Latest Documentaries
Tells the incredible true story of Scottish mercenary Peter McAleese, who was hired to kill Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar in 1989. With unprecedented access to Peter and other members of his team, this is the first full account of that fateful mission and the dark consequences for those involved. With full access to McAleese's personal archive, as well as never-before-seen amateur footage of the operation, Killing Escobar weaves this material alongside dramatic reconstruction and interviews from McAleese and his fellow mercenaries. We also hear from one of Pablo Escobar's bodyguards, members of America's DEA and the security chief of the Colombian drug cartel that wanted Escobar eliminated.
2021 • People
The planet's current rate of meat consumption is unprecedented -- and becoming unsustainable. In the future, will meat alternatives be the answer?
(This episode is from before the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic) - In this episode from 2019, experts including Bill Gates discuss the history of pandemics, how they spread and what could be done to contain them.
Computer code now controls how we live. But how did these programming languages evolve? And how can they be used to build a new and better world?
S2E5 • Explained • 2019 • Technology
It began with bloomers. Then came spandex. Now we sport leggings and other activewear everywhere. How did comfy, casual clothing go mainstream?
What goes on inside an animal's mind? Figuring out how they think and feel might just be the key to understanding our own place in the world.
There are more billionaires than ever. But how does this vast accumulation of wealth affect the world?
A filmmaker forges an unusual friendship with an octopus living in a South African kelp forest, learning as the animal shares the mysteries of her world.
2020 • Nature
Recommended Documentaries
Earth's surface is covered in weird and wonderful patterns. The Australian outback is covered in pale spots, the work of wombats; a clearing in the endless green canopy of the Congo rainforest has been created by an incredible elephant gathering; and the twists and turns of the Amazon make a home for rehabilitated manatees. This is our home, as we've never seen it before.
2/4 • Earth from Space • 2019 • Environment
Starting with a grand tour of the Solar System, powerfully told by the world’s top space scientists. From the raging inferno of the Sun to the icy beauty of Pluto, discover the secrets that the planets have kept for billions of years, revealed with stunning images from space.
1/8 • Secrets of the Solar System • 2020 • Astronomy
Understanding what consciousness is, and why and how it evolved, is perhaps the greatest mystery known to science.
The Economist • 2015 • Brain
Scientific advancements are challenging the concept of what it means to be human. Technology embedded in our bodies is fairly common: artificial limbs, pacemakers. But new research is taking us beyond replacement parts and into a new realm that is changing the nature of the human body and the human mind. Will the fusion of biology and technology change how we think, how we feel, how we experience the world?
S1E2 • Breakthrough National Geographic • 2015 • Technology
In this episode of NOVA scienceNOW, journey back in time to the birth of our solar system to examine whether the key to our planet's existence might have been the explosive shockwave of an ancient supernova. Meet a chemist who has yielded a new kind of "recipe" for natural processes to assemble and create the building blocks of life. And see how the head louse, a creepy critter that's been sucking our blood for millions of years, is offering clues about our evolution. Finally, meet neuroscientist André Fenton, who is looking into erasing painful memories with an injection.
David begins his journey inside the magnificent Palm House, a unique global rainforest in London. Here, he explores the extraordinary plants that are so well adapted to wet and humid environments and unravels the intimate relationships between wet zone plants and the animals that depend on them. It was in the wet zones of the world that plants first moved on to land and in the Waterlily House David reveals how flowers first evolved some 140 million years ago. Watching a kaleidoscope of breath-taking time-lapses of these most primitive of flowers swelling and blooming ...
1/3 • Kingdom of Plants • 2012 • Nature
Travel Documentaries
This week we are exploring Romania's largest and most iconic region,mistaken by many Americans and others as a country in its own right. In fact Transylvania is a name that most of the western world still associates with Dracula, werewolves and folk legend. But this land beyond the forest defies all preconceptions and remains one of the most culturally important and beautiful parts of Eastern Europe.
5/9 • Flavours of Romania • 2018 • Travel
Michael begins the third leg of his journey in the mineral-rich state of Minas Gerais, where he learns about the Brazilian mining industry and meets some of the people dedicated to overturning the environmental damage it causes. He then heads to Rio de Janeiro, focus of the next World Cup and Olympics, where the authorities are ridding the streets of violent drug gangs that have controlled the city's shanty towns. On a lighter note, the globe-trotting broadcaster also learns to celebrate a goal like a well-known radio commentator and visits a `love hotel'.
3/4 • Brazil with Michael Palin • 2012 • Travel
The seasoned traveller explores the South American country, beginning in the north-east - where Europeans first landed and grew rich on the profits from sugar and tobacco plantations run with slave labour. In Sao Luis, Michael finds out about a ceremony based on a 200-year-old tale before heading to the coastal lagoons of the Lencois Maranhenses National Park. Journeying inland, he gets a glimpse of the fast-disappearing world of old-style cowboys known as vaqueiros, has his fortune read by a Candomble priest and learns to drum with the Olodum cultural collective.
1/4 • Brazil with Michael Palin • 2012 • Travel
James journeys through Japan's mountainous forests, marvels at its zen gardens and admires centuries-old bonsai, to explore the connections between Japanese culture and the natural environment. Travelling around Japan's stunning island geography, he examines how the country's two great religions, Shinto and Buddhism, helped shape a creative response to nature often very different to the West. But he also considers modern Japan's changing relationship to the natural world and travels to Naoshima Art Island to see how contemporary artists are finding new ways to engage with nature.
1/3 • The Art of Japanese Life • 2017 • Travel
Martin visits the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico, which was devastated by Hurricane Maria in 2017. Martin sees how the Puerto Ricans have begun to recover from the disaster.
3/4 • Martin Clunes: Islands of America • 2019 • Travel
The next leg of my journey takes us north to Moldova, an ancient region covering the Easternmost part of the country. Originally twice its current size, it included northern Bucovina and Basarabia, now the separate and not to confused with the Republic of Moldova.
4/9 • Flavours of Romania • 2018 • Travel
People Documentaries
In a journey that takes him through visually stunning locations across the world, Richard Dawkins builds a powerful argument for facing up to the scientific truth about life and death - however hard that might be.
Part 1 • Dawkins: Sex Death and the Meaning of Life • 2012 • People
From Brazilian favelas to dusty Congolese villages, from neolithic Scottish isles to modern soccer pitches, explore the little-known origins of our favorite sports. Cross time, languages and continents to discover how the ball has staked its claim on our lives and fueled our passion to compete.
2015 • People
REGARDING SUSAN SONTAG is an intimate and nuanced investigation into the life of one of the most influential and provocative thinkers of the 20th century. Passionate and gracefully outspoken throughout her career, Susan Sontag became one of the most important literary, political and feminist icons of her generation. The documentary explores Sontag’s life through evocative experimental images, archival materials, accounts from friends, family, colleagues, and lovers, as well as her own words, read by actress Patricia Clarkson.
2014 • People
Set against the backdrop of breathtaking Patagonia, David Lama, the worlds youngest climbing world champion, sets out to climb an unfathomable route on Cerro Torre, a mountain once said to be the most difficult in the world.
2013 • People
"Richard Feynman is one of the most iconic, influential and inspiring scientists of the 20th century. He helped design the atomic bomb, solved the mystery of the Challenger Shuttle catastrophe and won a Nobel Prize. Now, 25 years after his death - in his own words and those of his friends and family - this is the story of the most captivating communicator in the history of science"
2013 • People
Fourteen-year-old programmer and software developer Santiago Gonzalez might just be the next Steve Jobs. He already has 15 iOS apps to his name and dreams of designing for Apple. At age 12, Santiago became a full-time college student and is on track to earn his bachelor's degree in computer science and electrical engineering by age 16. By 17, when most teenagers are excited to just have their driver's license, Santiago will have his masters degree.
2013 • People
Randoms! Documentaries
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.
6/7 • Life Story • 2014 • Nature
Just how small are atoms? And what's inside them? The answers turn out to be astounding, even for those who think they know. This fast-paced animation uses spectacular metaphors (imagine a blueberry the size of a football stadium!) to give a visceral sense of the building blocks that make our world.
The Arctic and Antarctic experience the most extreme seasons on Earth. Time-lapse cameras watch a colony of emperor penguins, transforming them into a singleorganism. The film reveals new science about the dynamics of emperor penguin behaviour. In the north, unique aerial images show a polar bear swimming more than 100km. Diving for up to two minutes at a time. The exhausted polar bear later attacks a herd of walrus in a true clash of the Titans.
6/11 • Planet Earth • 2006 • Nature
Dominion uses drones, hidden and handheld cameras to expose the dark underbelly of modern animal agriculture, questioning the morality and validity of humankind's dominion over the animal kingdom. While mainly focusing on animals used for food, it also explores other ways animals are exploited and abused by humans, including clothing, entertainment and research.
2018 • Economics
On the anniversary of the launch of one of the most successful space mission to Mars, the National Geographic Channel is set to premiere a documentary on the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) also known as Mangalyaan. The MOM, was launched on November 5 in 2013 by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and entered the orbit of the red planet on September 24, 2014. The documentary produced by Miditech captures its enthralling journey of over 650 million kilometeres. In its most daring missions to date, India successfully sent a spacecraft to orbit around Mars, making it the fourth space agency in the world and the first Asian country, to successfully send a mission to the red planet. And they did this in record time, choosing a unique route and on a shoe-string budget, pulling off what is now globally recognised as the cheapest ride to Mars! So how did the (ISRO) scientists, with no previous experience in sending an inter planetary mission, design, develop and successfully launch and navigate Mangalyaan through space? What were the hurdles they faced and what out of the box solutions did they come up with to address those challenges? Using a combination of live action, expert interviews, archive footage and graphic representations the film captures the tension and drama points of the space mission. The documentary also focus on the salient features of the mission, all the drama, excitement, last minute preparations, the countdown and the successful launch.
2017 • Astronomy
Following a large family of gorillas over nine years, this film captures many aspects of unique behavior as well as revealing touching stories of compassion among this gorilla family in the tropical rainforests of Gabon.