Michael Portillo's 200 Years of the Railways

Abandoned Railways from Above

September 2025 •English

Docuseries exploring lost railway lines, each with their own unique history revealing the vibrant industries that were once dotted along their routes and the ingenious engineering involved

Elegance and Decadence: The Age of the Regency

September 2025 •English

Historian Lucy Worsley presents a series marking the 200th anniversary of one of the most explosive and creative decades in British history, the Regency.

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.

Illuminations: The Private Lives of Medieval Kings

September 2025 •English

Through this three part series Art Historian Dr Janina Ramirez tells the story of the Medieval monarchy as preserved through stunning illuminated manuscripts from the British Library's Royal Manuscripts collection.

Die gefährlichsten Bahnstrecken der Welt

September 2025 •German

How the Victorians Built Britain

September 2025 •English

This series travels the length and breadth of Britain to find out how the Victorians built Britain. It uncovers the incredible and surprising stories behind iconic landmarks; discovers the hidden heroes behind the epic constructions; and finds out how the incredible advances made by the Victorians forged the world we live in today.

Time Team

September 2025 •English

Time Team is a British television series which has been aired on British Channel 4 from 1994. Created by television producer Tim Taylor and presented by actor Tony Robinson, each episode featured a team of specialists carrying out an archaeological dig over a period of three days, with Robinson explaining the process in layman's terms. This team of specialists changed throughout the series' run, although has consistently included professional archaeologists such as Mick Aston, Carenza Lewis, Francis Pryor and Phil Harding. The sites excavated over the show's run have ranged in date from the Palaeolithic right through to the Second World War.

My Grandparents' War

September 2025 •English

In this four-part documentary series, leading Hollywood actors undertake a fascinating journey into their family's past by re-tracing the footsteps of their grandparents during World War Two. We follow the moving, personal stories of Helena Bonham Carter, Mark Rylance, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Carey Mulligan as they travel to historic locations, from the beaches of Dunkirk to prisoner of war camps in Asia, to learn about the war their grandparents experienced. All of the actors have unanswered questions about the scars war left on their grandparents, and in each episode one of the actors explore how six years changed the lives of their family and the world forever while learning about the life and death decisions that their grandparents faced.

Digging for Britain

September 2025 •English

Dr Alice Roberts follows a year of British archaeology, joining up the results of digs and investigations the length of the country.

Inside Hampton Court Palace

September 2025 •English

On the edge of London stands Hampton Court, one of Britain's biggest palaces and most popular tourist spots, attracting almost a million visitors every year. Spanning 750 acres of grounds, it boasts 1,300 rooms and 23 courtyards...along with a host of secrets and historic stories. This two-part special provides an exclusive and intimate look at life inside the court today for the people keeping Henry VIII's world alive in the modern age, and also explores what life was like in the palace where the private world of the Tudors began.

The Stuarts

September 2025 •English

Presented by Dr Clare Jackson of Cambridge University, this new three-part series argues that the Stuarts, more than any other, were Britain's defining royal family.

The Stuarts in Exile

September 2025 •English

Dr Clare Jackson tells the story of The Stuarts in Exile and sheds new light on the political, military and cultural threat the Jacobite's posed to the embryonic British state. Although the '15' ultimately failed, it crystallised the stark choice facing those living in early 18th-century Britain. Are you for the Stuarts or are you for Hanoverian's?

Seven Ages of Britain

September 2025 •English

Seven Ages of Britain is a BBC television documentary series which is written and presented by David Dimbleby. The seven part series was first aired on Sunday nights at 9:00pm on BBC One starting on 31 January 2010. The series covers the history of Britain's greatest art and artefacts over the past 2000 years. Each episode covers a different period in British history. In Australia, all seven episodes aired on ABC1 each Tuesday at 8:30pm from 7 September 2010.

Prejudice and Pride: The People's History of LGBTQ Britain

September 2025 •English

Stephen K. Amos and Susan Calman present a unique series in which LGBTQ people from across the UK talk about the objects that helped to define their lives over the past 50 years.

King Alfred and the Anglo Saxons

September 2025 •English

Michael Wood argues that the most important and influential British kings were a father, son and grandson who lived over a thousand years ago during the age of the Vikings.

Abroad Again in Britain

September 2025 •English

Jonathan Meades gives a personal perspective of British history.

Spying on the Royals

September 2025 •English

This 2-part documentary series reveals the truth about King Edward VIII's affair with American divorcée Wallis Simpson, and the espionage operation that accompanied the investigation.

Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain

September 2025 •English

Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain is a 2009 BBC documentary television series presented by Andrew Marr that covers the period of British history from the death of Queen Victoria to the end of the Second World War. It was a follow-up to his 2007 series Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain.

Chivalry and Betrayal: The Hundred Years War

September 2025 •English

The Hundred Years’ war between England and France gave us the victories of Crecy and Agincourt, and made the reputations of Edward III and Henry V. It gave France a national heroine in Joan of Arc. But, even now, the jury is out as to its causes and outcome. Was it the final swansong of a redundant knightly class whose only reason for being was to fight? Was it a battle over ever more important territory to the emerging economies of England and France? Or was it the painful birth of two distinct national identities, forged through their long and violent divorce? Dr Janina Ramirez guides us through the stories of kings, great knights, bloody battles and cultural triumphs of this momentous conflict.

InterCity 125: The Train That Saved Britain's Railways

September 2025 •English

Intercity 125 – Britain's own original high-speed train – rules the rails today, but this national icon is set to give way to hi-tech imports. It's time to celebrate the heroic story of a design classic that saved Britain's railways from terminal decline.