Cosmos: A Personal Voyage

Carl Sagan covers a wide range of scientific subjects, including the origin of life and a perspective of our place in the universe.

The Ascent of Money

Historian Niall Ferguson tells the story of money and the rise of global finance. Bringing context and understanding to the current economic crisis, he reveals how the history of finance has been punctuated by gut-wrenching crashes.

Pain, Pus and Poison: The Search for Modern Medicines

In this "entertaining medical series" (The Sunday Times, U.K.), Dr. Michael Mosley shows how drugs have revolutionized medicine and changed the course of human history. Unfolding over a period of 200 years, it's an extraordinary tale of daring, self-experimentation, revelation, genius, and outright luck.

First Man

Which of the great primates of 25 million years ago is our common ancestor? Is it pierolapithecus? Follow the journey of primates developing into Homo erectus and then to Homo sapiens through the millions of years of evolution and the thousands of miles of migrations.

Bill Bailey's Jungle Hero

Bill meets wildlife in Borneo and Indonesia to tell the story of Darwin's rival Wallace.

Bushfires: Inside the Inferno

Nowhere else in the world is so regularly ravaged by infernos of the intensity, scale and destructive force of the Australian bushfire. As our population grows and spreads and as the effects of climate change are felt, the danger to loss of life and property escalates. What do we know about bushfires and how can we prevent their devastating consequences? Not surprisingly, Australia is a world leader in fire research and the complex and technologically sophisticated job of fire fighting and prevention. Inside The Inferno takes us into the terrifying heart of major fire events, unfolding the research that explains how fires start, grow and change; and how we predict them, prevent them, fight them and hopefully survive these violent natural disasters. Inside The Inferno explores not only the devastating mega fires such as Black Saturday in Victoria 2009 and the Canberra fires of 2003, but also major fire-fronts that received little attention.

Evolution

All the incredible diversity of animal life sprang from a single organism. Every animal, no matter how weird, is related to every other. And behind each species is an incredible story of the millions of generations that gave rise to it - every animal we know and love today sprang from creatures that looked nothing like it.

David Attenborough's Natural Curiosities

Sir David shines the spotlight on some of nature’s evolutionary anomalies and reveals how these curious animals continue to baffle and fascinate.

Walking with Cavemen

Professor Robert Winston meets Lucy, the first upright ape, and follows her ancestors on the three-million-year journey to civilisation.

David Attenborough's Rise of Animals: Triumph of the Vertebrates

David Attenborough embarks on a remarkable 500 million-year journey revealing the extraordinary group of animals that dominate our world, and how their evolution defines our human bodies.

Darwin's Dangerous Idea

Andrew Marr explores how Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection has taken on a life of its own far beyond the world of science.

Evolution Earth

Traveling to the far corners of the world, we discover the extraordinary ways animals are adapting to our rapidly changing planet. We witness nature’s remarkable resilience, as our perception of evolution and its potential is forever transformed.

Body Invaders

Mankind: The Story of All of Us

Mankind The Story of All of Us is an epic 12-hour television event about the greatest adventure of all time—the history of the human race. It takes 10 billion years for the ideal planet to form and 3 billion more for the right conditions to emerge before it finally happens: mankind begins. From there unfolds a fast-paced story told here through key turning points—stepping stones in our journey from hunter-gatherer to global citizen. It’s a tale of connections—why some ideas take hold and spread around the globe, and how the lives of people in one part of the world are shaped by events in another.

Victorian Pharmacy

Victorian Pharmacy is a historical documentary TV series in four parts, first shown on BBC Two in July 2010. It was made for the BBC by independent production company Lion Television. It was filmed at Blists Hill Victorian Town in Shropshire. It is a historical documentary that looks at life in the 19th Century and how people attempted to cure common ailments. Since some of the ingredients of Victorian remedies are now either illegal or known to be dangerous, Nick Barber often uses his modern pharmaceutical knowledge to produce similar products without those ingredients. The other main presenters are Tom Quick, a PhD student, and Ruth Goodman, a domestic historian who also appeared in Tales from the Green Valley, Victorian Farm and Edwardian Farm.

First Peoples

A five-part series that features the latest research exploring how early humans evolved. See how the mixing of prehistoric human genes led the way for our species to survive and thrive around the globe. Archaeology, genetics and anthropology cast new light on 200,000 years of history, detailing how early humans became dominant.

The Body in Question

The Body in Question is a landmark British medical documentary series of 13 shows made for the BBC. It was a groundbreaking show, being the first to ever televise an autopsy (in the final show on 29 Jan 1979). Dr Jonathan Miller considers the functioning of the body as a subject of private experience. He explores our attitudes towards our bodies, our ignorance of them, and our inability to read our body's signals. The first episode starts with vox populi asking where various organs in the body are located. By the final episode we are left in no doubt. Taking as his starting point the experience of pain, Dr Miller analyses the elaborate social process of "falling ill", considers the physical foundations of "disease" and looks at the types of individuals humankind has historically attributed with the power of healing. The series was nominated for two 1979 BAFTAs: Best Factual Television Series and Most Original Programme/Series.

Jon Richardson Grows Up

This three-part series follows comedian Jon Richardson and his friend Matt Forde as they face up to the adult realities of mortgages, marriage and parenthood.

Money, Explained

We spend it, we borrow it, and save it. Now let's talk about money and its many minefields, from credit cards to casino, scammers to student loans.

Taste: The Flavor of Life