Documentary AreaSimply the best Documentaries

Across the universe, galaxies are going dark, and scientists don't know why the stars are losing their shine. Something is slowly drawing the curtains closed on the universe. Our milky way is under threat. Astronomers race against time to uncover the truth behind how galaxies are born and how they die before all of the lights go out.

The fantastical tale of King Arthur, the hero warrior, is one of the great themes of British literature. But was it just invented to restore British pride after the Norman invasion? Michael Wood puts the king in the spotlight.

The jeweled-encrusted pectoral of King Tut is a hieroglyphic artefact of stunning craftsmanship and one of the greatest treasures of the pharaohs. Was this ancient glass scarab in Tutankhamun's tomb created by forces from beyond our world? Using new research and the latest tech, experts confront the ancient mystery of its flawless glass scarab.
Is a 4,000 year old clay tablet the original instruction manual for Noah's ark? And how can a bizarre red moon rock contain signs of life?

In the heart of Zambia, along the banks of the Luangwa River, a raw struggle for dominance unfolds in a land both rich and unforgiving. Four rival families—leopards, hyenas, wild dogs, and lions—are bound together by fate as they battle to survive and claim this remote African paradise as their own. Filmed entirely in one extraordinary location, the documentary reveals how power shifts with the seasons, how alliances fracture, and how survival depends on constant adaptation in a kingdom where every decision can mean life or death.
In the first three episodes, the fight for control intensifies. Leopard Mutima’s bond with her mother reaches breaking point just as the balance of power begins to tilt toward the lions, forcing hyenas and wild dogs to struggle desperately to protect their young. Leopard Olimba finds a mate, but fortune soon turns against the lion pride, while extreme flooding brings catastrophe to the hyena clan. As the land transforms and dangers multiply, the moment arrives for Mutima to leave and face her destiny alone, marking a turning point in the battle to rule this fragile kingdom.

In the final three episodes, life in this Zambian stronghold reaches a decisive turning point as survival becomes more fragile than ever. An injured wild dog named Flint defies the odds by helping care for Storm’s largest litter of pups, while leopard Mutima continues her perilous search for a territory to call home. At the same time, the lions face pressures beyond their control, forcing shifts in dominance as age, injury, and the land itself begin to reshape the balance of power.
The closing chapter deepens the drama and the emotion. Leopard Olimba struggles with the weight of old age, the wild dogs’ story takes an unexpected turn, and both lions and hyenas experience a baby boom that raises a final question: who truly rules this kingdom now? The series concludes by revealing the unseen human effort behind the scenes, introducing the filmmakers, conservationists, and anti-poaching teams whose extraordinary work protects South Luangwa and the fragile lives that depend on it.

Written and presented by David Attenborough, who said: 'One of the most wonderful things about filming plants is that you can reveal hidden aspects of their lives, you can capture the moment as one plant strangles another, and as they burst into flower. But whilst time-lapse photography allows you to see things that no human being has ever seen before". David begins his journey inside the magnificent Palm House, a unique global rainforest in London. Here, he explores the extraordinary plants that are so well adapted to wet and humid environments and unravels the intimate relationships between wet zone plants and the animals that depend on them. It was in the wet zones of the world that plants first moved on to land and in the Waterlily House David reveals how flowers first evolved some 140 million years ago. Watching a kaleidoscope of breath-taking time-lapses of these most primitive of flowers swelling and blooming in 3D, he is able to piece together the very first evolutionary steps that plants took to employ a wealth of insects to carry their precious pollen for the first time. David discovers clues to answer a question that even had Charles Darwin stumped: how did flowering plants evolve so fast to go on to colonise the entire planet so successfully?