Documentary

The threatened ecosystem of the arctic tundra in the northernmost part of Alaska, a natural paradise floating on top of gigantic petroleum deposits.

The passionate history of the American bison and its salvation in extremis from a seemingly inevitable extinction.

The story of the man who personified the tough lconic peace-maker of the prairie before his rise to stardom. John Wayne made 80 films in eight years prior to "Stagecoach", and during this time developed the swaying walk and lopsided grin that was to become his trademark. From his first film job as an extra, this programme features many of his early roles.

Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbour was the result of the battle between Japan and America for influence in the East. The Japanese industrialised early in the Twentieth Century but with no supply of natural resources, they embarked on a strategy of territorial expansionism and sought to stamp their mark on the region. The Americans and British were not happy about this and wanted to protect their own colonial interests in the region. The Americans put an embargo on trade with Japan. The Japanese choice was to give in to American wishes or launch a war against the USA. As the war came to an end, there was little discussion by the Americans about whether to use the Atom Bomb and a leading Japanese expert is certain that it was the quickest way to get the Japanese to surrender. When the war was won in South East Asia and the Pacific the US did not want to see Britain reclaim its Empire. But, in the short term, were forced to allow British troops back to restore order. They in turn used Japanese forces to quell growing calls for nationalism in the region, the combustible mixture which was to lead to the Korean, Vietnam and Cambodian wars was hatched in 1945.

The opening programme reveals how the house was built as part of a boom in speculative building in Bristol and who the early residents were. Covering the period from 1779 – 1845 the main characters are John Britton, a young gentleman who decorated the house in late Georgian simplicity and Mrs Hobbs, a widow who lived in the house for thirty years and followed the latest Regency interior trends.

The President’s groundbreaking visit to China came at the start of his re-election year, and was almost a disaster for him. For the first time, the Chinese diplomat who interpreted for Nixon on the trip reveals how she and the Chinese premier intervened to save the political fortunes of a Republican president, who sold out his closest political allies to woo Chairman Mao. Nixon arrived home to cheering crowds and won an election landslide – but the Watergate scandal brought him down before he delivered his promises to China.

On the night of 24th March 1944, seventy-six men took part in the world famous Great Escape from Stalag Luft III in Germany.  An escape of this scale was recognised as a grave threat to national security, and Hitler was informed.  An estimated five million people prepared to take part in the largest manhunt of the war – with tragic consequences. Almost one year to the day later, seventy German POWs escaped from the high security camp in Bridgend in Wales and were tracked by a motley collection of armed soldiers, Home Guard, dogs, local children and Girl Guides.  One of the largest manhunts of the whole war was dramatic, serious and comic in turn – but not tragic.

Blind Spot is a documentary film that illustrates the current oil and energy crisis that our world is facing. Whatever measures of ignorance, greed, wishful thinking, we have put ourselves at a crossroad, which offers two paths with dire consequences. If we continue to burn fossil fuels we will choke the life out of the planet and if we don't our way of life will collapse.

Faced with extraordinary trauma of losing both parents to alcoholism and divorce, seven siblings form a unique family structure. The Watershed is a moving documentary of survival and forgiveness that shows how tragedy can have transforming effects on individual identity.

John Armstrong's beautiful elegy to white water

kayaking. One kayaker, a lush cascading

tropical waterfall in Mexico and a multiple Emmy

Award-winning cameraman.

An adventure with a Russian twist, two expedition kayakers, Becky Bristow and Dunbar Hardy, go in search of new whitewater in the far northeastern reaches of the Russian continent - at the invitation of the Russian Government. They have no idea what they are really in for. A humorous, spirited and touching film that takes you on a wild journey into the remotest corner of Russia and into Russian culture.

Two-time Emmy nominated film of blind climber Eric Weihenmayer's renowed summit of Mt. Everest - a climb that earned him the cover of TIME magazine.

National Geographic photographer Chris Rainier and filmmaker Ethan Boehm team up to bring Rainier's photographs of tatoos and scarring rituals around the world poetically to film. With music by Anushka Shankar.

The elephant conflict and a world in which an inexorably growing human population is hungry for new land to cultivate; the land which rightfully belongs to the enormous pachyderms.

New acquisitions allowed species to be more competitive. When it came to looking for food or avoiding being eaten and the penalty for falling behind was death.

In Bioko's Island, Equatorial Guinea, the crater of an inactive volcano has turned into a paradise. An expedition of scientists and climbers walk in for first time into this enigmatic territory in search of new species.

Safety First explores the indirect effects of 9-11 on our lives after entering an airport or travelling at ten thousand feet. Anyone who travels by air knows that since 9-11 our private lives are under extreme scrutiny in order to prevent terrorist attacks. Although many countries have endorsed the War on Terrorism, nations worldwide are still entitled to their own ways of dealing with potential terrorist attacks.

The true horror of the Nazi regime is exposed as the Allies fight the Germans in their homeland and liberate survivors of the concentration camps. The retreating Nazi’s force millions of people onto Death Marches across Europe – the cost to human live is massive. But the Allies also force million on the march as they set out the future ethnic shape of Europe. The pre-war “mixing” up of ethnicities in Europe is reversed as the big 3 seek to segregate Europe into different ethnic groups. The Allies had agreed Germany’s fate – the division into different zones of occupation. But there was no such agreement about the rest of Europe. The Red Army fought relentlessly in the knowledge that the countries it liberated would be under their control – determining these countries fate for fifty years. The Allied Generals had ignored the agreed zones of occupation in order to beat Germany. But now that the Nazis were on their last legs, political manoeuvring between the big three started in earnest. The Americans sided with the Russians because they wanted the Red Army to join them in the war against the Japanese. They went as far as brokering a secret deal to allow American bombers to use a Siberian air base. The British were excluded from this negotiation. The American firebombing of Tokyo killed more people that the two atom bombs.

Presented by Maxwell Hutchinson, this third programme looks at No 57 between 1880-1905 and shows how Victorian Gothic and the influence of the aesthetic and arts and crafts movement affected the house. No 57 is by now not as fashionable as it once was and the whole area has come down in the world a little bit. The occupants are the Alders - who turn one room into a nursery for their children and Mrs Annie Edwards, a music teacher with grown up children is a lodger in the house.

From the rutted football pitches and lethal minefields of Kosovo, comes the compelling story of a football dream amid the on-going Balkan nightmare. Filmmaker Doug Aubrey follows football coach Scotty Lee on a near heart-of-darkness type journey through a country scarred by inter-ethnic hatred and littered with the lethal debris of NATO's war. A Different Pitch is a unique and at times shocking grass-roots insight into the effects of war on a generation. It is a timely reminder that Football, the people's game, is not just a way of life, but can actually help save lives.