Latest Documentaries

Mongolia

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

Yukon

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

Sea of Cortez

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

Papua New Guinea

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

Kalahari

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

Coral Triangle

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

Patagonia

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

Congo

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

The Velvet Queen

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

Part 2

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

Part 1

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

9/11: The Saudi Connection

Twenty-five years after the 9/11 attacks killed almost 3,000 people, tens of thousands of newly released documents are shedding fresh light on the claim that individuals working for the Saudi government might have been involved. Panorama investigates the role of Omar al-Bayoumi, who helped the first two hijackers after they arrived in America. A US judge has found that he could have been an agent working on the instructions of the Saudi government – something he, and Saudi Arabia, have always denied. After being arrested by British police and held for seven days, al-Bayoumi was released and allowed to return to Saudi Arabia. But Jane McMullen, reporting for Panorama, explores whether UK officers and FBI agents had access to all the available evidence against him. She uncovers never-before-broadcast video footage, hears from people close to the case who have never spoken before and asks why significant evidence remained hidden for so long.

Panorama • 2026 • History

Recommended Documentaries

Mountains

The great mountain ranges are some of the planet's most spectacular landscapes, but they are unforgiving places to live in, and only a few animals have what it takes to live at extreme altitude. Mountain animals are amongst the most elusive in the world, and this film provides unique and intimate glimpses into their secretive lives. Witness the moment four snow leopards come together when a mother and cub become trapped between two rival males. Join grizzly bears as they dance against trees to rub off their winter fur and soar with golden eagles hunting amongst Europe's snow-capped peaks.

S1E2 • Planet Earth II • 2016 • Nature

Oceans

How oceans and organisms within them play a fundamental role in removing carbon from the atmosphere.

S1E1 • The Future of Nature • 2025 • Nature

What do brains do?

Brains and nervous systems do a lot of things, but overall their purpose seems to be to allow cells to communicate and behave together. But because gene's generally code for things that help reproduction, you can start to see harsh patterns in behavior.

This Place • 2014 • Brain

Islands

On a small island, a monumental display takes place as the giant Hatzegopteryx reveals his gentler side to woo a mate

S2E1 • Prehistoric Planet • 2023 • Nature

Feuding Brothers 1575- 1584

Mary, Queen of Scots is forced to abdicate and flee to England, where Queen Elizabeth has her imprisoned. Refusing to acknowledge her cousin as her legitimate heir, Elizabeth accepts to wed one of Catherine de Medici’s sons. In Flanders, William I requests military assistance from France.

S2E5 • The Real War of Thrones: The True History of Europe • 2018 • History

Mountains

The highest mountains on Earth are home to snow leopards, golden eagles, mountain goats, barnacle goslings, and gelada monkeys; only the toughest of animals can endure the extreme weather, scarce food supplies and limited oxygen on these peaks.

S1E1 • Hostile Planet • 2019 • Nature

Nature Documentaries

Residents

The world's cities are growing at a faster rate than any other habitat on the planet. And while most of us imagine them to be concrete jungles devoid of nature, for animals of all shapes and sizes they are just a new habitat filled with new and surprising opportunity. With similar needs to humans, these wild animals face similar challenges, and like us, if they play their cards right, they can find everything they need in the city. With the natural world shrinking, and our urban centres continuing to grow, adapting to life in the city has never been more important. This first episode examines what it takes for these wild residents to thrive in the newest and fastest changing habitat on the planet. From smooth-coated otters at home in Singapore and huge colonies of megabats in Adelaide to reticulated pythons living on the streets of Bangkok, experience our cities through fresh eyes - the eyes of the animals that live in them, and discover a wilder side to a world we think we know.

S1E1 • Cities: Nature's New Wild • 2018 • Nature

Mountains of Fire and Ice

David Schwimmer travels through the Andes, uncovering two different worlds. The Andes: one mountain range connecting two completely different worlds: A frigid ice-land and a fortress of Fire

S1E3 • Mysterious Planet • 2020 • Nature

Borneo

In the heart of south-east Asia lies the tropical island of Borneo. Twice the size of the British Isles, it is the third largest island on earth and home to possibly the greatest diversity of life of any island. Its huge variety of habitats, from bustling coral reefs and ancient jungles to towering mountains, have given rise to more than 60,000 species of plants and animals - many found nowhere else on Earth. This documentary covers Borneo's rich abundance of wildlife, from frogs to orang-utans.

S1E2 • Earth's Tropical Islands • 2020 • Nature

Little Hunters

They might be young and vulnerable, but every second of these baby animals' lives is a training ground, preparing them for their destiny as an elite predator. Watch as young lions, coyotes, cheetahs, and foxes engage in the kind of play that prepares them for life at the top of the food chain.

S1E5 • Baby Animals • 2016 • Nature

Attenborough's Wonder of Song

Sir David Attenborough chooses his favourite recordings from the natural world that have revolutionised our understanding of song. Each one - from the song of the largest lemur to the song of the humpback whale to the song of the lyrebird - was recorded in his lifetime. When Sir David was born, the science of song had already been transformed by Charles Darwin’s theory of sexual selection: singing is dangerous as it reveals the singer’s location to predators, but it also offers the male a huge reward, the chance to attract a female and pass on genes to the next generation. Hence males sing and females don't. Today, new science in the field of birdsong is transforming those long-held ideas. Scientists are discovering that, in fact, in the majority of all songbird species, females sing - and it is only now they are being properly heard. Through this revelation and others, we can understand that animal songs are marvelous examples of the spectacular survival strategies that species have developed in order to stay alive.

2021 • Nature

Super-Senses

Richard Hammond continues his exploration of weird and wonderful animal abilities by focusing on super-senses, and discovers how those same animal senses have inspired some unlikely human inventions. Richard gets buried in a Californian gold mine, attempts to talk to a rattlesnake by telephone, and is taken for a ride by a monster truck that drives itself. Along the way, he encounters elephants who can talk to each other through solid rock; seals who use their whiskers to sense the shape, size, speed and direction of an object that passed over thirty seconds earlier; and a blind cyclist who relies on fruit bats to get him safely down a twisting mountain bike trail.

S1E2 • Richard Hammond's Miracles of Nature • 2012 • Nature

Physics Documentaries

Tesla: Master of Lightning

This documentary presents the story of Nikola Tesla, the great scientist, visionary, and inventor who gave the world alternating current electricity, as well as being the father of radio. The film tells the story of this man's astonishing genius, his visions and inventions. Tesla's own scientific and autobiographical writings, as well as archival photographs and re-enactments are used to tell the story. A native of Austro-Hungary, Tesla came to America in 1884. Working first with Edison, the two inventors fell out over Edison's insistence on using direct current. Tesla took his alternating current vision to Westinghouse. His New York address was renowned for the bolts of lightning emanating from it, as Tesla worked to unlock the secrets of energy and electricity. His quest took him to Colorado. The film follows Tesla's exploits and eccentricities, which made him a darling of the press. Included is the well-known and touching story of his devotion to a certain white pigeon. Largely forgotten today in spite of the great debt the modern world owes him, the film pays tribute to this overlooked genius.

2007 • Physics

The Secret Life of Ice

Ice is one of the strangest, most beguiling and mesmerising substances in the world. Full of contradictions, it is transparent, yet it can glow with colour, it is powerful enough to shatter rock, but it can melt in the blink of an eye. It takes many shapes, from the fleeting beauty of a snowflake to the multimillion-tonne vastness of a glacier and the eeriness of the ice fountains of far-flung moons. Science writer Dr Gabrielle Walker has been obsessed with ice ever since she first set foot on Arctic sea ice. In this programme, she searches out some of the secrets hidden deep within the ice crystal to try to discover how something so ephemeral has the power to sculpt landscapes, to preserve our past and inform our future.

2011 • Physics

Einstein and Hawking: Unlocking the Universe

Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking were revolutionary thinkers who changed everything we know about our universe, and using the latest discoveries, experts explore the connections between these two great minds.

2019 • Physics

100 Greatest Discoveries - Physics

The 100 greatest discoveries in Physics!

Physics

Measure for Measure Quantum Physics and Reality

When no one is looking, a particle has near limitless potential: it can be nearly anywhere. But measure it, and the particle snaps to one position. How do subatomic objects shed their quantum weirdness? Experts in the field of physics, including David Z. Albert, Sean Carroll, Sheldon Goldstein, Ruediger Schack, and moderator Brian Greene, discuss the history of quantum mechanics, current theories in the field, and possibilities for the future.

World Science Festival • 2014 • Physics

Can We Travel Faster than Light?

It's called the speed limit of the universe. Einstein blew all of our minds when he worked out the Theory of Relativity, and showed that space and time were malleable substances. He also theorized that we as humans can never travel faster than the speed of light, which leaves the stars and other galaxies almost impossibly out of our reach. But the dreams of Star Wars and Star Trek are not dead. In fact, there could be ways to travel faster than the speed of light - and some of them are already being tested in labs around the world.

S2E08 • Through the Wormhole • Physics

Random! Documentaries

The Wrist Watch, the Digital Watch, the Prosthetic Leg

We explore the hidden history and super science of the wrist watch, the digital watch and the prosthetic leg.

2/10 • Incredible Inventions • 2017 • Technology

A Space Odyssey

First-hand accounts of those who made possible mankind's greatest achievement.

S1E3 • Blue Sky Metropolis • 2020 • Technology

King Tut: A Century Of Secrets

A century after the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb, this documentary uncovers new insights and hidden secrets behind Egypt’s most famous young pharaoh.

2022 • History

On Guitar... Lenny Kaye!

Lenny Kaye, Patti Smith’s guitarist, explains how the quest for new guitar sounds has driven the history of popular music, from Les Paul’s first guitar to Bo Diddley’s tremolo, Duane Eddy’s whammy bar, Keith Richards’s fuzz pedal, The Who’s feedback, The Byrds’ 12-string, Hendrix’s wah-wah pedal, Uli Roth and Van Halen’s shredding, The Edge’s digital delay, Ry Cooder’s slide, and KT Tunstall and Ed Sheeran’s looper pedals. With Duane Eddy, Roger McGuinn, The Edge, Bonnie Raitt, Seasick Steve, KT Tunstall, Joe Bonamassa, Uli Roth, Vernon Reid, Heart’s Nancy Wilson, The Runaways’ Lita Ford and producer Shel Talmy.

S1E3 • Guitar, Drum and Bass • 2019 • Music

Grasslands

Glimpse into grasslands where the biggest animal numbers are found, and see how animal life helps to draw down carbon.

S1E2 • The Future of Nature • 2025 • Nature

Bioinspired Robots

Mankind has always looked at nature to solve problems, taking a cue from the solutions that biological systems have refined through natural selection. In this episode we look at a robotic plant that mimics the mechanics of plant roots, and dive underwater to see robots inspired by fish.

S1E2 • The Age of Robots • 2016 • Technology