Documentary AreaSimply the best Documentaries

The oceans define the earth. They are crucial to life and we used to think that they were unique to our blue planet. But we were wrong. It has recently been discovered that there are oceans all over our solar system, and they are very similar to our own. And now scientists are going on an epic journey in search of new life in places that never seemed possible. Nasa is even planning to dive to the depths of a strange, distant ocean in a remarkable submarine. Discover that the hunt for oceans in space is marking the dawn of a new era in the search for alien life.

This episode focuses on the Jurassic period, a time when the first giant killers stalked the Earth and lurked in the seas; a time when the slightest advantage meant the difference between life and death. In North America the iconic allosaurus, an ambush hunter with a lethal bite, dominated. Not even the heavily-armoured stegosaurus was safe from this killer, and incredible evidence reveals a glimpse of a vicious battle between these two giants. Life in Jurassic oceans was no easier; in 2008, a fossil was dug out of a frozen island high in the Arctic. It was a colossal marine reptile, twice as big as most ocean predators, at 15 metres long and weighing about 45 tonnes. This was Predator X. Its skull alone was nearly twice the size of a tyrannosaurus rex's, and its bite force unmatched by anything in the Jurassic seas. The balance of power between predator and prey is a fine one, as prey continually evolves different ways to avoid predators. But for the most successful and enduring predators, the battle to survive has always been tipped in their favour

An elegantly filmed documentary, Planet Ocean takes us on a beautiful adventure into the strangest domains of our planet - the oceans. The film features both the magnificence and the exposure of Earth's oceans. The dangers that threaten the whole planet also threaten us. We are guided through various series of events (sailfish relying on mackerel; mackerel relying on zooplankton; zooplankton relying on marine prairie) it is not simply to demonstrate the function of a food chain, but to illustrate the way in which all life is intrinsically interconnected. What happens to our oceans happens to our selves.

What triggered the incredible diversity of life on Earth, and how have complex life forms, including humans, evolved? Is there direction to evolution? And is human intelligence inevitable? This program focuses on evolution's 'great transformations' —among them the development of a standard four-limbed body plan, the journey from water to land, the return of marine mammals to the sea, and the emergence of humans. Driven by a combination of opportunism and a genetic 'toolkit', these astounding leaps forward define the arc of evolution. And they suggest that every living creature on earth today, and every species that has ever existed, is a variation on a grand genetic theme—a member of one, and only one, tree of life

A dramatic journey along the coasts of South America, from the Falklands to the tropical Galapagos. The cold currents create rich fisheries, and support such diverse marine life as dolphins, killer whales, sea lions and albatross. But the most biquitous creatures are the penguins, which inhabit surprising locations - lush forest, arid desert and even equatorial areas.

D-Day: As It Happens is a 24-hour history event to be broadcast across TV, web, mobile devices and social media, telling the story of this pivotal event in 20th-century history in a completely new way. Using newly-analysed archive footage, viewers can track the progress of seven people who were there on the day, each of them a real participant in the 1944 invasion. And they can do so moment by moment in real time, encountering the twists and turns of the fighting at the same time as the D-Day seven did, and learning their fate as the action unfolds in parallel with the present, Narrated by Peter Snow, with Channel 4 presenter and former marine Arthur Williams, and experts including former British Army officer Colonel Tim Collins and front-line journalist Lorna Ward. The second programme reveals what happened to the seven real people the event is following in real time, and also rounds up the events of D-Day.