The Lively Arts

Biography is a documentary television series. It was originally a half-hour filmed series produced for CBS by David Wolper from 1961 to 1964 and hosted by Mike Wallace. The A&E Network later re-ran it and has produced new episodes since 1987. The older version featured historical figures such as Helen Keller and Mark Twain, or long-dead entertainment figures such as Will Rogers or John Barrymore. The A&E series has placed the emphasis on such people as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Plácido Domingo, Freddie Mercury, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Eric Clapton, Pope John Paul II, Gene Tierney, Selena, Diego Rivera, Mao Zedong and Queen Elizabeth II, and fictional characters like The Phantom, Superman, Hamlet, Betty Boop, and Santa Claus. The program ended up profiling enough figures that in 1999, A&E spun it off into an entire network, The Biography Channel.

Open details →

Explores WWII from Germany's invasion of Poland through the atomic age, examining pivotal battles, wartime leaders like Churchill and Roosevelt, and the human cost of total war.

Open details →

Infographics and archival footage deliver bite-size history lessons on scientific breakthroughs, social movements and world-changing discoveries.

Open details →

The documentary takes viewers through Janet Jackson's life and career, contain never-before-seen footage, and feature home videos from the legendary artist. Jackson discusses her controversial 2004 Super Bowl halftime show performance with Justin Timberlake, her father Joe Jackson, the death of her brother Michael Jackson, and more.

Open details →

Motoring programme featuring reviews of and reports about cars of all types.

Open details →

MegaStructures is a documentary television series appearing on the National Geographic Channel in the United States and the United Kingdom, Channel 5 in the United Kingdom, France 5 in France, and 7mate in Australia. Each episode is an educational look of varying depth into the construction, operation, and staffing of various structures or construction projects, but not ordinary construction products. Generally containing interviews with designers and project managers, it presents the problems of construction and the methodology or techniques used to overcome obstacles. In some cases this involved the development of new materials or products that are now in general use within the construction industry. MegaStructures focuses on constructions that are extreme; in the sense that they are the biggest, tallest, longest, or deepest in the world. Alternatively, a project may appear if it had an element of novelty or are a world first. This type of project is known as a Megaproject.

Open details →

An in-depth look at the history and pop cultural significance of horror films.

Open details →

An insider's look at the engineering and scientific miracles behind the things that form the modern world.

Open details →

American Masters is a PBS television series which produces biographies on enduring writers, musicians, visual and performing artists, dramatists, filmmakers, and others who have left an indelible impression on the cultural landscape of the United States.

Open details →

Filmed across six continents, this docuseries uses cutting-edge camera technology to capture animals' nocturnal lives, revealing new behaviours filmed in full color like never before.

Open details →

This compelling series investigates the motives and m.o. of female murderers. While males are often driven by anger, impulse and destruction, women usually have more complex, long-term reasons to kill.

Open details →

Explore the surprising things we know (and don’t know) about why people are the way they are through expert interviews, rare footage from historical experiments, and brand-new, ground-breaking demonstrations of human nature at work.

Open details →

A series of standalone documentaries powered by the unparalleled journalism and insight of The New York Times, bringing viewers close to the essential stories of our time.

Open details →

A look at the life of Australian pop star Kylie Minogue, who opens her personal archives and reflects on a career in which she has sold 80 million records and reinvented herself, and by extension pop, several times. Home movies, personal photographs and new interviews reveal the picture, as Kylie addresses how she’s faced public scrutiny, personal loss and illness.

Open details →

In this true-crime documentary, a cult expert and filmmaker infiltrate a polygamist sect to expose a self-proclaimed prophet and bring him to justice.

Open details →

The series heads to the very frontiers of space and science to produce the definitive television history of science fiction, told through its impact on cinema, television and literature, with the help of filmmakers, writers, actors, and graphic artists. Each episode will explore one of the enduring themes of science fiction: time travel; the exploration of space; robots and artificial intelligence; and aliens.

Open details →

Explore American cinema through the decades and the cultural, societal and political shifts that framed its evolution.

Open details →

Doctor Who Confidential is a documentary to complement the revival of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Each episode was broadcast on BBC Three on Saturdays, immediately after the broadcast of the weekly television episode on BBC One. The running time of the first two series was 30 minutes, being extended to 45 minutes in the third. BBC Three also broadcast a cut-down edition of the programme, lasting 15 minutes, shown after the repeats on Sundays and Fridays and after the weekday evening repeats of earlier seasons.

Open details →

Consistently stunning documentaries transport viewers to far-flung locations ranging from the torrid African plains to the chilly splendours of icy Antarctica. The show's primary focus is on animals and ecosystems around the world. A comic book based on the show, meant to be used an as educational tool for kids, was briefly distributed to museums and schools at no cost in the mid-2000s.

Open details →

In a tumultuous era, 1971 was a year of musical innovation and rebirth fueled by the political and cultural upheaval of the time. Stars reached new heights, fresh talent exploded onto the scene, and boundaries expanded like never before.

Open details →