Timewatch

The experiences of six German soldiers who survived the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 are vividly captured through the viewfinders of the amateur film cameras they carried throughout the campaign. Lying forgotten and unseen by…

When the German army surrounded Leningrad in 1941, it was the beginning of a terrible 900 days of isolation for its citizens. On a meager bread ration and with temperatures of minus 40 degrees Celsius, frozen corpses littered the streets.…

First of a four-part Timewatch reassessment of the life and work of Lyndon Baines Johnson, who took over as US President following the assassination of John F Kennedy in 1963. Part 1 examines his ambition and the political instinct which…

The new president reassured a nation stunned by John F Kennedy's assassination and then surprised America with his forceful stand on civil rights and his programme for a Great Society. Part 2 of 4.

Johnson had galvanised America with his appeal for racial justice and his vision for a 'Great Society'. But at the same time, he had promised not to send American troops to Vietnam. Political experts and those who knew him best explain…

As Johnson's term of office drew to a close, riots raged in the inner cities, and anti-Vietnam protesters demonstrated all over the country. With the United States as close to anarchy as at any time since the Civil War, Johnson felt he…

The story of Count Adolf Heinrich von Arnim, one of the many wealthy Germans whose lands were taken away from them in 1945, and his return to his former home for the first time in 45 years.

In May 1940, Hitler's Panzers trapped the armies of Britain and France in a pocket of land around the French port of Dunkirk. Escape seemed impossible, but within nine days more than 300,000 of these men were safely ashore back in…

During the summer of 1943, the SOE's largest network in occupied France collapsed, and more than 400 of the French Resistance were arrested. At the centre of this disaster stood the figure of Henri Dericourt, one of SOE's most trusted…

On 14 November 1940 the German Luftwaffe dropped so many bombs on Coventry that three quarters of the city was destroyed. Such was the devastation, the Germans coined a term to describe it - "to coventrate". This documentary explores the…

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King Edward VII has always been an enigma. Twentieth-century dynasty builder and sex addict, boorish philistine and civilised cosmopolitan - he was all of these. Using extensive new research, this documentary unravels the mystery of a…

WINDSORS' WAR: The continuing controversy surrounding the war-time role of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Victims of a bad press, they remained tactfully silent, but now answer back through Maitre Blum, their lawyer, who gives her first…

THE CHINA OF THE MANCHU EMPERORS and the signing of the treaties which gave Britain Hong Kong. Why do the Chinese regard these treaties as unequal? SCOTLAND AND THE GREAT WITCH HUNT OF THE 17TH CENTURY: A thousand women were strangled or…

'IF THE SPANISH ARMADA HAD LANDED ...' What would have happened if on Monday 7 August 1558 a Spanish Army had marched on London from the invasion beaches of Margate? Timewatch re-examines the fate of the 16th-century Spanish task force…

Film 1: Sir Thomas More, the Tudor statesman who lost his head on the scaffold in 1535, was made a saint in 1937; now the heroic reputation of the 'man for all seasons' is under attack. Film 2: Unemployment in Britain 150 years ago when…

HOW DO YOU DEMOCRATISE A NAZI? On the 50th anniversary of Hitler's elevation to the chancellorship of the Third Reich Simon Winchester reports from Washington and Nuremberg on how America in 1945 tried to remake a nation in its own image…

In a new edition of THE DIARY OF SAMUEL PEPYS, editor Robert Latham has uncovered previously unknown details of Pepys's life. THE WEEDERS: Are civil servants destroying vital historical evidence when they decide Government records should…

THE PEACE MOVEMENT IN THE 1930s AND TODAY: Fifty years ago, British politics was dominated by campaigns for peace. What are the parallels with the 1980s? THE LAST MUGGLETONIAN: In 1652, the Muggletonians were a radical sect in…

THE LOVED AND HATED KING: Richard III - hunchback murderer of the princes in the Tower, or victim of Tudor propaganda? On the 500th anniversary of his coronation, historians go into battle again over his reputation. THE SILENT YEARS OF…

FRANCE AND THE NAZIS: Following the arrest of Klaus Barbie, butcher of Lyon, memories of Nazi collaboration have again returned to haunt a generation of Frenchmen. Dr Christopher Andrew goes to Drancy, the Paris housing estate turned in…

BATTLE OF THE RIVER PLATE: During the Falklands war, the Argentinians made great capital of the last time they'd fought the British - and won, in 1806. SIMON Winchester reports. BODYLINE BOWLING: Was the England captain, Douglas Jardine,…

SHADOW OF THE GALLOWS: After Parliament's vote on hanging, an investigation into the history of Tyburn and the mass public executions in the 18th century. Did hanging deter? SPYING FOR RUSSIA: Christopher Andrew investigates why the…

A special programme devoted to the life and historical reputation of Prince Albert, husband to Queen Victoria. From Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, designed by Albert for his family, the many different sides of his remarkable…

THE BATTLE FOR MARTIN LUTHER: Martin Luther, the German priest who split the Catholic church and began the Reformation, was born 500 years ago. Today, East and West Germany both struggle to claim him. From East Germany, Bernard Clark…

BEFORE THE NATIONAL HEALTH: A remarkable newly discovered archive of silent film reveals hospital life in the 1920s and 30s. How did people afford medical care in the days before the National Health? ROYALIST OXFORD: In 1642 King Charles…

In May 1945, British soldiers near the Austrian border town of Klagenfurt handed over 26,000 Yugoslav anti-Communist refugees to Tito's Communist partisans, who disarmed then machine-gunned them. Who was responsible? Timewatch has…

PREVENTING THE THIRD WORLD WAR: 1984 opens amid the greatest fears of international tension and nuclear holocaust since the Cold War. Lord Bullock, biographer of British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin, talks about the foundation of NATO…

THE LAST FÜHRER: Among the Nazi war leaders tried at Nuremberg, Hitler's successor Admiral Doenitz received the lightest sentence of all. Now new research suggests Doenitz was far more deeply implicated in the atrocities of the Third…

THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE: A meeting with the man who met the men who charged with the Light Brigade. Now aged 97, he has devoted his life to tracing all those who took part in the most celebrated action in Victorian history. KOREA…

SEX AND THE VICTORIANS: Did Victorian wives really 'lie back and think of England'? New research suggests they enjoyed a far more liberated sex life than conventional image allows. GOD SAVE THE KING was first associated with George III.…

THE BRITISH EMPIRE EXHIBITION: In 1924, 28 million people visited the last of the great imperial exhibitions at Wembley - now it is almost forgotten. GOING MAD IN THE 19TH CENTURY: In 1807 there were 2,000 certified lunatics in England.…

THE CASE FOR KING WILLIAM: Why did William of Normandy believe the Crown of England was his right? What do we know of the barons who stamped their authority on their newly-conquered possessions? THE SECRETS OF DOMESDAY: The Domesday Book…

Two names that shaped Britain in two World Wars. SECRETS OF THE KAISER: The private papers of Germany's last Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm II, uncover his secret life. In public the figurehead of swaggering Prussian militarism, in private a…

SIR WALTER RALEIGH: In North Carolina they are celebrating the 400th anniversary of the first settlement in North America. Colonisation of the New World was Walter Raleigh's most ambitious scheme, but what was its aim? THE RISE OF THE…

ELECTION 1784: It was the first modern General Election. Two parties, two national leaders - the King versus Parliament. With a computer analysis of the crucial results, Timewatch fights again the election that marked a watershed in…

THE FIRST FOOTBALL HOOLIGANS: How new is soccer violence? Christopher Andrew uncovers new evidence that pitch invasions, mob riots and attacks on rival supporters were at their height before 1914. THE FIRST OIL CRISIS: The Abadan oil…

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: How true are historical novels? Gore Vidal's 'Lincoln' draws the political battlefield in Washington during the American Civil War. What does it add to our portrait of one of America's greatest presidents? THE RISE AND…

THE LAST UPRISING: In 1839, 7,000 Welsh miners and ironworkers marched on Newport to demand their democratic rights. The result was the last mass treason trial in British history. Now new research suggests that it was planned as a prelude…

NELSON: Heroes inevitably suffer at the hands of those who worship them, few more so than one of the most popular of all, Nelson. Since his death in 1805, how have subsequent generations perceived him? THE TORIES AND THE WORKERS: Mrs…

REAGAN'S COWBOYS: Why have successive presidents celebrated the cowboy as all-American hero? THE AGE OF CHIVALRY IS DEAD: But did it ever flourish? How true is the picture painted of the knights in shining armour, enchanted castles and…

TAFF VALE: In 1900 the railway workers of Taff Vale embarked on a strike which has political implications to this day. Timewatch examines the first great clash between the Trades Unions and the law. THE ISLAND AND ITS PAST: How the…

'Let not poor Nellie starve.' With those words Charles II, the 'Merry Monarch', died 300 years ago. Of all British sovereigns, this womanising, yachting, horse-racing king has a fond place in popular myth. During his 25-year reign England…

CHURCHILL AND ROOSEVELT exchanged 2,000 letters during the Second World War. Collected for the first time, they reveal the tensions behind the friendship and Britain's collapse as a great superpower. A BLACK AND TERRIBLE TROOP was the…

THE UNUSED WEAPON: By 1945 the Allies and the Nazis had stockpiled five times more chemical weapons than had been used throughout the First World War. They were never used. Why? Robert Harris reports. SUICIDE OF A CAVALIER: At the battle…

In April 1945, British and American troops were sweeping across Western Germany. Charles Wheeler was among them. They stopped 50 miles short of the German capital and Berlin became the prize of the Russian army. Forty years on. Charles…

This month's programme comes from the centre of Oxford where Peter France introduces three stories which have their roots deep in the confused and bewildering fortunes of the Boer War. Film 1: Images of the later, tragic stages of the…

SUMMER OF THE HANGING JUDGE: An examination of the life and times of Judge George Jeffreys 300 years after he presided over the infamous Bloody Assizes which followed the Monmouth Rebellion. BIRTH OF THE EXPERT WITNESS: Christopher…

Film 1: As the world waits for Halley's Comet, a recently discovered diary written by a 17th-century merchant from Rye in Sussex reveals the feelings of a man caught up in a scientific revolution, when the new discipline of astronomy…

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Three films which reflect the way official records are preserved for future generations. Film 1: Christopher Andrew examines the extraordinary story of how the MS Automedon, entrusted with top secret documents, fell into enemy hands a…

Two stories shed new light on the life and times of Henry Tudor, who took the throne of England from Richard III 500 years ago. Film 1: The problems facing Margaret Rule and her assistant Andrew Fielding as they put back into the hull of…

Three films presented from the British Museum reveal how visionaries and others dealt with the 'outsider' as they set out to perfect a society, a state and a national image at the turn of the 19th century. Film 1: English reformers…

Three stories presented from the Virago bookshop in Covent Garden about the lives of women in worlds dominated by men. THE NINE DAY QUEEN: Lady Jane Grey was used by men of power when she was alive, and by male propagandists when she was…

In January 1943 lone British agent Henri Dericourt was dropped over occupied France. His mission was to organise the reception and departure of RAF flights crucial to the secret work of SOE - the Special Operations Executive. Dericourt…

In 1936 'The Road to War' used newsreel to try to alert the American people to the mounting horror of war in China, Ethiopia, Italy, Germany, Austria and Spain. But America did not want to know and the film disappeared without trace until…

Peter France introduces three films exploring the backgrounds of historic items recently auctioned and the motivations of the bidders: - A Victoria Cross won at the battle of Rorke's Drift more than 100 years ago - Four pages from a…

The Domesday Book was completed 900 years ago, but it says little about the daily worries and concerns of the people whose land and animals are recorded in so much detail. Three films help evoke something of the real lives of those…

Film 1: How a Bulgarian peasant farmer stumbled across the largest Thracian treasure ever discovered - more than 160 silver bowls and jugs, found while digging an irrigation ditch. THE MAN WHO MADE HISTORY: How an Italian who 'imitated…

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Peter France presents three films which reflect the extent to which codes of 'honour', allegiance' and 'behaviour' have had their effect on British history. 1: Christopher Andrew examines the demise of duelling 100 years ago. 2: Ian…

Views of Oliver Cromwell vary as much today as when Parliament asked him to become King in 1657: a tyrant, a repressed religious bigot who murdered a king; a patriot, civilised with a tremendous sense of humour, and conscience in matters…

Two stories showing how previous generations have dealt with the problems of pollution and disease: DEVONSHIRE COLIC: In Georgian times, a crippling illness struck thousands of cider drinkers in the west of England, who found mysterious…

Mary Queen of Scots has come down to us as a tragic heroine - but what kind of respect does she command as a 16th-century ruler? Anne Boleyn is usually seen either as a scheming predator or as a pathetic figure executed because she failed…

1: The last attempt by central government to impose educational benchmarks on the majority of British schools. 2: Disinherited Londoners recall the community spirit of a Notting Hill street torn down for redevelopment 25 years ago. 3:…

Christopher Andrew and Gabriel Ronay investigate two political mysteries. THE ZINOVIEV LETTER led to the defeat of the first Labour Government in 1924. Was it genuine - or was it an early attempt to use 'red scare' tactics to bring down…

What really happened in Russia in October 1917? How far can we rely on the vivid films from the period to give us a true picture of the Revolution and, of incidents such as the storming of the Winter Palace in St Petersburg? Christopher…

Two films examine the reality behind the ideal. When MANFRED VON RICHTHOFEN died in 1918 he had become a figure of myth; a knight of the air with 80 victories to his credit. But the legend of the Red Baron hid a quiet, aloof man whose…

Explores the trial of Nazi officer Adolph Eichmann through a controversial book, 'Eichmann in Jerusalem' by Hannah Arendt. Many Jews read her reports from Jerusalem with a sense of deep hurt and outrage as she questioned the legality and…

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Three films examine the ways our historical record is under attack. In fireproof vaults, millions of feet of film shot on nitrate stock in the first half of this century are decomposing - their images in danger of being lost for ever. In…

The control of national television is seen by regimes the world over as a necessary adjunct to their survival today. Peter France presents two films about the control and effect of mass communications in other times. The first tells the…

Henry Lincoln investigates the story of the 'Man in the Iron Mask' and - using evidence which only came to light last year - separates fact from romantic myth.

In September 1944, in retaliation for Dutch support of the Arnhem landings, the Nazis cut off all food supplies to the population of western Holland. Stocks fell through the following winter until by March 1945 the official ration was…

Christopher Andrew presents two stories from the darker and more secret side of British history over the past 150 years. THE DIARY OF A VERY ENGLISH SPY is an insight, based on a unique document, into the training and instruction given…

How old is the Shroud of Turin? To millions of believers it's the burial cloth of Jesus, to sceptics it's a clever medieval fake. Recently the age of the shroud was finally determined by radiocarbon dating. A Timewatch team went to Turin…

Bizarre theories have surrounded the unexplained killings in Whitechapel since they hit the headlines in 1888. This film dispels the grisly fiction, revealing for the first time the true contents of the police and Home Office files on the…

One hundred years after the matchgirls strike, this dramatised documentary looks at the life of Annie Besant, strike leader, pioneering 19th-century social reformer, and campaigner for the use of contraception who towards the end of her…

Peter France examines the Glorious Revolution of 1688 from the perspective of William of Orange, unearthing the real motives behind his invasion.

Fifty years ago, Nikolai Bukharin, Lenin's right-hand man and favourite of the Bolsheviks, was shot by Stalin's henchmen after the last of the infamous show trials in Moscow. Mikhail Gorbachev recently proclaimed his death a travesty of…

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During the Nazi occupation of eastern Poland, a small group of Jews in the city of Lvov tried to save themselves from the death camps by hiding in the sewers beneath the city for more than 14 months. Timewatch reunited four remaining…

What effect did Charlie Chaplin have on the sale of tea? What first caused the sudden and surprising popularity of tennis and golf? And to what extent was the middle class of England responsible for changing an era of optimism and peace…

For nearly 50 years the world has been led to believe President Roosevelt's statement that the attack was a total surprise and completely unsuspected by the neutral Americans. But witnesses from all over the world are now coming forward…

Two stories reflect the contribution made to history by non-professionals. BRITISH AND GUARANTEED: A look at those who re-create their childhood and the golden age of British engineering by collecting Frank Hornby's celebrated model…

Two eyewitness accounts of the past - 500 years apart. The 15th-century letters of Margaret Paston push aside people's misconceptions about medieval women as passive objects. Harriet Walter brings to life a woman of immense strength,…

In July 1962, Harold Macmillan sacked a third of his Cabinet, including Chancellor of the Exchequer and some of his oldest political friends. Did the normally unflappable Macmillan panic? Was there, as Macmillan claimed, a plot to…

Did the atomic bombs that fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki really shorten the war and save Allied lives? Based on American archive records, this dramatic account of the decision to use the atomic bomb reveals the reality of power politics -…

England's land was green but never pleasant. So why do villages and fields conjure up a happy, wholesome past? This film unravels the ironic tale of poverty in countryside and town which led to the invention of a rural fantasy in the…

Leon Trotsky was one of the architects of the Russian Revolution and creator of the Red Army. Brilliant and eloquent, and expected to succeed Lenin, he was forced into exile, airbrushed out of Soviet history and murdered in 1940 on the…

During the Second World War, Italian forces in Yugoslavia murdered hundreds of thousands of civilians. Historians have now exposed the startling political reasons why there was never an Italian equivalent of the Nuremberg Trials. Michael…

At the end of the Second World War, conclusive evidence of war crimes was presented against more than 1,200 high-ranking Italian Fascists. Yet despite constant protests from the governments of Yugoslavia, Greece and Ethiopia, not one…

Was the last prisoner of Spandau Prison in Berlin really Rudolf Hess, one time deputy to Adolf Hitler, or a doppelganger put in his place by the Nazis before his incredible flight to Britain in 1941? Claims have been made in recent years…

Timewatch explores the myth of the man who had a vision of a united Europe 175 years ago.

The Communist party of Hungary has been forced to surrender its monopoly on truth, but it still controls access to the official archives. Any truths about the past 40 years must, therefore, come from the people themselves: witnesses,…

In 1945 the German State and its army disappeared. Recently, harrowing tales from Germans who were prisoners in American camps at that time have begun to emerge. A Canadian author has alleged that nearly a million German soldiers died…

In the USA it is becoming standard practice for police to call in archaeologists and anthropologists with their skills at excavation and bone analysis to help them unravel murder cases. Now a British police force is looking at what the…

In January 1987 a band of grave robbers broke into a royal tomb at Sipan in northern Peru. The treasure they plundered was worth millions. Within months it had been smuggled by way of London to Los Angeles. Timewatch examines the…

On the shore of Sabbathday Lake in Maine lives a religious community of nine men and women. They are the last practising Shakers - members of a sect once persecuted for its dissenting beliefs and celibate lifestyle. Granted unique access,…

Seven hundred years ago tomorrow - on 1 November 1290 - the Jews were expelled from England. Christopher Andrew unfolds the extraordinary story of England's medieval Jews and discovers the English roots of European anti-Semitism.

In 1914-15 138,000 Indians fought on the Western Front. More than a quarter were casualties. We know what the ordinary soldier felt about the war in France because his letters home were translated and censored. The programme tells the…

Charles Wheeler tells how the colonial policy of the post-war Labour government led to the start of a 30-year war in Vietnam.

On January 23 1915, black insurgents broke into a house on the biggest plantation in British colonial Nyasaland. The rebels killed the white manager, cut off his head and carried it home. The planter's name was William Livingstone. The…

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Historians and archaeologists have started to reassess some of the ingrained myths of American history. American Indians lived in sophisticated societies, and many more died as a result of the European settlement of North America than has…

Every year the Sioux nation of South Dakota pays homage to more than 300 unarmed Indians killed by US troops on 29 December 1890. For the survivors and their descendants, it was the beginning of a deliberate and systematic process to…

The assassination a year ago of Dr Gerald Bull prevented Saddam Hussein from acquiring a 'supergun'. Bull designed the world's best howitzers, many bought by Iraq, but the supergun remained his lifelong ambition. David Taylor chronicles…

In 1934, Robert Robinson, a young black car worker from Detroit, was blacklisted by America after renewing a short-term contract from the Russians to work in the First State Ball Bearing Plant in Moscow. During his enforced 44 years…

A death ray to combat the Antichrist; the effectiveness of astrology; the bizarre sexual practices of the Brahmins; and the impossibility of a society whose sole aim is money and gain. These are some of the ideas which the eccentric…

For the last three years Palestinians have been involved in an Intifada against the Israeli occupation of their homeland; 50 years ago the British administration in Palestine was faced with an armed Arab rebellion which was suppressed…

In 1945 Britain, America and the USSR were allies against Hitler; less than a year later Winston Churchill condemned Soviet expansionism. With east-west relations once again at a crossroads, Dr Christopher Andrew examines the origins of…

The story of how Britain abandoned Spain's democratically elected government during the Spanish Civil War of 1936 and gave clandestine support to the nationalists and General Franco. Remarkable new evidence discovered in Spanish archives…

Charles Darwin lived in fear of disgrace because of his views. He believed that humans were just a better sort of ape, that we evolved from worms. These were shattering ideas, especially from a man trained for the Church. Using new…

Was Columbus really the first to discover America? Five hundred years ago three ships sailed from Spain on the most famous voyage in history - west, west and always west across the unknown ocean. But now a modern Spanish ship's officer…

In the first of two programmes about the First World War, German writer Ludwig Harig makes a pilgrimage to the Somme, hoping to understand why his father was unable to speak about the war. Archive film and the moving testimony of…

The letters between military surgeon Georges Duhamel and his wife Blanche lay forgotten in a family attic for 75 years. Recently rediscovered, they reveal a poignant love story set against the backdrop of the First World War. In 1914,…

In the 1830s a pioneering social investigation into child labour uncovered an appalling picture of deprivation, poverty and remorseless physical exploitation throughout Britain and sparked off a fierce debate between Victorian capitalists…

During the Second World War, the Nazis took many art treasures for "care and safe-keeping", including the priceless collection of French Impressionist paintings built up by the industrialist Friedrich Carl Siemens in 1930s Berlin - among…

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In October 1834 the Houses of Parliament burned down. Which architectural style would best express Victorian values? Architects, politicians, and the general public took sides in a fierce debate between the Classic and the Gothic, echoed…

Tells the full story of the "Death Railway", made famous by the 1957 film The Bridge on the River Kwai. In just 15 months, 26,000 allied PoWs who were forced to labour on the project died from ill treatment, malnutrition and disease. A…

In late 1943 Winston Churchill made what he would later describe as one of the biggest mistakes of the war. On the advice of his special envoy to Yugoslavia, he transferred British weapons and support from the anti-communist resistance…

When Marshal Tito imposed a communist dictatorship on Yugoslavia in 1945, the western allies regretted their support for the wartime resistance leader. But when, three years later, Tito fell out with Stalin, the west backed him once…

Until now, the three-man Argentine junta which led the invasion of the Falkland Islands has kept its secrets. Tonight, for the first time, a junta member, Air Force General Basilio Lami Dozo, speaks out. His Exocet missiles were the most…

In Paraguay the blond, blue-eyed people of New Germany speak the same Saxon as their ancestors did when they arrived there more than 100 years ago. They are the result of a bizarre racial experiment carried out by Elisabeth Nietzsche,…

In 1889, when her Aryan colony in Paraguay began to fail, Elisabeth Nietzsche returned to Germany to look after her dying brother. Over the next 40 years, she so distorted his ideas that even now Nietzsche's name is still directly…

On Wednesday 27 May 1942, two assassins waited for a German staff car to round a hairpin bend in a suburb of Prague. Their target was SS Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, the architect of the "final solution". Heydrich was considered…

For 40 years the Gladio - a secret network of former Nazis originally tasked with resisting the communist threat in occupied territories at the end of the Second World War - has bombed and murdered scores of innocent civilians to keep…

In August 1980, the left-wing Red Brigades were blamed for the bombing of a Bologna, Italy, railway station that resulted in 86 dead and scores injured. But the Red Brigades had long been penetrated by right-wing agents working for the…

Examines whether Italian Special Forces were involved in the kidnapping and assassination of Italian prime minister Aldo Moro, who supported including the Italian Communist Party in national government. Also reconstructs a preceding…

At the dawn of the Cold War, both communists and anti-communists in America thought the world was on the brink. This special three-part series uses archive film and stories of ordinary Americans to paint a picture of suspicion and…

Mention McCarthyism and most people think of the Hollywood blacklist. In fact, tens of thousands of ordinary people's lives were destroyed by what amounted to an American Inquisition. Paul was an electrician who couldn't work for 20 years…

Contrasts the fame and fortune of HUAC witness Harvey Matusow, whose lies went unquestioned, with the experiences of those who refused to co-operate and "name names". In destroying some but trusting others, did America lose faith in its…

A documentary drama based on the memoirs of English diplomat Ernest Satow. Arriving in Japan at a time of political upheaval in the 1860s, Satow quickly got to know the radical young samurai determined to overthrow the corrupt government…

Satow's unique understanding of the forces struggling for supremacy in Japan enabled him to have a direct influence on the events leading to the Civil War of 1868, and the restoration of the Mikado. Part 2 of 2.

30 years ago, American reaction against the Cuban Revolution led the world to the brink of nuclear war. Recounting the various US-inspired attacks against Cuba and the life of its leader Fidel Castro, who gives his account of events for…

October 1962: The US naval blockade, the shooting down of a US spy plane, and the Soviet preparations for a nuclear response to a US invasion of Cuba are told by insiders from both the Kremlin and the White House, and by Fidel Castro…

When white men fell out in 1861, Black Americans gained a measure of freedom. But by 1915, 50 years after the end of the Civil War, blacks in the Southern States could neither vote nor sit on juries. They were segregated and locked into a…

A personal account by actor Kenneth Griffith of the rise and fall of Irish nationalist hero Roger Casement. Knighted by the British for his humanitarian work in Africa and South America, in 1913 Casement switched his efforts to the cause…

The extraordinary story of one of the war's most secret alliances - between the US Naval Intelligence and the Mafia. Denied for 50 years, the pact was in fact begun on the New York waterfront and sealed in the mountains of Sicily. Now the…

Examines the origins of the Troubles in Northern Ireland and reveals startling new evidence of the Irish government's crucial role in the emergence of the Provisional IRA. With the help of interviews with Irish ex-cabinet ministers and…

During the Second World War the Nazis snatched 200,000 Aryan-looking Polish children from their mothers to replenish the "master race" back in Germany. This film tells the extraordinary story of two cousins who were stolen on the same…

A new profile of the man who was director of the FBI for nearly 50 years. This investigation of Hoover's private life reveals that top gangsters had evidence of his secret, homosexual love life and used it to blackmail him. Tainted by…

Described as "the greatest invention since the wheel" by novelist Angela Carter, the contraceptive pill played a crucial role in the sexual and social revolution of the 60s and 70s. With the help of archive footage from 'Up the Junction',…

A new look at the legend of William F Cody. From 1883 to 1916, millions of people throughout the world thrilled to the adventures of Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show, where Indians danced to the rhythms of war and cowboys rode to the…

Fifty years ago Bomber Command launched a massive campaign against Nazi Germany - the Battle of the Ruhr. In this special edition Jonathan Dimbleby explores the military and moral issues posed by a form of warfare which, since the end of…

On 23rd August, 1964, the last person in Britain was hanged. To those involved in it, the process of judicial execution was a 'most secret business', never to be discussed, least of all with the media. But now they have broken their…

Julius Caesar courted popular support with spectacular displays of gladiatorial combat. But new archaeological research explains what really went on inside the Roman amphitheatre, and how cruelty and violence became the corner-stone of…

It cost more lives than the British Army lost in the entire Second World War. The Battle of Kursk, south of Moscow, was fought 50 years ago. It was the biggest armoured battle in history. If this is the case, why have few of us ever heard…

On 5 May 1981, Bobby Sands died on hunger strike at the Maze prison in Northern Ireland. Nine more prisoners starved themselves to death. Using first-hand testimony, this programme tells the story.

In April, a group of 18 people met in a small town halfway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Some were Jewish, the sons and daughters of Holocaust survivors; the rest were German, the children of Nazi war criminals. Producer Catrine Clay…

Was Lee Harvey Oswald a mentally disturbed gunman acting alone, as the report of the Warren Commission suggested? Was he one of two gunmen, as the House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded? Or was he, as he claimed, an innocent…

Mao Tse-tung ruled China from 1949 until his death in 1976, and this film examines for the first time on television the true extent of his tyranny and the brutality of his regime. His rise to power, and the revolution that swept away the…

One In four British merchant seamen died during the Second World War. Life on board ship was dangerous, poorly paid and carried a far higher casualty rate than any of the armed services. Yet their bravery and sacrifices have barely been…

When Grigorii Efimovich Rasputin was murdered in 1916, rumour and political expediency set to work to paint him as a villain, responsible for the downfall of the Romanov empire, an insane alcoholic capable of any sexual extravagance. This…

Since 1949, dozens of planes and up to 200 US, British and allied air-crew have been lost in an undeclared aerial espionage war between the western powers and the Soviet Union. Many of them were believed to have been captured, tortured…

In the decades leading up to reform of the divorce laws in 1969, thousands of women suffered the injustices of a system that treated a failed marriage as a criminal offence. Timewatch tells the stories of some of these women, and the…

While the British government publicly operated an open-door policy to immigrants, in private it was terrified about the growing black population. Documents released under the 30-year rule and obtained by Timewatch reveal the government's…

The question of how the First World War was started has been one of the great controversies of the 20th century. The flashpoint was the assassination in Sarajevo of Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Hapsburg throne. But it was the reaction to…

An entire popular mythology has made the Spanish Inquisition a byword for human evil - sadistic, fanatical and omnipotent. But in reality it was none of these things. How did the truth come to be so distorted? Through special access to…

In the final few months of the Second World War, Hitler's revolutionary V1 and V2 missiles terrorised southern England. In London alone, 25,000 homes were levelled and 8,000 people killed as this country became the first to suffer major…

A film about the horrors of the English Civil War, using letters, diaries and memoirs of ordinary people in 17th-century England. The historical characters of Parliamentarian Lord Saye and Sele, and Royalist Sir Edmund Verney, are…

The tale of one man's attempt to rewrite the history of the world by redating Egypt's greatest mystery, the Sphinx. Until now, no one can say for sure why, when or by whom the famous statue was carved. The experts think it is Egyptian and…

In the centenary year of his birth, and using previously unseen home movies, this film explores the contradictions of the Ukrainian peasant's son. He contributed to the crises in Berlin and Cuba, yet he hated the arms race. As Stalin's…

Niccolo Machiavelli's name is synonymous with political intrigue, but recent analysis of his work suggests that he was a political pragmatist whose best-known book 'The Prince' is as relevant today as it was in the 16th century. Reading…

Story of the woman judged to be such a danger to public health that she was incarcerated by the city of New York for 23 years. In the winter of 1906, Dr George Soper was summoned to Oyster Bay, Long Island, to investigate a mystery. Why…

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Three children of victims of the Holocaust tell the almost unbelievable stories of their parents' survival. From ghetto, through concentration camp, on to displaced persons camp, and out to a new life beyond, these stories are harrowing…

Using unique archive material from Vietnam and interviews with US agents, this programme tells the story of the friendly relations in 1945 between the United States government and Vietnamese communist leader Ho Chi Minh.

The reports of young journalists like Martin Bell, David Jessel, Brian Barron, and Julian Pettifer brought the front line of the war into the front room. This review of the BBC's coverage includes dispatches that were often moving, like…

A candid portrait of Oscar Wilde and his remarkable family, including revelations by his grandson Merlin Holland and Lady Alice Douglas, a descendant of Wilde's lover Lord Alfred Douglas.

On the 25th anniversary of the end of the 1967-70 Biafran war, Timewatch examines the doomed struggle of the Ibos, known as "the Jews of Africa", to secede from Nigeria. It was a war which touched the world as no other African war has…

The modern view of Vikings is that they were not very different from anyone else at the time. Timewatch travels to Iceland, the Shetlands, and Sicily to investigate the evidence and solve the riddle of Viking navigation.

Pocahontas was the first heroine of American history. Disney has released a romanticised cartoon version of her story, but the real story is far more interesting. Filmed in Virginia, Norfolk, and Kent.

The word kamikaze is synonymous with death. But not every kamikaze who vowed to die in the Second World War fulfilled his promise. Shot down on route to the target, or still waiting to be called when the war ended, there were a handful of…

One of the most important revolutions of the 20th century has taken place not on the battlefield but in the home. In 1900, one in three working women in Britain was a domestic servant. Fifty years later, that entire way of life had…

The 1930s were a golden age for Hollywood and its gangster films. But behind the screen, the Mob was turning a small-time protection racket targeting projectionists into a million-dollar shakedown. What began as extortion soon became a…

Eighty years ago, a secret new weapon was born - the tank. From its inauspicious debut on the Somme in 1916 to the massed-tank battles of Cambrai and Amiens, the British media and public were fascinated with the tank. But how did this…

The temple at Karnak in Egypt, founded around 1500 BC, was the greatest religious shrine of the ancient world, taking 2,000 years and the work of 80,000 people to complete. Yet much of what went on behind its walls was kept hidden. With…

Some historians have always suspected that Stalin was behind the Korean War, but the Soviets have denied involvement. By obtaining documents from recently opened archives and finding new eyewitnesses, Timewatch has uncovered evidence that…

Four hundred years ago today, Sir Francis Drake was buried at sea off the coast of Panama after unsuccessfully trying to recapture past glories. History records that his reputation lay in tatters just eight years after defeating the…

A 1973 documentary from the 'Man Alive' series portrayed the lives of six teenage male offenders and their time in Peper Harow, a community in Surrey that promoted a policy of treatment rather than punishment. This film shows the…

Had documentary film-makers roamed the streets of London in the mid-19th century, they would have encountered an extraordinary range of characters. A rat catcher, a woman who sells dog dirt, and a depressed street clown are brought to…

A special edition of the historical documentary series. Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig has been lampooned as the worst type of British officer for his command of the army in the First World War. But did he, as accused, send thousands of…

When General Norman Schwarzkopf planned and executed the Gulf War's "Desert Storm", he looked to the history books for his strategy and found his inspiration in the distant figure of Hannibal. First of a seven-part series.

Rennes-le-Chateau in southern France is home to one of the century's greatest conspiracy theories. For over a century there have been rumours about treasure buried beneath its streets. This edition of Timewatch sets out to solve the…

A hundred years ago, gold was discovered on a tributary of the Klondike River in north-west Canada, sparking off an extraordinary stampede across the snowbound passes of the Yukon. Will White from Dorset was one of the thousands of…

For half a century the Soviet Union's labour camps made virtual slaves of millions of Russians. Tens of thousands of foreigners were also caught up in this nightmare world. Using newly-released film from the Soviet archives and…

From 1948-64 Curtis E LeMay and Thomas Power controlled the nuclear bombers and missiles of the USA's Strategic Air Command, the most powerful military force the world has ever seen. But it is now believed that, without the president's…

Tonight's documentary visits the small mining village in South Wales where, in October 1966, disaster struck when a coal tip above the village collapsed and crashed down the hillside at speed, sweeping everything up which lay in its path.…

Forty years ago this week, thousands of Hungarians demonstrated on the streets of Budapest in protest against Soviet occupation of their country and communist oppression. Subsequent Soviet retribution resulted in the deaths of between…

A Second World War love affair between German housewife Lilly Wust and young Jewish lesbian Felice Schragenheim.

Christopher Columbus is popularly believed to have been, in 1492, the first European to discover America. However, some historians are convinced the New World was known before he set sail. Examines their claims and looks into the belief…

A wireless operator who survived torture and a Nazi concentration camp, a 20-year-old sabotage expert, and an MI6 agent who filmed his own undercover operations are just three of the British secret agents whose stories of bravery behind…

The Boer War of 1899-1902 saw correspondents and cameramen play a major part in war propaganda for the first time. Diaries, memoirs, photographs and films form part of an examination of the media's role in a conflict that saw young…

For centuries babies were born at home, their mothers assisted through the birth by other women. But 50 years ago, childbirth was taken out of the home and into hospitals. The transition was made in the name of safety but, as tonight's…

When war broke out in South East Asia in 1941, one hill tribe - the Christian, English-speaking Karen - distinguished itself in the fight against Japan. Karen helped halt the Japanese, taught British Army regulars to fight in the jungle,…

Tonight's documentary reassesses a project from 1977 designed to find out more about prehistoric life. For over a year a group of young people lived and worked on a replica of an Iron Age farm, but in the light of recent archaeological…

Forty years ago a war movie created a legend. Timewatch now tells the story of Lieutenant Colonel Toosey, the British officer in Burma whose job it was to supply the Japanese with a workforce to build the bridge - which still exists. His…

As Christianity became a dominant religious force in Europe, a religious movement was shaping the ancient Mayan civilisation of central America. It was based upon the arrival of a messianic "fire child" into Mayan territory in AD 378. New…

In 1988 the third film about the inspirational life of Alison French, who has cerebral palsy, saw her get married to Mark John. Ten years and two children later, she talks candidly about her experiences as a disabled person as well as her…

The first secret documents released by MI5 to the Public Records Office cover its establishment by the mysterious Vernon Kell, code-named "K", in 1909, and the fight to counter the German spy threat during the First World War. Timewatch…

Transatlantic slavery was responsible for the largest long-distance forced migration in history. Europeans did not venture into the interior of Africa until after abolition, so how did approximately 12 million Africans fall into their…

Secret files documenting the life of Lenin were hidden away for decades by Soviet authorities in a labyrinth of vaults deep underground, behind blast-proof steel doors specially strengthened to withstand nuclear attack. They reveal a…

Twenty-five years ago the Ugandan Asians arrived in Britain, having been expelled from their own country. Greeted warmly on their arrival, they also saw the harsh face of Britain, with the National Front gaining support and publicity. Now…

Explores the myths that still surround the legendary Egyptian queen, and attempts to unravel the truth behind a life - and death - that helped to shape the civilised world for the next 500 years.

Examines why Hitler abandoned plans to invade Britain in 1940 and prepared, instead, to attack the Soviet Union. NEW SEASON 1/6.

Nine grammar school boys recall their schooldays and reflect on how that system affected their lives. With former Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke, film director David Puttnam, author Barry Hines, and biologist Steve Jones. 2/6.

In 1976 the chance discovery of a mummified body inside a ghost ride in Long Beach, California, unearthed a chain of events leading all the way back to 1911 Oklahoma territory and a bungled train robbery by small-time burglar Elmer…

Roman Emperor Trajan led two great wars against the people of Dacia. No written documentation of this campaign survives, but its story is depicted in stone on Trajan's Column, a monument that has towered above Rome for almost 2,000 years.…

Las Vegas, the world's gambling capital: Over 30 million people visit each year, most of them unaware that clean-living Mormons played a major part in creating "sin city". 5/6.

As the Aborigine people fight for their land rights, Australia's historians extract revelations from the archives. Letters and diaries from the Australian frontier help unravel the true story of Australia's land war as white settlers'…

An estimated quarter-million homosexuals fought for Britain during the Second World War. At the time homosexuality was still a criminal offence, but the authorities mostly turned a blind eye during the national crisis. Tonight's programme…

Eighty years ago the end of the First World War was celebrated as a triumph for democracy, yet some would later dismiss it as futile. The most surprising change of heart was that of wartime prime minister David Lloyd George, who led his…

It is accepted in American history that the Pilgrim Fathers were a group of religious separatists who founded the first permanent colony at Plymouth, Massachusetts, after sailing to the New World to avoid oppression. As tonight's…

Swiss banks stand accused of collaborating with the Nazis before and during the Second World War. But 60 years ago, when US Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau began investigating this collaboration, he found the Swiss were not…

Tonight's programme follows historian Andrew Roberts across the Indian subcontinent as he argues that Britain should take pride in its imperial past. His opinions are then forcefully challenged in a discussion chaired by Kirsty Wark. 5/6.

In October 1993 elite units of the US army were pinned down on the streets of Mogadishu in Somalia by forces of Mohammed Farah Aidid, whom they were trying to capture. The ensuing battle left 18 American soldiers dead and 75 wounded.…

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In the thirties Grey Owl tricked the establishment into believing he was the world's first eco-warrior. Archie Belaney was in fact a Briton who had emigrated to Canada at 17 and set out on a mission to fool everyone that he was an…

In 1944, American submarines attacked two Japanese boats in the South China Sea, unaware that the vessels were crammed with more than 2,000 Allied PoWs. Among more than 1,000 who survived the attack were British gunner Wilf Barnett and…

A pistol shot at noon in 1889 signaled the start of the first race between thousands of desperate men and women to stake their claim on government land in north-western Oklahoma. Tonight's programme sifts through archival footage and…

When English explorer Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles travelled to the heart of the Indonesian island of Central Java in the early 1800s, he found a jungle-covered hill littered with a few statues. Spurred on by stories of a lost temple, his…

Marcelle and Elise are two elderly French women who live at opposite ends of the country but shared similar experiences in the Second World War. During the German occupation of France, when their husbands deserted them, they had affairs…

In 1909 the passenger liners Florida - carrying Italian immigrants to New York - and Republic - carrying American tourists to Europe - collided on a freezing north Atlantic night. The lives of over 1,500 passengers and crew were held in…

Two-and-a-half million Indians fought for Britain in Second World War campaigns from Egypt to the Far East. Subject to some of the most brutal attacks on the Allies and decorated for bravery, they were forgotten by the British and…

Danish politicians sparked a storm of controversy in 1969 by voting to legalise all forms of pornography, becoming the first country to approve such a move. Why did a traditionally religious nation take this step?

The series returns. Captured German spies were turned into double agents and used by MI5 to deceive Hitler during the Second World War. Newly released MI5 documents and interviews with former members of MI5 and its top-secret…

The title bestowed by history on Russia's first tsar has become synonymous with tyranny and mass bloodshed, his 16th-century reign characterised by conquest and cruelty. Yet many in Russia regard him as a national hero where he is known…

Loathed by the intellectual establishment after its construction in 1889, the Eiffel Tower is now a cherished symbol of Paris. Tonight's film relates the story of the tower's construction and hears from people whose lives are linked to it.

In September 1943, 191 men from Montgomery's 8th Army - who had helped to drive Rommel's troops out of Africa - refused to take part in the Allied fight for Salerno, Italy. Interviews, reconstructions, and previously classified documents…

In 1946 almost half-a-million German prisoners of war were still being held in Britain, with the ban on fraternisation lifted only in December. Interviews, archive footage, and private photographs shed light on the experiences of the…

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Opened 70 years ago, the Empire State Building remains one of the enduring symbols of New York City. Tonight's programme explores its colourful - and tragic - history. NEW SEASON 1/6.

Heinrich Himmler was regarded as Hitler's most loyal henchman. But in the last days of the war, his role in a plot to make peace with the west emerged: the final act of a fascinating drama of double-dealing and ideological compromise. 2/6.

Hollywood's portrayal of Thomas More, Henry VIII's Lord Chancellor, is that of a saint but in truth he was a much more complex and interesting man. This drama-documentary, presented by Professor John Guy, follows the last seven years of…

Ten years into his reign, the notorious emperor Nero attempted to build the largest palace the Romans would ever see, the Domus Aurea or "Golden House". What remains of the building today lies alongside the Colosseum, barely noticed, but…

During the Great Depression the American public looked for real-life anti-heroes to match the gangster movies - and found one in John Dillinger. A desperado, a bank robber, a bad man no jail could hold, his reputation grew until he was…

In 1941 the first large-scale paratroop attack took place when Hitler ordered the invasion of Crete. Within a week Churchill gave the order to evacuate the island, but the two leaders' interpretations of the battle could not be more…

For Japanese officer Hiroo Onoda, the Second World War continued until 1974. Now 78 years old and living in Brazil, Onoda tells how he finally accepted defeat and emerged from the Philippine jungle. NEW SEASON 1/6.

Archive footage and interviews, with among others the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, help recapture the balls, dresses, romances, and broken hearts that made up the glitz and the glamour of the debutante season - the annual upper-class…

Rex Bloomstein returns to find out what happened to some of the prisoners featured in the award-winning documentary series he made 21 years ago. 3/6.

A documentary examining the mystery behind the demise in December 1943 of Germany's supposedly unsinkable warship, and a look at the current quest to detect the wreck by Norway's navy. 4/6.

Following guidelines described by the ancient author Vegetius nearly 2000 years ago, and supervised by historian Kate Gilliver, nine volunteers must learn from scratch to endure the harsh regime of the Roman army. 5/6.

Towards the end of the Second World War, many German towns with minimal strategic or industrial importance suffered "saturation bombing". The historical strand throws new light on the political decisions behind the Allied campaign's final…

Investigates new research on the early years of the Nazi leader, which have always been mired in controversy. Surprising new information comes to light about his first love amid recent claims that the young Hitler was homosexual. NEW…

The Iron Bridge is an icon of the Industrial Revolution - the world's first metal structure and an outstanding example of 18th-Century British technical ingenuity. Yet, incredibly, no-one knows how this vast aerial jigsaw spanning the…

The sinking of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse in December 1941 is recognised as one of Britain's greatest maritime disasters. Follow a team of military and civilian divers trying to unravel the mystery of why the ships were damaged…

In July 1950, No Gun Ri in Korea witnessed one of the largest civilian massacres in US military history. This film, based on Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism, hears from eyewitnesses on both sides of the war and uses recently…

From the Sex Pistols' trip down the Thames to the royal bonfire in Windsor Great Park, from street parties in Fulham to village fetes in Hampshire and Worcestershire, the Queen's Silver Jubilee was commemorated in very different ways.…

Love, greed, murder, rape, and political treachery were ingredients in the doomed 16th-century relationship between Mary, Queen of Scots and her lover, the Earl of Bothwell. Dr Saul David investigates Bothwell's plot to kill Mary's…

No maritime tragedy has captured the public's imagination like the sinking of the Titanic. In the week that marks the 90th anniversary of the disaster, rare archive footage, plus location filming in America, Britain, and Northern Ireland,…

Rape, murder, pillage, and destruction ensued when, in early 1945, the Red Army avenged Germany's invasion of Russia some four years earlier. As historian Antony Beevor documents the terrifying nature and scale of the battle, this…

Over 1,500,000 people died from starvation and disease when Germany besieged Leningrad for 900 days in one of the Second World War's darkest episodes. But even when the Soviets forced the Germans to surrender, Joseph Stalin secretly…

The Little Bighorn in Montana is the site of one of the most famous battles in the history of the American West. For more than a century, flamboyant General George Armstrong Custer has been remembered for his "last stand", when he gave…

Using dramatic reconstructions and filmed throughout Egypt, this documentary unravels the story of King Akhenaten, the country's heretic monarch, who 3,300 years ago introduced a new religion and demanded to be worshipped like a god. At…

In 1849 American society was shaken by the grisly news that a prominent and wealthy Bostonian, George Parkman, had been killed and dismembered. The subsequent trial found a Harvard medical professor, John White Webster, guilty of murder,…

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A shipwreck off Devon uncovered much more than a haul of Islamic coins and jewellery - it also revealed a forgotten time when coastal Europe lived in terror of the "Barbary pirates". The story behind the ship, and why over a million…

For over 1,000 years, Maya kings ruled Central America's jungles. While Europe was just emerging from the Dark Ages, they were great architects, artists, and mathematicians. Then, at the height of their power, they abandoned their cities…

Stephenson's Rocket is famous because of the contest it won in 1829. Few realise it triumphed by default when its two rivals had to withdraw because of faulty parts. Using replica engines, Timewatch gives the rivals a second opportunity…

Ramesses III is remembered as Egypt's last great pharaoh, but the truth was very different. With the help of papyrus that was never intended to survive, the dark workings of a pharaoh in crisis are revealed. It's a story of conspiracy,…

The first action involving the British in the First World War was a cavalry skirmish - German lances against British swords. Within eight weeks, it was transformed into a bloody trench stalemate that would last for three years. Why did…

Due to be taken out of service on Friday, the world's only supersonic passenger plane is finally brought to ground. But our love affair with Concorde looks set to endure for years to come. Celebrity frequent fliers, engineers, pilots, and…

The Battle of Rorke's Drift is routinely presented as a significant British victory of the Zulu wars. Yet on the same day, at the nearby Battle of Isandlwana, heavily equipped British troops were crushed by Zulu warriors bearing little…

Freak weather conditions on 31 January 1953 led to a storm that cut a destructive swathe across the North Sea coastlines of Britain and the Netherlands. Over 2,000 people were killed and thousands left homeless in the worst national…

Circus strongman-turned-adventurer Giovanni Belzoni filled the British Museum with some of ancient Egypt's greatest treasures, including the seven-ton head of Rameses II. But as a result of a bitter feud he died in obscurity, never…

Revealing the extraordinary detective story behind the disappearance in 1944 of highly decorated pilot Wing Commander Adrian Warburton, whose vanishing at the age of 26 sparked a 60-year mystery. In 2002 a diverse group of historians,…

For 40 years the science world was hoodwinked by a forged "missing link" between ape and man. But who was responsible for the infamous "Piltdown Man" hoax? Timewatch lines up the suspects, including the relic's "discoverer" Charles…

The Second World War Normandy landings helped seal Winston Churchill's reputation as a great wartime leader, but 29 years earlier his first D-Day - the disastrous assault on Gallipoli in 1915 - almost finished his military career.…

In a dramatised account, Timewatch follows a German soldier caught up in the most destructive conflict in history - Hitler's invasion of Russia. We travel the route that idealistic young Nazi Henry Metelmann took and see how the choices…

Examining the UFO phenomenon in Britain since the 1950s, when alleged sightings began and Clement Attlee formed the Flying Saucer Working Party. The documentary recalls how UFOs became a symbol of the communist threat during the Cold War…

On 30 December 1915 the Persia, a passenger ship loaded with gold bullion bound for Bombay, was torpedoed by the notorious U-boat ace Max Valentiner, killing over ## people and sending the liner to the bottom of the sea. For 88 years, the…

Glamour, money, sex, and danger are all synonymous with the Ferrari brand, and all were evident in the life of its creator, who died in 1988. He was prepared to manipulate, test, and shape everyone around him to achieve his dream. But he…

The well-preserved remains of an 80ft medieval merchant ship came to light in 2002 on the banks of the River Usk in Newport, Gwent. Two of the archaeologists involved - Kate Hunter and Nigel Nayling - delve into its history, uncovering…

He's best known for having suffered bouts of mental illness and losing the American colonies, but what was King George III really like? With contributions from the Prince of Wales, Timewatch re-examines the life of Britain's…

Could the British Secret Service be linked with a murder that, for nearly 90 years, has been attributed to self-confessed culprit Prince Felix Yusupov? Acting with a group of fellow conspirators, he is said to have poisoned, shot, and…

When a handful of British volunteers were pitted against the might of the German battleship Tirpitz in 1943, official records described the raid as the most daring attack of the Second World War. Four-man X-class midget submarines battled…

Could the Black Death - killer of up to half of Europe in the 14th century - be lying dormant, ready to strike again? New evidence refutes received opinion that the cause was bubonic plague spread by rats, but was actually a deadly virus…

Could a set of hieroglyphs be about to change the face of Ancient Egypt for ever? Doctor Viv Davies claims that this recent discovery proves that in 800 BC, Egypt was under the rule of 'black Pharaohs' from neighbouring Nubia. As the…

The story of the men who served on board the Tudor warship, which sank in Portsmouth harbour during a battle with French forces. Archaeological analysis of artefacts recovered from the wreck, reconstructions, and computer graphics combine…

A journey through modern France in the footsteps of Julius Ceasar. Reconstructions provide an insight into the climax of Caesar's bloody eight-year conflict in Gaul. The great siege at Alesia in 52 BC would seal Gaul's fate and shape the…

Criminologist David Wilson conducts an investigation into the death of Russia's first dictator, who ruled the country during the 16th century. Beginning with rumours that Ivan was strangled by enemies close to him, the historical murder…

Rome, 81 BC: Sextus Roscius is accused of patricide. If found guilty, he faces a brutal execution. Defending him is a young lawyer - Cicero. Using the actual trial record, this drama reconstructs one of the most celebrated murder trials…

When Stalin's death from a brain hemorrhage was announced in March 1953, the true details surrounding his death were immediately suppressed: the Soviet Communist Party's power would crumble if foul play was suspected. Acclaimed historian…

Her romance with a dashing fighter pilot was the stuff of fairy tales - yet the prospect of marriage between the Queen's sister and Group Captain Peter Townsend, a divorced commoner, divided opinion. In 1955 she ended two years of tabloid…

It's 9am on 20 January 1607: a 12ft-high wall of water devastates the counties of the Bristol Channel, killing in the region of 2,000. The catastrophe altered the coastline for ever - yet it's been all but forgotten. Scientists Ted Bryant…

A love of bloody spectacle led the Romans to build amphitheatres all over their Empire. In Britain there were at least 25, the largest in Chester where archaeologists Tony Wilmott and Dan Garner spend three months excavating a complex…

Mount Tambora in eastern Indonesia unleashed the biggest volcanic blast ever in April 1815, a cataclysmic event that could have provoked a change in climate around the world. Thousands starved to death, lurid skies inspired the artist…

In 1605 a group of angry young Catholic men decided to wipe out the monarchy and government by blowing up the Houses of Parliament. To mark the 400th anniversary of the infamous Gunpowder Plot, Timewatch attempts to establish why the…

A focus on the man responsible for the deaths of almost two million Cambodians. Dramatic reconstructions, the testimony of acquaintances, and the words of the Khmer Rouge leader himself combine to chart his rise to power and his use of…

On 17 September 1940 a German U-boat attacked the evacuee ship SS Benares en route to Canada, killing 258 of the 401 on board, including 80 of 100 child passengers. Sixty-five years on, those still living recall how they escaped death by…

Psychological analysis of the biggest madman of the 20th century. How in 1943, a team of Harvard psychologists arrived at startlingly accurate conclusions from a profile they drew up of the Führer, in a bid to predict his future conduct.…

Eighteen months ago, National Museum of Ireland archaeologists set out to solve a pair of ancient murder mysteries after the discovery of two bodies perfectly preserved by the peat bog in which they had been buried many centuries before.…

A deadly duel at sea - featuring one of the Second World War's great tactical bluffs - is the focus of this dramatised documentary. Commodore Henry Harwood takes on Captain Hans Langsdorff and the pride of the German navy, the Graf Spee.…

In 1789 the first all-female transport ship set sail from Britain for the struggling colony at Sydney Cove. Three of today's high-flying Australian women trace their ancestry back to the passenger list and find three feisty girls from the…

France 2003: A unit of the American military that aims to bring home all missing US servicemen sifts through the remains of two First World War soldiers. 4/6.

Over 1,300 American pilots were declared missing in action as a result of the Vietnam War. Nearly 40 years on, a special unit of the American military (JPAC) revisits the site where the fighter jet of Major Herman Knapp and his co-pilot…

Reputed to have been written by Khan's adopted son, 'The Secret History of the Mongols' reveals a very different man to the butcher of legend: a devoted husband, politician, and legislator. This documentary examines the book to show how…

1179: The Crusaders build a new and supposedly impregnable fortress at a crossing on the Jordan called Jacob's Ford. Within a year of its completion, the castle, which was protected by 1500 Knights Templar, was taken in a siege lasting…

When 30 decapitated Romans were found buried in York in February 2005, archaeologists were baffled by their presence. Had these bodies been beheaded because of Roman superstitions about ghosts or were they victims of a brutal act of…

For two months in 1944, the men, women and children of Warsaw faced incredible odds in a bid to liberate the Polish city from Nazi occupation. They did so alone, even though Soviet forces arrived on the scene at the height of the…

The first ever exchange of fire between iron-clad ships took place on 9 March 1862 and changed the course of the American Civil War. But what was it like to serve inside these primitive battleships, one of which was dubbed "the iron…

One of America's worst natural disasters struck in the early hours of 18 April 1906. This film marks the centenary of the San Francisco earthquake by revealing the true scale of the catastrophe through the words and images of those who…

In 1943 the daughter of an Indian mystic was sent into France by the SOE (Churchill's secret service) to provide a vital link with Nazi-occupied Paris. Betrayed and tortured, she revealed nothing of the SOE before being executed. Awarded…

The fascinating story of how, in February 1945, HMS Venturer hunted down and sank the U-boat U864 - a sub on a deadly secret mission. This documentary uses eyewitness accounts, archive material, and a dive into the Baltic's frozen waters…

By 1966 the Beatles had played over 1400 gigs and sold 200 million records. At the height of their popularity, the Fab Four decided they would never tour again. Previously unseen archive footage plus interviews with those who accompanied…

A huge volcanic eruption in Iceland in 1783 spewed out poisonous gases that enveloped Europe, killing thousands of Britons. The ensuing winter was one of the worst ever and cost countless more lives. This environmental disaster is well…

A stone barrier 74-miles long, up to 15ft high, and 10ft thick: Hadrian's Wall stood as the Roman Empire's most imposing frontier for 300 years. Almost 2,000 years after it was built, archaeologists have properly excavated less than one…

Unlikely as it seems now, the first aerial bombardment of Britain was a Zeppelin raid on the unfortunate Norfolk town of Great Yarmouth with one fatality. The next three years saw a terror campaign that would take hundreds of lives and…

Timewatch recalls the last days of the 600-year-old ritual of duelling, telling the story of two men who set out with pistols into the Scottish countryside on 23 August 1826 after arguing over money. 6/6.

Almost a quarter of a century ago, 50 British servicemen lost their lives at Fitzroy inlet in the Falkland Islands when two supply ships, Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram, were bombed by Argentinian planes. This one-off Timewatch special…

September 1970: A BOAC flight with 20 school children on board was hijacked in the name of a Palestinian guerrilla group - the first and last time a British commercial aircraft has ever been hijacked. Interviews from hostages and their…

New evidence from the island of Crete suggests that Europe's first great civilisation, the Minoans, was destroyed by a cataclysmic natural disaster. Was the terrible fate of the Minoans the source of Plato's story of Atlantis? A team of…

By 1945 Vichy France had deported 76,000 Jews to Nazi concentration camps. Told in their own words, these are the stories of four children secretly hidden by ordinary French people. Acclaimed director Jonathan Hacker awakes powerful…

For centuries gladiators have been seen as legendary figures of the ancient world, based largely on speculation. For five years, two forensic anthropologists have been looking at thousands of bones found in a mass grave in Turkey. Their…

Timewatch celebrates its 25th anniversary with a return to the family that featured in its first programme, the Windsors. The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on 2 June 1953 was the greatest spectacle ever staged in Britain. Told by the…

In July 2007, 61 men and women set off on an extraordinary voyage to sail the world's largest reconstructed Viking ship from Denmark to Ireland. This film follows their seven-week journey and reveals the emotional and physical challenges…

The D-Day landing at Omaha Beach in Normandy on 6 June 1944 is widely regarded as a great victory, but the operation was almost an unimaginable disaster. Very little actually went to plan on the day - the majority of the landing craft…

In January 2007 the MSC Napoli ran aground, spilling its cargo on a Devon beach. Opportunists plundered the ship's booty while the authorities struggled to police the scene. But the looters of the Napoli were reviving a tradition that…

The medieval mêlée tournament was a brutal free-for-all with sharpened weapons, few rules, and one undisputed champion: William Marshal. Military historian Dr Saul David journeys into Marshal's knightly world, training as he did, trying…

More than 3,000 years ago the rebel Pharaoh Akhenaten marched his people from Thebes to a desert plain beside the Nile. Within 20 years a huge new city was constructed dedicated to the Pharaoh's new god. This would be a place of abundance…

Some 30,000 Brits head for Australia each year - just a fraction of the one million who gambled on the ten-pound assisted-passage scheme through the 1950s and 60s, in one of the largest planned migrations of the 20th century. One of the…

Experts have always believed that Britain's most iconic ancient monument was designed as a burial site. Two years ago a radical new theory emerged suggesting that Stonehenge was a place of healing rather than interment - a Bronze Age…

The Asian tsunami of 2004 was a devastating natural disaster of epic proportions. Many believe a huge wave on this scale couldn't hit Europe - are they wrong? In 1607, an enormous flood engulfed Somerset and Monmouthshire claiming a huge…

Peking, June 1900: The "Society of Right and Harmonious Fists", known by Europeans as the Boxers, entrapped more than 3,000 foreigners and Chinese Christians in the diplomatic quarter, in a bid to free China from the influence of the…

How did an unassuming little girl become the most powerful woman in the world? At her birth, few believed Princess Victoria would one day be crowned Queen, but following a number of untimely deaths and the failure of her uncles to father…

Michael Palin tells the explosive, poignant story of the First World War's final day, which marks the start of the BBC's 90 Years of Remembrance season. Taking a solemn trudge around the former battlefields of northern Europe, he recounts…

A mile off the coast of Alderney in the Channel Islands lies a 16th-century shipwreck that could rewrite England's naval history. Here, Saul David joins a team of divers and experts as they try to raise the ship's timeworn cannons. By…

Over 40 years after the QE2's launch, the world's longest-serving cruise ship is set to embark on her final voyage. This celebratory film hops aboard to pay tribute to the much-loved ocean liner as she glides gracefully towards…

The tale of outlaws Bonnie and Clyde enjoyed a renaissance during the 1960s - Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway portrayed the duo on screen, while Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot teamed up to add Gallic cool to the story. But the…

In the late 18th century, Captain James Cook embarked on three great voyages that pushed the borders of the British Empire to the ends of the Earth. For many, Cook remains the greatest explorer in history; for others, he was a ruthless…

They rose from modest backgrounds to become two of Britain's greatest First World War fighter pilots. But as the number of Edward Mannock and James McCudden's victories grew, so did the chances of their going down in flames. This…

For centuries archaeologists have been trying to work out how the ancient Egyptians raised huge stone blocks to the top of the Great Pyramid of Giza. French architect Jean-Pierre Houdin believes an internal ramp was used and that it's…

A small group of British men have some unfinished family business in Antarctica. A century ago their ancestors, under the leadership of the explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, tried and failed to become the first men to reach the South Pole.…

Forty years ago on 1 July, Wales was celebrating one of the great royal events of the 20th century - the investiture of the Prince of Wales at Caernarfon. It was a day of pomp and pageantry, but also a day of bombs and threats to the…

Historian Bettany Hughes unravels one of the most intriguing mysteries of all time. She presents a series of geological, archaeological and historical clues to show that the legend of Atlantis was inspired by a real historical event, the…

Documentary revealing the secret story of how two men hacked into Hitler's personal super-code machine. Their break turned the Battle of Kursk and powered the D-Day landings.

Lord Ashdown tells the story of the Cockleshell Heroes, who took part in one of the most audacious commando raids of World War II - to blow up enemy shipping in Bordeaux harbour.

James Holland presents an analysis of the 1943 mission to destroy German dams with a brand-new weapon - the bouncing bomb. Extraordinarily, the raid almost never happened.

Ben MacIntyre reveals the true story of Britain's most extraordinary wartime double agent, Eddie Chapman. Featuring remarkable footage of Chapman three years before his death.