Documentary AreaSimply the best Documentaries

During 1964-1969 both sides now plan to put a man on the Moon - while the Soviets struggle, the Americans pull ahead in the space race with Project Gemini, but then suffer a disaster with the Apollo 1 fire. The Soviet space programme suffers its own blows: Sergei Korolev dies when his heart fails during an operation, Soyuz 1 crashes and kills cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov, and their planned moon rocket, the N-1 rocket, fails to successfully launch. In America, von Braun has difficulties with the Saturn V, but they are overcome, and the rocket successfully launches the first manned lunar mission, Apollo 8, and the first manned lunar landing, Apollo 11.

Beneath the modern streets of Rome lies a city of breathtaking scale and ambition, once the heart of an empire that shaped the world. In this 15-part journey, archaeologist Dr. Darius Arya becomes your guide into a vivid time machine, where stunning CGI reconstructions resurrect the capital in all its glory. From the steamy elegance of vast bath complexes to the roar of chariot races, from awe-inspiring temples to political halls where history was forged, each episode reveals how engineering brilliance, artistic mastery, and human will transformed humble hills into the Eternal City. This is not just a tour of ruins—it’s Rome as its citizens once knew it.

The fourth episode plunges us into the heart of the jungle for an exciting story of power, politics, and survival. Days after a fierce battle with Western rivals, Jackson, the alpha male, grapples with the aftermath of his injuries. The strength of an alpha is paramount, and physical frailty can quickly translate into political vulnerability. While Jackson's allies waver, Abrams and Wilson see a golden opportunity to seize control.
As Abrams makes strategic moves against Jackson, the forest resonates with news of the ongoing power struggle, attracting the attention of external threats. Battles for leadership are perilous, with uncertain outcomes for both the reigning alpha and the ambitious challenger. This episode promises an intriguing exploration of chimpanzee society and their relentless pursuit of dominance.

In the heart of America's opioid epidemic, four men attempt to reinvent their lives and reenter society sober after years of drug abuse. Recovery Boys, from director Elaine McMillion Sheldon, is an intimate look at the strength, brotherhood, and courage that it takes to overcome addiction and lays bare the internal conflict of recovery and the external hurdles of an unforgiving society.

It is fairly extraordinary that this film exists. The level of access attained by Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger over their 15-month period embedded with the Second Platoon, Battle Company, 173rd Airborne Brigade allows for an incredibly unvarnished account -- including footage of deaths both civilian and military. It's perhaps the most intimate and unflinching examination yet of the processes of modern warfare -- and an exhilarating, heartrending, profoundly moving film in its own right.

Spring has sprung at Diddly Squat Farm, and that heralds the release of cows and chickens from their winter captivity. Jeremy's restaurant plans are in tatters, but that's not the end of his dealings with the council, who are also sending letters raising issues about what's being sold in the shop itself. From here on in, Jeremy decides that he and all around him must operate in a world of loop-holes and just-within-the-law cunning wheezes. Pepper the prized heifer still isn't pregnant and her last chance saloon arrives in the shape of a bull called Break Heart Maestro.
A chat with Alan the builder provides a Eureka Moment: the restaurant idea is not dead after all! There's much excitement as building work begins and Jeremy meets a chef called Pip. There's less excitement when he has to take his first steer to the abattoir.