Documentary AreaSimply the best Documentaries

The story of America's most notorious gangster, Al Capone, starts on the streets of Brooklyn. In 1913, at the age of 14, Capone starts running errands for local gangsters - just one of many immigrants struggling to survive. One day, young Al Capone gets caught in a police raid. He quickly grabs what money he can, evades police, and runs to the headquarters of mob boss Johnny Torrio. Torrio rewards Capone for his quick-thinking. When Torrio recognizes Capone's intelligence and drive, he takes him under his wing.

Carlos Ghosn – the former CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, charged with financial crimes – stunned the world with his escape from Japan. Nick Green’s documentary sheds light on this multilayered story, drawing out a portrait of a fascinating character and explaining his escape to Lebanon without a passport and while he was still under house arrest.

For decades, HSBC, one of the world's largest banks, laundered hundreds of millions of dollars for Mexican drug cartels. Senator Elizabeth Warren, dogged journalists and prosecutors try to hold the bankers to account.

The series concludes by delving into the world of satirical maps. How did maps take on a new form, not as geographical tools, but as devices for humour, satire or storytelling? Graphic Artist Fred Rose perfectly captured the public mood in 1880 with his General Election maps featuring Gladstone and Disraeli, using the maps to comment upon crucial election issues still familiar to us today. Technology was on the satirist's side with the advent of high-speed printing allowing for larger runs at lower cost. In 1877, when Rose produced his 'Serio Comic Map of Europe at War', maps began to take on a new direction and form, reflecting a changing world. Rose's map exploited these possibilities to the full using a combination of creatures and human figures to represent each European nation. The personification of Russia as a grotesque-looking octopus, extending its tentacles around the surrounding nations, perfectly symbolised the threat the country posed to its neighbours.

This series is about an attention-seeking criminal who ticked off the wrong people. His gruesome videos on internet drive a group of amateur online sleuths to launch a risky manhunt using internet tools that are available to everyone. This root out brings them into a dark underworld.
In the first episode, a shocking online video of a man killing two kittens brings together a widespread internet group of animal lovers out for justice. Their target, meanwhile, has worse horrors planned.

After more than a century of civil war, Toyotomi Hideyoshi has united Japan. His rivals have either sworn their allegiance, or they have been destroyed. Despite this fledgling peace, Hideyoshi now dreams of a bold and outlandish plan to make himself the most powerful man in Asia. He plans to expand his reign to China. Logistical challenges and fierce operation in Korea prove to be costly.