Hiroshima • 2005

87:47

Begins by looking at the story of Franz Honiok, a 43-year-old farmer who is often considered the first victim of the Second World War, before going on to show that when Germany invaded Poland in August 1939, no-one was ready for war.

S1E1 • World War II in Numbers • 2019 • History

46:53

The story of Henry VIII's fear of Catholic Europe, told via his castles, cannons and spies. The first episode examines the surviving traces of Henry VIII's fear of invasion from Catholic Europe through physical reminders, including mighty castles and cannons, that survive to this day. At her headquarter in Walmer Castle, built in 1540 in Kent to defend the town against a French invasion, Alice gets her hands on a vast hoard of Tudor coins and a 500-year-old jousting scorecard, as she learns how Henry's greed and ambition led him to bankrupt the nation and lay the foundations for the modern secret service. Danielle visits Henry's mighty castle at Deal and witnesses the awesome power of the cannons built to defend England, while Onyeka gets within touching distance of the iconic Mary Rose.

S1E1 • Fortress Britain • 2022 • History

29:48

Humans have depended on fire for millennia, but do we fully understand the impact it has had on our diet? When our hunter-gatherer ancestors learned to harness this tool, it ignited a culinary and cerebral revolution believed to be one of the most important factors in our evolution.

S1E1 • The History of Food • 2018 • History

52:45

Some just counted tanks, others stole blueprints for bombs. The Cold War was the battleground for thousands of spies and spotters. Even the Allied Military Missions in Germany doubled as covert observers in the spying game.

S1E1 • The Spying Game Tales from the Cold War • 2018 • History

44:55

Episode five tells how, after 1916 and the hell of the Somme and Verdun, the imperial powers redoubled their efforts to crush their enemies.

S01E05 • The Great War in Numbers • 2017 • History

59:26

Andrew Marr sets off on an epic journey through 70,000 years of human history. Using dramatic reconstructions, documentary filming around the world and cutting-edge computer graphics, he reveals the decisive moments that shaped the world we live in today, telling stories we thought we knew and others we were never told. (Part 1: Survival) Starting with our earliest beginnings in Africa, Marr traces the story of our nomadic ancestors as they spread out around the world and settled down to become the first farmers and townspeople. He uncovers extraordinary hand-prints left in European caves nearly 30,000 years ago and shows how human ingenuity led to inventions which are still with us today. He also discovers how the first civilisations were driven to extremes to try to overcome the forces of nature, adapting and surviving against the odds, and reveals how everyday life in ancient Egypt had more in common with today's soap operas than might be imagined.

S1E1 • Andrew Marr's History of the World • 2012 • History