To mark the 70th anniversary of D-Day, historian James Holland takes us through the depths of the operation, the brutal 77 day Battle for Normandy that came after the initial invasion. Holland challenges some of the myths that come to surround this vital campaign, arguing that we have become all too comfortable in our understanding of these events.As veterans gather to relive one of the turning
Stephen Fry loves Louisiana. Four months after the BP oil spill, dubbed the worst ecological disaster in the history of America, Fry returns to the Deep South together with zoologist Mark Carwardine, to see what the impact has been on the people, the vast wetlands and the species that live there. What they find both surprises and divides the travelling duo.
Stephanie Flanders, former BBC economics editor, has a very personal interest in the battle to beat polio. Her father, Michael Flanders, one half of the world-famous singing duo of the 50s and 60s, Flanders and Swann, was paralysed by the infection when he was 21. He used a wheelchair for the rest of his life, and died early at 53 through complications caused by the disease. Stephanie was just six
British policing is under pressure like never before as forces up and down the country try to cope with the biggest cuts to their budgets in modern times. South Yorkshire Police has more trouble than most. It is struggling to rebuild a reputation tainted by the tragedy of Hillsborough and some of the worst crime figures in Britain. It is also struggling to keep the peace in some of its most diffi
Explores how two teenagers, who were just weeks away from graduating, embarked on a killing spree of such shocking magnitude that it was to make the name of an American high school synonymous with tragedy.20th April 1999 began like any other day for the pupils of Columbine High School. However, it was to end as a day that would be tragically etched in American history after two of the school's s
The Great Famine was a period of mass starvation, disease and emigration in Ireland between 1845 and 1852. It is sometimes referred to, mostly outside Ireland, as the Irish Potato Famine because one-third of the population was then solely reliant on this cheap crop for a number of historical reasons. During the famine approximately 1 million people died and a million more emigrated from Ireland, c
The Green River Killer was one of the most prolific serial murderers America has ever known, who's 19 year reign of terror left the area surrounding Seattle littered with corpuses but who was the Green River Killer and was he born to kill? From a collection of interviews with law enforcement agents and direct family members of Gary Ridgway this film exposes the man behind the murder.
For the first time ever, John Gotti's children, Angel, Victoria and Peter, freely speak about what life was like knowing and living with their father, no question is off limits. Previously such insight was shrouded in complete secrecy but in the 48 hour special all is revealed.
See how a pride of South African lions hunt three distinct prey animals in the Singita Game Reserve. Observe the Pride's unique strategies as they pursue zebra, impala, and ultimately the tallest land animal, the giraffe. Outmanoeuvring the prey is no easy task; especially when each species is equipped with its own set of defensive adaptations. Even so, the lions must eat - and their hunting skill