BBC Documentaries Collection

BBC Pedigree Dogs Exposed Three Years On



An in-depth investigation into the health of pedigree dogs.
The programme examines the level of inherited disease and other welfare concerns in man's best friend, featuring interviews with experts.
It reveals the surprising historical factors that have contributed to problems in some breeds and explores what might be done to tackle these serious and debilitating health issues


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BBC Burglar In The House



Every two minutes a house in Britain is burgled, and for years Nottingham has suffered the highest burglary rates in the UK. But the city's police are fighting back, and are now capturing the burglars on camera. They are installing hidden minicams inside ordinary homes, which record the thieves in action. They call them 'capture houses', Nottingham's new weapon in the fight against crime. But is this new technology as reliable as the police think? And should the police be allowed to set traps for burglars?
Part of the Modern Crime season, this gripping documentary takes viewers to the frontline of a surburban crime-wave, witnessing first-hand the cat-and-mouse battle currently being played out across Nottingham. The film shows heart-stopping footage of burglars breaking into homes, and follows the intelligence and burglary teams as they hunt the burglars down. And cameras are there in the interview room as the burglar is shown the damning footage. Many burglars protest their innocence at first, but once they see the capture house footage, the game is up.


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BBC Supermassive Black Holes



In June 2000, astronomers made an extraordinary discovery. One that promises to solve one of the biggest problems in cosmology - how and why galaxies are created. Incredibly, the answer involves the most weird, destructive and terrifying objects in the Universe - supermassive black holes. Scientists are beginning to believe that these forces of pure destruction actually help trigger the birth of galaxies and therefore are at the heart of the creation of stars, planets and all life.

Supermassive black holes are so extraordinary that until recently, many people doubted that they existed at all. The idea of giant black holes the size of the Solar System seemed more like science fiction that reality - such monsters would be so powerful that they could destroy the very fabric of the Universe. But in the last five years a series of discoveries has changed our understanding of supermassive black holes and galaxies forever.

Using the powerful Hubble Space Telescope, scientists have been scanning nearby galaxies, searching for these giant black holes. It's a difficult job - by their very nature black holes swallow light - so can never be seen. So what scientists have been looking for is the effect of their massive gravity, hurling stars around them at immense speed. What they've found is more extraordinary than anyone could ever have imagined; not just evidence that these vast destructive monsters exist… but so far they're in every single galaxy toward which they have turned their telescopes. These giant agents of destruction appear to be common throughout the Universe. Scientists now think supermassive black holes are a fundamental part of what a galaxy actually is.

Lurking at the heart of every single galaxy is a giant black hole of apocalyptic proportions - and that includes our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Astronomer Andrea Ghez has been studying the heart of the Milky Way for the last five years. What she's discovered is irrefutable evidence for a giant black hole, 3 billion times the size of our own sun. A black hole that could destroy the entire Solar System. And as Horizon was filming in July 2000, Ghez got some terrifying images - of the giant monster sucking up gas and stars at the galaxy heart.

So what is this giant monster doing at the heart of our galaxy? What effect will this giant black hole 25,000 light years away have on us and the rest of the galaxy around it? These are questions that have been puzzling astronomers for the last few years - and in June, two separate groups of scientists found evidence that points to a startling answer. Rather than being destructive parasites, it seems that supermassive black holes may be essential in the very creation of the galaxies they live in.

Exactly how our galaxy was created has mystified astronomers and physicists for years. Although there have been many theories, there's little evidence to explain how the gas in the early Universe condensed to form the galaxy we see today. Now scientists realise they've been missing a vital ingredient - a supermassive black hole. The immense gravity of a giant black hole might trigger the gas to collapse in the first place. By churning up the gas around it, a giant black hole would trigger the birth of stars, planets and life itself. Despite being the most destructive thing in the Universe, scientists now think our supermassive black hole could be crucial in creating the galaxy as we know it.

The supermassive black hole in our own galaxy may be the reason we exist, but recent work suggests it may also be our end. At present Earth is so far away from the black hole that it can't affect us, but physicist John Dubinski thinks all that could change. In January 2000 he graphically simulated the final fate of our galaxy. In 3 billion years we will collide with the next door galaxy, Andromeda. The resulting apocalypse will force the Earth and our Solar System out of orbit. Dubinski has calculated a worrying 50:50 chance that we'll be sent hurtling in towards the black hole at the centre of this maelstrom. This would be fatal for the Earth.


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BBC Stephen Fry HIV and Me



From the USA to Africa and the UK, Stephen Fry tracks down people whose lives have been transformed by this brutal disease, including those he holds dear. Stephen meets the doctors who were instrumental in initially defining the disease, such as Professor Brian Gazzard, formerly Freddie Mercury's doctor, and Professor Michael Gottlieb, Rock Hudson's doctor. He talks to people serving jail senteces for deliberately spreading the disease, and to public figures such as writer Armistead Maupin, who are all dedicated to spreading awareness. Stephen also meets some of the earliest diagnosed people who are, miraculously, still alive. He discovers what living with HIV really means, and what the future holds for this persistent and misunderstood illness.


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BBC Arena Jonathan Miller (2012)



Arena - Jonathan Miller
Saturday 31 March 21.00 - 22.30 BBC TWO

The BBC's flagship arts documentary strand Arena returns with the first ever
documentary exploring the extraordinary life of Sir Jonathan Miller CBE.

Jonathan Miller is usually described as a polymath or Renaissance Man, two labels
he personally dislikes. But no-one quite like him has made such an impact on
British culture through the medium of television, radio, theatre and opera.

He has straddled the great divide between the arts and the sciences, while being
a brilliant humorist, a qualified doctor, and even a practising artist.

With the man himself and a host of distinguished collaborators, including Oliver
Sacks, Eric Idle, Kevin Spacey (who owes his first break to Miller) and Penelope
Wilton, this Arena profile explores Miller’s rich life and examines through
amazing television archive – mostly from the BBC - how he makes these connections
between the worlds of the imagination and scientific fact.


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BBC Secrets of the Arabian Nights 2011


The Arabian Nights arrived in the West 300 years ago and its stories have entranced generations of children and seduced adults with a vision of an exotic, magical Middle East. Richard E Grant wants to know why the book he loved as a child still has such a hold on our imagination. He travels to Paris to discover how the stories of Sinbad, Ali Baba and Aladdin were first brought to the West by the pioneering Arabist Antoine Galland in the early 18th century. The Nights became an overnight literary sensation and were translated into all the major European languages. In Cairo, Richard explores the medieval Islamic world which first created them and finds that some of the stories are still controversial because of their sexually-explicit content. Richard meets the Egyptian writer Gamal al Ghitani, who received death threats when he published a new edition of the book, and finds that the ribald and riotous stories in the Nights represent a very different view of Islam than fundamentalism.


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BBC The death of Yugoslavia



The Death of Yugoslavia is a BBC documentary series first broadcast in 1995, and is also the name of a book written by Allan Little and Laura Silber that accompanies the series.

It covers the collapse of the former Yugoslavia. It is notable in its combination of never-before-seen archive footage interspersed with interviews of most of the main players in the conflict. This format, pioneered by the programme’s production company, Brian Lapping Associates, was very influential and the company produced many others in similar style.

There is a malicious game to play when listening, as we all have, to people sounding off with pat formulas about the terrible civil war that destroyed Yugoslavia: how many seconds before the first flat contradiction? Even the nimblest minds usually spin off the road after less than 30.

To stress that the causes of the war are complex is not to say nobody is to blame, principles are not at stake or nothing can be done – just that making sense of complexity takes time. And time is what Norma Percy of Brian Lapping Associates has taken in an excellent, if depressing, documentary.

BBC Supersense



Narrated by Andrew Sachs

Amazing effects reveal the secrets of animal perception in this landmark series . Join a goose flying in formation through the air, see through the multi-aspected eye and eavesdrop on a mouse?s conversation …

Supersense introduces the superstars of the sensory world, animals with powers to amaze. This inspiring series challenges the perception of humankind as the most highly evolved lifeform with a wealth of information on how plants and animals interpret the world.

All our five main senses are better developed in most animals, there are eagles with a central magnified view, pidgeons which navigate by smell, and the deep rumbling of elephant communication.

Supersense also looks at the magnetic and electrical senses of animals as well as the remarkable abilities of plants and animals to predict and respond to daily and seasonal cycles.


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BBC Hunting Chris Ryan (2003)



Hunting Chris Ryan is a documentary produced by the BBC in 2003. It comprised three hour-long episodes, each pitting SAS veteran Chris Ryan against a four-man 'Hunter Force' whilst he completed a set objective, his mission being evasion and ultimately extraction once the objective was complete.

The series was re-released in the United States as Special Forces: Manhunt, broadcast on Discovery's The Military Channel.


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BBC 10 Things You Need to Know About Sleep



Do you get enough sleep? Many of us don't. 10 Things You Need to Know About Sleep reveals the science behind why so many find it difficult to nod off, and offers practical tips on the best ways to get a good night's sleep.

In a series of experiments, presenter Kate Silverton sets out to help those insomniacs desperate to get some shut eye, help travellers beat jet lag, and see if there is anything that can be done to stop loud and persistent snorers.
Chef Aldo Zilli discovers how the food we eat affects our sleep, while volunteers in a sleep laboratory test the effects of alcohol and coffee on the rhythm of sleep.
Record-breaking round-the-world yachtswoman Dee Caffari learns the best time to take a nap and catch up on lost sleep, while journalist Dominik Diamond finds out that less sleep can help an insomniac break bad habits.
Joe Swift from Gardeners World tries out some herbal sleep remedies, and comedian Russell Kane checks out techniques that can reduce the stress that keeps him awake at night.
Kate takes a hot bath before bed and discovers the surprising secret to a good night's sleep, as well as how a trick of the light can both wake you up and keep you asleep.


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BBC The Gurkhas (1995)



Aired on BBC2 in 1995.

Documentary about the history and recruitment process of the British army Gurkhas of Nepal.
Doesn't really go into the current controversy about the shameful way
pre-1997 retired Gurkhas are treated but is a fascinating insight into
the pride and honour involved in being selected to serve the Queen.


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The Interrupters How to Stop a Riot Storyville (2011)




Documentary which tells the surprising story of three dedicated individuals who try to protect their Chicago communities from the violence they themselves once perpetrated. These 'interrupters' intervene in conflicts before the incidents explode into violence. Their work and their insights are closely entwined with their own personal journeys, which, as each of them points out, defy easy characterisation.

Shot over the course of a year by acclaimed filmmaker Steve James, it is a vivid portrayal of a city under siege from spiralling violence, including the brutal murder of Derrion Albert, a Chicago high-school student whose death was caught on videotape.


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BBC Our World A Death in Honduras (2012)


Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world. Linda Pressly meets the staff of the People's Funeral Service, who deal each day with the fall-out from these extreme levels of violence.


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BBC Writing for Walford (2012)



Writing for Walford
Broadcast: BBC News Channel
Thursday 31 May 2012
05:30 - 06:00


Writing for Walford will take students through a step-by-step guide of how to write a good script for television dramas such as EastEnders and E20.

Join Tameka Empson (Kim Fox) as she takes you behind the scenes in Walford. She talks to writers, actors and directors from the nation's favourite soap, asking them to reveal their top tips on creating gripping storylines, believable characters, relevant worlds, great TV scripts and ultimately, how to break into the industry.


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BBC The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II (2012)



DOCUMENTARY: The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II
On: BBC 4 (116)
Date: Thursday 31st May 2012
Time: 21:00 to 22:30 (1 hour and 30 minutes long)

Documentary about the greatest public ceremony of the twentieth century. As well as recounting the events of Coronation Day, 2nd June 1953, the film focuses on the months of meticulous planning beforehand. What took place behind the scenes is told using diaries, letters, official records and government papers, together with much rare archive. There are interviews with historians, royal ceremonial experts and participants in the ceremony. The Coronation was an immense challenge - the views of forceful personalities from die-hard traditionalists to forward-thinking innovators had to be reconciled, the movements of thousands had to be marshalled like clockwork, and the BBC had to mount its most ambitious television outside broadcast to date in the teeth of prime minister Winston Churchill's opposition. At the centre of it all was the 27-year-old Queen, bearing a huge responsibility while remaining apparently calm and unperturbed throughout.


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