What it felt like to live through the collapse of communism and democracy. A series of films by Adam Curtis.
Social & External
The people behind it
Mikhail Gorbachev
Self (archive footage)
Boris Yeltsin
Vladimir Putin
How four iconic British-built trains revolutionised rail travel and inspired incredible railway projects the world over.
Beneath the placid facade of Canberra, amidst rising tension between China and America, senior political journalist Harriet Dunkley uncovers a secret city of interlocked conspiracies, putting innocent lives in danger including her own.
Architectural salvage expert Drew Pritchard looks back at the most eccentric characters, the hardest hagglers and the most extraordinary places he's hunted for antique treasure. Drew gives us the inside track on his wheeling and dealing, the stories behind his picks, as well as top tips about salvaging and how to get the best deals.
A story of a 25-year-old Go Hajin who is transported back in time to the Goryeo Dynasty. She then wakes up in the body of Lady Hae Soo and finds herself amongst the ruling princes of the Wang Family.
Summer 1943: Hitler engages in a decisive battle in Kursk to win the war in the East. This is without counting on the pugnacity of the Red Army and the Allied intervention in the West. Month after month, the noose tightens on the Nazi tyrant who refuses to admit defeat and precipitates his country in its fall.
In this documentary series, interspersed with historical reconstructions, Tom Waes investigates what has happened since the arrival of the first Homo sapiens, on the 14,000 square kilometers that we today call Flanders.
Renowned author and journalist David Lagerkrantz, along with historians, forensic scientists and investigators, sheds new light on Swedish murders in the past.
One family’s fight for survival in a future dystopian Madrid illustrates the disparity between two worlds separated by a fence — and so much more.
This hit podcast turned TV show features four of the BBC's wittiest political commentators, bringing you the most digestible explanations of Brexit along with Westminster gossip, trivia, running gags, and daft small-talk.
The European Union has been beset by a series of comings and goings over the last few years, each triggering its own brand of crisis. The civil war in Syria created the biggest wave of refugees to hit Europe since World War II, sparking contested debates on how to divvy up tens of thousands of refugees across E.U. countries. Meanwhile, in the U.K., Britain's vote in favor of Brexit added to the turmoil. Go behind the scenes with firsthand accounts of Europe's tumultuous last decade and its impact around the globe.
Sahar Meradji follows people who, according to the AIVD's definition, are right-wing extremists. What are the words of right-wing extremists? How they see the world, what do they dream of, and above all: why? A non-judgmental sketch of the mounting, far-right reality.
In 1988, renegade filmmaker Robert Altman and Pulitzer Prize–winning Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau created a presidential candidate, ran him alongside the other hopefuls during the primary season, and presented their media campaign as a cross between a soap opera and TV news. The result was the groundbreaking Tanner ’88, a piercing satire of media-age American politics.
Inside NASA's Innovations takes you behind the scenes with one of the world's leading technology innovators. Find out what it takes to collaborate with NASA in developing the next breakthrough in space exploration.
At the world-famous Explorers Club, a gathering place for trailblazers, club member Josh Gates recounts the greatest adventures of all time.
Dashing authors, the first porn sites and the last bastards. How the Russian Internet appeared and how it changed: from complete freedom to the appearance of censorship and the law on isolation.
The story of an unassuming American family drawn into the workings of a turbulent Middle Eastern nation. Bassam "Barry" Al Fayeed, the younger son of the dictator of a war-torn nation, ends a self-imposed 20-year exile to return to his homeland, accompanied by his American wife and children, for his nephew's wedding. Barry’s reluctant homecoming leads to a dramatic clash of cultures as he is thrown back into the familial and national politics of his youth.
The specter of drug trafficking haunts Europe. Struggling with ultra-violent criminal groups that control the vast majority of cocaine trade, European police forces are overwhelmed. The epicenter of all this trafficking: the Netherlands. A nation at the forefront of international trade and drug policy. This two-part film delves into the origins of European drug trafficking through the unique history of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
After years away from the CIA, Elizabeth McCord is pulled back into the political arena. The newly appointed Secretary of State is tough, fair, and smart, driving international diplomacy, wrangling office politics, and circumventing protocol as she negotiates global and domestic issues, both at the White House and at home.
Oliver Stone's re-examination of under-reported events in American history.
The documentary series explores different political figures throughout history.
In six films, Adam Curtis traces the different forces across the world that have led to now. It covers a wide range—including the strange roots of modern conspiracy theories, the history of China, opium and opioids, the history of Artificial Intelligence, melancholy over the loss of empire and, love and power. And explores whether modern culture, despite its radicalism, is really just part of the new system of power.
An immersive 360-degree narrative telling the epic story of the Vietnam War as it has never before been told on film. Featuring testimony from nearly 80 witnesses, including many Americans who fought in the war and others who opposed it, as well as Vietnamese combatants and civilians from both the winning and losing sides.
In a quest for world domination, the Nazis built some of the biggest and deadliest pieces of military hardware and malevolent technology in history. This is the stories of the engineers who designed them and how these structures sparked a technological revolution that changed warfare forever.
A PBS documentary concerning Jared Diamond's theory on why there is such disparity between those who have advanced technology and those who still live primitively. He argues it is due to the acquisition of guns and steel and the changes brought about by germs.
Surviving power struggles, betrayals and plots, Hitler's inner circle of Nazi leaders seizes control of Germany and designs its disastrous future.
The story of the Second World War through the personal accounts of a handful of men and women from four American towns. The war touched the lives of every family on every street in every town in America and demonstrated that in extraordinary times, there are no ordinary lives.
A documentary on the American Civil War narrated by Ken Burns, covering the secession of the Confederacy to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
Seconds from Disaster is a US/UK-produced documentary television programme that investigates historically relevant man-made and natural disasters of the 20th century. Each episode aims to explain a single incidental by analyzing the causes and circumstances that ultimately effected the disaster. The program uses re-enactments, interviews, testimonies, and CGI to analyze the sequence of events second-by-second for the audience. Narrators for the show are Ashton Smith, Richard Vaughan and Peter Guinness.
In this true-crime documentary, a cult expert and filmmaker infiltrate a polygamist sect to expose a self-proclaimed prophet and bring him to justice.
Featuring rare footage and interviews with CIA insiders, this edge-of-your-seat documentary series traces the epic hunt for Osama bin Laden.
Doctor Who Confidential is a documentary to complement the revival of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Each episode was broadcast on BBC Three on Saturdays, immediately after the broadcast of the weekly television episode on BBC One. The running time of the first two series was 30 minutes, being extended to 45 minutes in the third. BBC Three also broadcast a cut-down edition of the programme, lasting 15 minutes, shown after the repeats on Sundays and Fridays and after the weekday evening repeats of earlier seasons.
The American Revolution was at once a war for independence, a war of conquest, a civil war, and a world war, fought by neighbors on American farms and between global powers an ocean or more away. It impacted millions from Vermont’s Green Mountains to the swamps of South Carolina, from Indian Country to the Iberian Peninsula. In defeating the British Empire and giving birth to a new nation, the American Revolution turned the world upside-down. Thirteen colonies on the Atlantic Coast united in rebellion, won their independence, and established a republic that still endures. The American Revolution will present the story of the men and women of the Revolutionary generation, their humanity in victory and defeat, and the crisis that they lived through.
TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.
With firsthand accounts and access to prominent figures around the world, this comprehensive docuseries explores the Cold War and its aftermath.
A documentary series that gives a historical account of the events of World War II, from its roots in the 1920s to the aftermath and the lives it profoundly influenced.
An in-depth look at the history and pop cultural significance of horror films.
Will Smith hosts this look at the evolving, often lethal, fight for equal rights in America through the lens of the US Constitution's 14th Amendment.
Come one, come all to The Circus. This real-time documentary series pulls back the curtain on the current political stories, revealing the intense, inspiring and infuriating stories behind the headlines. Key characters and events are presented in real time, as they are happening.
