Historian William Dalrymple travels to Hyderabad in India to explore the remarkable 18th-century love affair between a British diplomat and the Muslim princess he married. Tensions ran high when an Englishman fell for a Mughal ruler's daughter.
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21 Apr 2016
Norwegian researcher Petter Amundsen claims to have deciphered a secret code hidden in legendary playwright William Shakespeare's works that reveals a map leading to the location of certain treasures. British Shakespearean scholar Robert Crumpton embarks on a mission to prove he is spectacularly wrong. (A remake of “Shakespeare: The Hidden Truth,” including new discoveries.)
14 Mar 2021
This is the dramatic global story of the first year of COVID-19, tracing the devastation caused by the spread of the virus across four continents.
15 Apr 2021
Never-before-seen footage shows how our living in lockdown opened the door for nature to bounce back and thrive. Across the seas, skies, and lands, Earth found its rhythm when we came to a stop.
27 Apr 2014
England, 11th century. William the Conqueror (ca. 1027-1087) wins the Battle of Hastings (1066), changing the shape of medieval Europe and the course of English history. An account of the life of the extraordinary Norman warrior who became king.
08 Apr 2015
Henry VIII is the most iconic king of English history. Part medieval tyrant, part renaissance prince, he ruled over his people as no king of England had ever done before. He took a country salvaged by his father from the wreck of civil war and set over it a single, sovereign ruler. By the end of his reign the power of the Tudor.
12 Nov 2021
A special celebrating the origins and legacy of Star Wars' legendary bounty hunter, Boba Fett.
10 Aug 2003
In the late 70s and early 80s, ET phoned home on Atari 2600 and became the video game that New Media magazine later described as having toppled a billion dollar industry. We know the industry rose again as a pale, commercial version of its old self, but… did you ever wonder what it was like back in the wild days when the titans of gaming clashed, not on Wall Street, but inside the minds of designers? Want to learn first hand how the barren valley south of The Bay gave birth to cult celebrity that died as quickly as it was born? Take the ride with the folks who made it happen. Walk on walls, smoke the evil weed, and plunge head first into the uncharted (undocumented) world that was game production back in the bad old days.
03 Jun 1994
A psycho-geographic journey through London and its history, as undertaken by an unseen narrator and his companion, Robinson, at the time of the 1992 general election.
15 Mar 2013
How the spirit of unity, which buoyed Britain during the war years, carried through to create a vision of a fairer, united society.
08 Jan 1928
Under the tutelage of anthropologist Franz Boas (her former Columbia professor) and Harlem Renaissance arts patron Charlotte Osgood Mason, Zora Neale Hurston spent nearly two years, from 1927 to 1929, studying the folkloric customs, work songs, spirituals, and vernacular language of African American communities along the River Road and from New Orleans to Florida.
31 May 2006
Long treated with indifference by critics and historians, British silent cinema has only recently undergone the reevaluation it has long deserved, revealing it to be far richer than previously acknowledged. This documentary, featuring clips from a remarkable range of films, celebrates the early years of British filmmaking and spans from such pioneers as George Albert Smith and Cecil Hepworth to such later figures as Anthony Asquith, Maurice Elvey and, of course, Alfred Hitchcock.
24 Aug 2020
The painful story of Ireland and the Irish people, who struggled for centuries to free themselves from the tyrannical clutches of the British Empire; an epic tale of poverty, hunger, despair, violence and unyielding courage.
20 Dec 2019
Recreating festivities from Henry VIII's era, Lucy Worsley dresses, eats, drinks, sings and parties like it is 500 years ago - discovering long-lost traditions as well as familiar customs.
15 Nov 2019
His opponents accused him of being homosexual. The male favorites he gathered around him during his short life gave those malevolent enemies solid arguments to do so. He would not have failed if he had proved himself to be an energetic king. But Edward II of England (1284-1327) never was a king like Edward I Longshanks, his father, or Edward III, his son, were. And his end is shrouded in myth and mystery.
12 Feb 2018
Mary Beard is on a mission to uncover the real Julius Caesar, and to challenge public perception, exploring Caesar's surprising legacy.
14 Feb 2017
Researchers discover that Aliens from another world assisted in the evolution of man and were the genesis of a very real bloodline that remains intact today. The Aliens left Earth millennia ago, but the signs are growing daily.
27 Feb 2013
In this special follow-up programme, the only television team with access to the dig and the scientific tests on the skeleton uses unseen footage and conducts two days of additional interviews to tell this extraordinary forensic detective story in even greater scientific and archaeological detail.
23 Jun 2019
Caroline Sturdy Colls, a world leader in the forensic investigation of Nazi crime scenes, is chasing clues to an unsolved case: a concentration camp that existed on the British island of Alderney. Witnesses and survivors claimed that thousands died there, but only 389 bodies have ever been found. Under heavy restrictions imposed by the local government, which may not want its buried secrets revealed, Colls must uncover the truth using revolutionary techniques and technologies.
24 Aug 2019
Professor Saul David examines Prince Albert's role in shaping British culture, governmental policy and international relations in Victorian Britain.
21 Dec 2018
Historian Lucy Worsley restages the 1840 wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Aided by a team of experts, Worsley recreates the most important elements of the ceremony and the celebrations, scouring history books, archives, newspapers and Queen Victoria's diaries for the details. She reveals how every moment was brilliantly stage-managed for maximum effect. Woven into the recreation of the wedding day is the story of Victoria and Albert's courtship and engagement, and its political importance.