Top Rated Documentary TV Series - Page 154

The Story of English

1986

The Story of English

1986
8.4
A history of the English language from its early beginnings to present day English in all its variations. In 9 episodes.
Jamie's School Dinners

2005

Jamie's School Dinners

2005
6.2
Jamie's School Dinners is a four-episode documentary series broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom from 23 February to 16 March 2005. The series was recorded between Spring to Winter 2004, in which it featured TV chef Jamie Oliver attempting to improve the quality and nutritional value of school dinners at a typical British school, Kidbrooke School in the Royal Borough of Greenwich — a goal which ultimately led to a broader campaign to improve school dinners throughout Britain.
Slavery and the Making of America

2005

Slavery and the Making of America

2005
7.7
The history of American slavery from its beginnings in the British colonies to its end in the Southern states and the years of post-Civil War Reconstruction. Looks at slavery as an integral part of a developing nation, challenging the long held notion that slavery was exclusively a Southern enterprise. Simultaneously focuses on the remarkable stories of individual slaves, offering new perspectives on the slave experience and testifying to the active role that Africans and African Americans took in surviving their bondage and shaping their own lives.
Découverte

1988

Découverte

1988
6.3
Charles Tisseyre explores the world of science and technology through real-world stories. Each episode features reports delving into technological breakthroughs and developments in scientific research, environmental issues, space exploration, as well as health and medicine.
Nerds 2.0.1: A Brief History of the Internet

1998

Nerds 2.0.1: A Brief History of the Internet

1998
6.8
Nerds 2.0.1: A Brief History of the Internet is a 1998 three hour American PBS documentary film that explores the development of the Arpanet, the Internet, and the World Wide Web in the United States from 1969 to 1998. It was created during the dot-com boom of the late 1990s. The documentary was written and hosted by Robert X. Cringely and is the sequel to the 1996 documentary, Triumph of the Nerds.
The Private Life of a Masterpiece

2001

The Private Life of a Masterpiece

2001
5.8
Private Life of a Masterpiece is a BBC arts documentary series that tells the stories behind great works of art reaching from the Renaissance to modern art. David by Michelangelo, The Scream by Edvard Munch, The Third of May 1808 by Francisco Goya, The Night Watch by Rembrandt van Rijn, Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Pablo Picasso, The Annunciation by Jan van Eyck, ... The Art of Painting by Johannes Vermeer. For behind the beautiful canvases and sculptures are tales of political revolution, wartime escapes, massive ego clashes, social scandal, financial wrangling and shocking violence. The series reveals the full and fascinating stories behind famous works of art, not just how they came to be created, but also how they influenced others and came to have a life of their own in the modern world.
Ancient Inventions

1998

Ancient Inventions

1998
8.4
Ancient Inventions was a BBC historical documentary series released in 1998. It was presented by ex-Monty Python member Terry Jones and looked at great inventions of the ancient world. The series is split into 3 episodes, namely City Life, Sex and Love, and War and Conflicts, all around 50 min long.
The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century

1996

The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century

1996
8.4
The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century is a 1996 documentary series that aired on PBS. It chronicles World War I over eight episodes. It was narrated by Dame Judi Dench in the UK and Salome Jens in the United States. The series won two Primetime Emmy Awards: one for Jeremy Irons for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance, the other for Outstanding Informational Series. In 1997, it was given a Peabody Award.
The Six Wives of Henry VIII

2001

The Six Wives of Henry VIII

2001
6
Through dramatic reconstructions and his own passionate narration, controversial Tudor historian Dr David Starkey profiles the six women who married Henry Vlll.
The Unexplained

1996

The Unexplained

1996
8.4
The Unexplained is an American paranormal television series that originally aired from January 2, 1996 to May 7, 2000 on A&E and is currently being broadcast on the Biography Channel. The program features various mysteries, paranormal, psychic phenomena, and other topics that are considered to be "unexplained." Earlier episodes of the series are narrated by Bill Kurtis
NOFX: Backstage Passport

2008

NOFX: Backstage Passport

2008
7.4
NOFX: Backstage Passport is a documentary series that was shown on the music network Fuse about NOFX's 2008 world tour. The show documents the stops on the tour and the band's reaction to various events. The creation of the show was noteworthy, due to the band's often noted disdain for the media including music television. NOFX: Backstage Passport was released on DVD on March 17, 2009. In August 2012 in an interview with El Hefe at SRH Festival, it was announced that there would be a season two of NOFX: Backstage Passport. Fat Mike had previously announced it via his Twitter account.
Fight Quest

2007

Fight Quest

2007
7
Fight Quest is a television show on the Discovery Channel that had a preview episode air on December 28, 2007 and began airing weekly on January 4, 2008. The show followed Jimmy Smith and Doug Anderson as they travel around the world learning different styles of martial arts, spending five days training with notable masters of the styles they are studying, before exhibiting what they have learned in a final demonstration and/or fight. According to quotes by the hosts, the show was cancelled after the first season. At the end of February an updated DVD box set was released that included the final three episodes not in the original release. The series was canceled at the beginning of the second season and only three episodes aired, the last one ended on October 3, 2008.
Gardeners' World

1968

Gardeners' World

1968
8.2
Gardeners' World is a long-running BBC Television programme about gardening, first broadcast in 1968 and still running as of 2013. Its first episode was presented by Ken Burras and came from Oxford Botanical Gardens. The magazine BBC Gardeners' World is a tie-in to the programme. Most of its episodes have been 30 minutes in length, although there are many specials that last longer. The 2008 and 2009 series used a 60-minute format.
Evolution

2001

Evolution

2001
8
Evolution is a 2001 documentary series by the American broadcaster Public Broadcasting Service and WGBH on evolutionary biology. The spokespeople for the series were Jane Goodall, Kenneth R. Miller and Stephen Jay Gould, Eugenie C. Scott, Arthur Peacocke and Arnold Thomas. The series was narrated by the Irish actor Liam Neeson. The series was accompanied by a book by the popular science writer Carl Zimmer Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea. An extensive website provides teaching resources for each episode's material, including "The Mating Game", further looks at Charles Darwin, and an interactive history of speciation in the invented "pollencreeper" birds.
72 Hours: True Crime

2003

72 Hours: True Crime

2003
6.6
72 Hours: True Crime focuses on crime, specifically on the first 72 hours after a crime is committed, a critical time period for solving it. Rather than focus on fictional crimes, as do Law & Order and other TV shows elsewhere, True Crime depicted actual crimes that occurred throughout Canada, using dramatic reenactments and documentary-style footage of crime scenes.
Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War (1980)

0000

Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War (1980)

0000
9.4
Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War, a 26-part Canadian television documentary on the Vietnam War, was produced in 1980 by Michael Maclear. The series aired in Canada on CBC Television, in the United States and in the United Kingdom on Channel 4. Maclear visited Vietnam during the production of the series and had access to film material there. He was the first Western journalist allowed to visit that area since the war. The documentary series was consolidated into 13 hour-long episodes for American television syndication. The series was released on videocassette format by Embassy and won a National Education Association award for best world documentary. Series writer Peter Arnett was an Associated Press reporter in Vietnam from 1962 to 1975. CBC aired only 18 of the episodes during the 1980-81 season because the series production was incomplete. The remaining episodes were broadcast during CBC's 1981-82 season.
Barbarians

2004

Barbarians

2004
6.2
Barbarians is a mini-series on The History Channel which tells the story of the most barbaric tribes of the early and late Middle Ages. Two series have currently been produced, each consisting of four episodes. This program tells about what the groups did, who they conquered, and how they fell. Clancy Brown narrated both seasons.
Royal Institution Christmas Lectures

1966

Royal Institution Christmas Lectures

1966
5.1
The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are a series of lectures on a single topic, which have been held at the Royal Institution in London each year since 1825. The lectures present scientific subjects to a general audience, including young people, in an informative and entertaining manner. Michael Faraday initiated the first Christmas Lecture series in 1825. This came at a time when organised education for young people was scarce. Faraday presented a total of nineteen series in all.
Taxicab Confessions

1995

Taxicab Confessions

1995
6.4
Taxicab Confessions is a television series of hidden camera documentaries that have aired on HBO since January 1995. In segments taped in New York City and Las Vegas, the taxi drivers are also producers who steer both the vehicle and the conversations with passengers. When passengers enter the cab, they are recorded with several small cameras hidden in the taxi. The producer prompts passengers into discussing their past and/or present circumstances. This has led some participants to reflect on their life, recalling extreme tragedies or triumphs. Much is verbally or visually graphic, including explicit sex talk and sex acts performed in the back seat. At the end of the taxi ride, passengers are asked to sign waivers allowing the hidden camera footage to be used on the program, and footage of this revelation is sometimes seen during the closing credits.
Build It Bigger

2006

Build It Bigger

2006
7.6
Architect Danny Forster takes you inside some of the most head-scratching builds in the world. Join Danny as he meets the men and women tackling the unique challenges of constructing the tallest buildings, the most effective military tanks, the largest luxury cruise ships, and the most extreme thrill rides. How do you build a 3,113-foot-long wooden roller coaster in winter temperatures of minus 40 degrees? Or get your workers safely to and from a worksite on a skyscraper that's 1,614 feet above street level? Or dig a water tunnel - along the San Adreas Fault and 1,000 feet below the earth's surface - without it collapsing on itself ... or flooding? Our intrepid host answers these puzzles and more. Don't miss the big stories behind these even bigger engineering marvels.