face to face with pumas and riding with gauchos.
S1E2 • Wilderness with Simon Reeve • 2024 • Nature
Simon Reeve battles his way across the Congo, braving thick jungle and tropical swamps in search of the people and the wildlife who make their home in Africa’s greatest rainforest.
S1E1 • Wilderness with Simon Reeve • 2024 • Nature
In the heart of the Tibetan highlands, award-winning nature photographer Vincent Munier guides writer Sylvain Tesson on a quest to document the infamously elusive snow leopard. Through their journey across the Tibetan peaks, the two men explore the subtle art of patience, tracking, and waiting while pondering humanity's place among the magnificent creatures and landscapes they encounter.
2021 • Nature
Bettany goes way back in time, where myth and historical reality blend - to Sardis and to Gordion, home of King Midas, the man with the golden touch
S1E2 • Dawn of Civilisations • 2026 • History
From Ephesus to Cappadocia, from Ani to Divrigi, and from the world's first societies and weapons to the birth of myths and empires, this is the story of where it all began
S1E1 • Dawn of Civilisations • 2026 • History
Mark turns to horror and shows how film-makers have devilishly deployed a range of cinematic tricks to exploit our deepest, darkest and most elemental fears. He explores the recurring elements of horror, including the journey, the jump scare, the scary place, the monster and the chase. He reveals how they have been refined and reinvented in films as diverse as the silent classic The Phantom of the Opera, low-budget cult shockers The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Evil Dead, and Oscar-winners The Silence of the Lambs and Get Out. Mark analyses the importance of archetypal figures such as the clown, the savant and the 'final girl'. And of course, he celebrates his beloved Exorcist films by examining two unforgettable but very different shock moments in The Exorcist and The Exorcist III. Ultimately, Mark argues, horror is the most cinematic of genres, because no other kind of film deploys images and sound to such powerful and primal effect.
Part 5 • Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema • 2018 • Creativity
Fur seals and flightless barnacle goose chicks fight to survive the challenges of infancy.
S1E1 • Life Story • 2014 • Nature
The discovery of gravity waves in early 2013 was huge news around the world ... and so was the retraction after the scientists realized they'd made a mistake. This is a dramatic human story of brave scientists and big science in action at the South Pole.
2015 • Astronomy
A look at the continuing evolution of the cosmos. What our existence tells us about the universe and how complicated it is. Why are things the way that they are? The spacecraft Artemis initiates launch sequence and begins its 4.7 light year journey to Minerva B - an Earth-like exoplanet.
S1E2 • Living Universe • 2018 • Astronomy
How oceans and organisms within them play a fundamental role in removing carbon from the atmosphere.
S1E1 • The Future of Nature • 2025 • Nature
In the final challenge of the game of life, raising offspring is the ultimate prize. Continuing the line through the next generation, is the next best thing to immortality. But it’s far from easy... Some parents must risk their own lives for their offspring.
S1E6 • Life Story • 2014 • Nature
When you eat something loaded with sugar, your taste buds, your gut and your brain all take notice. This activation of your reward system is not unlike how bodies process addictive substances such as alcohol or nicotine -- an overload of sugar spikes dopamine levels and leaves you craving more. Nicole Avena explains why sweets and treats should be enjoyed in moderation.
2014 • Health
Discover how restoring your natural "primal posture" can help reduce back pain, neck pain, and other common musculoskeletal problems
The government rates the global outbreak of a deadly flu virus as a major threat to the UK. It could happen at any time. To predict the impact of the next pandemic more accurately than ever before, new data is needed - and lots of it. Dr Hannah Fry is on the case. She sets out to recruit the nation to download the BBC Pandemic app in a ground-breaking experiment to help plan for when the next deadly virus comes to the UK. How quickly will it spread? How many could it kill? What can we do about it? The BBC Four Pandemic experiment will find out. Hannah masterminds the experiment and adopts the role of Patient Zero by walking the streets of Haslemere in Surrey to launch the outbreak. Meanwhile, emergency physician Dr Javid Abdelmoneim finds out why flu is still such a danger to society a century after Spanish flu killed up to 100 million people worldwide. He meets researchers trying to discover what makes some people more contagious than others and visits a factory that will produce vaccine when the next pandemic flu virus emerges. Armed with the information he gathers and the results of the BBC Four Pandemic experiment, Hannah and Javid make a shocking revelation.
2018 • Health
Michael Mosley reveals the ingenious ways the body defends itself against a hostile world.
S1E4 • Inside the Human Body • Health
What's really going on inside your stomach? In this documentary, Michael Mosley offers up his own guts to find out. Spending the day as an exhibit at the Science Museum in London, he swallows a tiny camera and uses the latest in imaging technology to get a unique view of his innards digesting his food. He discovers pools of concentrated acid and metres of writhing tubing which is home to its own ecosystem. Michael lays bare the mysteries of the digestive system - and reveals a complexity and intelligence in the human gut that science is only just beginning to uncover. The BBC name is "Guts: The Strange and Mysterious World of the Human Stomach".
2012 • Health
Michael Mosley investigates the dramatic rise in e-cigarettes. They're everywhere these days, but what does the latest scientific research on them reveal? Michael reveals what e-cigarettes are really doing to your health. Are they really better for you than cigarettes? What is actually in them? Is passive vapour harmful? And can they really stop you from smoking? Michael meets some of the scientists around the world studying them, asks a group of volunteers to try to give up smoking regular cigarettes using them, and even takes up 'vaping' himself, smoking an e-cigarette every day for a month to see the effects on his own health - no easy task for such a committed non-smoker.
Piers and Caroline travel to Norway to see a charming family cottage, a summer house built around a rock, a daring concrete home and a rugged retreat.
S2E7 • The World's Most Extraordinary Homes • 2019 • Design
This [film] is about patient and dedicated teaching, about learning to look and visualize in order to design, about the importance of drawing. It is one designer’s personal experience of issues that face all designers, expressed with sympathy and encouragement, and illustrated with examples of Inge [Druckrey]’s own work and that of grateful generations of her students. There are simple phrases that give insights into complex matters, for example that letterforms are ‘memories of motion.’ Above all, it is characteristic of Inge that in this examination of basic principles the word “beautiful” is used several times.”
2012 • Design
The Mona Lisa: bewitching, seductive, world famous. In the minds of millions, she is the ultimate work of art. Yet behind the enigmatic smile, she remains a mystery, fuelling endless speculation and theories. But is that all about to change? Is the world's most famous painting finally giving up its secrets? Presented by Andrew Graham-Dixon, this landmark film uses new evidence to investigate the truth behind her identity and where she lived. It decodes centuries-old documents and uses state-of-the-art technology that could unlock the long-hidden truths of history's most iconic work of art.
2015 • Design
In Spain, Caroline and Piers see a farmhouse made of steel, a home with a floating pool, a circular sanctuary and a shared dwelling for three sisters.
S2E5 • The World's Most Extraordinary Homes • 2019 • Design
Explores more than a century of animation in Britain, including the creative and technical inventiveness of the UK's greatest animation pioneers. The defining characteristic of British animation has always been ingenuity. Unable to compete with the big American studios, animators in Britain were forced to experiment, developing their own signature styles. The documentary uncovers the trade secrets of animation legends like Bob Godfrey, John Halas and Joy Batchelor, Len Lye and Bristol's world-renowned Aardman Animations. Tracing the development of British animation from the end of the Victorian era to contemporary blockbusters, Secrets of British Animation shows the perseverance and determination that are part of the animator's mind-set. Focusing on the handmade tradition of animation in the UK, the programme includes newly-remastered early films from the archive of the British Film Institute.
2018 • Design
Every Rembrandt exhibition is eagerly anticipated, but a once-in-a-lifetime show at London's National Gallery and Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum that took 15 years to prepare was remarkable. With exclusive and privileged access to both galleries, this film documents this landmark exhibition while interweaving Rembrandt's life story with behind-the-scenes preparations at these world-famous institutions. Rembrandt is the greatest artist that ever lived to many, and this film seeks to explore the truth.
Follows the interconnected stories of a cast of savannah animals over one year, in a bold new dramatised natural history format for BBC One. Narrated by award-winning British actor John , the series captures the high drama of the area's distinctive wildlife up close. There's love and loss, jealousy and rivalry, tragedy and triumph, as their lives entwine and dramatically unfold in the heart of this legendary land. It's the time of plenty in the Serengeti, with food in abundance, but a series of unexpected events turns families against each other and stretches relationships to breaking point. Kali a brave lioness and devoted mother of four cubs, has broken the golden rules of family life, by having cubs with an outsider. When she tries to bring the cubs home, her betrayal is exposed and she is forced into exile. Bakari, a passionate male baboon, starts a deep and jealous rivalry after the female he was devoted to is stolen away by the new, more aggressive, leader of the troop. Zalika, a young hyena, loses her mother in a terrifying attack by some rogue male lions and has to assume the leadership of her family. Somehow, she must prove herself ready for such a huge responsibility. Tembo, a teenage elephant, questions his place in the family when his mother Nalla, the matriarch of the family, gives birth to a new baby and he is sidelined. Bakari attempts to win back his lost love until tragedy strikes and Kali finds salvation from an unexpected place. Emotions run high as each of the characters struggles to cope with their worlds being turned upside down.
After the death of her mother, Motshidi is starving and alone; in an act of charity, Blue Eyes gives Motshodi a new lease of life; a violent traitor rises in the ranks, challenging the selfish princess and bringing an end to Mmamotse's rule.
S3E6 • Savage Kingdom • 2019 • Nature
The squirrel family is one of the most widespread on earth, so what is the secret to their success? There are squirrels that can glide through the air, outwit rattlesnakes and survive the coldest temperatures of any mammal. We uncover the extraordinary abilities of these cheeky characters, putting their problem solving to the test on a specially designed assault course. We team up with some of the world's top squirrel scientists who are making groundbreaking discoveries - from the fox squirrel who can remember the location of 9,000 nuts to the grey squirrel whose tree-top leaps are the basis of new designs in robotics. We also see the world through the eyes of an orphan red squirrel called Billy, as he grows up and develops all the skills he will need to be released back to the wild. It is time to meet the animal family we should never underestimate - the super squirrels.
Natural World • 2018 • Nature
Canada's Devon Island is the largest uninhabited island in the world--and with good reason. Temperatures below freezing for nine months of the year and an annual rainfall comparable to the Gobi Desert leave the icy landscape so barren that NASA uses it to simulate conditions on Mars. Take an exhilarating expedition into a land where only the most experienced Inuit hunters dare set foot.
S1E2 • Arctic Secrets • 2015 • Nature
A look across Hawaii's varied islands, discovering how they were made, and how its wildlife thrives. The most remote island chain on Earth, its tropical shores are hard to reach. However, for the hardy creatures that have made it there, such as the waterfall-climbing fish, carnivorous caterpillar and Laysan albatross, a land of opportunity awaits. From newly formed lava fields, to lush jungles, and vibrant coral reefs, these diverse and beautiful islands have it all. As this documentary reveals, its people are looking to the future and attempting to protect and foster its flora and fauna.
S1E3 • Earth's Tropical Islands • 2020 • Nature
500 years ago, Ferdinand Magellan and his crew set sail to gain control of the global spice trade. What resulted was the first circumnavigation of the Earth, laying the groundwork for colonization and globalization still felt today.
Secrets of the Dead • 2021 • People