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Mammoths To Manhattan

   2003    Nature
Journey through the long-vanished corners of prehistoric North America, beginning when man first entered the vast, unspoiled continent some 14,000 years ago, in this appealing BBC documentary. Witness ancient beasts, mammoths, mastodons, giant bears, and sabre-toothed cats, and see the legacies each has passed to their modern successors. Computer animation and digital effects bring to life mammoths, saber-toothed cats, giant ground sloths, short-faced bears, glyptodonts, and a plethora of smaller animals in a lush Ice Age mosaic. Discoveries from sites across America are the basis for the reconstructions.
Series: Prehistoric America

The Crimes

   2007    History
Soldiers and officers continually came into conflict with their consciences. How much freedom did individuals have? Were they executing Hitler's criminal plans, or was it the Wehrmacht's war? There were crimes against humanity, against civilians, prisoners of war, and there was the Holocaust itself. The Trent Park records discovered and analysed by historian Sönke Neitzel, author of Tapping Hitler's Generals, show that the 84 German generals who were interned at Trent Park were aware of the severity of the war crimes they had been involved in and that some discussed them almost compulsively. They included the Commissar Order, to kill any Soviet commissar, and Rathenau's order to kill the Jews, including children.
Series: The Wehrmacht

The Ming

   2016    History
The tale of one of China's most famous dynasties begins with the amazing story of Hongwu, a peasant rebel who founded one of greatest eras in Chinese history. The film takes us to his great capital Nanjing, with its 21 miles of walls, each brick stamped with the name of the village that made it. Following the trail, we go to the Bao family village and see the villagers act a Ming murder story.
Like many authoritarian states, the Ming were obsessive about architecture. We see the giant fortifications of the Great Wall, the ritual enclaves of the Forbidden City in Beijing and travel with bargeman Mr Hu down the Grand Canal, China's great artery of commerce right up to the present day. We then hear about Admiral Zheng He's voyages to Africa and the Gulf decades before Columbus, watch the construction of an ocean-going wooden boat 250ft long, and hitch a ride on a replica Ming junk in the South China Sea.
As state prosperity grew, so did a rising middle class. Wood looks at Ming culture in Suzhou, the 'Venice of China'. Staying in a merchant's house, he discovers the silk, ceramic and lacquer-making industries, and visits one of the most beautiful gardens in the city. Then on to Macao and the arrival of Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci, who hoped to convert China to Christianity. In the cathedral in Beijing, we learn more about these fateful exchanges with the west. Finally in Shaoxing, we visit the house of the 'Ming Proust' and at grassroots the Zhao family in Fujian where the film ends in an elegiac mood with the fall of the Ming in 1644.
Series: The Story of China

Clash of the Gods:Thor

   2009    Culture
Idolized in ancient Norse mythology as the protector god, Thor battles evil ogres and a giant serpent bent on destroying mankind. It's the quintessential fight for survival that culminates in a final showdown between good and evil. But was the rise and fall of the hero Thor ancient code for something greater? Today, new discoveries unlock the hidden truth behind the Norse god of Thunder. Able to wield thunder from his hammer, Thor was the most revered of the Norse gods, from fending humanity from the giants that brought calamity, to his pursuit of the Midgard Serpent. Though, his fate is told to sealed during Ragnarok, it is actually the invasion of Christianity that proves far more damning to this mighty god.
Series: Clash of the Gods

The Virus of Faith

   2006    Culture
Dawkins opines that the moral framework of religions is warped, and argues against the religious indoctrination of children. He discusses specifically the idea of religion seen as a virus in the sense of a meme. He begins by explaining how a child is genetically programmed to believe without questioning the word of authority figures, especially parents – the evolutionary imperative being that no child would survive by adopting a sceptical attitude towards everything their elders said. But this same imperative, he claims, leaves children open to infection by religion.
Series: The Root of All Evil

Edge Of The Ice

   2003    Nature
Journey through the long-vanished corners of prehistoric North America, beginning when man first entered the vast, unspoiled continent some 14,000 years ago, in this appealing BBC documentary. Witness ancient beasts, mammoths, mastodons, giant bears, and sabre-toothed cats, and see the legacies each has passed to their modern successors. Computer animation and digital effects bring to life mammoths, saber-toothed cats, giant ground sloths, short-faced bears, glyptodonts, and a plethora of smaller animals in a lush Ice Age mosaic. Discoveries from sites across America are the basis for the reconstructions.
Series: Prehistoric America
The Last Czars

The Last Czars

2019  History
Leaving Neverland

Leaving Neverland

2019  Culture
Wild Isles

Wild Isles

2023  Nature
Tiger

Tiger

2020  History
The Crime of the Century

The Crime of the Century

2021  Medicine
Wonders Of The Universe

Wonders Of The Universe

2011  Science
Wild South America

Wild South America

2005  Nature
Life of a Universe

Life of a Universe

2017  Science