The Time Compass

The Great Smog: Winter of '52

December 2025 •English

Dr Xand Van Tulleken and Raksha Dave investigate the Great Smog of 1952 - the deadliest environmental disaster ever recorded and one of the world's worst peacetime catastrophes. Lasting just over four days, the Great Smog plunged London into a terrifyingly murky gloom - the acrid pollution seeping into homes, leaving Londoners gasping for breath, shutting down transport and emergency services, and overwhelming hospitals and undertakers alike.

The True Story of Alexander the Great

December 2025 •English

Tutored by Aristotle, helpless witness to his father's assassination, and a brilliant, pioneering tactician, Alexander the Great had conquered the known world--and sealed his legacy as one of history's most remarkable rulers--by the age of 25. In the year 334 B.C., 20-year-old King Alexander of Macedonia decided to bring the farthest reaches of the world under one domain. Over the next 12 years, he led a grand army across more than 20,000 miles and eventually brought all of Asia under his control, only to perish from battle wounds at the age of 32. Incorporating dramatic onsite reenactments with high-end computer graphics and the expertise of renowned scholars, THE TRUE STORY OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT is a special presentation from THE HISTORY CHANNEL®, examining the life and career of this military genius, impassioned lover, and fearless leader.

Ancient Apocalypse

December 2025 •English

Journalist and writer Graham Hancock travels the globe hunting for evidence of mysterious, lost civilizations dating back to the last Ice Age. He attempts to prove that a climatic event 12,000 years ago wiped out an entire civilization far more sophisticated than the simple hunter-gatherers some archaeologists believe lived at that time.

History Uncovered

December 2025 •French

Myths die hard, and the history of the 20th century is no exception to this rule. Even today, we hold popular beliefs that we take for Evangelical truths. Thus, we believe that Hiroshima caused Japan to surrender, that the Marshall Plan saved Europe, that Adolf Hitler was a military genius, or that Mao Zedong was a necessary evil for China’s modernization. Of course, these judgements contain some truth; but, too broad-stroked to be accurate, they contradict the historical reality by denying its complexity. What if the truth was slightly different? Through an exploration of great national or international myths, this full archive documentary collection revisits the key moments of the 20th century with a new perspective in order to provide a new, smarter and more subtle interpretation, bringing elements to light that have been forgotten or sometimes overshadowed.

The Greeks

December 2025 •English

National Geographic's landmark event series, The Greeks, brings together historians, archaeologists, actors, athletes, scientists and artists to launch a groundbreaking exploration into the ancient Greeks' journey - not just to better understand their past, but to discover how their legacy illuminates our present, and will shape our future. The story of the Greeks is the story of us.

Automobile: Ride and Fall

December 2025 •French

Our cities, transformed a mere century ago to accommodate cars, now want to rid their streets of them. Countries go to war over fuel shortages, and automobiles are at the core of a global ecological crisis. Today, the history of automobile has hit its climax. How did we get here? How did the invention of a single machine reorganize how we work, revolutionize our lifestyles, transform our landscapes, trigger global crises and wreak havoc with the equilibrium of our planet? This documentary series explores the creation and meteoric development of an unprecedented object - the automobile - and its role in mankind’s wild race toward progress.

Apocalypse: The Fall of Hitler

December 2025 •French

Summer 1943: Hitler engages in a decisive battle in Kursk to win the war in the East. This is without counting on the pugnacity of the Red Army and the Allied intervention in the West. Month after month, the noose tightens on the Nazi tyrant who refuses to admit defeat and precipitates his country in its fall.

Ancient Greece By Train

December 2025 •English

Professor Alice Roberts travels across Greece and thousands of years back to our collective past, tracing how the Ancient Greeks developed philosophy, art, theatre and democracy.

The Secrets of Quantum Physics

December 2025 •English

Professor of physics Jim Al-Khalili investigates the most accurate and yet perplexing scientific theory ever - quantum physics.

History of Aviation

December 2025 •French

From the first men in their flying machines to World War One, from the first Atlantic crossing to the supersonic era, this is the story of the most daredevil challenges the world has ever known, braved by the men and women who wrote the history of human flight.

Ancient Worlds

December 2025 •English

Archaeologist and historian Richard Miles traces the development of Western civilization, from the first cities in Mesopotamia to the fall of the Roman Empire. In this six-part series, Miles travels through the Middle East, Egypt, Pakistan and the Mediterranean to discover how the challenges of society -- religion and politics, art and culture, war and diplomacy, technology and trade -- were dealt with and fought over in order to maintain a functioning civilization. Stories are told of disappeared, ruined and modern cities, from ancient Iraq to modern Damascus, to reveal how successes and failures of the ancients shaped the world today.

Odyssey: Behind the Myth

December 2025 •French

Who was Homer, and what is the meaning of The Odyssey? In this documentary we follow the footsteps of Ulysses, also known by his Greek name Odysseus—a hero as relevant today as he was nearly three thousand years ago, on a journey across some of the most fascinating landscapes and seascapes of the Mediterranean region. With the help of prominent international scholars, we seek to resolve the questions that still surround one of humanity’s greatest literary works and its enigmatic author.

Satoshi - The Story of Bitcoin

December 2025 •French

At the beginning of 2009, in the midst of the financial crisis, "Satoshi Nakamoto" put Bitcoin into circulation. He created the first decentralised and reliable cryptocurrency. In 2011 he disappeared. The Mystery of Satoshi tells the exciting history of Bitcoin and blockchain technology, from the perspective of its mysterious creator.

Greek Island Odyssey

December 2025 •English

Historian Bettany Hughes has embarked on an epic, personal journey. Inspired by Homer's The Odyssey, she will sail the unpredictable Mediterranean seas, tracing Odysseus's long journey home. Her mission: to experience what the Greek hero experienced and to uncover truths behind the myths and legends, all while enjoying the delights of ancient Greece today. Follow her 1,700-mile adventure as it takes her to over a dozen islands and 22 historic sites and puts her through two hair-raising storms and even an earthquake.

JFK: Destiny Betrayed

December 2025 •English

Thirty years after the release of his film JFK (1991), filmmaker Oliver Stone reviews recently declassified evidence related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which took place in Dallas on November 22, 1963.

The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization

December 2025 •English

In the fourth and fifth centuries, B.C., the Greeks built an empire that stretched across the Mediterranean from Asia to Spain. They laid the foundation of modern science, politics, warfare and philosophy, and produced some of the most breathtaking art and architecture the world has ever seen. It was perhaps the most spectacular flourishing of imagination and achievement in recorded history.

The Century of Icons

December 2025 •French

James Brown: Say It Loud

December 2025 •English

Traces the incredible trajectory of Brown’s life and career from a 7th grade drop-out arrested and jailed at the age of 16 for breaking into a car in the Jim Crow-era South, to an entertainment legend whose groundbreaking talent and unique perspective catapulted him to become a cultural force.

James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction

December 2025 •English

Explore the evolution of sci-fi from its origins as a small genre with a cult following to the blockbuster pop-cultural phenomenon we know today. In each episode, James Cameron introduces one of the “Big Questions” that humankind has contemplated throughout the ages and reaches back into sci-fi’s past to better understand how our favorite films, TV shows, books, and video games were born.

Empire Builders

December 2025 •English

Throughout the centuries great empires have been erected, whose creators have governed nations, regions and continents for hundreds and even thousands of years. From the great civilizations of antiquity to the first world powers of our days, this series reviews the legacy left to us by the great empires that have written the history of humanity. Combining computer-generated images with dramatic reconstructions, experts and historians analyze the role these civilizations have played and how their heritage has survived to this day.