Documentary AreaSimply the best Documentaries

Our lifespan is increasing by 2.5 years every decade - and a third of all babies born today can expect to live to 100. But living longer can come at a cost. Old age itself brings with it a range of debilitating illnesses, many of which are the result of accumulating damage during our lifetime. Three diseases in particular have become the main killers in the developed world - cancer, heart disease and dementia. But a revolution in bio-medicine is now offering new hope for the treatment of these ailments, and the potential to extend our lives still further. Methods such as gene editing and stem cell therapies are transforming the way medicine can conquer disease today. "How to Live Longer" counts with the guide of the Nobel laureate Sir Paul Nurse, for whom the big question isn't just what science can do to fix our bodies and extend our lives, but whether it's right to use all the tools and techniques available.

One of the world's biggest bands return to the scene of their Live Aid triumph a year earlier to play all their greatest hits in front of a packed Wembley Stadium.
Everything is done right and to perfection here. There is a majesty in the filming and editing that is missing in the other performances. Maybe it's the energy of this awesome Wembley crowd. Shot just before sunset, the transition to night time is magic and Freddie commands! He is loved by and connected to the crowd like very few performers. The sound is stellar, Brian is in great form, the harmonies are spot on, it is incredible to realize this wall of great sound is coming mostly from a live trio.

This episode tells the tale of what's broadly considered China's most creative dynasty - the Song (960-1279). Michael Wood heads to the city of Kaifeng, the greatest city in the world before the 19th century. Here in Twin Dragon Alley, locals tell him the legend of the baby boys who became emperors.
He explores the ideas and inventions that made the Song one of greatest eras in world culture, helped by China's most famous work of art, the Kaifeng scroll, which shows the life of the city in around 1120. A chef makes Michael a recipe from a Song cookbook, while a guide to 'how to live happy, healthy lives for old people', published in 1085 and still in print, is discussed with local women doing their morning exercises. The Song was also a great era for scientific advance in China. Michael steers a huge working replica of an astronomical clock, made by China's Leonardo da Vinci.
Then at a crunch Chinese Premier League match, Michael tells us the Chinese invented football! The golden age of the northern Song ended in 1127, when invaders sacked Kaifeng, but they survived in the south. At their new capital, Hangzhou, Wood joins locals dancing by the West Lake, while in the countryside he meets Mr Xie with his records of 40 generations of ancestors. The final defeat of the Song took place in a naval battle in the estuary of the Pearl River in 1279. When all was lost, rather than surrender to the Mongols, a loyal minister jumped into the sea with the young boy emperor in his arms. 'So ended the glory of the Song', Wood concludes, 'but a new age would arise... as in China, it always has!'.

As Covid-19 puts Britain on lockdown, Jeremy Clarkson suddenly finds that his biggest worries aren’t all related to the upcoming lambing season. 'If you're involved in food production, you are key worker. We're gonna save the nation!... I've smoked a million cigarettes and I've had pneumonia. If I get it , there's not a lot of hope... Am I panic buying? I bought five tins of sardines the other day'.

Jeremy Clarkson decides to become a naturalist. 'In just 30 years, insect numbers have dropped by 25% and they're still falling. Without insects, all life on Earth ends. Everywhere where insects like to live is disappearing and I've decided to do something about that. My plan is to make my hedgerows, my valleys, my woods, and my streams more attractive to creepy crawlies. In essence, I am going to leave chunks of the farm completely alone. I'm going to put Mother Nature in the driving seat. It's a process called wilding.'

In the fourth episode, leading landscape photographer Peter Eastway follows in the footsteps of Frank Hurley – the pioneering Australian photographer on Shackleton’s expedition to the south a century ago – to capture the wilderness and wildlife of Antarctica and South Georgia.