For the past century, Russian history has also been the history of its security services. They were used by the Soviet state to crush dissent. Millions suffered at their hands. Mass executions, secret wars, spies capable of stealing the atomic bomb, poisoning scandals all add up to the most extraordinary and dangerous security network the world has ever known. But even today, the security network is arguably stronger than ever. This is the History of the KGB, told through its veterans and its victims.
Founded in 1917, Cheka was the predecessor organization of the KGB. Set up as a 'temporary' measure by Lenin, unknown number of Soviet citizens would die at the hands of the secret services as internal dissents in the 1920s. An inglorious chapter is the "Great Terror" phase, when millions of Soviet citizens were convicted and executed in mock trials under Stalin's rule in the 1930s. Outside the Soviet Union, during the WWII they were busy infiltrating German High Command, British Intelligence and America's Manhattan Project. The Cold War had begun in earnest.

In 1940, France has fallen and Hitler orders Operation Sealion, the invasion of Great Britain. But first the Luftwaffe must defeat the RAF for seaborne landings to succeed. In July 1940 an epic struggle in the skies above England begins. Only a brilliant defensive system and the bravery of young pilots stand in the Luftwaffe’s way. Wave after wave of German bombers are attacked by British planes. Featuring the last interview with the youngest Spitfire-pilot in the battle, Geoffrey Wellum.

This illuminating ten-part series tells the story of World War ll through the ten most pivotal turning points in the conflict. Gripping story-telling illustrated with exquisitely restored and colourised archived films and supported by a global cast of stellar historians bring this crucially important era in history to life.
In the first chapter, Britain and France declare war when Hitler invades Poland. In May 1940 the Germans attack Holland and Belgium as a decoy. As the Wehrmacht comes through the Ardennes and the Luftwaffe strikes in force, French leaders are caught like rabbits in headlights. The Germans are on a drug called Pervitin, which beats off fatigue, and reach the Atlantic coast. There is a danger that the Germans will encircle the Allies and cut them off from the sea. But Hitler issues his Halt Order and some 340,000 Allies are evacuated.

Will Smith confronts his fear of nature on powerful white-water rapids in Iceland. "Over five expeditions, I've followed explorers into situations that were straight-up scary. It was worth it to discover the Earth's wonders. But your boy was tripping more than once. Because when I see wilderness, you know, nothing but nature, I get nervous because I don't understand it."

Will Smith discovers hidden worlds of fast and slow in the Earth's oldest desert. Worlds where things go so fast or so slow we don't even know they're happening. This hidden world of speed is everywhere, even 80 feet underwater. Hundreds of tiny anemones, anchored to the rocks, but film them patiently, then speed it up, and this miniature world comes to life. A lizard's tongue is one of the fastest movements in the entire animal kingdom. An orca creates a shock wave by slapping her tail and that pulse can travel through the water at more than a thousand miles an hour. to stuns the herrings she hunts.

This completed featured documentary series reveals long-buried information discovered during the filmmakers' seven-year investigation of a series of unsolved crimes, and the man suspected of being at its center – Robert Durst, scion of New York’s billionaire Durst family – and was made with his full cooperation. 'The Jinx' expose police files, key witnesses, never-before-seen footage, private prison recordings, and thousands of pages of formerly hidden documents. Directed and produced by Andrew Jarecki and produced and shot by Marc Smerling.