Program Category: History

The Real Hobbit examines one of the greatest controversies in science today: just what did scientists really find when they uncovered the tiny, human-like skeleton of a strange creature on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003? Since the discovery was made public a bitter dispute has split the world of anthropology. Are the bones a previously unknown and bizarre primitive species of human? The Hobbit discovery forces us to rethink some of the most fundamental questions of human origins. How could the Hobbits have survived for so long and until so recently? Who were its ancestors? Is it possible that human origins are to be found in Asia, not Africa?

They were known in history as brutal savages, fearless slave raiders and above all – pirates. Hailing from the Sulu Sea region in the Southern regions of the Philippines, the Ilanun, Balangingi Samal & Taosug tribes raided and plundered settlements in the Philippines, Borneo, Java, the Straits of Malacca and all over South East Asia in the search for human cargo to feed the growing demands of the slave trade in the 16th to 19th century.

The 1950’s was an idealistic time in American History, filled with hope, opportunity, and wonder. It was also, “The Atomic Age” where new technology promised to both save humanity as well as put it in jeopardy. All of these factors gave birth to one of the most prolific genres in film history, 1950’s Science Fiction Cinema.

In February of 1950 the world’s largest bomber took off on a secret Cold War mission from Alaska. Inside the belly of the B-36 is a Mk.IV nuclear bomb and its 13 pound plutonium core. The route would take aircraft “075” along the BC coastline until it reached Washington State and headed inland. During the mission engine fires forced the crew of seventeen to abandon the massive bomber over the BC coast. Despite the largest search and rescue operation in Air Force history five of the crewmen, along with the bomber and its nuclear weapon are presumed lost in the depths of the Pacific Ocean.

The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce follows the final days of Irish convict Alexander Pearce’s life as he awaits execution. The year is 1824 and the British penal colony of Van Diemen’s Land is little more than a living hell. Chained to a wall in the darkness of a cell under Hobart Gaol, Pearce is visited by Father Conolly, the parish priest of the fledgling colony and a fellow Irishman.

The story of the Forgotten Battle in the Forgotten War: how a small band of Australians, Canadians and New Zealanders in Korea gave up their Anzac Day barbecue to stop the Seoul-bound Chinese Army in its tracks.

The Battle of Kapyong became the turning point of China’s Fifth Offensive in the Spring of 1951. The aim of the offensive was to finally drive the foreign troops out of South Korea and into the sea. What happened instead, changed the history of the Korean War.

More than thirty years ago, the youth of New York’s neglected neighborhoods started a revolution by spray-painting their names on subway trains. The energy and freedom of this expression has inspired generations of youth throughout the world, yet the established authorities and institutions continually deny its merit. Working against the powers of the media, the police, and the art world, aerosol artists have developed a unique worldwide culture based on respect, camaraderie and a shared struggle to re-claim and re-create their environments.

Hugh Bonneville reveals how a perfect storm of political intrigue, power struggles and clashing religious passions combined caused the event that changed the world: the killing of Jesus. Countdown to Calvary offers a revolutionary new telling of “the greatest story ever told” – the story of a wandering Jewish healer and preacher, who went from zero to hero in a single week, 2000 years ago.