Goethe: The story of colour

How colour affects our mood and thoughts

• 40 mins

Seven Samurai: A Japanese masterpiece

The global impact of Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 groundbreaking action film

• 40 mins

The birth of hip hop

The early years of rap and breakdancing in New York

• 40 mins

The real story of Frankenstein

The origins, themes and continuing legacy of Mary Shelley’s gothic tale Frankenstein

• 40 mins

Yellow fever: Man against mosquito

How we tamed one of the world's deadliest diseases, and why it's coming back

• 40 mins

Beethoven: The genius rule breaker

Why Beethoven is so universally popular

• 40 mins

Marie Curie: A pioneering life

The extraordinary life of the Polish scientist who changed the course of physics

• 39 mins

The Magic of Bronze

Discover the amazing stories behind some of the world's greatest masterpieces in bronze

• 44 mins

The KGB: Secrets and Spies

The story of the KGB

• 40 mins

Haile Selassie: The last Emperor of Ethiopia

The life and legacy of the man who became ‘the Father of Africa’

• 40 mins

Machiavelli - Master of Power

The life and reputation of Niccolò Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’

• 40 mins

The Belle Epoque: A Golden Age?

Paris in the 19th Century when permissiveness mixed with political and creative optimism

• 40 mins

Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland

The story behind this weird and wonderful literary classic

• 40 mins

How the metre changed the world

The universal unit of length that joined up the globe

• 39 mins

Amelia Earhart: Trailblazer in the skies

The inspirational life of the celebrated American aviator

• 39 mins

Taiwan: An Island History

An exploration of the island of Taiwan

• 40 mins

The bittersweet tale of cocoa

The history of cacao in the Americas, from the Maya to the Aztecs

• 39 mins

Telling the time: From sundials to satnav

A brief history of how we tell the time

• 40 mins

Arthur Conan Doyle: The man behind Sherlock Holmes

The life of doctor and literary star Arthur Conan Doyle.

• 40 mins

Childhood: From Toddlers to Teenagers

Through the ages and across the world, how have our ideas about childhood changed?

• 40 mins

The Creation of Modern Canada

Exploring the Confederation of Canada in 1867

• 40 mins

Indian Princely States

The lives of the Princes of India, their relationship with the British and legacy today

• 40 mins

Silk Routes: Two Thousand Years of Trading

Luxuries and everyday goods that travelled East and West

• 40 mins

Carl Linnaeus: Naming nature

The botanist who created a classification system to understand the natural world

• 40 mins

Up close with tango

The dance that seduced the world

• 40 mins

Joan of Arc: Making a martyr

How a teenager fought to save France

• 38 mins

The One Thousand and One Nights

The power of storytelling

• 40 mins

Total eclipse of the Sun

A plunge into darkness

• 40 mins

Making Scents: The story of perfume

How fine fragrance became liquid luxury in a bottle

• 40 mins

Picasso: Artist of reinvention

How Pablo Picasso changed our way of seeing

• 40 mins