Season 2014 1982 - 2014

TV-PG

Jeremy Clarkson tells the dramatic story of the Arctic convoys of the Second World War, from Russia to the freezing Arctic Ocean.

Accompanied by moving first hand testimony from the men who served on these convoys, Clarkson reveals the incredible hazards faced by members of the Merchant and Royal Navy who delivered vital war supplies via the Arctic to the Soviet Union: temperatures of minus 50 degrees, huge icebergs, colossal waves, not to mention German U-boats and the Luftwaffe. It is no wonder that Churchill described the Arctic Convoys as 'the worst journey in the world.'

1979 was a unique year for Top of the Pops, which saw the show record its highest audience of 19 million viewers and in which physical format singles sales hit an all-time high of 79 million. 1979 is maybe the most diverse year ever for acts on Top of the Pops with disco at its peak, new wave, 2 Tone, reggae, rock, folk and electro records all making the top five.

Original interviews with Gary Numan, Nile Rodgers, Woody from Madness, Jah Wobble, Chas and Dave, Janet Kay, Linda Nolan, Jim Dooley, Secret Affair, the Ruts, Legs and Co and many others tell the story of an exceptional year.

In the year that the 'winter of discontent' saw continuing strikes black out ITV and TOTP reduced during a technicians strike to a narrator introducing videos, the show also found itself the site of conflict backstage. TOTP's old guard of 70s MOR acts had their feathers continually ruffled by new wave bands, as the Skids spat at the Nolan Sisters backstage and Generation X urinated off the roof onto the Dooleys.

Elsewhere in the corridors of TV Centre, in preparation for playing their single Death Disco, Public Image Ltd demanded their teeth were blacked out in make-up to appear ugly while Gary Numan remembers the overbearing union presence which prevented TOTP artists moving their own microphones without a union technician and the Musicians Union trying to ban him from the show for his use of synthesizers.

The most popular musical styles of 1979 were 2 Tone, reggae and disco. The latter saw Nile Rodgers, the man of the year, score four hits with Chic as well as writing and producing a further four hits with Sister Sledge, Sheila B Devotion and Sugarhill Gang, who appeared with what would prove to be the first ever rap hit.

Jamaican and UK reggae artists scored continual hits through the year and then watched as the Police notched up three hits with white reggae and the label 2 Tone revived the 60s reggae style known as ska. In November, in what is remembered as the 2 T

An anthology of Dave Allen's finest, funniest and most irreverent material, compiled from his time at the BBC from 1971 to 1986.

James May attempts to build a motorbike and sidecar entirely out of Meccano to take round the Isle of Man's famous TT circuit. But designing a machine capable of carrying James and his passenger, wine expert Oz Clarke, around the daunting 37-mile course is not a task for the faint-hearted.

Fifteen thousand pieces of Meccano must be assembled to create a full-size, road-legal motorcycle that James hopes will be more than a match for the circuit's treacherous twists and turns, steep climbs and dizzying descents. And as in the real TT, the bike must race against the clock.

BBC political editor Nick Robinson examines the public's anxieties about immigration and reveals the facts of an issue that has transformed British politics. With Britain braced for a new wave of migrants from eastern Europe, a subject once regarded as toxic is now at the forefront of political discussion. The programme dissects the decisions which led to the biggest surge of immigration in modern history and asks whether politicians can control immigration as much as they claim, looking at the potential consequences of their pledges.

A richly detailed journey through the epic history of still life painting, featuring a range of delights from the earliest existing Xenia mural paintings discovered at Pompeii to the cubist masterpieces of Picasso.

Awash with rich imagery of fruit, flowers and humble domestic objects, this lively take on the story of still life encompasses the work of some of the genre's greatest artists from Caravaggio to Chardin and Cezanne. But it also captures the surprising contributions of the less well known, including asparagus enthusiast Adriaen Coorte and female flower painter in the court of Louis XVI, Anne Vallayer-Coster.

With contributions from historians Bettany Hughes and Janina Ramirez, art historians Andrew Graham Dixon and Norman Bryson, and philosopher Alain de Botton amongst others, it opens up the huge social histories that lie behind the paintings and the fascinating lives of the people who made them.

Michael Grade saw Annie Get Your Gun as a small boy in the 1950s and ever since he has been hooked on musicals - and their stars. He and his family have represented some of the world's greatest musical performers and he knows and understands talent. But one question has always fascinated him - is it the musical which creates the star or the star who makes the musical?

In search of answers, Michael interviews stars and directors on both sides of the Atlantic, including Michael Ball, Elaine Paige, Dominic West, Imelda Staunton, Joel Grey, Chita Rivera, Hal Prince and Trevor Nunn.

In what way are the qualities of a musical star unique? Michael explores the alchemy of the musical by looking at performances from the 1940s onwards in key shows like Oklahoma!, My Fair Lady, West Side Story, Evita and Les Miserables - examining the union of musicals that brilliantly reflect their time with performers who can interpret their magic.

Michael uses all the knowledge, taste and judgement he has built up over decades as he sets out to define what it is that makes the great musical stars great.

Sir Terry Wogan discovers why timing is everything as he explores the human body clock, a ticking timepiece that lives in our brain and controls the daily rhythms of our body with the outside world. Many people are completely unaware of it, and have no idea there is an optimum time for everything - from driving safely to exercising, and even visiting the dentist.

To become a Salvation Army officer, cadets must shed the skin of their old lives, promise to reject treasures on earth in favour of true spiritual gifts and commit to 'care for the poor, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, love the unlovable and befriend those who have no friends'.

This documentary takes us inside the training college for this most distinctive of British institutions, introducing the individuals and families who give up their jobs and leave their homes to work full-time for 'The Army' for just £7,500 a year.

We meet new recruit Darron, who has left behind a successful career as a commercial baker and moved his family onto the college campus; Sylvia, a former ballroom dancer turned social worker who is beginning her work on the streets helping the fallen; and Annmarie, who was rescued by social services when she was a child and joined the Salvation Army when she was adopted.

The uniforms, rank structure and brass bands are as much as part of Army life as social work with the homeless, prostitutes, trafficked women and addicts.

This subtle and sensitive film also explores the universal questions of virtue, faith, doubt and the nature of salvation. As the new recruits adjust to the strict code and unwritten rules of this deeply institutionalised organisation, we hear their stories of God's personal calling, the transformation that led them to take this leap of faith and the doubts they face.

Our high street chains are powerful selling machines. With exclusive access to some of Britain's biggest stores, Cherry Healey goes behind the scenes to find out how the sales work from the inside - so that we can all become savvier sale shoppers.

Cherry goes backstage in the John Lewis summer sale, gets inside a critical mark down meeting where sale prices and sale strategy are set, and she discovers the addictive way bargain hunting can affect our bodies.

Cherry also uncovers hidden sales offering huge price cuts, learns how major high street retailers use scent to try and influence our behaviour, and meets with a sofa manufacturer willing to admit furniture sales can be a psychological trick.

There are believed to be over 600,000 illegal immigrants in the UK today, the subject of heated political debate but frequently hidden from public view.

Foreign correspondent Fergal Keane finds out what life is really like for a group of illegal immigrants struggling to survive on Britain's streets. He asks what drew them here, follows their battles to beat the system and shows how ineffective the authorities can be in dealing with them

Documentary about an adventure that has become known as the greatest dog story ever told and captured the imagination of children and adults throughout the world for almost a century.

On January 28, 1925, newspapers and radio stations broke a terrifying story - diphtheria had broken out in Nome, Alaska, a city separated from the rest of the world for seven months by a frozen ocean. With aviation still in its infancy and amidst one of the harshest winters on record, there was only one way to reach the town - dogsled. In minus 60 degrees, over 20 men and at least 150 dogs, among them the famous Balto, set out to relay the antitoxin across 674 miles of Alaskan wilderness to save the town.

After weeks of devastating weather across the UK, Sophie Raworth presents a special programme in which BBC News correspondents report on the scale of the damage, what caused it, and how those affected by it are coping.

Underage drinking is a serious issue in the North East of England. The region has the country's highest percentage of 11 to 15-year-olds drinking alcohol and it also has double the national average of under-18s in treatment for drink related problems.

This film follows Phil Tye, a youth worker on the frontline who is fighting against the drink epidemic, and asks teenagers why they start drinking so early and why they drink so much.

Neil Oliver follows the work of the team of historians and scientists trying to discover the final resting place of the remains of 9th-century English king Alfred the Great, with the monarch's bones having been moved so many times over the years that many people concluded that they were lost for ever. Travelling from Winchester to Rome, Neil also tells the story of Alfred's life, revealing a man who forged a united language and identity and laid the foundations of the English nation.

An intimate family portrait of the film director John Boorman by one who should know him best - his daughter Katrine. Now over 80 years old, the director of Hell in the Pacific, Excalibur, Deliverance and The Emerald Forest is one of the last great mavericks. His daughter, who previously had never held a camera, spent four years filming her father who, during the process, found it impossible to resist taking control and offering her a crash course in filmmaking.

Vulnerable, cross, funny, wild and wise, Boorman chronicles his adventures in Hollywood, but also talks with great honesty about his childhood, his marriages, his passion for nature, his need for danger and why film is the only thing he ever truly loved. Though the film is also a portrait of one of the most influential British filmmakers of the last 40 years, most of all it is a story of a father and daughter finding their way back to each other through the language of film.

Stephen Gough has been in prison in Scotland for nearly seven years. Most of that time he has been naked in solitary confinement. Stephen is 'the Naked Rambler', well-known for walking in public wearing just a pair of boots and a rucksack. A controversial figure, Stephen's incarceration has meant he has not seen his two teenage children grow up.

This film follows Stephen as he attempts to walk home to his family in Eastleigh, Hampshire. Walking over 400 miles naked is fraught with difficulties. It is a four-month quest beset by arrests, police cells, court appearances, releases, rearrests and prison.

Along the way, director Guy Gilbert attempts to understand how Stephen became the most notorious naked man in Britain and to examine his quest for 'freedom'. Why does a man persist in public nakedness when, time and again, his actions have landed him in jail? How does the public react to the sight of him? Is what he does 'wrong'? Is his cause really worth more than his family? Helping us understand, perspectives are offered from Stephen's family and from supporters who join him along the way.

By turns funny, frustrating and emotional, this film challenges our own notions of the law, freedom and morality.

In 1944, at the Nazi concentration camp of Terezin, the imprisoned Czech conductor Rafael Schachter formed a choir of 150 of his fellow Jewish prisoners to brazenly perform Verdi's Requiem before the very Nazis who had condemned them to death.

Transcending the horrors around them, night after night they rehearsed in a dark, mouldy and suffocating cellar, with a broken piano. In a calm message of defiance, each time a choir member was murdered by the SS, a new singer would replace them. The final performance took place in front of the camp's Nazi brass, visiting high-ranking SS officers from Berlin and gullible Red Cross inspectors brought in to verify that the prisoners were being well treated.

This film features surviving Nazi propaganda footage of Terezin as it was perversely stage-managed during a Red Cross inspection visit to appear like an attractive Jewish commune. Shortly after the performance, both Schachter and most of his choir would be sent to Auschwitz. But through the transformation of Verdi's music into a proclamation of their unbroken spirit and warning of God's coming wrath against their captors, the prisoners had been able to sing to their captors what they dared not say.

For over ten years, distinguished American conductor Murry Sidlin, who found out about the choir in the 1990s, dreamed of bringing the Requiem back to Terezin. Now, through soaring concert footage, powerful survivor recollections, cinematic dramatizations and evocative animation, their heartbreaking story is brought to life.

With over 70 million pets at home, Britain is a nation of animal lovers. The Zoo Next Door features people who've taken animal ownership to extremes.

Jasmine Harman has previously helped hoarders to take their lives in hand but in this film she meets animal fanatics who've virtually given up their lives for their animals. Jasmine, who's mad about dogs, brings the animal welfare experts in when change is needed but finds out that even with extreme numbers, some owners wouldn't change a thing.

Historian Dan Snow looks back at 90 years of the Winter Olympics and shows how the political upheaval of the 20th and 21st century had an impact on the Games.

Dan embarks on an epic journey across nine countries meeting some of the key people who helped shape the Winter Games. He tells the disturbing story of the Winter Olympics in Nazi Germany, the tense Olympic rivalry between East and West during the cold war, ending with the Miracle on Ice and the unforgettable, emotional Olympics in Sarajevo.

Sarajevo was a city that in 1984 chimed to the music of Bolero - Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean reminisce about their performance as if it was a dream. Just eight years later most of the Olympic sites were destroyed during the civil war.

Dan completes his journey in a little known Swiss village of Mürren where the blue riband event of the Winter Olympics, Alpine skiing, was first organised by a British man, Arnold Lunn. Did the British really invent the Winter Olympics? Not quite, but it is true that the British played and extraordinary role.

The contrast between the majestic statues of Easter Island and the desolation of their surroundings is stark. For decades Easter Island, or Rapa Nui as the islanders call it, has been seen as a warning from history for the planet as a whole - wilfully expend natural resources and the collapse of civilisation is inevitable.

But archaeologist Dr Jago Cooper believes this is a disastrous misreading of what happened on Easter Island. He believes that its culture was a success story not a failure, and the real reasons for its ultimate demise were far more shocking. Cooper argues that there is an important lesson that the experience of Easter Island can teach the rest of the world, but it doesn't begin by blaming its inhabitants for their own downfall.

This film examines the latest scientific and archaeological evidence to reveal a compelling new narrative, one that sees the famous statues as only part of a complex culture that thrived in isolation. Cooper finds a path between competing theories about what happened to Easter Island to make us see this unique place in a fresh light.

Five stories of aspiration against a background of poverty and austerity. With the aim of finding the real people behind familiar media stereotypes, documentary-maker Peter Gordon travels through Yorkshire and talks to some of those struggling through hard times.

Fran and her daughter Niamh live in one of the most deprived parts of Leeds in a house whose fabric is falling apart. Niamh, without telling her mother, applied for entry to an exclusive fee-paying school, one she has always dreamed of attending. She won a bursary. This is her way out of a life with no future and Fran, who suffers from epilepsy, recognises this and fully supports her, but at great personal cost. Their struggle is felt every day, but the way they talk about themselves and their situation is heartfelt, perceptive and amusing.

A mile or so up the road on another estate lives Charlotte, a young single parent with two small children, who talks about her early ambitions and present frustration. She feels isolated and trapped, but looks ahead and plans for the future. Charlotte is determined to succeed as a working mother.

In Sheffield there is a lunch club where the elderly can go for an hour or two for a meal and some company - small reward for a life of hard physical labour.

In the north east an angry and unemployed 22-year-old yearns for a job, security and a family life, while in well-heeled York a young couple with two small children live in a cramped and overcrowded flat, all sleeping in one damp bedroom with fungus on the ceiling.

These are the real voices of the disadvantaged, the excluded or the marginalised who, between the four walls of their homes, dream, hope and plan for a better future.

Documentary produced and directed by rock superstar Dave Grohl (who also appears in the film) in which he uncovers stories about the Los Angeles studio Sound City, where some of the greatest rock albums of all time were perfected and recorded.

Sound City was state of the art when it opened in 1969, featuring a legendary Neve recording console. Through interviews with the musicians and producers who have worked at the studio over the years, the film uncovers and defines the intangible magic within those wires and walls that was responsible for such an incredible history of contemporary music.

For over four decades, it was the birthplace of some of the world's most treasured music, including Nirvana's Nevermind, Neil Young's After the Gold Rush, Tom Petty's Damn the Torpedoes, Fleetwood Mac's eponymous album and Johnny Cash's Unchained, to name just a few.

Grohl discovers the stories of the iconic bands that recorded there. We learn how Mick Fleetwood met Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham at Sound City, leading to them joining Fleetwood Mac, and discover why musicians and producers such as Butch Vig, Frank Black, Trent Reznor and Lars Ulrich all chose to work in its analogue environment over newer, more state-of-the-art studios. Grohl also tracks the growth of digital music and the inevitable death of analogue recording, which changed the industry and Sound City forever.

The story of Sound City is an integral part of the personal story of Dave Grohl, whose music was forever influenced by those who once recorded in Studio A and left their mark in the form of the many platinum records hanging on the walls within. He completes the film by bringing some of the great names together at his Studio 606 to record a new album on the original Sound City Neve console, culminating in new performances from Rick Springfield, Stevie Nicks, Lee Ving, Josh Homme, Trent Reznor, Krist Novoselic and Sir Paul McCartney.

Featuring contributions from Neil Young, Tom Petty, S

The definitive documentary record of one of Jimi Hendrix's most celebrated performances, now digitally remastered and featuring footage never seen on television before. It includes such signature songs as Purple Haze, Voodoo Child (Slight Return) and his rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, as well as interviews with Woodstock promoter Michael Lang and Hendrix band members Mitch Mitchell, Billy Cox, Larry Lee and Juma Sultan among others.

On 14 February 1984, two ice skaters achieved perfection and Olympic gold. This is the story of that day.

Neil Sedaka is one of the most successful American singer-songwriters of the last century. A classically-trained musician, he won a scholarship to the Julliard School at the age of nine and four years later he embarked on a writing career that would see him create some of the most perfect pop songs of all time. Throughout his career, he wrote, recorded and sang a litany of instantly recognisable and memorable tunes, as well as delivering a string of hits as a songwriter for other artists.

This documentary portrait film tells the story of Neil Sedaka's life and career, in which he had two distinct periods of success. Between 1958 and 1963 he sold over 25 million records, but then his career nose-dived after the Beatles and the British Invasion hit the USA. Leaving his homeland, he found success in the UK in the early 1970s and relaunched his career before returning to the US and achieving new stardom with songs like Solitaire and Laughter in the Rain.

Neil gives great insight into how he created catchy classics like Calendar Girl, (Is This the Way to) Amarillo, Breaking Up Is Hard to Do, Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen and Stupid Cupid, amongst many others.

Mike Dilger investigates the mystery behind bronze age burial goods discovered on Dartmoor. They've been described as the most important find ever on the moor and give vital new clues about how our ancestors lived 4,000 years ago.

Dr Michael Mosley explores the bizarre and fascinating world of parasites by turning his body into a living laboratory and deliberately infesting himself with them. He travels to Kenya to give himself tapeworm - a parasite that can grow to many metres inside the human gut. He also encounters lice, leeches and the deadly malaria parasite, before swallowing a pill-camera to reveal what's growing within him. By the end of his infestation Michael learns a new-found respect for these extraordinary creatures, which can live off and even take control of their hosts for their own survival.

All over the country, thousands of women from 18 to 80 are signing up to work as online webcam models. For the girls it's the promise of easy money - the most successful models charge over £5 a minute and can make hundreds of pounds a day, all from the comfort of their own bedrooms. For the hundreds of thousands of men who have signed up, it means easy, one-on-one access to their favourite fantasy girl.

This film looks into the secretive world of adult webcamming and meets three online performers to find out what it's really like baring all, online, for strangers all over the world.

25-year-old ex-pornstar Sammie has starred in over 100 adult movies, but her experiences in the industry have left her emotionally scarred. She's desperate to leave a troubled past behind and hopes that she can make enough money on the webcam to return to college.

24-year-old pornstar Carla is open-minded and up for trying most things on the webcam. Life as a webcam model may have taught her a lot about men and their secret desires, but it's making it tough for her to meet the right man.

Ambitious 21-year-old glamour model Olivia thinks webcamming can boost her career. Unlike other webcam models she won't go fully nude, but with competition fierce, just how far will she have go to achieve her success?

A 21-year-old female student from the University of Leeds is stabbed to death in the picture postcard town of Perugia, Italy. After the horrific discovery, the search began for the murderer of Meredith Kercher.

Now, an Italian Judge has found guilty Amanda Knox, an exchange student from the United States, and her Italian boyfriend. But Amanda Knox has gone on American breakfast television to say the judgement is wrong. Guilty or innocent?

In the first TV documentary since the verdict, a team who have followed the case from the very first day present the evidence for and against Amanda Knox.

These days, opinionated journalists are two a penny. But back in the 1950s, Ian Nairn was part of a new breed of Angry Young Men. Aged just 25 and fresh out of the RAF, he burst onto the architectural scene with Outrage, a blistering attack on the soulless destruction of Britain by shoddy post-war planners. Published in the influential Architectural Review in June 1955, it led to the formation of the Civic Trust, whose remit was to tackle the 'subtopian' eyesores Nairn had so graphically exposed.

Over the next two decades, Nairn became a tireless and passionate campaigner, both in print and on the BBC, inspiring a whole generation to take up arms against the second rate in our towns and cities. But he himself was a deeply flawed and troubled character, who slowly drank himself to death, feeling the battle to save Britain's soul had been lost. Close colleagues and admirers, including Jonathan Meades, Gillian Darley and Jonathan Glancey, pay tribute to a remarkable man who made us look afresh at the world around us.

BB King opens his heart and tells the story of how an oppressed and orphaned young man came to influence and earn the unmitigated praise of the music industry and its following to carry the title of king of the blues.

Filmed on location all over America, as well as in the UK, this picture brings to life the heat- and gin-soaked plantations where it all began, with full cooperation of the BB King museum, owners of vaults and archives so precious and immense that several trips had to be made to revisit the collection and partake of its many gems. Prejudice and segregation has stained the lives of countless black persons and BB 'Riley' King made sure that through his music, he never allowed it to mar his spirit.

This is the essence of the story that makes a beautiful film, both informative and visually captivating.

In a documentary to mark the 100-year anniversary of the outbreak of World War I, Sir Max Hastings argues that although the war was a great tragedy, it was far from being futile.

Hormones shape each and every one of us, affecting almost every aspect of our lives - our height, our weight, our appetites, how we grow and reproduce, and even how we behave and feel.

This documentary tells the wonderful and often weird story of how hormones were discovered.

Presenter John Wass, one the country's leading experts on hormones, relates some amazing stories - how as recently as the 19th century boys were castrated to keep their pure soprano voice, how juices were extracted from testicles in the hope they would rejuvenate old men and how true medical heroes like Frederick Banting discovered a way to make insulin, thus saving the lives of countless diabetes sufferers.

And hormones remain at the cutting edge of medicine as we try and deal with modern scourges like obesity.

Documentary about the development of the Boeing 747 jumbo jet. The 747 was a game changer; the airliner that revolutionised mass, cheap air travel. But the first, wide-bodied plane was (originally) intended as a stopgap to Boeing's now-abandoned supersonic jet. This is the remarkable, untold story of the jumbo, a billion-dollar gamble that pushed 1960s technology to the limits to create the world's most recognisable plane.

Was the Great War a great mistake? In this innovative programme, Harvard historian Professor Niall Ferguson offers a different perspective on the First World War and argues that Britain's decision to enter the war was a tragic mistake.

The First World War was one of the great turning points of modern history. We know where the war started: in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo on 28 June 1914, when a Bosnian Serb named Gavrilo Princip murdered the heir to the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy. But how and why did this crisis in the Balkans escalate into a bloody global conflagration? Did Britain really have to fight a war against Germany?

Niall Ferguson links cutting-edge graphics and short illustrative stories to place the First World War into the context of human history. He then argues that much of the responsibility for the scale of the conflict lies with the British and suggests that Britain's decision to enter the war in 1914 was not merely tragic for those who lost their lives, it was also a catastrophic error that unleashed an era of totalitarianism and genocide around the world. At the same time, the war revealed a fundamental truth about humankind's propensity for violence.

At the end of the programme these contentious issues are debated by leading WW1 experts and the studio audience.

As courtesans, fashion icons, political pawns and international celebrities, the great ballerinas have played a multitude of roles both on and off the stage. They have moved from the courts of kings to stages around the globe, from the highs of public adoration to the lows of injury and scandal. But few people know the full story.

British prima ballerina Darcey Bussell spent two decades at the top, performing all the great roles in the classical repertoire and becoming one of ballet's most famous faces. She explores the changing role of the ballerina.

Journeying from 18th-century France to 1950s America, she examines the challenges that her predecessors encountered, discovers the women who broke the rules and reveals what it takes to be one of the greats.

A feast for the senses, Darcey's Ballerina Heroines is an authoritative history of the best ballets and the finest ballerinas.

Robert Peston travels to China to investigate how this mighty economic giant could actually be in trouble. China is now the second largest economy in the world and for the last 30 years China's economy has been growing at an astonishing rate. While Britain has been in the grip of the worst recession in a generation, China's economic miracle has wowed the world. Now, for BBC Two's award-winning strand This World, Peston reveals what has actually happened inside China since the economic collapse in the west in 2008. It is a story of spending and investment on a scale never seen before in human history.

In a never-before-attempted sleep experiment, Bristol Zoo has been rigged with cameras and sensors and Liz Bonnin and sleep expert Bryson Voirin stay up all night to see what the animals get up to when they think no-one is watching. From red pandas and lions to meerkats and tapirs, for the first time a whole range of animal sleep behaviours is compared and contrasted across the course of a single night.

The programme delves into the extraordinary world of animal sleep, looking at not only what science has already discovered, but the questions which remain to be answered. From dolphins, which have come up with ingenious solutions to allow them to sleep while swimming, to ants which have developed complex behavioural patterns which ensure that the colony sleeps undisturbed, and meerkats, which keep an ear open for danger during sleep, and flamingos, which arrange themselves in order to keep a wary eye out for night-time predators.

Dr Jonathan Foyle examines the mysterious wartime disappearance of stained glass from Coventry Cathedral. He investigates rumours the windows were stolen and sold on the black market. But, more than 70 years on, could the truth embarrass reputations both at home and abroad?

David Bintley, director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet explores how the Second World War was the making of British ballet and how fundamental the years of hardship and adversity were in getting the British public to embrace ballet. Bintley shows how the then Sadler's Wells Ballet Company, led by Ninette de Valois and featuring a star-studded generation of British dancers and choreographers including Margot Fonteyn and Frederick Ashton, was forged during the Second World War.

It's the story of how de Valois and her small company of dancers took what was essentially a foreign art-form and made it British despite the falling bombs, the rationing and the call-up. Plus it is the story of how Britain, as a nation, fell in love with ballet.

Using rare and previously unseen footage, plus interviews with dance icons such as Dame Gillian Lynne and Dame Beryl Grey, Bintley shows how the Sadler's Wells Ballet company survived an encounter with Nazi forces in Holland, dancing whilst the bombs were falling in the Blitz, rationing and a punishing touring schedule to bring ballet to the British people as an antidote to the austerity the country faced to emerge post-war as The Royal Ballet.

Prima ballerina Darcey Bussell talks about her life at the top. From tears at ballet school and forgetting the steps, to becoming the Royal Ballet's youngest-ever principal and her favourite roles, Darcey recalls her performing career from its earliest days.

It's now 30 years since the epic struggle between the miners and a Conservative government led by Margaret Thatcher, a strike that lasted a bitter twelve months. Former Labour government minister Kim Howells was involved at the heart of the action, working for the National Union of Mineworkers in South Wales. In this deeply-felt memoir, he asks some challenging questions about the conduct, the strategy and the outcomes of the strike.

Tamara Rojo, world-famous ballerina and artistic director of English National Ballet, takes us backstage as she prepares for one of classical ballet's biggest challenges, the dual lead in Swan Lake. It is the ultimate role for any dancer, requiring her to play the completely contrasting characters - Odette the White Swan and Odile the Black Swan.

With unprecedented access, the disarmingly candid Rojo reveals her insights on the role's physical and psychological challenges. Through demonstration and masterclass, she reveals how to read the choreography of some of Swan Lake's most famous scenes.

Along the way Rojo gives us a glimpse of Swan Lake's history - its genesis through to 21st-century incarnations. She looks back at some of the greats that inspired her and leads the way forward, coaching the next generation of rising stars.

This film celebrates Swan Lake as an evolving and living work of art - the ultimate classic.

David Dimbleby looks back at events in Westminster Abbey, where Archbishop Desmond Tutu, David Cameron and the Soweto Gospel Choir joined together in a powerful and moving service to celebrate the extraordinary life of Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa.

The English Defence League has gained notoriety as the far-right street movement with racist and extremist members whose protests often end in violence. Many of its members feel misunderstood and misrepresented by the media. This film explores the lives of some of the females living within the EDL's ranks. After the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby in May 2013, the EDL's ranks multiplied five times and a growing number joining the largely male group were women - they are known as EDL Angels.

This film follows a committed Angel, a new member and a teenager trying to decide whether to join, over six tumultuous months, charting the impact of EDL leader Tommy Robinson's departure as well as unearthing their views and fears, and shining a light on what members of the EDL believe and why.

Gail, 41, is the regional EDL leader for Yorkshire and one of the founding EDL Angels. The film follows her through the court case of the men accused of attacking her, leaving her jaw broken in seven places, and explores how her EDL beliefs have impacted on her life and family.

Amanda is an 18-year-old new recruit from Yorkshire. From her first introduction to the EDL to her nervous debut at a demonstration, she speaks of the fear of Muslim extremists that has made her turn to the EDL. The programme follows her journey to understand the EDL's principles as well as the mixed reception she gets from friends about her new political interests. Katie, 16, from Reading is from a large extended family of staunch EDL supporters, including her mum and two sisters. Katie, however, struggles to make up her mind up about whether she wants to be part of their campaigning or if she's even prepared to tell her new college mates about her family's passion.

Photographer and film director Harry Hook, who grew up in the Sudan and Kenya and has been documenting life in Africa for 40 years, uses his images to tell a personal story as he crosses the continent to visit remote tribal groups.

Harry tracks down five Samburu women he first photographed in Kenya 30 years ago. His aim is to give them a copy of their portrait and discover how their lives have changed over three decades. The search will be no small task - Samburuland covers an area the size of Wales and, as a semi-nomadic group, the women may well have moved great distances.

During his search Harry witnesses a Lenkarna Lmuget, a once-in-a-decade coming-of-age ceremony for Samburu warriors, as they are initiated to become elders.

There are not many parts of Africa where the lure of the city life is not felt. Harry ventures to isolated communities and encounters people living with one foot rooted in a rich cultural past, but who also embrace the here and now of contemporary Africa.

In the early 1960s, the BBC interviewed 280 eyewitnesses of the First World War for the series, The Great War. Using never-before-seen footage from these interviews, this film illuminates the poignant human experience of the war, through the eyes of those who survived it.

Bob Dylan described Missouri-born country boy Gene Clark as one of the three best songwriters in the world. He was the original frontman for one of the most iconic and influential bands of the 60s. After his abrupt departure from the Byrds at the peak of their popularity, he made records that are still regarded as classics. And he was one of the great pioneers of both folk rock and country rock. Yet, as far as the public is concerned, Clark is largely unknown and his reputation lags far behind that of peers such as Gram Parsons.

Since his death in 1991 at the age of 46, his songs have been covered by artists ranging from Robert Plant to Yo La Tengo and he has been hailed as a key influence by successive generations of musicians such as Tom Petty, Primal Scream and Fleet Foxes, despite some of his albums having been unavailable for long periods and only now all in print again.

This documentary explores the mystery of why this richly talented but deeply enigmatic and often self-destructive man failed to enjoy the success his work deserved. Drawing on interviews with his family, friends and fellow musicians including fellow Byrds David Crosby and Roger McGuinn, a wealth of great music from the four-decade span of his career and previously unseen archive material, it is a story that is both compelling and moving, veering between moments of magic and moments of madness.

The film was made by a father and sons team - Paul, Jack and Dan Kendall - as a labour of love which took them right across America in search of the people and places that were part of Gene Clark's life.

Photographer Helmut Newton revolutionised fashion photography and electrified the art world with disturbing, highly eroticised images that transformed lush-bodied women into exquisite icons. This film, directed by Newton's frequent collaborator and wife of 56 years, June Newton, follows Helmut through photo sessions with an unselfconscious eye, as June turns the tables on Helmut to offer a voyeur's window into his personal and creative life. Poignant, comical and unsettling, it paints a riveting portrait of photography's dark prince as a man who is equally comfortable on either side of the camera.

Documentary telling the extraordinary untold story of soldiers' photography in the First World War. The British and German soldiers marched off to war with secret 'vest pocket' cameras, determined to record what they thought would be a great adventure, but few were prepared for the horrors they were about to witness and photograph. Their photos - many never seen before in public - provide a deeply moving document of their lives in the trenches and their rapid loss of innocence.

With no soldier photographer alive to tell the tale, we join their close relatives on emotional journeys of discovery as they go in search of the secrets hidden within their ancestors' photographs.

This is the war viewed from a new and surprising perspective - through the eyes of the men who fought in it.

From torn-out tongues to modern-day internet trolls, professor Mary Beard shares her belief that women's voices have been silenced throughout history, using examples ranging from the writings of Henry James to Homer's Odyssey and threatening posts on social media.

When Hastings Pier burnt down in 2010 many thought that was the end of Britain's first purpose-built pleasure pier. In a celebration of the golden age of the British seaside pier, we follow the local campaign to save her. Can she rise from the ashes and reinvent herself?

Prostitution in Britain is thriving, revolutionised by the internet and serviced by an estimated 100,000 sex workers. Billie JD Porter goes in search of the human face of the prostitution business, talking to the young men who routinely pay for sex about why they do it, and to the young women who sell their bodies about what's in it for them.

Obituary film of the lifelong Labour politician, Tony Benn, who was an MP for over 50 years. Born the son of a viscount, Benn was elected Labour MP for Bristol South East at the age of 25, and in his political career became a champion of the working class.

After his father's death, Benn inherited the title of viscount, but he turned it down and with it a seat in the House of Lords, campaigning to change the Peerage Act, so that he could continue as an MP.

Benn went onto serve as postmaster general and held cabinet posts as minister of industry and minister of energy under Harold Wilson. In 1981, he narrowly lost an election for Labour's deputy leadership to Dennis Healey.

In 2001, Benn stepped down from the Commons in order to 'spend more time with politics'. He was president of Stop the War, campaigned against coalition cuts and ultimately became, in many people's eyes, a national treasure.

A group of friends have created a brand new subculture that is taking over the streets of Glasgow. They've established their very own fight club, but this is no ordinary wrestling event - this is brutal, riotous chaos. Fights don't always stay inside the ring, people are bounced off the side of buses and thrown off balconies in pubs. They now plan the biggest show of their lives. The stakes are high, will it bring them the fame and recognition they need to survive?

Stanley Spencer's Shipbuilding on the Clyde is one of the most astonishing - and least likely - achievements in British art. These colossal portraits of shipyard life were created by a painter best known for his intense, spiritual visions of the English countryside.

WWII uprooted Spencer and sent him to Scotland. But the harsh industrial landscape of Port Glasgow inspired an astonishing vision - and revived Spencer's creative passion. Artist Lachlan Goudie - who himself has been painting in the last of the Clyde shipyards - goes in search of his hero, tracking down the original designs for Spencer's ambitious scheme, meeting the shipyard foreman who helped the eccentric Englishman with his work, and revealing how one of the 20th century's greatest artworks began as a doodle on a roll of cheap toilet paper!

Professor Bruce Denardo attempts to prove whether there is any truth behind the legend of the Bermuda Triangle, where many ships and planes have disappeared in mysterious circumstances. New investigation techniques reveal the truth behind the infamous disappearance of Flight 19. Graham Hawkes is also able to reveal, by using a state-of-the-art submarine, how five wrecks mysteriously wound up 730 feet down in the heart of the Bermuda Triangle.

In the southern African nation of Swaziland, around a quarter of all adults are now HIV positive. With so many now living with compromised immune systems, tuberculosis, which had been in decline for decades, has made a dramatic comeback. Now it has a foothold once more, new mutations are evolving fast, meaning the disease threatens the lives of the healthy as well as those with HIV.

There are over eight million new infections every year worldwide, but Swaziland is the epicentre of the disease, with the highest rate of TB infection in the world. With the infection spreading with a cough or sneeze, international travel means these lethal new infections are already starting to appear in Europe - last year alone 3,500 Londoners were diagnosed with the disease.

Multi-BAFTA winning film-maker Jezza Neumann travelled to Swaziland to make this very intimate account of the crippling effects of MDR-TB. We witness victims from two families battle with the disease over the course of a year.

Deep in rural Swaziland near the border of South Africa lives Bheki, a builder who is fanatical about football, who recently learnt that both he and his sister have multi drug resistant TB. As time passes, his sister's condition deteriorates and Bheki starts to become increasingly anxious about his future.

In the capital, Mbabane, lives 12-year-old Nokubegha, a TB orphan, who is cared for by her 17-year-old brother, Melusi. When Nokubegha is diagnosed with the MDR strain of the disease she has to be admitted into the national TB hospital so she can receive her daily pills and injections.

A tragic yet heart-warming story about the value of human life, love and family.

The world is full of wannabe pop stars, but not everyone wants to gamble on a talent show to make it. With exclusive access to Britain's renowned Academy of Contemporary Music, this rockumentary follows students over the first term of the academic year as they follow their dream of making it big in the hard-to-break music business.

First-year gospel singer Henrietta wants to be a chart-topping superstar, but struggles to shine in a class of talented vocalists. 19-year-old Ella is striving to develop her own musical style and stand out from the crowd. Trainee producer James has returned to college after being burnt by the music industry and, for hotly tipped college band Massmatiks, this year is all about getting their first record deal.

With all the emotion, triumphs and disappointments, learning to rock is harder than it seems.

Documentary telling the inside story of Davina McCall's challenge to raise money for Sport Relief, with exclusive behind the scenes access. The film follows Davina through highs and lows as she swims, cycles and runs from Edinburgh to London - 500 miles in 7 days. Davina's husband, her parents and best friend provide a unique insight into Davina's battle to overcome the toughest Sport Relief challenge yet.

Spending 17 hours on the bike on the first day alone, Davina fights extreme fatigue and fearsome weather conditions. And on day three Davina faces her biggest personal challenge - an open water swim across Lake Windermere. The dramatic scenes of Davina being carried out of the water became headline news. This film shows the behind the scenes preparation and aftermath, as Davina recovers and is able to get back on the bike an hour later.

Taking in some of the most beautiful scenery in the UK - from the highest peak, Scafell Pike, to the Pennine Way and the Windsor Long Walk - this is the true story of one woman's triumph and determination to raise much-needed money for causes so close to her heart.

Programme made for the 50th anniversary of classic movie I Know Where I'm Going by maverick film-making duo Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, set on a Hebridean island and starring Dame Wendy Hiller and Roger Livesey.

Novelist Martin Amis, a fierce critic of contemporary society, examines his experience of Englishness. Richly illustrated with archive footage, he reflects on a nation barely recovered from the loss of empire. Amis brings a sharp, humorous and surprisingly affectionate touch to the exploration of sex, binge drinking, football hooliganism, the idea of fair play, multiculturalism, the royal family and the tabloid press.

This 60 min documentary traces the life of the late James Ellis, one of Northern Ireland's best-loved sons. He is renowned for his work in the hugely successful series 'Z Cars' and Graham Reid's 'Billy' Trilogy. Jimmy, as he was known to his friends, is held in the highest esteem by fellow actors many of whom have been interviewed for this programme.

He is described by one contributor as 'acting royalty' and was widely seen as the unofficial ambassador for Northern Ireland through the many roles in which he championed the Ulster accent. A younger audience will remember him with affection from 'Ballykissangel' and 'Playing the Field' but viewers will perhaps be surprised to learn of the breadth of his abilities as a prolific writer, poet and translator.

This is an affectionate portrait of a well-known figure.

In the summer of 1914, a company of Cameron Highlanders left Portree and sailed off to war. On the battlefields of France, these raw recruits would meet the Maxim machine gun - invented in London, and capable of firing a hellish 666 rounds per minute. The German army deployed these weapons with mathematical efficiency.

Neil Oliver examines the development of these ruthless, impersonal weapons, and the legacy they left on one Hebridean community.

The fascinating story of knighthood, told through the extraordinary life and times of William Marshal, whom many consider the world's greatest knight. From Europe's medieval castles to the holy city of Jerusalem, presenter Thomas Asbridge explores William's incredible life, revealing a rip-roaring adventure story in the spirit of King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table.

In a career that spanned half a century, this English soldier and statesman served some of Christendom's greatest leaders, from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Richard the Lionheart. Marshal fought in battles across Europe, survived court intrigue and exile, put his seal to the Magna Carta and proved to be the best friend a king could have, remaining loyal to those he served through disaster and victory. Then at the age of 70, despite all the odds, he saved England from a French invasion.

An affectionate portrait of Glasgow's rich entertainment history, featuring interviews with the stars who braved some of the toughest venues in showbusiness, alongside footage of classic performances and archive of a city that has played host to everyone from Laurel & Hardy to The Beatles.

Joanna Lumley is on a mission to get to know the elusive, slightly eccentric front man of the Black Eyed Peas, will.i.am. She travels to Los Angeles to spend time with The Voice judge, music performer, producer, and social entrepreneur in his home town. Over dinner with the family she bonds with his mother, who takes her through Will's childhood.

Joanna learns how the boy who could not keep still made it out of his tough neighbourhood to achieve global success, and is now able to count President Obama as a friend. She gets to discover the real will.i.am, fascinated with creating the future and eager to give back. She is swept up in his hectic world but finally manages to get to the heart of what makes him tick.

Interviews and rare archive footage weave together performances from a landmark multi-artist concert at the Royal Festival Hall in London, celebrating the songs and artistry of the great folk-blues troubadour Bert Jansch.

Ralph McTell, Robert Plant, Donovan, members of Pentangle, Bernard Butler, Martin Carthy, Martin Simpson, Lisa Knapp and more pay tribute to Jansch, who died in 2011. There's also a real coup with an extraordinary performance by Neil Young of Jansch's haunting Needle of Death, filmed at Jack White's Nashville studio especially for the occasion.

Robert Plant shows his vocal prowess with a powerful rendition of Go Your Way My Love, joined by Jansch collaborator Bernard Butler. Martin Simpson and Danny Thompson surprise with a version of Heartbreak Hotel, a track covered by Jansch. Ralph McTell tackles the seminal Angie and Lisa Knapp and Martin Carthy combine for Blackwaterside - Jansch's arrangement of which heavily influenced Led Zep's Black Mountain Side.

The brutal use of British prisoners of war by the Japanese to build a railway linking Thailand to Burma in 1943 was one of the worst atrocities of the Second World War. For the first time in 70 years, British POWs and their Japanese captors, many now in their nineties, open their hearts to tell the story of what really happened on the 'Death Railway'. Alongside the extraordinary experiences and stories of survival told by the British, their Japanese guards tell of different horrors of war, some never disclosed before.

Exploring how they have survived the terrible memories, this is an often inspiring story that many of these men have waited a long time to tell. What emerges is a warm and emotional journey through the lives of men from different sides reflecting on a terrible event that still haunts them.

Following the campaign of the family of one of the victims to try and discover who was responsible for blowing up two Birmingham pubs on the same night almost 40 years ago.

Alexander Armstrong explores the literature that inspired Michael Palin and Terry Jones's classic TV comedy Ripping Yarns, a loving parody of the Boys' Own books and magazines of their childhood. Featuring clips from Ripping Yarns, archive and interviews with experts, modern-day adventurers and Palin and Jones's own memories.

A documentary examining Margaret Thatcher's strategy of dealing with the IRA, revealing a complex picture of a woman, fiercely combative in public, yet behind the scenes, was secretly dealing with those who tried to kill her.

Natalie seems like any other university student on her Policing, Investigation and Criminology degree, but she has more experience than most. From the age of 13, she was repeatedly in and out of the criminal justice system. It took Natalie nine years to stop offending and she believes it was support from outside - rather than inside the prison system - that helped her change. Natalie's story isn't unique. Nearly 60 per cent of all offenders on a short sentence will commit further crimes within a year of release from prison.

In this documentary, Natalie explores the impact being locked up has had on young adult offenders like Sephton, who spent most of his adolescence in prison and now struggles with basic tasks such as food shopping and cooking a meal. She also meets those in charge, such as Minister for Prisons and Rehabilitation, Jeremy Wright, to find out what the government are doing to tackle our high re-offending rates.

A tale of skulduggery, dirty tricks and strong coffee in the cut-throat world that marked the dawn of breakfast television. Narrated by Peter Snow.

Because it's not grand, the story of the suburban garden has barely been told - and yet 8 out of 10 people in England live in the suburbs. In this documentary, writer and historian Michael Collins delivers a riposte to the urban intelligentsia which has spent a century sneering at the suburbs. His south London pilgrimage takes him to Bexley and Bromley, Surbiton and the new promised land of Bluewater in Kent to explore what the suburban garden has meant to us and to celebrate what one contributor calls 'their little piece of heaven'.

George Orwell famously laid out the icons of English culture as 'solid breakfasts and gloomy Sundays, smoky towns and... red pillarboxes' and Collins shows that the suburban garden very much deserves a place in that canon. South Londoner Collins previously charted the history of the white working class in his controversial book The Likes of Us and explored the rise and fall of the council house in BBC Four's The Great Estate. He tends to admire what critics of suburbia have loathed - its lack of history, the mock and ersatz style of its homes and gardens, and the suggestion that it is a 'nowhere place', neither town nor country but stranded in between.

Collins's journey starts a century ago in Hampstead Garden Suburb, a planned utopia that transformed the lives of its residents fleeing urban squalor, but one that came with off-putting regulations - maximum hedge size, a designated wash-day, and no pub. Suburban sprawl between the wars, when three million new homes were built, couldn't have been more different. 'You could', recalls one contributor from Welling, 'buy a house for 12/6 down and pay 7/6 a week on the mortgage, and suddenly you had a two-up/two-down, front garden/back garden. Those were the days!'

In the 1930s, Wills cashed in on the suburban gardening craze with 50 cigarette cards offering handy tips. But this was also the era that identified a new condition - suburban neurosis. When war broke out, Rita Withers's da

Marine 'A': Criminal or Casualty of War? -

Alexander Blackman, a Royal Marine sergeant, was convicted and jailed for life for shooting an injured Afghan insurgent on the front line. Some condemn him as a war criminal, while others claim he is a casualty of war. The nation is divided.

Now the shamed marine, dismissed with disgrace from the Royal Marines, is launching an appeal from his prison cell - not only against the sentence but the murder conviction itself. Blackman is the first British serviceman to be found guilty of murder during combat since WWII.

This one-off documentary, made by award-winning filmmaker Chris Terrill, who has himself witnessed the horrors of the Afghan conflict looks into Blackman's case. Terrill asks questions about the ethics of combat and rules of engagement in war and the mind-bending nature of active duty on the front line.

As well as an exclusive interview with Blackman's wife Claire, Terrill speaks to those that condemn Blackman's actions and those that condone them, those that revile him as a killer and even those that revere him as a hero.

The world is full of wannabe pop stars, but not everyone wants to gamble on a talent show to make it. With exclusive access to Britain's renowned Academy of Contemporary Music, this rockumentary follows students over the first term of the academic year as they follow their dream of making it big in the hard-to-break music business.

First-year gospel singer Henrietta wants to be a chart-topping superstar, but struggles to shine in a class of talented vocalists. 19-year-old Ella is striving to develop her own musical style and stand out from the crowd. Trainee producer James has returned to college after being burnt by the music industry and, for hotly tipped college band Massmatiks, this year is all about getting their first record deal.

With all the emotion, triumphs and disappointments, learning to rock is harder than it seems.

An obituary of the Israeli military and political leader Ariel Sharon. The film tells the story of his life and how it intersected with all the major moments in Israel's history.

Jameela Jamil finds out if it's true that children are being exposed to more pornography than ever before - and what the effects of that might be. With smartphones and tablets making it easier than ever to get hold of the most explicit images, there are fears that each generation is seeing porn earlier than the one before, so Jameela meets teenagers across the country to hear from them what impact it has had on their attitudes and behaviour.

With an exclusive survey, the biggest of its kind, revealing the truth about how much porn kids really see, she also talks to those behind some of the mostly commonly viewed material, including one of Britain's best known porn stars and rap artist Skepta, to see if they are worried about who's watching.

She visits a family whose eight-year-old son was unexpectedly exposed to hardcore porn and, as she hears how it has directly affected people's lives, Jameela asks if teaching children about porn could be the answer - and if so, at what age that should start.

With access to Police Scotland, Transport Scotland and businesses like House of Bruar this one-hour documentary reveals a surprising view of the notorious A9, as we follow the people who keep the road moving, find out what happens when accidents
close off the route and explore the future for Scotland's iconic road.

Fiona Bruce follows Falklands War hero Simon Weston over three months, as he becomes the first person chosen by the public to be painted for the National Portrait Gallery.

Weston is painted by Nicky Philipps, best known for her portrait of the royal princes. As the painting takes shape, Weston's moving life story is revealed, from his battle for survival and struggle with depression to his becoming an inspirational role model and national treasure.

Weston chooses not to view the work in progress, instead waiting for the big unveiling. But will be like how he is portrayed for posterity?

Brooke Kinsella, former EastEnders star and anti-knife crime campaigner, explores the use of restorative justice in Britain today and finds out what happens when offenders and their victims are brought together face to face.

With the government now making millions available for restorative justice - across offences ranging from anti-social behaviour to murder - Brooke considers whether it's an effective way of dealing with offenders and whether it can meet the needs of victims.

Documentary featuring the work of stop-motion camera and special effects guru Ray Harryhausen. Including clips from Jason and the Argonauts and contributions from Peter Jackson, Nick Park, Phil Tippet, Peter Lord, Terry Gilliam, Dennis Muren, Rick Baker, John Landis, Ken Ralston, Guillermo Del Toro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Robert Zemeckis, James Cameron and Steven Spielberg.

For billions of years our planet was devoid of life, but something transformed it into a vibrant, living planet. That something was soil.

It's a much-misunderstood substance, often dismissed as 'dirt', something to be avoided. Yet the crops we eat, the animals we rely on, the very oxygen we breathe, all depend on the existence of the plant life that bursts from the soil every year.

In this film, gardening expert Chris Beardshaw explores where soil comes from, what it's made of and what makes it so essential to life. Using specialist microphotography, he reveals it as we've never seen it before - an intricate microscopic landscape, teeming with strange and wonderful life-forms.

It's a world where the chaos of life meets the permanence of rock, the two interacting with each other to make a living system of staggering complexity that sustains all life on Earth.

Chris explores how man is challenging this most precious resource on our planet and how new science is seeking to preserve it.

Stories from the Home Front 1914-1918 - a special programme to launch a unique partnership between the BBC and Imperial War Museums. Robert Hall presents.

Thousands gather in Bent's Park, South Shields on Good Friday for BBC One's extraordinary spectacle, The Great North Passion. The one-hour live event and broadcast reveals a giant iconic installation in the shape of a cross and is a unique and innovative retelling of the story of the Passion.

Fern Britton and singer Alexandra Burke join local community participants, ranging from dancers and graffiti artists to a massed choir, to tell the story of the last moments of Christ's life, from his trial and suffering to his eventual death.

Twelve artists have created new contemporary work with local communities across the north east of England, inspired by the stations of the cross. Housed in shipping containers, they will be joined together to form a giant iconic installation in the shape of a cross. Artworks range from a boat atop a shipping container with a net descending to the floor, made by local fishermen questioning 'what is truth', to the memories of Northumberlanders inscribed on a long wooden table.

Documentary short films will be interwoven with the live broadcast to reveal both the story of the Passion and that of the north east. The Great North Passion is created in partnership with the Cultural Spring.

Handel's Messiah is one of the most popular choral pieces in Western music. It has been recorded hundreds of times and contains a tune that is as instantly recognisable as any in music. Yet few people know the extraordinary story of how this much-loved piece came to public attention - or how it helped save the lives of tens of thousands of children.

Historian Amanda Vickery and BBC Radio 3 presenter Tom Service present this one-hour drama documentary which recreates the first performance of Messiah at London's Foundling Hospital in 1750 and tells the heart-rending story of how this special fundraising concert helped maintain the hospital and heralded a golden age of philanthropy.

Exploring historical documents and artefacts, Amanda Vickery examines the plight of women in Georgian London, particularly how the attitudes of the time led mothers to abandon their babies at the hospital. Tom Service looks at the momentous trials and tribulations faced by Handel in London and discovers how the composer became involved with the Foundling Hospital alongside another philanthropist of the day, the artist William Hogarth.

The changing position of the sun in the sky affects the behaviour of animals and plants across our planet.

From the moment it rises, animals are waiting, ready to take advantage of the opportunities that the sun creates. A quirky chameleon uses solar power to survive, while a family of lemurs get a morning heat fix. But, as the day progresses and the sun climbs higher in the sky, becoming more powerful, animals must also react as it pushes them toward moments of crisis.

As the sun sets and its great heat and light are extinguished, a night-time world wakes, full of characters who have carved a niche in the darkness. But even in the dead of night, the sun is not lost. Its rays are reflected in the moon, our 'ghost sun.'

We take the rising and setting of the sun for granted, but it is the ultimate game changer. The way the natural world responds will be the difference between success and failure, life or death.

In the United States more than 2,500 people are serving life-without-parole sentences for crimes they committed when they were 17 or younger. In this film, five of them, all convicted for first degree murder, tell their stories.

Brian was a 16-year-old outsider inspired by the Columbine School massacre when he and school friend Torey killed their classmate Cassie in a chilling murder reminiscent of a scene from a horror film. Josiah and Jacob both reflect on the impact childhood abuse had on the appalling murders they committed and Sean recalls gang life in the notorious Bloods, killing a passer-by the first time he shot a gun. All five give sober insights into their teenage selves and the deep regret they feel for their victims and all those impacted by their crimes.

Through their stories the film asks some difficult questions. What is justice when a teenager kills? Can a horrific act place a life beyond redemption? Are there alternatives or should we simply dispose of them?

Professor Richard Fortey delves into the fascinating and normally-hidden kingdom of fungi. From their spectacular birth, through their secretive underground life to their final explosive death, Richard reveals a remarkable world that few of us understand or even realise exists - yet all life on Earth depends on it.

In a specially-built mushroom lab, with the help of mycologist Dr Patrick Hickey and some state-of-the-art technology, Richard brings to life the secret world of mushrooms as never seen before and reveals the spectacular abilities of fungi to break down waste and sustain new plant life, keeping our planet alive.

Beyond the lab, Richard travels across Britain and beyond to show us the biggest, fastest and most deadly organisms on the planet - all of them fungi. He reveals their almost magical powers that have world-changing potential - opening up new frontiers in science, medicine and technology.

Documentary chronicling the lives and deaths of some of the 80 young people who have killed themselves in British prisons in the last ten years. It tells the stories of three of these young people, looking at the flaws in the system and the lapses in care that contributed to their deaths.

Adam Rushton was 20 when he hanged himself from the bars of his bunk bed in HMYOI Brinsford in 2009. Ryan Clark was just 17 when he took his own life in the prison cell where he was on remand and 17-year-old Jake Hardy, who couldn't cope with life inside, was severely bullied and would cry during visits from his mum, took his own life in January 2012.

Through their stories, the film explores the experiences of the children and young people we lock up and discovers why some of them take their own lives.

Kenneth Macdonald looks back on the remarkable life and career of Margo MacDonald, who in a political career spanning more than 40 years became one of the most important and influential figures in Scottish political life as well as one of Scotland's best loved personalities. Friends, colleagues and fellow campaigners talk fondly about the woman known to millions only as Margo; recalling her love of Scotland, her campaigning for the poor and under privileged and her love of television shopping channels.

For 50 years, BBC TWO has been at the heart of popular music in the UK, and this programme offers 50 great moments in music from across the decades. It is an exploration of popular music through the BBC TWO prism, featuring key live performances, documentary extracts and iconic presenters

A portrait of one of the greatest English-language poets of his generation, this joyful and penetrating documentary was made with the late Seamus Heaney's unprecedented collaboration. The film explores the key personal relationship in his life, that with his wife Marie, and follows him to Harvard, New York and London, to readings, signings and public interviews.

Filmmaker Robb Leech attempts to understand his stepbrother's journey from middle-class white boy in Weymouth to convicted terrorist. In 2010 Robb spent a year filming his stepbrother Rich after he turned his back on the world in which he grew up to become a fundamentalist Muslim called Salahuddin.

Robb began filming with his stepbrother as he entered a strange new world where everyone talked about fighting jihad and implementing Sharia law. The result was Robb's acclaimed BBC Three documentary, My Brother the Islamist.

When, in 2013, Salahuddin is convicted of preparing terrorism acts and jailed for six years, Robb is desperate to know what triggered his stepbrother, and others like him, to cross the line. Robb seeks out imam and psychologist Alyas Karmani to understand what drives young British-born men and women into radical jihadism. And he confronts Anjem Choudary, the man who converted Rich, about his role in Salahuddin's radicalisation.

He was a man who combined the savagery of a real-life Conan the Barbarian with the sheer tactical genius of Napoleon, a man from the outermost reaches of Asia whose armies ultimately stood poised to conquer Europe. His name was Genghis Khan.

Today the name of Genghis Khan is synonymous with dark evil yet in his lifetime he was a heroic figure, a supreme strategist capable of eliciting total devotion from his warriors.

He grew up in poverty on the harsh unforgiving steppe of Mongolia. From the murder of his father, the kidnap of his wife and the execution of his closest friend, he learned the lessons of life the hard way.

So how did this outcast come to conquer an empire larger than the Roman Empire? And was Genghis Khan the brutal monster who ruthlessly slaughtered millions in his quest for power, or was he a brilliant visionary who transformed a rabble of warring tribes into a nation capable of world domination?

Filmed entirely on location in Mongolia, the film tells the truth behind the legend that is Genghis Khan.

In a cottage in northern Scotland, Megan Boyd twirled bits of feather, fur, silver and gold into elaborate fishing flies - at once miniature works of art and absolutely lethal. Wherever men and women cast their lines for the mighty Atlantic salmon, her name is whispered in mythic reverence, and stories about her surface and swirl like fairy tales. With breathtaking cinematography and expressive, hand-painted animation, this film both adheres to and escapes from traditional documentary form, spinning the facts and fictions of one woman's life into a stunning meditation on solitude, love, and its illusions.

Michael Mosley travels to the Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan to explore the disaster from a completely fresh perspective - looking at the animals caught up in the crisis and the specialist team of vets who have come to save their lives and those of the people who depend on them.

Amid the devastation, Michael learns about the little-known work these expert vets do, both in the short term by providing immediate veterinary care to thousands of animals and in the long term, by using their skills to develop pioneering technology that could help save millions of animals the next time a disaster strikes. He discovers what motivates this team to travel to some of the most dangerous places on earth to help animals and encounters many of the challenges they face as they work against the clock to leave a lasting legacy behind.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh's design for The Glasgow School of Art is a Glasgow icon and renowned around the world. American architect Steven Holl was given the daunting task of creating a new building to sit opposite Mackintosh's masterpiece.

Filmed over three years, 'Facing up to Mackintosh' charts the design and construction of the new school of design, now named the Reid Building, and explores how a building can affect the people working in it.

The film is a collaboration with four recent graduates - Roberta Knox, Gibran Farrah, Walter Hamilton and Lu-Sisi - who contribute sound design, illustration, graphics and digital design, and includes interviews with GSA alumni Muriel Gray, Adrian Wiszniewski, Martin Boyce and Janice Kirkpatrick, as well as the architect Steven Holl.

James Corden and Gary Barlow head out on a road trip for this documentary, as James gets up close and personal with the man behind the music of his youth and discusses Gary's meteoric pop comeback.

Gary Barlow has had one of the most incredible stories in pop history. We follow Gary's near-25-year career, from its beginnings to the Take That phenomenon, the wilderness years as the industry he loves cast him aside, and the darker times which have inspired his lyrics.

James Corden has been a Take That fan since his teens. Now he gets to spend quality time with one of his heroes as they visit key places in Gary's career, from the working men's club where Gary first performed to the nightclub where Take That first auditioned. Corden tags along as Gary surprises one of his own fans on their wedding day, and even joins in band rehearsals.

Featuring contributions from Elton John, Chris Evans, Robbie Williams, Gary's mother and members of the press and music industry, this documentary sees one of the nation's best-loved musicians shed light on the real story of his remarkable career.

A journey through the dramatic and destructive years of the French Revolution, telling its history in a way not seen before - through the extraordinary story of its art. Our guide through this turbulent decade is the constantly surprising Dr Richard Clay, an art historian who has spent his life decoding the symbols of power and authority.

Dr Clay has always been fascinated by vandalism and iconoclasm, and believes much of the untold story of the French Revolution can be discovered through the stories of great moments of destruction. Who were the stone masons in the crowd outside Notre Dame that pulled down the statues of kings? Why do the churches of Paris still carry all the coded signs of anti-Christian state legislation? What does it mean, and who was carrying this out?

Telling the story of the French Revolution - from the Storming of the Bastille to the rise of Napoleon - as the significant modern outbreak of iconoclasm, Clay argues that it reveals the destructive and constructive roles of iconoclasts and how this led directly to the birth of the modern Europe.

A trip through the Comedy Playhouse archive in the company of the people who made some of the most-loved episodes from the original series, as it returns to BBC One for a new run.

From Steptoe and Son to Last of the Summer Wine, a series of one-off comedy ideas produced some of the most watched comedy series of the last 50 years. With commentary and insider knowledge from June Whitfield, Paul Merton, Hugh Dennis and top writing team Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.

Five people with an extreme fear of heights set off on a once-in-a lifetime adventure to cure their debilitating phobia.

Accompanied by presenter Mel Giedroyc, the five sufferers confront their fears head-on as they undergo exposure therapy. From the dramatic peaks of the Alps to the world's tallest building, they'll attempt a series of increasingly difficult height-based challenges that will push them to their limits. Can they rise to the challenge and develop a head for heights?

Shot in stunning locations in the UK, Austria, Switzerland, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the show climaxes at the tallest building in the world - the 828m Burj Khalifa tower. It's almost twice the height of London's Shard - will the five phobics be able to overcome their fear and climb it, or will it be mission impossible? Presenter Mel Giedroyc is joined by Oxford University psychologist Dr Jennifer Wild as they lead the group on this hair-raising and life-changing journey.

For the past eight years, Glaswegian sculptor Andy Scott has been working on the biggest project of his life. The Kelpies are two 30m-high horse heads made of steel, now standing alongside the Forth and Clyde Canal.

This film, narrated by Andy himself, follows the long and tortuous process of the creation of the 300-tonne sculptures from design to installation. The enormous technical challenge involved engineers in Leeds, steel mills in Hartlepool and Corby and metal benders in Tipton, and was nearly derailed by the financial crisis of 2008. Originally planned to form part of the canal lock mechanism, the sculptures are now a free-standing attraction within Falkirk's Helix Park.

From bomb threats sent to campaigners for more females on banknotes to sexually explicit pop videos. From extreme laddism at universities to rape jokes in the school yard... Kirsty Wark explores whether there's a new culture abroad in which it's acceptable to write about, talk about, and feature women in a sexually offensive, even abusive way. Or whether the female of the species just needs to 'man up', learn to enjoy a gag, and get used to the 21st century world.

Covent Garden present their highly-acclaimed production of Mozart's Don Giovanni, a depiction of the last day and night of the most iconic of seducers, in a thrilling new interpretation directed by the Royal Opera's Kasper Holten.

Don Giovanni had its premiere performance in Prague on October 29, 1787. Mozart's vastly successful opera, based on the stories of legendary libertine Don Juan, delighted the city that had taken him to their hearts. But what brought them all - composer and audience, theatre manager and cast - to this time and place?

Acclaimed tenor Rolando Villazón presents the story of one of the best-known operas of all time. Based in Prague, Rolando explores the run-up to that candle-lit first performance, looking at the music of the opera and the social setting in which it was first performed, before recreating the finale of the opera close to how it would have looked and sounded on that autumn evening.

Professor Robert Bartlett explores the Plantagenets, England's longest ruling dynasty, in this version of the BBC Two series made especially for schools. Fifteen of the nation's most famous and infamous kings came from this one family. Their story is one of intrigue, conflict and brutality, but during their 331-year domination of England they shaped the country's politics and culture. Bartlett reveals how Parliament was born, the system of justice was established through Magna Carta and the foundations of the United Kingdom were set down. Ultimately, the family tore itself apart and was destroyed through civil war.

As part of its 50th birthday celebrations, BBC Two is allowing access all areas to their precious comedy vaults. This programme pulls from the shelf some rare and unseen comedy moments from some of the greatest names in comedy. There are pilots which have never been broadcast before, including Miranda Hart's Joke Shop, Stephen Fry's first appearance as the quizmaster in QI and a sitcom from the band Madness, as well as rare comedy treats from Spike Milligan, Pete and Dud, Rik Mayall and Billy Connolly, and Sacha Baron Cohen's first incarnation of Borat, an Albanian called Christo. Packed with archive treasures illustrating how groundbreaking and innovative BBC Two has been for British comedy, insightful analysis is provided by the guest interviews with some of the biggest names in television.

Nicholas Hytner, Director of London's National Theatre, interviews playwright, screenwriter, actor and author Alan Bennett as he celebrates his 80th birthday. Featuring clips from eight of Bennett's productions, including plays Forty Years On and The Habit of Art

A Series which follows Martha Kearney's bee-keeping year and explores the science, art and culture of the honeybee, the most ingenious insect known to humankind.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Thalidomide was prescribed to women to combat morning sickness, but the drug led to children being born with deformed or missing limbs. More than 50 years on, this documentary hears from British people affected by it, their families and those intimately involved in the campaign to secure compensation from the manufacturer, revealing the long battle through the courts and how society has treated them through the years.

Penelope Keith pays tribute to comedy writer Bob Larbey. He and his writing partner John Esmonde wrote some of Britain's best-loved comedies, including The Good Life.

Will Gompertz celebrates Museums at Night, a three day festival of museums and galleries from St Ives to Orkney that throw open their doors till late, showcase their collections and party!

Stephanie Flanders, former BBC economics editor, has a very personal interest in the battle to beat polio. Her father, Michael Flanders, one half of the world-famous singing duo of the 50s and 60s, Flanders and Swann, was paralysed by the infection when he was 21. He used a wheelchair for the rest of his life, and died early at 53 through complications caused by the disease. Stephanie was just six.
But the desperate search for a vaccine was far from straightforward. Stephanie discovers that it is the story of decades of battling between good and bad science, celebrity scientists with giant egos, prepared to take enormous risks to be first with a vaccine, and countless innocent victims. By the end, Stephanie realises there might have been a polio vaccine years earlier, and hundreds of thousands might have been spared, including her Dad.