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BBC Documentaries Season 2009 Episodes |
Jul 12, 2009
In the years after the second world war, in preparation for sending the first man into orbit, the Soviets began sending dogs into space.
Featuring...
Aug 13, 2009
The untold story of how a giant of science was erased from history by the jealous rival who owed him more than most - Isaac Newton. A drama revealing...
May 16, 2009
an Hislop takes an amused look at one of the most peculiar offices in the British establishment, that of Poet Laureate. Its 341-year history produces...
Mar 20, 2009
BBC FOUR pays tribute to musical maverick John Martyn, who died at the age of 60 on 29th January 2009, with an intimate documentary portrait...
Mar 12, 2009
Phill Jupitus looks at how we thought the car of the future was going to turn out and finds out why it didn't happen that way, focusing on the...
Jun 4, 2009
In this moving and sometimes disturbing film, actress and writer Meera Syal meets young people who self-harm to find out why they do it, and how...
May 16, 2009
The date is 1959. The place is Le Mans racing circuit, France. A little known Texan racing driver, Carrol Shelby, wins the most prestigious event in...
Nov 8, 2009
Alexander Armstrong travels the country to explore the state of the great British holiday.
It is widely acknowledged that 2009 is a bumper year for...
Apr 21, 2009
A personal history of the Thatcher years and their legacy, told through the stories of three Welsh children born the year Margaret Thatcher came to...
Jun 13, 2009
Manet is one of the main candidates for the title of the most important artist there has been. As the reluctant father of Impressionism, and the...
Dec 28, 2009
Updating the impression of life on the Isle of Lewis given by the MacDonald Sisters. First broadcast in 1969.
Oct 31, 2009
To mark the 175th anniversary of the destruction of the Palace of Westminster by fire, Mark D'Arcy looks back at the disaster and its aftermath.
May 8, 2009
If Peter Green had only written Black Magic Woman, his name would still have a place in blues rock history forever. His three short years leading...
Mar 29, 2009
Thirty years on from the no confidence vote that brought down the 1979 Labour Government, Carolyn Quinn tells the story of one of the most dramatic...
Oct 19, 2009
One in four people have a mental illness at some point in their lives. No-one likes to think it could happen to them, or someone close to them. David...
Apr 16, 2009
Documentary examining claims that CS Lewis's Narnia Chronicles contain a hidden meaning.
CS Lewis wrote the Narnia Chronicles over 50 years ago, yet...
Dec 26, 2009
Slapstick comedy special narrated by Miranda Hart, charting the highs and lows of physical comedy and examining the audience's love of visual humour....
Mar 27, 2009
1959 was the seismic year jazz broke away from complex bebop music to new forms, allowing soloists unprecedented freedom to explore and express. It...
Oct 20, 2009
Few musicals can claim to capture the mood of a historical period as well as the 1972 classic Cabaret.
In this documentary, actor Alan Cumming...
Mar 13, 2009
The Rough Trade story begins more than thirty years ago on 20th February 1976. Britain was in the grip of an IRA bombing campaign; a future prime...
Mar 30, 2009
Naoki 56, had it all in Japan's bubble economy days: he ran a business with 70 staff, drove a brand new BMW, and lived in a 6 bedroom house. But when...
Jul 5, 2009
It has been said that ten thousand years from now, only one name will still be remembered - that of Neil Armstrong. But in the four decades since he...
Dec 12, 2009
In 1962 an unknown group from Liverpool entered Abbey Road Studios to record their debut single. During the next eight years they created what is...
May 24, 2009
Documentary featuring interviews with soldiers on the act that defines them: killing. For civilians, it is a crime. For soldiers, it is a job....
Nov 15, 2009
The life story of Sir Norman Wisdom, who went from street urchin to become one of the UK's most bankable and loved film stars of the 1950-60s. The...
Mar 10, 2009
Documentary about 13-year-old Deborah Drapper, who, unlike other British teens has never heard of Britney Spears or Victoria Beckham. She has been...
Sep 14, 2009
Documentary in which artist and writer Matthew Collings explores the concept of beauty in art. Is beauty only in the eye of the beholder, or is there...
Apr 2, 2009
When the Japanese ambassador saw Rick Stein preparing sushi on a boat off Cornwall, he was not impressed. However, this sparked off an idea where...
Jun 5, 2009
An insight into the world of design through 12 stories, shot across a range of countries, ranging from product design to world class feats of...
Jun 27, 2009
Glamorous, talented and decidedly unconventional, Lee Miller led one of the most fascinating lives of the 20th century. A model for Vogue in 1920s...
Apr 18, 2009
Portrait of Jim Clark, one of the most talented and intriguing characters of the 1960s. From unlikely beginnings on a farm in Scotland, the...
Aug 15, 2009
Coverage of the 2009 Barclaycard World Freerun Championship from London's Trafalgar Square, presented by Reggie Yates and Kirsten O'Brien. The best...
Nov 28, 2009
Philosopher Roger Scruton presents a provocative essay on the importance of beauty in the arts and in our lives.
Nov 21, 2009
Has beauty disappeared from modern art? Several influential modern thinkers insist that it has. Art critic Waldemar Januszczak fiercely disagrees,...
Nov 18, 2009
Art historian explores the state of British art in 2009 and asks whether a new era in art is dawning and whether there is a reason to be optimistic.
May 12, 2009
Do you get enough sleep? Many of us don't. 10 Things You Need to Know About Sleep reveals the science behind why so many find it difficult to nod...
Feb 9, 2009
Science writer Rita Carter tells the story of how modern neuroscience has revealed that reading, something most of us take for granted, unlocks...
Aug 1, 2009
Gary Lineker presents a special tribute to the late Sir Bobby Robson. Recorded in 2003, the former England player and manager talks about his life,...
Mar 17, 2009
In a special programme showing on St. David's Day, we celebrate the awesome beauty of some of Wales' iconic engineering achievements, structures...
Jan 7, 2009
Documentary which follows the story of Mark Devlin and his team of scientists as they try to figure out how all the galaxies formed by launching a...
Dec 11, 2009
Celebrating the achievements of Ballets Russes under Diaghilev's guidance and their continuing influence on dance, art and music today.
The English...
Mar 11, 2009
Documentary which explores the ways that cars have been presented on television in the motoring programmes that have tapped into our collective...
Dec 27, 2009
An unconventional look at the best of Steve Coogan's television work and character comedy. With classic archive moments and some rarely seen early...
Nov 13, 2009
Duran Duran came out of Birmingham and conquered the world during the 1980s.
Originally a New Romantic band in full make-up and cossack pants, they...
Nov 7, 2009
The Berlin Wall was the ugly, concrete obstacle that for more than a generation (from 1961 to 1989) split the city and divided its families. Hundreds...
Mar 26, 2009
Just after midnight on Good Friday 1989, the giant supertanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef in Alaska's Prince William Sound to create one...
Jul 18, 2009
The film recreates the life and loves of France's most famous king, Louis XIV. Dubbed the Sun King by his admiring court, Louis conquered half of...
Apr 11, 2009
Sir Jackie Stewart is one of Britain's all time great sporting personalities - winner of three Formula 1 world championships and 27 grand prix, and...
Nov 23, 2009
A look at the legacy of actress, singer and comedienne Gracie Fields who, during her lifetime, was a national institution. Through interviews and...
May 26, 2009
Documentary which sheds new light on the greatest crisis to rock the British monarchy in centuries - the abdication of King Edward VIII. Usually, it...
Dec 27, 2009
Documentary about the pioneering computer animation studio Pixar, featuring contributions from the studio's bosses and a host of actors who have lent...
Jul 12, 2009
Award-winning 87-year-old actress Liz Smith does the one thing she has never managed to achieve in her life - go on a proper holiday.
Liz, known and...
Dec 13, 2009
Documentary following writer and broadcaster Stephen Smith on the trail of Vladimir Nabokov, the elusive man behind the controversial novel and 1962...
Aug 11, 2009
Most young adults take their freedoms for granted - they can choose their friends, stay out late, learn to drive and decide what they want to do as a...
Feb 14, 2009
Documentary in which writer and journalist Christopher de Bellaigue explores the fraught but often surprisingly intimate history of Britain's...
May 1, 2009
Documentary telling the story of what happened to blues music on its journey from the southern states of America to the heart of British pop and rock...
Nov 8, 2009
Documentary telling the forgotten story of a heroic battle fought by the children of the British Memorial School to help liberate Europe from the...
May 28, 2009
In 1988, teenager John Davidson featured in a BBC documentary about Tourettes. At that time, few people had even heard of Tourettes Syndrome, let...
Oct 28, 2009
A documentary celebrating the golden age of air travel, when in the 1920s and 1930s Britain ruled the skies, and style and glamour were a passport to...
Nov 2, 2009
In 1926 John Logie Baird became the first man in history to give a successful public demonstration of television. During WWII, with the help of one...
Jul 9, 2009
Professor Brian Cox takes a look through nearly 50 years of BBC archive at the story of man's relationship with the moon.
From the BBC's space...
Nov 1, 2009
Fleetwood Mac, one of the biggest-selling bands of all time, are back on the road again. Their story, told in their own words, is an epic tale of...
Aug 9, 2009
Central Valley, California, is home to some of the most impoverished rural towns in America, where crystal meth addiction is prolific. In Fresno,...
Jan 14, 2009
Fashion photographer Rankin recreates seven of his favourite images as he takes a journey through a brief history of the fashion photograph. By...
Jul 27, 2009
Kirsten O'Brien takes a warm-hearted and irreverent tour of Britain's Most Embarrassing Parents.
We get a peek into the lives of ten families across...
Feb 2, 2009
Documentary telling the little-known story of how Darwin came to write his great masterpiece, On the Origin of Species, a book which explains the...
Dec 8, 2009
Singer and Strictly Come Dancing star Alesha Dixon investigates the potential fallout of not knowing who your father is.
Alesha talks to children...
Mar 17, 2009
Documentary looking at events in Gloucester, Massachusetts, when an unusually large number of teenage girls turned up for pregnancy tests at the...
Aug 4, 2009
Actress Melissa Suffield plays teenage tearaway Lucy Beale in EastEnders, a character famous for her bad behaviour. But now Melissa is coming of age...
Jun 4, 2009
Poet Simon Armitage goes on the trail of one of the jewels in the crown of British poetry, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, written about 600 years...
Jan 1, 2009
Is Margaret Thatcher the mother of the Scottish Parliament? BBC World Affairs Correspondent Allan Little looks back at the tumultuous Thatcher years,...
May 28, 2009
Historian Michael Wood returns to his first great love, the Anglo-Saxon world, to reveal the origins of our literary heritage. Focusing on Beowulf...
Sep 20, 2009
Little more than 100 years ago, Scottish mountains standing at more than 3,000 feet were virtually unknown. Today they are familiar terrain to many...
Oct 18, 2009
The story of Frank Chalmers, an open water swimmer setting off on the challenge of his life. Having successfully swum the English Channel, Frank has...
Mar 26, 2009
The story of a special train, the Lifeline Express. It is known as the Magic Train. With two state-of-the-art operating theatres, recovery rooms,...
Apr 18, 2009
Whether in his golden youth or premature old age, legendary jazz trumpeter Chet Baker's musical virtuosity always shone through.
In this frank and...
Sep 13, 2009
Documentary telling the story of Balmoral, the Royal Family's most private residence. For over 150 years this Scottish castle has been home to royal...
Jun 5, 2009
Damian Lewis-narrated documentary telling the colourful story of Island Records, the Jamaican-founded record label built by maverick boss Chris...
Apr 28, 2009
As the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew prepare to celebrate their 250th anniversary, Dan Cruickshank unearths some of the surprising stories that shaped...
Feb 18, 2009
Tristram Hunt shows how motoring has gone from allowing us to explore the beautiful English countryside to the present day of speed cameras,...
May 7, 2009
Nation on Film documentary telling the story of youth hostelling, which was founded in 1909 in Germany and was established in Britain in 1930,...
Jan 27, 2009
An exclusive TV premiere, Attenborough Explores... Our Fragile World, a documentary looking at the impact of climate change in the UK.
Our planet is...
Aug 16, 2009
In September 2009, the Girl Guides celebrated their centenary. With a membership of over 600,000, nearly half the female population of Britain has...
Feb 19, 2009
Penelope Keith tells the story of Edwardian 'it girl' and motoring pioneer Dorothy Levitt.
She retraces Levitt's 1905 journey from London to...
Nov 28, 2009
Stars of the hit drama series Merlin, Colin Morgan and Bradley James, set off across Wales to explore the country's centuries-old connections to the...
Feb 28, 2009
Paul Merton continues his love affair with silent cinema in an exploration of Alfred Hitchcock's British films.
Before Hitchcock became the master...
Mar 8, 2009
Documentary telling the story of Rolls-Royce in India through the fortunes of India's princes.
May 5, 2009
Documentary unfolding the science behind the idea of six degrees of separation. Originally thought to be an urban myth, it now appears that anyone on...
Apr 16, 2009
Documentary about Falklands War veteran and ex-firefighter Jim Armstrong, who is now a farmer in Dorset.
The film follows Jim through 2007 as he...
Mar 4, 2009
Documentary which tells the story of the British love affair with the American dream cars made at Ford in Dagenham in the 1960s and 70s. Ford helped...
Feb 12, 2009
Aminatta Forna tells the story of legendary Timbuktu and its long hidden legacy of hundreds of thousands of ancient manuscripts. With its university...
Jan 14, 2010
Professor Jim Al-Khalili shows how chaos theory can answer a question that mankind has asked for millennia - how does a universe that starts off as...
Jan 2, 2009
Documentary about progressive music and the generation of bands that were involved, from the international success stories of Yes, Genesis, ELP, King...
Dec 28, 2009
The story behind Not The Nine O'Clock News, which launched the careers of its key performers Rowan Atkinson, Mel Smith, Griff Rhys Jones and Pamela...
Dec 1, 2009
For the first time since 1990, Delia returns to television screens at Christmas time to unveil a celebration feast packed with indulgent, scrumptious...
Dec 9, 2009
Professors Iain Stewart and Professor Kathy Sykes take a timely look at global warming ahead of the Copenhagen summit, exploring the world's leading...
May 27, 2009
Every year millions of people in Britain try to lose weight, and most fail. We are constantly bombarded with advice about dieting and the latest...
Nov 27, 2009
Documentary which explores the most important day in the career of the legendary Johnny Cash.
Cash's concert at Folsom State Prison in California in...
Dec 2, 2009
In 1979, artist Kit Williams turned Britain into a giant treasure map, promising a golden hare, buried in the earth, to the first person who solved...
Dec 5, 2009
To mark his 75th year, a rare glimpse into the life and work of Alan Bennett, one of the UK's best-loved writers.
Given exclusive access to the key...
Oct 27, 2009
Documentary charting the history of the supernatural on British television, and how ghosts have been portrayed on the small screen. From Hamlet to...
Nov 14, 2009
Documentary in which artist and writer Matthew Collings explores the concept of beauty in art. Is beauty only in the eye of the beholder, or is there...
Nov 16, 2009
Sue Perkins charts the changes in British taste towards domestic art by delving into the stories of contemporary bestsellers, charting the history of...
Aug 22, 2009
Bogey, Bacall and Mitchum play it tough as Matthew Sweet celebrates the hardboiled world of noir movies.
Sep 7, 2009
Peter Capaldi reveals a flair for presenting in this new documentary looking at the art of Scotland, as it reflects the changing face of the nation...
Oct 24, 2009
Documentary which explores television's fascination with forensics, revisiting classic shows like Quincy and Marius Goring's The Expert and looking...
Sep 21, 2009
The untold story of two infamous labourers, Burke and Hare, who embarked upon a year-long killing spree in Edinburgh during the 19th century to...
Sep 29, 2009
At 72, actor Richard Wilson - who famously died himself as Victor Meldrew - wonders why, when it's life's one certainty, people have such difficulty...
Nov 18, 2009
An eccentric team of British engineers attempts to break the longest standing land speed record in the world in a steam-powered car built in a shed...
Oct 23, 2009
Documentary which looks at how a radical generation of musicians created a new German musical identity out of the cultural ruins of war.
Between...
Oct 12, 2009
Documentary telling the story of silicon chip inventor Robert Noyce, godfather of today's digital world. Re-living the heady days of Silicon Valley's...
Sep 19, 2009
Dan Snow travels to Mexico to investigate the history, character and legacy of Montezuma, the last great ruler of the Aztecs of central America.
He...
Oct 16, 2009
Documentary following a generation of post-punk musicians who took the synthesiser from the experimental fringes to the centre of the pop stage.
In...
Sep 15, 2009
Choirmaster Gareth Malone joins forces with the BBC Singers to explore the styles and techniques that create a choir. He finds out why there are four...
Oct 5, 2009
Through the life cycle of one mobile phone, this documentary investigates the million and one ways in which the mobile has made itself indispensable...
Apr 23, 2009
Bees are dying in their millions. It is an ecological crisis that threatens to bring global agriculture to a standstill. Introduced by Martha...
Sep 28, 2009
Poet and gadget lover Simon Armitage explores people's obsession with upgrading to the latest technological gadgetry.
Upgrade culture drives...
Sep 26, 2009
Top chefs and celebrities pay tribute to one of the most original broadcasters of his generation, Keith Floyd. Rick Stein, Marco Pierre White and...
Feb 25, 2009
Documentary about the love affair between the British and their caravans, which saw the country establish the world's largest caravan manufacturer...
Jul 20, 2009
On July 20th 1969, the ‘Great Southern Land’ of Australia had just twelve and a half million inhabitants and was known more for its kangaroos...
Jul 14, 2009
Can we trust the food we eat? Reporters Tom Heap and Simon Boazman set off on a mission to find out, revealing the tricks of food labelling and...
Jun 21, 2009
In this programme James May commemorates the 40th anniversary of the Apollo moon landings.
The show saw May interviewing Apollo moonwalkers Harrison...
Jun 21, 2009
Fulfilling a life long dream to be an astronaut, May was given the opportunity to fly to the edge of space in a Lockheed U-2 spy plane. To do this he...
May 3, 2009
Documentary bringing to life Gavin Pretor-Pinney's international bestseller, The Cloudspotter's Guide, which draws on science, meteorology and...
May 26, 2009
We explore the story behind the discovery of an early primate fossil, Darwinius masillae, nicknamed Ida, in a shale quarry in Germany. The fossil is...
Jan 24, 2009
A documentary exploring the causes of the 1929 Wall Street Crash.
Over six terrifying, desperate days in October 1929, shares crashed by a third on...
May 5, 2009
An estimated 70 per cent of women try to lose weight before they get married and Claire Richards, one fifth of superstar pop group Steps, is no...
Mar 31, 2009
There are some who believe that Darwin's theory of evolution has weakened religion, fuelled in part by Richard Dawkins' publishing phenomenon The God...
Jan 26, 2009
Documentary which tells the story of evolution theory since Darwin postulated it in 1859 in 'On the Origin of Species'.
The theory of evolution by...
Mar 15, 2009
Andrew Graham-Dixon takes a journey into the art and soul of the Samurai, who ruled Japan for 700 years and were much more than mere warriors.
Feb 18, 2009
An extraordinary insight into the secretive world of the Old Order Amish of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
When two radical Amish men, Ephraim and...
Mar 13, 2009
British novelist Marcel Theroux is fascinated by Wabi Sabi, a theory of Japanese aesthetics in which imperfection and transience are the touchstone...
Mar 23, 2009
Cleopatra - the most famous woman in history. We know her as a great queen, a beautiful lover and a political schemer. For 2,000 years almost all...
Jan 15, 2009
Writer Paul Morley takes a journey back through time to revisit his own adventures and misadventures in fashion and meets the pop stars who he feels...
Jul 2, 2009
Documentary in which George Lamb dives into the world of legal party pills and herbal highs.
Legal highs are sold openly and legally in shops across...
Mar 23, 2009
Charles Rangeley Wilson, author, journalist and BBC 2's Accidental Angler, travels to Japan to explore the Japanese people's passionate relationship...
Mar 16, 2009
Dan Cruickshank presents a documentary revealing the story of the Dalai Lama, his secret Himalayan kingdom and the story of his exile, using...
Feb 1, 2009
In this programme, David Attenborough asks three key questions: how, and why, did Darwin come up with his theory of evolution? Why do we think he was...
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