History of Aviation

AFP: American Fighter Pilot

December 2025 •English

AFP: American Fighter Pilot is a reality series broadcast briefly on CBS in 2002. It followed three Air Force officers as they trained to become pilots of F-15 fighter jets at Tyndall Air Force Base outside of Panama City, Florida. The series included footage of their experiences in the air, as well as interactions with their families and instructors. Directors Tony Scott and Ridley Scott were co-executive producers. Unsuccessful in the ratings, the series was cancelled after two episodes.

21st Century Jet: The Building of the 777

December 2025 •English

The Boeing Company develops their most technically advanced aircraft: the 777. From corporate conference rooms to factory floors, its extensive testing and first commercial flight, more than 10,000 people were involved in the creation of the new plane, assembled with parts from all over the world.

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.

First Flights with Neil Armstrong

December 2025 •English

NASA Apollo astronaut Neil Armstrong adds to his long list of space flight & aviation accomplishments as he takes the controls of a variety of flying machines. Each episode blends historic footage, interviews, and flying. Armstrong takes you on an exhilarating adventure through time.

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.

Mankind: The Story of All of Us

December 2025 •English

Mankind The Story of All of Us is an epic 12-hour television event about the greatest adventure of all time—the history of the human race. It takes 10 billion years for the ideal planet to form and 3 billion more for the right conditions to emerge before it finally happens: mankind begins. From there unfolds a fast-paced story told here through key turning points—stepping stones in our journey from hunter-gatherer to global citizen. It’s a tale of connections—why some ideas take hold and spread around the globe, and how the lives of people in one part of the world are shaped by events in another.

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.

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.

Skies Above Britain

December 2025 •English

A look at the unseen side of aviation. With unprecedented access to the world of air traffic control, the series puts the spotlight on the hidden army of controllers whose job it is to keep our skies safe.

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.

Great Planes

December 2025 •English

The Arrow

December 2025 •English

The story of the people building the AVRO Arrow, an advanced jet fighter-interceptor designed to defend Canada's vast territory during the Cold War. Though the jet was an engineering marvel, cost over-runs, U.S. government pressure from the military industrial complex, and the election of the Progressive Conservative Diefenbaker government, stopped the jet just as it was getting off the ground.

City in the Sky

December 2025 •English

Dallas Campbell and Dr Hannah Fry investigate what it takes to get a million people and their luggage off the ground and up in the air. From building the world's biggest passenger plane to navigating through the busiest airport on the planet, to the perils of getting airborne in the coldest city on earth - Dallas and Hannah go to extremes to get under the skin of the remarkable story of departure. You will never look at flying in the same way again.

Jesus and Islam

December 2025 •French

Jesus of Nazareth, the founding figure of Christianity, is also an exceptional character in the Koran. Why? In what way? A deep investigation around the world exploring the rise of Islam during the time of prophet Muhammad.

Planes That Changed the World

December 2025 •English

This new series features the fascinating stories of three of the most important commercial aircraft ever to take to the skies.

The Secrets To Civilization

December 2025 •English

Secrets to Civilisation is a groundbreaking History series which explores the recent explosion in data about our planet's past, offering a completely fresh perspective on the ancient world from the Bronze Age to the fall of Rome.

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.

Hitler: The Lost Tapes of the Third Reich

December 2025 •English

Examining the life and times of Adolf Hitler and following the full arc of his ascent, tyrannical reign, criminality and undoing.

Battle of Britain

December 2025 •English

As 40 Spitfires and Hurricanes assemble for a unique flypast marking the 75th anniversary of Battle of Britain Day, two special programmes commemorate the heroes Churchill famously called 'The Few'.