From the days when Britain stood alone to D-Day when Allied soldiers crashed ashore to reclaim Europe, daring raids shocked and battered the German war machine, pioneering new forms of warfare and setting new standards for bravery and leadership.
Now WW2’s Most Daring Raids takes you into the heart of the action as an elite band of soldiers battle terrifying odds and daunting obstacles in a mission that could change the course of the war. Through eyewitness accounts, drama reconstruction, expert commentary, live weapons demonstrations filmed at high speed and cutting edge computer game graphics, every aspect of these raids is visualised and analysed.
WW2’s Greatest Raids takes you into the heart of an elite band of soldiers in the heat of key action in their history and follows them on the mission to show just how these men put their unique combination of skills, training and equipment to the test in combat. We explore just how celebrated outfits such as the US Rangers, the SAS, or Royal Marine Commandoes, have changed the course of a battle, or even a war, through their courage and commitment.
The ancient Maya built an incredible society in a tropical rainforest that thrived for over two thousand years – and then vanished.
For a millennia the jungle lay undisturbed, hiding their secrets. New discoveries and new science can now tell the story. Hidden deep in sacred caves lies evidence of when the rains stopped coming – and for how long. Advanced bone analysis from hundreds of graves tells us what the Maya ate, where they came from, and what changed in their lives. Lidar strips away the jungle and CGI shows their world in a way never seen before, revealing the incredible geo-engineering and complexity that allowed cities to grow to immense size – perhaps too big.
The most amazing new find – the KomKom vase – is the only written account of its kind, detailing events at the cusp of collapse. It speaks of a story of war, family power struggles between divine god-kings, failing power in the face of climate change, and murder. Experts lead us deep into the sacred caves to the site of escalating offerings, human sacrifice and in final desperation, child sacrifice. In the thick jungle, key sites reveal enigmatic piles of goods and bodies buried in palace rubble, as chaos and desperation grew, until – the end of their world.
The War of Independence and Civil War were characterised by viciousness and ruthlessness on both sides, but it was the republicans that left behind a particularly gruesome legacy – the disappearing of people and dumping them in unmarked graves. This two part documentary series In the Name of the Republic reveals the true extent of the horror that took place during the period 1919 to 1923.
Ever wondered how, over thousands of years, the simple cup of tea came to be the world’s most consumed beverage after water? Or how coffee made its way from Ethiopia into Europe and across the world to become the everyday drink we love to consume? And why is it that people the world over have turned to chocolate for rituals, medicine, romance and sheer pleasure for 4,000 million years?
From its origins as a nomadic Turkoman tribe from central Asia, the Ottoman Empire became one of the world’s most impressive super powers, dominating swathes of the Middle East, Northern Africa and South Eastern Europe for some 500 years.
As a leader of the Islamic world, it’s incursions into Europe were often seen as a religious offensive, sparking a titanic power struggle between the forces of Christianity and Islam. The reality, we discover, was much more complex.
In Ottomans Vs. Christians: Battle for the Mediterranean, Presenter Julian Davison leads us on a swashbuckling adventure to some of the most extraordinary destinations in the Mediterranean.
We travel back in time to a world of magnificent galleys laden with riches and merciless pirates who prowl the seas, of spectacular battles and bloodied acts of treachery and revenge. With the help of esteemed historians, re-enactment groups and actors portraying some of the periods most remarkable figures, we relive the most dramatic and pivotal moments of this legendary clash of civilizations and uncover its rich and potent legacy.
This 3x I hr documentary tells the story of the famous WW2 battle and the four year German occupation of the Greek island of Crete that followed.
With the help of documentary footage from the day, CGI, expert contributors, and survivors re visit the island of Crete and it’s battlefields to tell the story of this unique and bloody battle and its aftermath.
Produced by London indie, Pilot Productions, this one off documentary will explore the impact on our planet of viral diseases across the ages. Covid 19, which struck with such devastating impact in the early months of 2020 ,is just the latest in a long line of pandemics that have devastated, and in some cases ,destroyed societies throughout time. Like all pandemics, Covid-19 was sparked by human interaction with the animal world.
We explore the symptoms of these diseases and their impact – whether it was the Black Death/Bubonic Plague -which cost 100 million lives in 14th century Europe, or the Smallpox pandemic transmitted by Europeans which wiped out indigenous communities in the Americas, Pacific and Australia between the 15th and 18th centuries. The Great Plague of the 17th century and the Spanish Flu outbreak at the end of World War 1, were equally devastating in Europe.