Documentary AreaSimply the best Documentaries

New planets are now being discovered outside our solar system on a regular basis, and these strange new worlds are forcing scientists to rewrite the history of our own solar system. Far from a simple story of stable orbits, the creation of our solar system is a tale of hellfire, chaos and planetary pinball. It's a miracle our Earth is here at all.

This remarkable series profiles on the major defendants of the Nuremberg war crimes trials. In the first episode, Nathaniel Parker plays the most inscrutable Nazi on trial at Nuremberg, Hitler's architect and armaments minister Albert Speer.
He was the only defendant who unreservedly accepted responsibility for the Nazis' crimes. But was Speer's remorse genuine or just a clever defense strategy to get off the hook? The film tells the intriguing behind-the scenes-story of Speer's trial and his showdown with unrepentant rival, Hermann Goering.

Ant colonies are one of the wonders of nature - complex, organised and mysterious. This programme reveals the secret, underground world of the ant colony in a way that's never been seen before. At its heart is a massive, full-scale ant nest, specially designed and built to allow cameras to see its inner workings. The nest is a new home for a million-strong colony of leafcutter ants from Trinidad. For a month, entomologist Dr George McGavin and leafcutter expert Professor Adam Hart capture every aspect of the life of the colony, using time-lapse cameras, microscopes, microphones and radio tracking technology.

The world of bugs normally passes beneath our notice, yet shrink yourself to their size, see them in 3D and you’ll enter a world you’d never believe existed. Big Bugs in 3D uses specially developed 3D technology to take the viewer on a global journey, from Mexico and the rainforests of Asia to our own backyards. There are perhaps four and a half million different kinds of bugs sharing the planet with us. They exist in a bewildering variety of forms, some more like creatures from an alien world. Big Bugs asks how and why these creatures have become so successful.

A majestic presence, towering over Paris for more than 130 years, the Eiffel Tower is an iconic symbol of 19th-century progress and grandeur. When it was built for the 1889 Paris world’s fair, its creator, Gustave Eiffel, was at the height of his fame and ready to take on the dream of every engineer and architect - to build the world’s tallest man-made structure. He had just two years, two months and five days to erect his 300-metre iron colossus. Drawing on three decades of civil engineering innovation and works across the globe, Eiffel, a magician of iron building, was perfectly poised for this extraordinary feat.

Around the world, food allergies are surging to near-epidemic levels. Medicine is just beginning to understand why some people react to seemingly harmless foods. Scientists race to understand what's changed in our bodies, while farmers and chefs contend with new challenges.