Documentary AreaSimply the best Documentaries

Andrew Graham-Dixon reveals how the Medici family transformed Florence through sculpture, painting and architecture and created a world where masterpieces fetch millions today. Without the money and patronage of the Medici we might never have heard of artists such as Donatello, Michelangelo or Botticelli, and Graham-Dixon examines how a family of shadowy, corrupt businessmen, driven by greed and ambition, became the financial engine behind the Italian Renaissance.

The BBC has made an extraordinary new documentary, presented by Sir David Attenborough, which will reveal the discovery of a fossilised skeleton that may be a vital ‘missing link’ in human evolution. The centrepiece of the programme is the unveiling of the first-ever complete skeleton of an extinct animal called an adapid

Michael Wood’s epic series moves on to the revolutionary years after 500BC - the Age of the Buddha. Travelling by rail to the ancient cities of the Ganges plain, by army convoy through Northern Iraq, and on down the Khyber Pass, he shows how Alexander the Great’s invasion of India inspired her first empire.

A gripping documentary that delves into the shadowy world of social media algorithms, revealing how they amplify harmful content and controversial figures like Andrew Tate. With exclusive interviews from his critics, supporters, and those who know him personally, the film exposes the shocking truth behind Tate's rise to infamy and influence. It asks a critical question: how does someone with such toxic, misogynistic views manage to captivate millions of young followers, despite facing charges of rape and human trafficking?
This film goes beyond the surface of Tate’s controversial persona to uncover the disturbing power of social media platforms. By pulling back the curtain on the algorithms designed to promote extreme and inflammatory content for profit, it paints a chilling picture of the real-world consequences of online hate. A must-watch for anyone seeking to understand the dangerous intersection of internet culture and its impact on society.

The films begins at the Maine Correctional Center where Jacinta, 26, and her mother Rosemary, 46, are incarcerated together, both recovering from drug addiction. As a child, Jacinta became entangled in her mother's world of drugs and crime and has followed her in and out of the system since she was a teenager. This time, as Jacinta is released from prison, she hopes to maintain her sobriety and reconnect with her own daughter, Caylynn, 10. Despite her desire to rebuild her life for her daughter, Jacinta continually struggles against the forces that first led to her addiction.
With unparalleled access and a gripping vérité approach, director Jessica Earnshaw paints a deeply intimate portrait of mothers and daughters and the effects of trauma over generations.

The turbulent life of soul and blues singer, the late Joe Cocker. A former gas fitter from Sheffield, catapulted to world stardom in 1969 at Woodstock with his legendary performance of the Beatles song, 'A Little Help from My Friends'. But in the early 1970s, Joe Cocker's inner demons nearly killed him. Overcoming his struggles with alcohol and drugs, he rebuilt his reputation as 'one of the great primal rock and roll vocalists of all time' (Billy Joel).