Documentary AreaSimply the best Documentaries

Dr Alice Roberts re-traces the greatest ever journey taken by our ancestors. Thousands of years ago one small group of our species, Homo sapiens, crossed out of Africa and into the unknown. Their descendants faced baking deserts, sweat-soaked jungles and frozen wildernesses and risked everything on the vast empty ocean. Within 60,000 years they colonised the whole world... How did they do it? Why do we, their descendants all look so different?

Jungles cover roughly three per cent of our planet yet contain 50 per cent of the world's species. High-definition cameras enable unprecedented views of animals living on the dark jungle floor. In the Ngogo forest the largest chimpanzee group in the world defends its territory from neighbouring groups. Other jungle specialists include parasitic fungi which infiltrate an insect host, feed on it, and then burst out of its body.

The Last Shaman James is an all American boy whose promising life is brought to a halt by acute depression. Turning his back on the most progressive western treatments and medicines, James discovers ayahuasca in search of healing in the Peruvian jungle. Over the course of 10 months venturing from Shaman to Shaman, James finds friendship, answers and a kind of redemption hidden deep in the Peruvian amazon. (Click CC for subtitles)

After a small plane crashes, four indigenous children struggle to survive in the Colombian Amazon jungle, relying on ancestral wisdom as an unprecedented rescue mission unfolds amid the jungle's challenges. Directed by Oscar winner Orlando von Einsiedel, this documentary tells the incredible story from the point of view of those involved in this epic rescue: the children's family, indigenous communities and leaders, and the Colombian army.

It was 1985. Guns N' Roses were soon to be known as the last mammoth rock entity to come out of LA after selling over 100 million albums. Jon Brewer brings alive never-before-seen video footage of Guns N' Roses in their earliest days as a fledgling band, filmed and meticulously archived over the years by their close friend. They became known as 'the most dangerous band in the world' and retained the title for reasons this film portrays, via interviews with band members and those who were there on, and off, tour. Venture down seedy Sunset Strip to the Whiskey, the Rainbow and the Roxy, all known as 'the Jungle'.

Eugene Levy, a celebrated actor and self-confessed travel skeptic forces himself into the discomfort of jetting across the globe, visiting dazzling destinations he would normally avoid. With his trademark wit and unease, he peels back the gloss of travel, dipping toes into local customs, natural wonders, and cultural rituals, transforming each journey into a quietly emotional reckoning with what it means to explore, to connect, and to grow.
In episodes 1 through 4, the adventure starts in the Arctic north of Finland, where he tries ice fishing, feeds reindeer, rides in a husky sled and chases the aurora borealis. Then he plunges into the Costa Rican jungle, sleeping high among trees and confronting wild creatures. In Venice he lounges at a historic palazzo, bonds with a gondolier and reflects on his life and family. Finally, a helicopter drops him into the stark desert at Amangiri in Utah, where he absorbs breathtaking landscapes and engages with the Navajo Nation while battling his own nerves.