Ida Pfeiffer: 19th Century globetrotter

The eccentric traveller and collector who circumnavigated the globe twice

• 39 mins

The Panama Canal: The real story behind the engineering triumph

The Canal that joined up the Atlantic and Pacific oceans but how did it impact Panama?

• 39 mins

Ibn Sina: The Persian polymath

Best known for his Canon of Medicine, Avicenna helped shape modern science

• 26 mins

Inside the mind of crime writer Patricia Highsmith

A 20th century master of the psychological thriller

• 42 mins

Sailing by the stars: The pioneering voyages of David Lewis

One man's intrepid quest to revive ancient navigation

• 39 mins

A radiant light: The Indonesian poet Amir Hamzah

The romantic works and tragic life of a noble writer from Sumatra

• 39 mins

Mars: A history of the Red Planet

When might we send humans to one of our closest neighbours in our solar system?

• 39 mins

Luigi Pirandello: Italian dramatist who brought chaos to the stage

The radical, convention-breaking plays of an architect of modern 20th century theatre

• 39 mins

Louder! How the electric guitar conquered popular music

The origins and early years of making the guitar electric

• 39 mins

Algorithms: From the ancients to the internet

The 4,000-year history of the mathematical operations that now govern our daily lives.

• 39 mins

Toni Morrison: The legacy of a literary legend

How her influence as a writer extends across the globe

• 39 mins

Sushi: The Japanese dish with an ancient tradition

Sushi originally started in East Asia as a means of preserving fish

• 39 mins

The story of Evita

The life, work and remarkable afterlife of Eva Peron

• 39 mins

A dirty history of diamonds

The complex and sometimes shocking story of the diamond industry throughout history

• 39 mins

Sarah Bernhardt: Queen of stage and screen

The 19th Century French actress who defined modern celebrity

• 39 mins

A focus on spectacles

Looking at the history of an invention many of us take for granted

• 39 mins

The Devils: Dostoevsky’s novel of political evil

Dostoevsky’s study of terrorism and poisoned ideals in pre-revolutionary Russia

• 40 mins

The Malayan Emergency

One of the earliest Cold War conflicts in Asia

• 39 mins

Mary Somerville: The queen of 19th-Century science

The 19th-Century polymath who popularised science for generations of readers

• 39 mins

Laskarina Bouboulina, the mother of modern Greece

An intrepid sea captain who commanded daring naval attacks with her own fleet of ships

• 39 mins

The original Goths

How did a Germanic tribe come to inspire an architectural style and a global subculture?

• 39 mins

Algae: Slime life

The evolution of life’s original alchemists

• 39 mins

Don Quixote: Spanish masterpiece

The multi-layered masterpiece by Miguel de Cervantes

• 39 mins

Antarctic Treaty: Protecting the icy continent

Safeguarding peace and wilderness with the Antarctic Treaty

• 38 mins

Harry Houdini: Escape artist and showman

Pulling back the curtain on the master of illusion

• 39 mins

Boudica, warrior queen

The Iron Age English warrior queen who led a rebellion against the Romans

• 39 mins

Writer Agatha Christie: Murder and mystery

How the queen of crime achieved her extraordinary success

• 39 mins

Copper: From mining to microprocessors

The shiny red metal our lives depend on that has powered human development

• 39 mins

Pleasure and pain: The philosophy of Jeremy Bentham

The radical ideas of the 18th-century legal reformer Jeremy Bentham

• 39 mins

Machu Picchu: Secrets of a forgotten city

The enigma of the Inca mountain retreat

• 39 mins