After the death of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, his devious son takes power and demotes Maximus, one of Rome's most capable generals who Marcus preferred. Eventually, Maximus is forced to become a gladiator and battle to the death against other men for the amusement of paying audiences.
London bookstore owner William Thacker's quiet life turns upside down when a chance encounter with famous actress Anna Scott sparks an unlikely romance challenged by their vastly different worlds.
In year 1250 B.C. during the late Bronze age, two emerging nations begin to clash. Paris, the Trojan prince, convinces Helen, Queen of Sparta, to leave her husband Menelaus, and sail with him back to Troy. After Menelaus finds out that his wife was taken by the Trojans, he asks his brother Agamemnon to help him get her back. Agamemnon sees this as an opportunity for power. They set off with 1,000 ships holding 50,000 Greeks to Troy.
When Russia's first nuclear submarine malfunctions on its maiden voyage, the crew must race to save the ship and prevent a nuclear disaster.
Humouristic reconstruction of the 1995 scandal when two British lads were accused of having faked a documentary from the Roswell incident in 1947.
An ancient skeleton has been discovered in Jerusalem in a rich man's tomb. Colouration of the wrist and leg bones indicates the cause of death was crucifiction. other signs, include a gold coin bearing the marks of Pontius Pilate and faint markings around the skull, lead authorities to suspect that these could be the bones of Jesus Christ. Politicians, clerics, religious extremists and those using terror as a means to an end, find their beliefs and identities tested while risking their lives to unearth the truth.....
A radical cinematic investigation into the myth of Hamlet, the avenging prince of Denmark, William Shakespeare's creature; his origins and his unending influence on many diverse cultures.
Experience the fear as you're sucked into the disturbed mind of Alex. Tormented by harrowing voices of the past Alex searches for the one girl who can silence the horror of a tortured soul. As the quest becomes darker and more sinister Alex's fear filled stalking leaves behind a trail of dead bodies. Inspector Hannah is the detective who makes a desperate attempt to piece together the mystery as he is drawn into this terrifying journey.
Pressure from his boss and a skin-cream client produces a talking boil on a British adman's neck.
A shy, stuttering professor brings satanist Aleister Crowley back to life.
Lieutenant Hornblower and his shipmates are sent to accompany a doomed royalist invasion of revolutionary France.
A young ambitious claims assessor investigates a multi million dollar marine insurance fraud.
St. Stephen’s Cathedral ranks amongst Austria‘s most famous cultural monuments. Yet, one would not think of that Cathedral being one of the most astonishing natural areas in Austria.Georg Riha and his team have explored the Cathedral from its foundations to the top of its 136 meter spire and discovered a true botanical and zoological garden: wild animals, exotic butterflies, kestrels, moss, lichen and even trees.
Join Georg Riha and his team in this ORF-UNIVERSUM production and discover one of the most beautiful stretches along the Danube.Featuring a great number of aerial shots, this documentary captures the cultural and natural beauty of the entire region, as well as portraying the Alzinger family in their vineyards during the seasons.The Wachau, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is presented from unusual perspectives, offering spectacular views of this picturesque area.
Schönbrunn is a world of marvels and mystery, of public glamour and curious secrets. The wealth of its building and landscape architecture, the grand views and hidden details, the wildlife, tamed nature as well as its past and present human population supply more stories and images than even the most insatiable camera can record.Schönbrunn in the protean succession of the seasons, of light and shadow, day and night is presented by Sir Peter Ustinov and was broadcasted in the “ORF-UNIVERSUM”-series for the 250th anniversary of the Schönbrunn Zoo.
Following years of research, the intimacies of this female-led group of baboons, are dramatically revealed. Almost every day for the past 25 years, the Viramba troop of yellow baboons have been accompanied by scientists in one of the most extensive primate research projects ever conducted.Wild Women of Viramba, reveals the trials and tribulations of daily life, deep in the African bush. Researcher Holly Carroll has come to understand the troop, which is controlled by its female members.
Ralph decides to give his sister Clare a night on the town to cheer her up. They visit a burger bar and a disco in a modern precinct, and Clare gets slightly drunk. At the end of the evening, they both end up at Clare's flat.
In post–War England, a writer and sometime-ghost hunter investigates a reported haunting at a boys boarding school.
The popular resistance to the current Greek economic crisis explored and expressed through the ethical and political writings of Ancient Greece.
A disillusioned writer follows the intertwining stories of several people, but are they his own inventions or do they really exist?
A young woman has a mental breakdown in a state institution.
Performing from within the walls of a deconsecrated Manchester church, Kenneth Branagh takes the lead role in this ambitious production of William Shakespeare's tragic tale of ambition and treachery.
For two-thirds of the year, the Little Rann is a desert. Suddenly, in August, monsoon winds whip up the Arabian Sea and carry it 100 km inland. The desert and these mounds soon become islands and homes to high concentrations of rarely-seen, endangered and spectacular wildlife.
The tumultuous events surrounding the sub-continent's partition in 1947 into India and Pakistan are re-imagined in Ken McMullen's complex and visually striking film. A lunatic asylum in the city of Lahore becomes a mirror image of events in the outside political world, with the same actors playing both inmates and rulers. Adapted by Tariq Ali and McMullen from famous Urdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto's short story 'Toba Tek Singh', Partition speaks for the countless millions that the usual British Raj films sweep out of sight. Released to mark the 60th anniversary of the partition of the Indian sub-continent, this is the film's first-ever release on DVD.
In 1981, Gerd Heidemann, a war correspondent and reporter with the German magazine Stern, makes what he believes is the literary and historical scoop of the century: the personal diaries of Adolf Hitler. Over the next two years, Heidemann and the senior management figures at Stern secretly pay 10 million German marks to a mysterious 'Dr Fischer' for the sixty volumes of 'Hitler's diaries'. However, to the dismay of all, it is discovered after the publication of first extract that the diaries are crude forgeries, faked by Stuttgart criminal Konrad Kujau.
Fed up with working hard just to scrape by, Christine Painter comes up with a bold plan to become the madam of a brothel and earn her financial freedom: she opens a house of spanking to fabulous reviews.
Central Europe, early 16th century: two childhood friends, Martin & Georg, find themselves on rival sides of a religious war with both of them struggling to do the right thing.
In 1957, Britain exploded its first megaton hydrogen bomb - codenamed Operation Grapple X. It was the culmination of an extraordinary scientific project, which against almost insuperable odds turned Britain into a nuclear superpower. Featuring access to the top-secret nuclear research facility at Aldermaston, the programme features interviews with veterans and scientists who took part in the atomic bomb programme, some speaking for the first time, and newly released footage of the British atomic bomb tests.
100 years in the future: Tom is both bored and worried in the humdrum, violent times. Also he is unable to remember what his job is and thus decides to leave. But everyone keeps telling him that is impossible ...
Three philosophy professors travel to Prague for a conference. One of them, Anderson, is forced to rethink his ideas on ethics when a former student is arrested by the Czech authorities for writing about individualist approaches to morality.
Examination of the events that led to the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
From its sell-out run at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre comes a film version of this unique and critically acclaimed production of Hamlet with BAFTA-nominee Maxine Peake in the title role. This ground-breaking stage production, directed by Sarah Frankcom, was the Royal Exchange's fastest-selling show in a decade.
Film following the Flying Scotsman, the world's most famous steam engine, as it returns to the tracks following a ten-year restoration which cost more than £4 million.
Fictional account of what might have happened if Hitler had won the war. It is now the 1960s and Germany's war crimes have so far been kept a secret. Hitler wants to talk peace with the US president. An American journalist and a German homicide cop stumble into a plot to destroy all evidence of the genocide.
The events around the signing of The Armistice at the end of the First World War.
At the dawn of history, the ancient Egyptians showed the world how to build the impossible... In an age before machines, when copper was the strongest metal yet discovered, great pharaohs like Khufu and Ramses II demonstrated how boundless ambition and vast quantities of human labour could transform rock and stone into some of the most incredible monuments ever created from carving out spectacular tombs in the Valley Of The Kings to the building of the iconic Great Pyramid. In this fascinating documentary special we uncover the secrets of Ancient Egypt Pharaoh, engineers and architects and bring to life great buildings and the ancient Egyptians saw them - towering over their great civilisation in the history of Africa, and perhaps the World....
Timon loves to give parties and objects to friends, but when he cannot pay his creditors, his "friends" refuse to help him, and he becomes a misanthropic hermit.
Retired British solider Richard Hannay is recruited by British intelligence in an attempt to recover three hostages taken prisoner by a shadowy criminal organisation
When Queen Elizabeth's reign is threatened by ruthless familial betrayal and Spain's invading army, she and her shrewd adviser must act to safeguard the lives of her people.
Former Irish Republican Army member Niall Hennessy lives in Belfast, Ireland, with his wife and daughter amid the ongoing Irish-British conflict. Though he still knows people in the IRA, including fugitive leader Tobin, Niall has given up his violent ways. One day his family is caught in a chaotic street shootout and killed by British forces. Overwhelmed with rage and hunted by a Scotland Yard inspector, Niall heads to London to exact his deadly revenge.
The story of Henry Purcell.
A jealous king jeopardizes his family, friendships and succession.
"Horizon" examines the recent discovery of supermassive black holes, which spawn galaxies even as they threaten to destroy everything in their path.
The film explores the background and build-up to this final flight to disaster. Using dramatic reconstruction, archive footage and exclusive interviews with leading historians and engineering experts, the special delves into the political and scientific events that led up to the catastrophe.
Prince Charles' accession to the throne following the Queen's death. When he refuses to sign a controversial bill into law, political chaos ensues: a constitutional crisis, rioting on the streets and a tank in front of Buckingham Palace.
The bitter Trojan War drags on - the Greeks blame Achilles' apathy for low morale, while Troy's hero Hector challenges one of the enemy to a personal duel. And after her father exchanges Cressida for a Trojan prisoner, the war becomes personal for her distraught lover Troilus.
A tale of power, passion and obsession set in a politically torn Eastern European country.
The story of the great Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) and his life and career during the rule of Stalin.
A chronicle of the life of 18th century aristocrat Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who was reviled for her extravagant political and personal life.
An evil, high-fashion designer plots to steal Dalmatian puppies in order to make an extravagant fur coat, but instead creates an extravagant mess.
Plagues are ravaging Thebes, and the blind fortune-teller Tieresias tells Oedipus, the King, that the gods are unhappy. The murder of the former king has gone unavenged, and Oedipus sets out to find the killer.
Oedipus's wanderings come to an end when he finds his final resting place, as foretold by the gods. But his brother-in-law and his son each try to take him away.
In a final battle for the control of Thebes, Oedipus's two sons kill each other. Creon issues an order that no one is to bury Polynices upon pain of death. But Antigone is determined that her brother's body will have the proper rites of burial.
An ex-cop and his family are the target of an evil force that is using mirrors as a gateway into their home.
Tsar Nicholas II, the inept last monarch of Russia, insensitive to the needs of his people, is overthrown and exiled to Siberia with his family.
An aging King invites disaster, when he abdicates to his corrupt, toadying daughters, and rejects his loving and honest one.
Whistle depicts the dreary off-hours of an ultra-technological hit-man who becomes 'involved' in the life of one of his victims. The hit-man's wife is not only fully cognizant of her husband's day job but she is also the cold-blooded contact with his bosses when the conscience crisis sets in!
He is a respectable pillar of London society who yearns for an idyllic existence away from the noise and the smoke. She feels hemmed in by the confines of an isolated fishing village and dreams of the bright lights, and even brighter people, of the great metropolis. On a hot August day in 1883, Clement Scott, the writer, and Louie Jermy, the miller's daughter, meet each other for the first time.
While still the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VIII meets the married American socialite, Wallis Simpson. Their relationship causes furor in the palace and in parliament, especially when King George V dies, Mrs. Simpson gets divorced, and King Edward announces his intentions to marry her.
The legend of King Arthur spans centuries and has inspired countless novels and films. But who was King Arthur, and what was his real legacy? Through reenactments and historical images, this A&E production explores the romance, adventure and politics of the noble ruler of Camelot. He inspired the Knights of the Round Table and fought to defend England, only to be betrayed by the one he loved most, his own Queen Guinevere.
Able to inspire wonder and awe in all who gazed upon them, The Seven Wonders of Ancient Rome - the Pantheon, the Aqueducts of Rome, the Via Appia, the Baths of Caracalla, Trajan's Markets, Circus Maximus and the Colosseum - were the works of great men who translated fantastic visions into the epitome of human achievement. These visionaries included ambitious Emperors like Hadrian and engineers with revolutionary ideas such as Apollodorus. By the second century AD, Rome had become the 'caput mundi' - the head of the world.
Greece, a land of breathtaking beauty and light. A land where science, art and inspiration from the gods combined to produce some of the world's greatest marvels of architecture and design. The ancient Greeks used buildings and structures to reflect the variety of life at the core of their civilisation - they built the first theatres, staged the first sports events and worshipped in some of the most spectacular temples ever built.
Based on the medieval legend of Pope Joan, who was made Pope for a brief period around 855 A.D. The movie presents her existence as fact, though it is questionable that Pope Joan really did exist, and portrays her relationships with other notables of the time.
A new English adaptation of the classic French tragedy Phèdre by Jean Racine (1639-1699). It retells the ancient Greek tale of the wife of the Atenian King Theseus, who conceived a forbidden love for his son (by an earlier wife) Hyppolytus. All ends badly for all.
Mary, Mother of Jesus is a 1999 made-for-television Biblical film that retells the story of Jesus through the eyes of Mary, his mother.
The dramatic stories of Fritz Wiessner’s 1939 K2 expedition and Charlie Houston’s return in 1953. K2 is one of the hardest mountains in the world to climb. This film focuses on the expeditions of Fritz Wiessner and Charlie Houston in 1953. An award winner at the Banff, Telluride, Trento and Prague film festivals.
The dramatic story of the British expedition that made the first ascent of Everest. Combining interviews with the surviving members of the 1953 British and 1952 Swiss attempt on Everest with rare archival material, this film tells the story of the race to climb Everest in the early 1950s and its climax in 1953.
Drama reconstructing the events of a strike by the schoolchildren of a Norfolk school in 1914, who refused to accept the dismissal of their teachers, Tom and Annie Higdon, who were both socialists.
In 1945, the new Polish government asked for the heart of Chopin previously buried in Paris. A woman called Paulina Czernika approached the government claiming to have some love letters from the composer to her great-grandmother, the Countess Delfina Potocka.
Moving Half The Mountain documents the true stories of the survivors from one of the worst atrocities of the Second World War the brutal use of prisoners (POWs) and forced local labour by the Japanese to build a railway linking Thailand to Burma. These men are now in their twilight years but their memories are as clear as though it were yesterday.
Reinhard Heydrich was considered the most dangerous man in Nazi Germany after Hitler himself. The plot to kill him masterminded in England and carried through to finality in Prague in 1942, is told in this gripping dramatised documentary special. Featuring meticulous reconstructions, coupled with authentic historical film, some of it never shown before the film powerfully presents a vivid account of the only successful assassination of a leading Nazi in World War II. It also chillingly recreates the terrible human cost of SS savagery against the Resistance and the total obliteration of the village of Lidice.
'There's absolutely no escape. No chairs or tables to hold on to, no fags to light or drinks to pour: no small talk or trivial daytime chatter. Just the naked person.'
An adventure of A J Raffles.
King Lear, old and tired, divides his kingdom among his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him. When Cordelia, youngest and most honest, refuses to idly flatter the old man in return for favor, he banishes her and turns for support to his remaining daughters. But Goneril and Regan have no love for him and instead plot to take all his power from him. In a parallel, Lear's loyal courtier Gloucester favors his illegitimate son Edmund after being told lies about his faithful son Edgar. Madness and tragedy befall both ill-starred fathers.
A mysterious boy bursts into an internet café, claiming he is being chased by a murderous foe. The owner does not share his urgency, nor does he seem overly keen on helping the boy, in fact his only advice is to sit at a computer, to 'take machine number 5'. With no alternative, the boy is forced to take a seat and hope that whatever he is running from won't find him in this place with no other exit than the door he came through. But as his fear and paranoia begin to take hold and alter the environment around him, the boy must decide who to trust before it's too late.
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, finds out that his uncle Claudius killed his father to obtain the throne, and plans revenge.
When kidnappers abduct his teenage daughter, Sue, industrialist Vincent Craig could easily raise the ransom money. But Craig intends to do things his own way. He believes he knows who is behind the kidnapping--and that the motives are personal, not financial.
When a college student accidentally hits and kills a pedestrian, the dead man’s fiancée shows up at his door the next day, demanding answers.
Animated short adaptation of Hamlet featuring painted cels on glass. Originally broadcast as part of the Shakespeare: The Animated Tales series on BBC2 & S4C.
On the same day a notorious crime kingpin Jimmy Vincent is released from prison, there is a daring armored car diamond heist of diamonds using his m.o.
Nakuru National Park in Kenya is rather like a reform centre for wayward youth. Take Scarface: as a young lioness with a reputation for killing sheep and cattle, she was due to be shot. Instead, she was chosen to establish a new pride in Nakuru. Wildlife film-maker Barbara Tyack chronicles the life of this special lion family with a weakness for climbing trees. Fabulous camerawork captures great chase sequences, some gory ones, and the odd romance