Real History

Between 1968 and 1972, NASA successfully sent 24 men where no human beings had been before or since. The final mission, Apollo 17, flew in December 1972 and closed the final chapter in NASA's triumphant Apollo Program. Using spectacular NASA high-definition archive footage, mission audio, and rare astronaut interviews, this is a unique documentary film that comprehensively chronicles one of the greatest moments in mankind's history. Uninterrupted by narration or expert interviews, this documentary immerses the audience inside the action as it happened on the day, over 40 years ago. Journey with astronauts Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt, and Ronald Evans through their extensive training and across their 14-day mission to the Moon and back, and share the discoveries with Cernan and Schmitt as they explore the lunar surface for 3 days, while Evans performs experiments and reconnaissance in lunar orbit. The Apollo 17 Experience is an emotive, informative and inspirational tribute to the spirit of human exploration and mankind's final steps on the Moon.

By using the latest evidence from volcanology, this documentary attempts to reconstruct the 24 August 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius hour by hour.

In 1961 when President Kennedy pledged to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, no rocket existed with the power or capability to rise to the challenge. In order to win the race to space, the United States would need to establish a multi-billion dollar space program. One man, Werner Von Braun believed he had the knowledge and vision to make Kennedy's dream a reality. With the American public galvanised and the expertise of over 200,000 scientists and engineers, Von Braun masterminded the development of the Saturn V; the rocket that flew 24 men to the moon and launched the greatest adventure in the history of exploration. This is the story of the most powerful machine ever built, and the men and women who believed it could fly. Using visual effects, stunning NASA footage and expert interviews with Apollo Space Scientists, this inspirational film tells the story of the colossal challenges NASA faced to fulfill Kennedy's pledge.

Afghanistan is not so much a country as a series of shifting borders. This is the most militant Islamic state on Earth, but it was once peace loving and Buddhist. In the Bamiyan Valley north of Kabul the two largest statues of Buddha on the planet were carved in the third century. David Adams was the last Westerner to exhaustively film the Buddhas of Bamiyan before they were blown up in 2001.

Tony Robinson unearths new evidence that strongly suggests that the 15th century English King, Edward IV, was illegitimate. If that is the case, the entire royal bloodline that traces its lineage to Edward has no legal right to the throne. Edward fought hard to protect the British monarchy, even through the famed War of Roses, but he left a clouded legacy. So, who now has the right to the throne?

Michael Wittmann, the most decorated tank ace in history, fought at Kursk and in Normandy and in many of the greatest tank battles of all time. An officer in the notorious Waffen SS, hailed as a hero by the Nazis, Wittmann remains a focus of cult and controversy.

This touching programme covers the early years of Elizabeth's life, from colonies to independence and the emergence of a multi-cultured British society. The Queen's stability and continuity has allowed Britain to shed an empire and create a new and prosperous identity quite against all the odds and expectations of most leading commentators. This is the story of a remarkable life of a remarkable woman.

May 1944: Canadian tanks begin their final push to drive the Germans from Italy. At each step, over rugged mountains and through steep valleys, the Canadians confront Hitler's elite Panzers - at the Melfa river, on the Trasimene Line, in the formidable Gothic Line, finally battering their way into the Po Valley.

When Rome was still in its infancy, Carthage was the dominant power of the Mediterranean. As Rome grew, Carthage remained its only great rival. It was that rivalry that drove Rome to utterly destroy Carthage, and massacre its people.

By late 1942, the German offensive on the Eastern Front begins to stall and the Soviets make their stand in the city of Stalingrad. This is the story of the most infamous battle in history, as an entire German army is lost and the course of the war forever changed.

When Rome was still in its infancy, Carthage was the dominant power of the Mediterranean. As Rome grew, Carthage remained its only great rival. It was that rivalry that drove Rome to utterly destroy Carthage, and massacre its people.

The Rouen Museum has just returned a severed Maori head, which has been in its collections for 150 years, to New Zealand's Te Papa Institute. This film reveals the story of how such heads ended up in European museums, and the Maori people's efforts to have the head returned. The story has its origins in the worst periods of colonial conquest, and perfectly illustrates the philosophy of relationships between the West and indigenous peoples in the 19th century.

By 1944, the Soviets have turned the tide of war in the East and are pursuing the Nazi army back through the Baltic States. This is the story of the German tankers who continue to fight and win the battles even though they cannot win the war.

We explore the highs and lows of Her Majesty's reign as head of the British monarchy - from her youth to the 21st century.

In 1958, an Italian archaeologist discovered the mummified remains of a two-and-a-half-year-old boy in a cave in southwestern Libya. But this was a mummy with a difference: it was far older than any comparable examples found in Egypt. The culture that produced the mummy were cattle herders, and occupied much of North Africa, at a time when the Sahara was a savannah. Possible links with later Egyptian culture have also been found, including the representation in rock art of dog-headed human figures (resembling Anubis), and a type of pottery decoration later found in the southern Nile valley. The mummy was destined for controversy. He was older than any comparable Egyptian mummy and his mere existence challenged the very idea that Egyptians were the first in the region to mummify their dead. Uan Muhuggiag was no one off. The sophistication of his mummification suggested he was the result of a long tradition of mummification. The discovery raised some profound questions. Who were the ancient inhabitants of the Sahara Desert who put the mummy there? And what influence might those people have

The dawn of the 20th century and the reign of a new king ushered in an era of fresh inventions and innovations that transformed the way we lived. Electricity, refrigeration and a whole host of different materials promised to make life at home brighter, easier and more convenient. But a lack of understanding of the potential hazards meant that they frequently led to terrible accidents, horrendous injuries and even death. Dr Suzannah Lipscomb takes us back to an age when asbestos socks and radioactive toothpaste were welcomed into British homes. She reveals how their lethal qualities were discovered and why some of us are still living with the consequences of our Edwardian forebears' enthusiasm for untried and untested products.

Scientists perform an autopsy on the best preserved mummy ever discovered: that of a Han aristocrat named Lady Dai (Xin Zhui). More than 2,000 years after her death her skin is still resilient and her veins are still red. What can her remains tell us about life in ancient China?

While the Victorians confronted the challenges of ruling an empire, perhaps the most dangerous environment they faced was in their own homes. Householders lapped up the latest products, gadgets and conveniences, but in an era with no health and safety standards they were unwittingly turning their homes into hazardous death traps. In a genuine horror story, Dr Suzannah Lipscomb reveals the killers that lurked in every room of the Victorian home and shows how they were unmasked. What new innovation killed thousands of babies? And what turned the domestic haven into a ticking time bomb?

After the success of the Blitzkrieg, men across Germany flocked to the armoured corps in search of glory. This is the story of one German tanker as he comes face to face with the harsh realities of armoured warfare. Highly decorated Ludwig Bauer fought in several of WWII's greatest tank battles.

Dr Suzannah Lipscomb takes us back to Tudor times in search of the household killers of the era. It was a great age of exploration and science where adventurers returned from the New World with exotic goods previously unknown in Europe. An era in which the newly emergent middle classes had, for the first time, money for luxuries and early consumer goods, many of which contained hidden dangers. Suzannah discovers that in Tudor houses the threat of a grisly, unpleasant death was never far away in a world (and a home) still mired in the grime and filth of the medieval period - and she shows how we still live with the legacy of some of these killers today.

By 1942, Rommel's Afrika Corps has been pushed back to Tunisia and the brash new US tank force lands in North Africa. This is the story of the final North African battles as two of history's most famed tank commanders - Patton and Rommel - go head to head.

Two thousand years ago, temple guards and soldiers arrested Jesus, setting in motion the most infamous trial of all time. Host Arne Kislenko moves through modern Jerusalem to pick up clues about what law and order looked like in the first century.

Since her death 1,300 years ago, Wu Zetian has been remembered as a callous tyrant, who brought calamity to China. But now, extraordinary new discoveries are revealing a very different picture of her reign. As archaeologists investigate hidden tombs, spectacular pagodas, gigantic palaces and priceless treasures from her time, they are uncovering a very different story of China's female Emperor, her skills and her empire. Wu Zetian's China was a military, economic and cultural superpower, whose influence stretched from the edge of the Mediterranean to Japan and India. Recent discoveries reveal the wealth and stability of her reign, and point to her skills as a politician and a leader. But they also provide tantalising new evidence of the cruelty and violence at the heart of her regime.

In 1943, tanks of the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps make their combat debut on the European mainland. This is the story of the Canadian tankers who fight their way up the Italian peninsula in the push to liberate Rome from Nazi occupation.

When you got sick in the first century, what did you do about it? Host Arne Kislenko investigates the many sides of ancient health care to discover what people in Jesus' time knew-and didn't know-about medicine.

Vespasian, one of the Roman Empire's finest emperors remains largely unknown, yet his reign in 1st century AD transitioned a weakening Empire into a period of stability and growth that was the legacy of the other great emperors Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius and Septimius Severus. Vespasian ultimately saved Rome from disaster and made possible the Golden Age of the 2nd century AD.

At the outset of World War II, the Germans pioneer a new form of mobile armoured warfare. This is the story of the famed Nazi Blitzkrieg, as thousands of panzers burst through terrain thought impassable to conquer Western Europe in a matter of weeks.

Jesus is said to have overturned the tables of money changers in the Temple. But who were these people, and whose money were they changing? Host Arne Kislenko opens a window into how people made ends meet 2,000 years ago.

In 1916 the British debuted a new mobile weapon, hoping to break the long bloody stalemate on the Western Front. This is the story of the first tanks and how they changed the face of the modern battlefield forever.

The Exodus. The very word invokes an epic tale of Pharaohs and Israelites, plagues and miracles, the splitting of the sea, the drowning of an army, Moses and revelation. The story is at the very heart of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. After six years of research, working with archeologists, Egyptologists, geologists and theologians, Simcha Jacobovici came to the groundbreaking conclusion that the Exodus took place hundreds of years earlier than previously thought. With this new timetable in hand, Jacobovici and his colleagues re-examined long ignored archeological artifacts and uncovered the truth about the Exodus and the Egyptian dynasty that ruled at the time.

Professor Mary Beard embarks on an investigative journey to explore the life and times of Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus - better known as Caligula. He has become known as Rome's most capricious tyrant, and the stories told about him are some of the most extraordinary told about any Roman emperor.

In 1950 the world is caught off guard as North Korea launches a massive armoured assault into South Korea. This is the story of the American tankers who rush to the aid of the South and the bloody battles they fight up and down the Korean Peninsula.

In 1980, a bulldozer accidentally uncovered a first-century tomb in Jerusalem. Of the ten ossuaries found inside, six bore inscriptions: Jesus son of Joseph, Maria, Mariamene (the name by which Mary Magdalene was known), Joseph, Matthew, and Judah son of Jesus. Dismissed by archaeologists as coincidence, the ossuaries were warehoused and forgotten.

In 1965 American ground forces and Marine Corps tanks land in South Vietnam, confident that they will defeat the Communist insurgency, until they encounter the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army.

Pompeii has been frozen in time since the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. But now, more secrets behind the ancient Roman city are being revealed with the help of new technologies. Pompeii is a delicately conserved attraction that is under constant threat from the wears and tear of extensive tourism, the specter of landslides and the possibility of another devastating eruption from Mount Vesuvius.