Lifting the lid: The history of the toilet

An invention many rely on, but prefer not to discuss

• 40 mins

Coal: a Burning Legacy

How coal created empires and wealth but also caused misery and unprecedented pollution

• 40 mins

Charlie Chaplin

The life and work of early Hollywood's most successful comedian

• 40 mins

Diaghilev and the ballet revolution

The Russian impresario whose Ballet Russes company transformed 20th century dance

• 40 mins

The Iranian Coup of 1953: Overthrow of a Prime Minister

How British and US intelligence agencies helped oust Iran’s leader Mohammad Mossadeq

• 40 mins

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: Revealing the Gulag

The Russian writer who exposed the grim, nightmarish world of Soviet forced labour camps

• 40 mins

The Emergence of Modern Turkey

The birth of the secular republic of Turkey from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire

• 40 mins

Fermentation: Ancient Food Alchemy

What's your brew? Friendly microbes making our fare tastier

• 40 mins

The Master and Margarita: Devilish satire

One of Russia’s favourite novels that combines magical fantasy with dark political satire

• 40 mins

Antigone: A drama of defiance

The classic play from Ancient Greece about civil disobedience

• 40 mins

Goya: Seeking truth through art

The Spanish artist Francisco Goya, whose work explored the darker side of human nature

• 40 mins

The Heel and the Sneaker

A history of footwear

• 40 mins

The Top of the World

The history of the North Pole as both a place on the map and in our imaginations.

• 40 mins

The talking drums of West Africa

A source of music, spiritual power and oral literature

• 40 mins

Lu Xun: Writing the story of New China

Life and works of the man who transformed Chinese literature.

• 40 mins

Robinson Crusoe: The man and his island

Daniel Defoe’s classic adventure story

• 40 mins

Calouste Gulbenkian: The architect of Middle East oil

The secretive Armenian financier who shaped petroleum production for decades

• 40 mins

Anaesthesia: Unwrapping oblivion

Getting under the skin of the discovery which made pain-free operations possible

• 40 mins

Moomin Creator Tove Jansson

Tove Jansson was the Finnish-Swedish author and illustrator best known for the Moomins.

• 40 mins

The spice trade: Selling the scents of luxury

The unique allure of spices that preyed on emotion and taste, and powered whole Empires

• 40 mins

Napoleon: From empire to exile

Exploring the life and legacy of France’s revolutionary emperor

• 40 mins

Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas

Jules Verne's classic adventure novel

• 40 mins

Chess: a chequered history

A war on the board - one of the oldest strategy games in the world

• 40 mins

Inside the mind of Leonardo da Vinci

The Italian artist’s unique understanding of science and the natural world

• 40 mins

Queen Njinga of Angola: Fearless fighter

The remarkable 17th Century leader who defied European oppression

• 39 mins

Fado: Portuguese soul music

Nostalgic song from Portugal, a small country with a big heart

• 40 mins

Thoreau: the writer who went to the woods

The author of the American classic ‘Walden’

• 40 mins

Pearls: Treasures of the sea

The social history of pearls as a fashion and status symbol over the centuries

• 44 mins

The Moon from Earth

The science, culture and mythology of the Moon

• 44 mins

Rasputin: The Siberian mystic who charmed the Tsar

Untangling the web of contradictions of the spiritual guide to the Romanov dynasty

• 44 mins