History

The last episode takes viewers on a journey through Arnold Schwarzenegger's later venture into politics as the Governor of California, highlighting the challenges he faced in his remarkable journey to the state's highest office. Once Governor, he grappled with complex issues, including a budget crisis and political opposition. The film provides an intimate look at the trials and tribulations Arnold confronted during his political tenure, highlighting his determination to overcome obstacles and make a lasting impact on the state. Moreover, the documentary underscores how Arnold utilized his platform to advocate for truth and unity, especially during critical moments in American history.
The film is a riveting look at the life of a living legend who continues to defy expectations and promote a message of unity, love, and perseverance, emphasizing the need to speak out against misinformation and extremism. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a legendary figure, demonstrates his powerful influence to inspire positive change in the world. This documentary serves as a moving testament to an extraordinary life worth exploring.

Hours before Mehmed II launches his final assault, an ominous sight shakes both sides. Rumors of a 40-ship fleet's imminent arrival have swirled for weeks, but it's exact whereabouts remained unknown. Ottoman cannons reduced the city walls to rubble, and Venetian reinforcements arrived too late. The conquest of Constantinople ushers in a new era for the Ottoman Empire, being a dominant force in world politics for 300 years. Mehmed II, in many senses, changed the nature of world history.

Athens, Alexandria, Tikal and Rome: these legendary cities are some of the world's most famous archaeological sites. And yet, they still have not revealed all their secrets. The ambition of this series is to resuscitate the first megalopolises of universal history.
In the first episode, the extraordinary city of Athens, the richest and most powerful in all of ancient Greece. The film leads us in the footprints of a nation of extraordinary builders, thinkers, and inventors of incredible machines.

The documentary is to tell the dramatic story of the greatest natural disaster to shake the ancient world, a disaster that triggered the downfall of a civilisation and spawned a legend. Around 1620 BC a gigantic volcano in the Aegean Sea stirred from its 19,000-year slumber. The eruption tore the island of Thera apart, producing massive tsunamis that flooded the nearby island of Crete, the centre of Europe's first great civilisation – the Minoans. This apocalyptic event, many experts now believe, provided the inspiration for the legend of Atlantis. Based on the work of leading scientists, archaeologists and historians, this drama immerses viewers in the exotic world of the Minoans.

This documentary attempts to make history by finding the lost city of Atlantis once and for all. Adventurer-geologist Dr. Martin Pepper sets out to prove his theory – that the true Atlantis existed on the Greek island of Santorini, and was destroyed in the biggest volcanic eruption in human history". In order to achieve his goal, Pepper will use new scientific evidence gathered using state-of-the-art sonar scans of the sea bed and microscopic analysis of the ancient landscape. One of the challenges he faces is that he must also match Santorini to a series of key clues embedded in the first ever description of Atlantis by the Greek philosopher Plato – from the lost city’s strange ring-shaped design, to the role Egyptian priests played in recording the legend in the first place. His journey will take him across the Mediterranean and out into the Atlantic Ocean. By the end of the program, he reveals the stunning findings which may pinpoint the city and show exactly what it looked like.

The Dutch Golden Age saw map-making reach a fever pitch of creative and commercial ambition. This was the era of the first ever Atlases - elaborate, lavish and beautiful. This was the great age of discovery and marked an unprecedented opportunity for mapmakers who sought to record and categorise the newly acquired knowledge of the world. Rising above the many mapmakers in this period was Gerard Mercator, inventor of the Mercator projection, who changed mapmaking forever when he published his collection of world maps in 1598 and coined the term 'Atlas'. The programme looks at some of the largest and most elaborate maps ever produced, from the vast maps on the floor of the Royal Palace in Amsterdam, to the 24 volume atlas covering just the Netherlands, to the largest Atlas in the world, The Klencke Atlas. It was made for Charles II to mark his restoration in 1660. But whilst being one of the British Libraries most important items, it is also one of its most fragile so hardly ever opened. This is a unique opportunity to see inside this enormous and lavish work, and see the world through the eyes of a King.