Documentary AreaSimply the best Documentaries

The world of invertebrates exists in a web of relationships with plants and other animals. Unique footage of the world's smallest insect (a fairy wasp only quarter of a millimetre long) shows it flying underwater to find the eggs of water beetles in which to lay its own brood. Some ants 'farm' the trees that give them shelter, creating areas known as 'Devil's gardens'. To make sure these grow without competition, they kill off other seedlings in the surrounding vegetation. The blister beetle's larvae huddle together on the end of a piece of grass and mimic a female bee. When a male bee tries to mate with the 'female', the larvae grab on to his belly. Confused, he flies away and searches for a real female. When he eventually finds her and mates with her, the beetle larvae hurriedly swap from his front on to her back, and hence get carried back to her nest where they eat her pollen supplies.

For 45 years, America was locked in the Cold War with the Soviet Union, and fear of global nuclear annihilation was constant. The end of the Cold War in 1991 was supposed to usher in a new era of peace and cooperation, but it didn’t last. Tensions between the U.S. and Russia have been simmering for years. And now, the conflict in Ukraine has pushed the relationship to the brink of full-blown crisis. VICE Founder Shane Smith met Kremlin officials and American leaders to figure out what’s really driving the new standoff between the powers, while correspondent Simon Ostrovsky reported from the front lines of the bloody war in Eastern Ukraine.

This series takes viewers on a journey to the frontiers of science, where researchers are tackling some of the biggest questions about life and the cosmos. The universe is hiding something. In fact, it is hiding a lot. Everything we experience on Earth, the stars and galaxies we see in the cosmos—all the 'normal' matter and energy that we understand—make up only 5% of the known universe. The other 95% is made up of two mysterious components: 'dark matter' and 'dark energy.' We can’t see them, but we know they’re there. And what’s more —these two shadowy ingredients are locked in an epic battle to control the very fate of the universe.
Now, scientists are trying to shed light on the so-called 'dark sector' as the latest generation of detectors rev up, and powerful telescopes peer deeper into space than ever before to observe how it behaves. Will the discoveries help reveal how galaxies formed? In the series finale, Nova Wonders journeys to the stars and back to investigate what we know —and don’t know. Find out how scientists are discovering new secrets about the history of the universe, and why they’re predicting a shocking future.

Across the universe, galaxies are going dark, and scientists don't know why the stars are losing their shine. Something is slowly drawing the curtains closed on the universe. Our milky way is under threat. Astronomers race against time to uncover the truth behind how galaxies are born and how they die before all of the lights go out.

Africa's wildest river is home to the most spectacular wildlife. Hippos fight for territory while herds of elephant, water buffalo and zebra depend on it for life. In the wet season the rains burst the riverbanks and everyone, including people, must move whilst fish swim through the villages. In the dry season the creatures fight over the few pools of water while predators prowl. At its heart it plunges over Victoria Falls and into wild ravines before draining into the Indian Ocean, where storm clouds cycle the water back into the heart of Africa.

This acclaimed docudrama is a chronicled look at the fall of the Romanov dynasty in Russia. When social upheaval sweeps Russia in the early 20th century, Czar Nicholas II resists change, sparking a revolution and ending his reign.
In the first episode, Czar Nicholas II takes the Russian throne in 1894 and rejects modern ideas to embrace a pure autocracy. Tragedy marks his coronation day.