Blueprint for Disaster

MegaStructures

MegaStructures is a documentary television series appearing on the National Geographic Channel in the United States and the United Kingdom, Channel 5 in the United Kingdom, France 5 in France, and 7mate in Australia. Each episode is an educational look of varying depth into the construction, operation, and staffing of various structures or construction projects, but not ordinary construction products. Generally containing interviews with designers and project managers, it presents the problems of construction and the methodology or techniques used to overcome obstacles. In some cases this involved the development of new materials or products that are now in general use within the construction industry. MegaStructures focuses on constructions that are extreme; in the sense that they are the biggest, tallest, longest, or deepest in the world. Alternatively, a project may appear if it had an element of novelty or are a world first. This type of project is known as a Megaproject.

Top Gear

Motoring programme featuring reviews of and reports about cars of all types.

History 101

Infographics and archival footage deliver bite-size history lessons on scientific breakthroughs, social movements and world-changing discoveries.

Seconds from Disaster

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.

30 for 30

30 for 30 is the title for a series of documentary films airing on ESPN, its sister networks, and online highlighting interesting people and events in sports history. This currently includes four "volumes" of 30 episodes each, a 13-episode series under the ESPN Films Presents title in 2011–2012, and a series of 30 for 30 Shorts shown through the ESPN.com website. The series has also expanded to include Soccer Stories, which aired in advance of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and audio podcasts. This entry refers to the main Volumes of the series presented by ESPN

How Do They Do It?

An insider's look at the engineering and scientific miracles behind the things that form the modern world.

Biography

Biography is a documentary television series. It was originally a half-hour filmed series produced for CBS by David Wolper from 1961 to 1964 and hosted by Mike Wallace. The A&E Network later re-ran it and has produced new episodes since 1987. The older version featured historical figures such as Helen Keller and Mark Twain, or long-dead entertainment figures such as Will Rogers or John Barrymore. The A&E series has placed the emphasis on such people as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Plácido Domingo, Freddie Mercury, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Eric Clapton, Pope John Paul II, Gene Tierney, Selena, Diego Rivera, Mao Zedong and Queen Elizabeth II, and fictional characters like The Phantom, Superman, Hamlet, Betty Boop, and Santa Claus. The program ended up profiling enough figures that in 1999, A&E spun it off into an entire network, The Biography Channel.

Down to Earth with Zac Efron

Actor Zac Efron journeys around the world with wellness expert Darin Olien in a travel show that explores healthy, sustainable ways to live.

Grand Designs

British television series which features unusual and often elaborate architectural homebuilding projects.

The Reluctant Traveller with Eugene Levy

Award-winning actor and nervous explorer Eugene Levy steps out of his comfort zone for a whirlwind tour of the world's most beautiful and intriguing destinations.

Natural World

Natural World is a nature documentary television series broadcast annually on BBC Two and regarded by the BBC as its flagship natural history brand. It is currently the longest-running series in its genre on British television, with more than 400 episodes broadcast since its inception in 1983. Natural World is produced by the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol, but individual programmes can be in-house productions, collaborative productions with other broadcasters or films made and distributed by independent production companies and purchased by the BBC. Natural World programmes are often broadcast as PBS Nature episodes in the USA. Since 2008, most Natural World programmes have been shot and broadcast in high definition.

Cursed Films

A documentary series exploring the myths and legends behind some of Hollywood’s notoriously “cursed” horror film productions. From plane accidents and bombings during the making of The Omen, to the rumored use of real human skeletons on the set of Poltergeist, these stories are legendary amongst film fans and filmmakers alike. But where does the truth lie?

Deadly Women

This compelling series investigates the motives and m.o. of female murderers. While males are often driven by anger, impulse and destruction, women usually have more complex, long-term reasons to kill.

The F Word

The F Word is a British food magazine and cookery programme featuring chef Gordon Ramsay. The programme covers a wide range of topics, from recipes to food preparation and celebrity food fads. The programme is made by Optomen Television and aired weekly on Channel 4. The theme tune for the series is "The F-Word" from the Babybird album Bugged.

Mind Field

Explore the surprising things we know (and don’t know) about why people are the way they are through expert interviews, rare footage from historical experiments, and brand-new, ground-breaking demonstrations of human nature at work.

Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers

This docuseries captures the remarkable rise and unprecedented success of one of the most dominant and iconic franchises in professional sports. Featuring exclusive access to the Buss Family and probing, revealing interviews with players, coaches, and front office execs, this series chronicles this extraordinary story from the inside – told only by the people who lived it.

Into the Unknown: Making Frozen II

The team behind Frozen II open their doors to cameras for a six-part documentary series to reveal the hard work, heart, and collaboration it takes to create one of the most highly-anticipated films in Walt Disney Animation Studios’ near-century of moviemaking. Cameras were there to capture an eye-opening - and at times jaw-dropping - view of the challenges and the breakthroughs, the artistry, creativity and the complexity of creating the #1 animated feature of all time.

Prehistoric Planet

Experience the wonders of our world like never before in this epic series from Jon Favreau and the producers of Planet Earth. Travel back 66 million years to when majestic dinosaurs and extraordinary creatures roamed the lands, seas, and skies.

Earth at Night in Colour

Filmed across six continents, this docuseries uses cutting-edge camera technology to capture animals' nocturnal lives, revealing new behaviours filmed in full color like never before.

Nature

Consistently stunning documentaries transport viewers to far-flung locations ranging from the torrid African plains to the chilly splendours of icy Antarctica. The show's primary focus is on animals and ecosystems around the world. A comic book based on the show, meant to be used an as educational tool for kids, was briefly distributed to museums and schools at no cost in the mid-2000s.

Dark Side of the Ring

Finding truth at the intersection of fantasy and reality in the veiled world of professional wrestling.

48 Hours

This newsmagazine series investigates intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all aspects of the human experience. Over its long run, the show has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, driven the reopening — and resolution — of cold cases, and changed numerous lives. CBS News correspondents offer an in-depth look into each story, with the emphasis on solving the mystery at its heart.

Hot Roads - The World's Most Dangerous Roads

A risky expedition along thoroughfares that harbor mortal danger for those who use them or live on them. They run through deserts, ice, and snow, deep in the jungle, along water, and over mountains: the world's most dangerous roads, truly "hot roads." Many have died along these roads.

Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie

The year is 1961 and Ingmar Bergman is making a movie. While planted on the scene as apprentice to Bergman, Vilgot Sjöman (director, I Am Curious–Yellow, 1967), suggests to Swedish Television that they take the opportunity to record with the acclaimed director. In August, Sjöman and the television crew begin to capture what would become a comprehensive five-part documentary on the making of Winter Light, offering views of script development, set construction and lighting, rehearsals and editing, as well as intimate conversations with Bergman and members of his cast and crew. Footage from the film’s Swedish premiere delivers immediate audience reactions and the critics’ reviews the following day.

Angela Merkel ‧ The Fateful Years of a Chancellor

Angela Merkel, Germany's first female chancellor, ended the "Merkel era" in 2021 after 16 years and with it a remarkable rise from "Kohl's girl" to "the most powerful woman in the world". Today their legacy is overshadowed by the climate crisis, Russia and the refugee issue. Two and a half years after her departure, the documentary series sheds light on the key years of her career and chancellorship, including Samira El Ouassil, LeFloid, Marina Weisband and Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. The series focuses on the view of the “Merkel Generation” on the chancellorship of the first woman at the head of Germany.

RBI Unlocked: Beyond the Rupee

From unprecedented access of gold vaults to the working of currency presses, take an unfiltered look at India's Central Bank - The Reserve Bank of India.

That'll Teach 'Em

That'll Teach 'Em is a British reality television documentary series produced by Twenty Twenty Television for the Channel 4 network in the United Kingdom. Each series follows around 30 teenage students as they are taken back to a 1950s/1960s style British boarding school. The show sets out to analyse whether the standards that were integral to the school life of the time helped to produce better exam results, to the current GCSE results and to compare certain contemporary educational methods with modern ones. As part of the experience, the participants are expected to board at a traditional school house, abiding by strict discipline, adopting to 1950s diet and following a strict uniform dress code. After four weeks, the students then take their final exams, produced to the same standard as contemporary GCE O Levels. There were three series of the show, the first airing in 2003, the second in 2004 and the third and final series in 2006.

Houses of Art

The series Houses of Art takes viewers to places where great artists lived, worked, and found inspiration. It is in these settings that masterpieces were created and personal dramas unfolded—offering a cinematic journey of discovery through the landmarks of European art history. Far from the bustle of the world, artists found creative momentum in homes that still bear the imprint of their genius today, attracting visitors from all corners of the globe.

Hirschhausen

Building the Impossible

Presenter Rob Bell takes us on a voyage around Britain and Ireland to reveal the hidden secrets that make offshore lighthouses such extraordinary feats of engineering.

Wisconsin Foodie

A weekly Emmy-nominated television program dedicated to educating, entertaining and connecting the community to the engaging stories and people behind their food by profiling local food treasures and highlighting the passionate and hardworking individuals responsible for the burgeoning “Good Food Movement.”

Tony Shalhoub Breaking Bread

The six-episode series shows the authentic Tony behind the neurotic characters he plays — a passionate food lover who makes bread and breaks bread with local bakers, top chefs, home cooks and everyone in between.

Dwars door de Lage Landen

Arnout Hauben travels through the Netherlands and Belgium with Philippe Niclaes and Ruben Callens. In his own unique way, he speaks to people he meets along the way and looks for stories that have given color to our regions.

Brian Cox's Adventures in Space and Time

Brian Cox tackles some of the most challenging and intriguing questions facing science today by using his best material from past programmes and the latest scientific research.

CA v. MENENDEZ

Brothers Erik and Lyle Menendez are on trial for the August 1989 shotgun murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in the family’s Beverly Hills mansion. The brothers were arrested in March 1990 after Erik confessed during a session with his psychologist. During the highly publicized trial, the prosecution claimed the motive was greed as the brothers stood to inherit $14 million. The defense claimed that it was an act of self–defense in a desperate attempt to escape years of childhood family violence and sexual abuse.

Volcano Stories

No two volcanoes are alike; each one has its own distinctive landscape, climate, and geological context. Just as unique are the people we meet along the way who help us comprehend how greatly our planet – and our lives – have been shaped by volcanic phenomena. For the scientific aspect of each episode, we explore the very diverse range of questions raised by volcanic phenomena in such varied fields as earth sciences, climatology, biodiversity, oceanography, geography, agronomics, and archaeology. The cultural part of the show delves into mythology, religion, philosophy, folk and artistic traditions, cooking, and ways of life.

The Beatles: Get Back

The three-part documentary series, compiled from over 60 hours of unseen footage, captures the warmth, camaraderie, and creative genius that defined the legacy of music's most iconic foursome. The series also includes – for the first time in its entirety – The Beatles' final performance at London's Savile Row.

Churchill at War

This captivating docuseries examines Winston Churchill's pivotal role in World War II and the formative events that made him an ideal leader for the era.

Zero Hour

Zero Hour dramatizes the hour leading up to some of the most memorable historical events as they unfold minute by minute. Using a real-time clock and a split screen to follow key players, the series reveals the compelling and exciting minutes leading up to events that changed the world.

Stuff the British Stole

Follow Marc Fennell on a globe-trotting, emotional quest for the truth as he unravels the twisted mysteries behind six iconic and priceless objects taken by the British Empire and meets those who want them back.