Fifties Features - The Women behind the Pictures

The Railway: Keeping Britain On Track

September 2025 •English

Documentary series revealing the inner workings of Britain's railways, introducing the track-workers, train guards, drivers, police officers and management teams determined to keep the country moving.

Secrets of Britain

September 2025 •English

The enormous popularity of recent British dramas such as Downton Abbey, Mr. Selfridge, and Sherlock, has led to vast interest in the real-life stories and history of the icons of Great Britain. Each episode of this series visits a famous British building or institution to explore its past and present, meeting a wide range of experts and historians along the way.

Britain at the Bookies

September 2025 •English

Documentary examining the winners and losers in Britain's booming gambling revolution.

Secret Society

September 2025 •English

A politically charged mini-series researched and written by Duncan Campbell which saw dramatic Special Branch raids on BBC Scotland. An entire production office was loaded into transit vans and confiscated by the police. + One: 'The Secret Constitution' about secret Cabinet committees that amount to a secret decision making system at the highest levels of power in the United Kingdom. + Two: 'In Time of Crisis' about secret preparations for war that began in 1982 within every NATO country. This programme revealed what Britain would do. + Three: 'A Gap In Our Defences' about bungling defence manufacturers and incompetent military planners who have botched every new radar system that Britain has installed since World War II. + Four: 'We're All Data Now' about the Data Protection Act. + Five: 'Association of Chief Police Officers' and how Government policy and actions are determined in the fields of law and order. + Six: 'Communications' with particular reference to Zircon spy satellites ...

Elles

September 2025 •French

This documentary series hosted by Sarahmée follows daring, determined women’s collectives all over the world as they shake things up to carve out brighter futures.

The Great Smog: Winter of '52

September 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.

Clit revolution

September 2025 •French

Secret Britain

September 2025 •English

Exploring the hidden corners of the UK in search of the best the countryside has to offer.

Corleone: A History of la Cosa Nostra

September 2025 •French

How, from 1974 to 1993, Totò Riina (1930-2017), supreme boss of the Corleone family, ruled by blood and terror over the Sicilian Mafia. An implacable account, based on the testimony of his men and those who fought against them.

Hospital

September 2025 •English

The story of the NHS in unprecedented times.

A History of Britain

September 2025 •English

Stretching from the Stone Age to the year 2000, Simon Schama's Complete History of Britain does not pretend to be a definitive chronicle of the turbulent events which buffeted and shaped the British Isles. What Schama does do, however, is tell the story in vivid and gripping narrative terms, free of the fustiness of traditional academe, personalising key historical events by examining the major characters at the centre of them. Not all historians would approve of the history depicted here as shaped principally by the actions of great men and women rather than by more abstract developments, but Schama's way of telling it is a good deal more enthralling as a result. Schama successfully gives lie to the idea that the history of Britain has been moderate and temperate, passing down the generations as stately as a galleon, taking on board sensible ideas but steering clear of sillier, revolutionary ones. Nonsense. Schama retells British history the way it was--as bloody, convulsive, precarious, hot-blooded and several times within an inch of haring off onto an entirely different course. Schama seems almost to delight in the goriness of history. Themes returned to repeatedly include the wars between the Scots and the Irish and the Catholic/Protestant conflicts--only the Irish question remains unresolved by the new millennium. As Britain becomes a constitutional monarchy, Schama talks less of Kings and Queens but of poets and idea-makers like Orwell. Still, with his pungent, direct manner and against an evocative visual and aural backdrop, Schama makes history seem as though it happened yesterday, the bloodstains not yet dry.

Del Miño al Bidasoa

September 2025 •Spanish

Inside Windsor Castle

September 2025 •English

A look at life in Windsor Castle over the last 80 years, including the tragedies, triumphs, romances and scandals of the Royal Family.

Spain: The 20th Century in Color

September 2025 •Spanish

Through the birth of cinema and the first images recorded in Spain, this series takes viewers on a journey from the late 19th century to the 1970s across 6 hour-long episodes. An exclusive journey through Spain's history featuring stunning footage colorized for the first time and enhanced with realistic sound design to bring out their vividness and spectacular nature. A captivating yet educational series with lively and emotional narration that offers viewers a new way to experience the past.

A1: Britain's Longest Road

September 2025 •English

Following the men and women who work around the clock on Britain's longest and most iconic road, ensuring the traffic keeps moving and the public is kept safe.

Her Story: The Female Revolution

September 2025 •English

Draw for Change!

September 2025 •French

DRAW FOR CHANGE! is a 6 part documentary series about female cartoonists from all around the globe, challenging the red lines and the taboos of their society. Zooming in on their drawings, these cartoonists take us on a journey into their world in search of people who experience their drawings in reality.

Great British Garden Revival

September 2025 •English

Britain’s rich horticultural history is being lost. More and more front and back gardens are paved over - for development, for parking spaces, or because families don’t have the time or inclination to manage these spaces. The trend for easy-to-maintain lawns, patios and paving has also led to a decline in traditional gardens full of flowers, plants and trees to the extent that some of our most iconic flora and fauna have all but disappeared. Step forward the BBC’s most-loved gardening experts, who are determined to turn us back into a green-fingered nation once again.

Are Our Kids Tough Enough? Chinese School

September 2025 •English

In a unique experiment, five teachers from China take over the education of fifty teenagers in a Hampshire school to see whether the high-ranking Chinese education system can teach us a lesson.

Shop Well for Less

September 2025 •English

A mission to help families change the way they shop - without changing their lifestyle. A host of money-saving tips and tricks to put hard-earned cash back in people's pockets.