North Korea Undercover

44:00

Even during the brutality of the Dark Ages, the Vikings of Northern Europe were considered particularly fearsome, ruthless, and dangerous. For centuries, historians believed all Viking warriors were men, but new archaeological discoveries on a small island in central Sweden have revealed evidence that some of the fighters were women. See how modern forensic testing helped identify the sex of one female war chief.

2019 • History

59:09

Tracing the origins of Egypt's unique visual style, he treks across the Sahara and travels the Nile to find the rarely-seen art of its earliest peoples. Exploring how this civilisation's art reflected its religion, he looks anew at the Great Pyramid, and the statuary and painting of the Old Kingdom. Sooke is amazed by the technical prowess of ancient artists whose skills confound contemporary craftsmen.

S1E1 • Treasures of Ancient Egypt • 2014 • History

24:36

The shape of Japan's internal politics and the country's response to external influences for centuries can be traced back to the choices of two warlords and a decisive battle. What was the Edo Period and how did it mold Japanese society?

S1E8 • Butterfly Effect • 2016 • History

59:31

Driven by hatred and conquest, Hitler expands German territory while laying the groundwork for war and the concentration camp system.

S1E4 • Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial • 2024 • History

74:87

This first programme in a two-part series investigates what Neanderthals looked like and how they lived in their Ice Age world. It turns out that almost everything we thought we knew about them is wrong. They weren't hunched, grunting, knuckle-dragging ape-men at all. In reality they were faster, smarter, better looking - and much more like us than we ever thought. Our guide is Ella Al-Shamahi, a young, British, rising star in Neanderthal research, with an unusual side-line as a stand-up comic She enlists the skills of Andy Serkis, the global movie star and master of performance capture, best known as Gollum in the Lord of the Rings and Caesar in Planet of the Apes

S1E1 • Neanderthals: Meet Your Ancestors • 2018 • History

58:59

Simon Schama explores one of our deepest artistic urges - the depiction of nature. Simon discovers that landscape painting is seldom a straightforward description of observed nature - rather it is a projection of dreams and idylls, as well as of escapes and refuges from human turmoil, the elusive paradise on earth.

3/10 • Civilisations • 2018 • History