episodes
- 1. Love Story A Second World War love affair between German housewife Lilly Wust and young Jewish lesbian Felice Schragenheim.
- 2. Before Columbus Christopher Columbus is popularly believed to have been, in 1492, the first European to discover America. However, some historians are convinced the New World was known before he set sail. Examines th...
- 3. Secret Memories A wireless operator who survived torture and a Nazi concentration camp, a 20-year-old sabotage expert, and an MI6 agent who filmed his own undercover operations are just three of the British secret ag...
- 4. The Boer War: The First Media War The Boer War of 1899-1902 saw correspondents and cameramen play a major part in war propaganda for the first time. Diaries, memoirs, photographs and films form part of an examination of the media's ro...
- 5. Birth Story For centuries babies were born at home, their mothers assisted through the birth by other women. But 50 years ago, childbirth was taken out of the home and into hospitals. The transition was made in t...
- 6. Forgotten Allies When war broke out in South East Asia in 1941, one hill tribe - the Christian, English-speaking Karen - distinguished itself in the fight against Japan. Karen helped halt the Japanese, taught British...
- 7. Back to the Iron Age Tonight's documentary reassesses a project from 1977 designed to find out more about prehistoric life. For over a year a group of young people lived and worked on a replica of an Iron Age farm, but in...
- 8. The True Story of the Bridge on the River Kwai Forty years ago a war movie created a legend. Timewatch now tells the story of Lieutenant Colonel Toosey, the British officer in Burma whose job it was to supply the Japanese with a workforce to build...
- 9. Lords of the Maya As Christianity became a dominant religious force in Europe, a religious movement was shaping the ancient Mayan civilisation of central America. It was based upon the arrival of a messianic "fire chil...
- 10. Alison: A Personal History In 1988 the third film about the inspirational life of Alison French, who has cerebral palsy, saw her get married to Mark John. Ten years and two children later, she talks candidly about her experienc...
- 11. The Gentlemen Spies The first secret documents released by MI5 to the Public Records Office cover its establishment by the mysterious Vernon Kell, code-named "K", in 1909, and the fight to counter the German spy threat d...
- 12. The African Trade Transatlantic slavery was responsible for the largest long-distance forced migration in history. Europeans did not venture into the interior of Africa until after abolition, so how did approximately 1...
- 13. Lenin's Secret Files Secret files documenting the life of Lenin were hidden away for decades by Soviet authorities in a labyrinth of vaults deep underground, behind blast-proof steel doors specially strengthened to withst...
- 14. Remember the Ugandan Asians Twenty-five years ago the Ugandan Asians arrived in Britain, having been expelled from their own country. Greeted warmly on their arrival, they also saw the harsh face of Britain, with the National Fr...
- 15. In Search of Cleopatra Explores the myths that still surround the legendary Egyptian queen, and attempts to unravel the truth behind a life - and death - that helped to shape the civilised world for the next 500 years.