Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastian Elcano set sail to gain control of the global spice trade, but end up becoming the first expedition to circumnavigate the earth. The yearslong voyage—along with the suffering, the violence and the loss of life and property—were all in pursuit of a shorter route to the so-called Spice Islands (now the Maluku Islands) and their much-coveted aromatics.
The film puts in perspective the 16th century—the Age of Exploration, the Age of Discovery and the Age, problematically, of Colonialism. It also was an age of heroes. As the documentary insists, the journeys undertaken by the men whose names we learned in grade school and whose exploits straddled the 1400s and 1500s—including Ponce de Leon, Vasco da Gama, Lope de Aguirre and even Columbus—were about money, sometimes trade, sometimes plunder. But just as advances in medicine have often been propelled by war, knowledge about the world has been a byproduct of profit-seeking. Likewise, heroism.

This immersive series follows the world's most magnificent creatures, capturing never before seen moments from the heartwarming to the outrageous.
In the first episode, majestic, powerful and deadly, big cats were once thought to be solitary creatures. But we're now realizing just how collaborative they can be.

The Beatles continue recording as the deadline for completing the project, caused by Ringo Starr's filming schedule for The Magic Christian, approaches. McCartney continues to hope that the band will perform live for an audience and Lennon meets American businessman Allen Klein for the first time. On the penultimate day, the Beatles perform an unannounced concert on the roof of the Apple Corps building, attracting crowds of passers-by as well as the attention of the Metropolitan Police.

Professor Brian Cox continues his epic exploration of the cosmos by looking at the faint band of light that sweeps across the night sky - our own galaxy, the Milky Way. The Sun is just one of almost 400 billion stars that form this vast, majestic disk of light, our own home in the universe. Thanks to a cutting-edge space we’re finally able to reveal the Milky Way’s dramatic history and predict its cataclysmic future.
Our galaxy started out a fraction of the size it is today, and Gaia telescope has revealed how it grew over the eons. Beautifully rendered VFX based on the very latest Gaia data has uncovered the remarkable story of our galaxy’s evolution. As our young galaxy encountered rival galaxies, it experienced a series of violent growth spurts and intense periods of cataclysmic change while battling to survive. Each time our galaxy feeds, a new era of star formation begins, fuelled by incoming torrents of fresh gas and energy. And there is another collision to come. Another, larger galaxy is coming our way. Andromeda is heading straight for us at a quarter of a million miles per hour. The Milky Way’s long-term fate is in the balance.

From crunchy crickets to nutty fly grubs, the film takes a tasty look at insect foods and how they could benefit our health and our warming planet. From Thailand to Texas, insect farmers are showing how the tiny critters stack up as an environmentally friendly alternative to beef protein and can, pound for pound, deliver better nutritional value than the finest steak. But will western people overcome the 'ick' factor and share the appetite of many cultures around the world for insect feasts?

The climate is changing faster than ever, which is why 'fix our climate' is one of the five goals of the Earthshot Prize. Prince William, Sir David Attenborough and Christiana Figueres highlight inspiring and often unexpected solutions to the challenge. In this film, we'll explain the scale of the problem posed by climate change and will introduce you to some amazing people already working on climate crisis. One of these three finalists will win the Earthshot Prize and get the platform and resources they need to scale their ground-breaking work. Nine more solutions for fixing our climate will receive the same support over the course of this decade.