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.

Professor Brian Cox journeys across the vastness of time and space revealing epic moments of sheer drama that changed the universe forever.
The series begins this epic exploration of the cosmos with a hymn to the great luminous bodies that bring light and warmth to the universe: the stars. It is estimated that there are two hundred trillion stars in the universe, each playing their part in an epic story of creation- a great saga that stretches from the dawn of time, with the arrival of the first star, through diverse generations until the arrival of our own star, the sun, and a civilization that has grown up in its light.

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?

There is one miniature fierce queen, hardly bigger than a grain of rice. Enter the fascinating, and sometimes brutal world of honey ants, struggling not just for survival, but power - all in service of their fearless leader, the queen. Her story has it all-- ambition, murder, and a great army of female warriors on the rampage.

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.