Documentary AreaSimply the best Documentaries

A child lies on the rug of a tenement dreaming of interstellar adventures. At the dawn of the space age, a young Carl Sagan’s career is forged in the clash of his mentors, two scientific titans. Sagan goes on realize his childhood dreams, to carry their research forward and communicate its significance to the whole world.

Giacomo Casanova has long been hailed as a lustful beast who romped his way around Europe bedding as many women as he could. He lived a life of adventure, comedy and drama and raised questions about human relationships and sexuality that are still relevant today. How has our view of him changed in these modern times? Although this reputation is well-deserved, it doesn't tell the whole story. Casanova was also a talented and charming cheat who consorted with figures across the social spectrum - from prostitutes and pimps, to kings.

A team of Australian and Chinese scientists discover mysterious ancient human remains from a remote cave in South West China. The bones are unlike any living human or any ancient human known to science, yet they were alive at the same time as humans of our own kind. Could they represent a new human species? And if so, what happened to these people?

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

This featured film sheds new light on a possible cover up spanning two continents. It's not only a tale about the airship's demise, but sinister secrets including ties to the Nazi party. Plus rarely seen footage of crash from inside the ship.