The BEST episodes of BBC Documentaries season 2013
Every episode of BBC Documentaries season 2013, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of BBC Documentaries season 2013!
Documentaries produced by or for the BBC.
#1 - The Secret Life of Rockpools
Season 2013 - Episode 72 - Aired 4/16/2013
Paleontologist Professor Richard Fortey embarks on a quest to discover the extraordinary lives of rock pool creatures. To help explore this unusual environment he is joined by some of the UK's leading marine biologists in a dedicated laboratory at the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth. Here and on the beach in various locations around the UK, startling behaviour is revealed and new insights are given into how these animals cope with intertidal life. Many popular rock pool species have survived hundreds of millions of years of Earth's history, but humans may be their biggest challenge yet.
#2 - Metamorphosis - The Science of Change
Season 2013 - Episode 41 - Aired 3/13/2013
Filmmaker David Malone explores the science behind metamorphosis, the ultimate evolutionary magic trick - the transformation of one creature into a totally different being: one life, two bodies.
#3 - Isaac Newton: The Last Magician
Season 2013 - Episode 70 - Aired 4/12/2013
This biography reveals Newton as both a hermit and a tyrant, a heretic and an alchemist. Magical images mix with actors and experts to bring alive Britain's greatest scientific genius in his own words.
#4 - The Science of Doctor Who
Season 2013 - Episode 199 - Aired 11/14/2013
For one night only, Professor Brian Cox takes an audience of celebrity guests, including Charles Dance and Rufus Hound, and members of the public on a journey into the wonderful universe of the Doctor, from the lecture hall of the Royal Institution of Great Britain. Drawing on the latest theories as well as 200 years of scientific discoveries and the genius of Einstein, Brian tries to answer the classic questions raised by the Doctor - can you really travel in time? Does extra-terrestrial life exist in our galaxy? And how do you build something as fantastical as the TARDIS?
#5 - The Richest Songs In The World
Season 2013 - Episode 10 - Aired 1/5/2013
Mark Radcliffe presents a countdown of the ten songs which have earned the most money of all time - ten classic songs each with an extraordinary story behind them. Radcliffe lifts the lid on how music royalties work and reveals the biggest winners and losers in the history of popular music
#6 - Bach: A Passionate Life
Season 2013 - Episode 56 - Aired 3/30/2013
Written and presented by John Eliot Gardiner, one of the world’s leading interpreters of Bach’s music, Bach: A Passionate Life takes us on a physical, musical and intellectual journey in search of Bach the man and the musician. The most famous portrait of Bach shows him aged 62, a rather miserable looking old man in wig and formal coat, yet his greatest works were composed in his late 30s and early 40s in an almost unrivalled decade-long blaze of creativity. This conservative image of Bach also conflicts with evidence of clashes with authority from an early age. There are accounts of public brawls, periods in jail, and the smuggling of girls into his organ loft. Gardiner draws upon his lifelong fascination and passion for the composer to shed light on Bach’s personality and music. In the documentary, made by Leopard Films, John Eliot Gardiner conducts his award-winning Monteverdi choir and orchestra in specially shot performances from Bach’s masterworks: the St Matthew Passion, the St John Passion and the B Minor Mass, as well as extracts from some of his secular and sacred cantatas. The programme reveals a complex and passionate artist, a warm and convivial family man who shows a rebellious spirit while struggling with the hierarchies of state and church. Despite the cramped conditions of his life in Leipzig, and despite rarely venturing outside a 60-mile radius of the city, he wrote timeless music that today enjoys world-wide fame.
#7 - POP! The Science of Bubbles
Season 2013 - Episode 64 - Aired 4/9/2013
Physicist Dr Helen Czerski takes us on an amazing journey into the science of bubbles. Bubbles may seem to be just fun toys, but they are also powerful tools that push back the boundaries of science. The soap bubble with its delicate, fragile skin tells us about how nature works on scales as large as solar system and as small as a single wavelength of light. Then there are underwater bubbles, which matter because they are part of the how the planet works. Out at sea, breaking waves generate huge plumes of bubbles which help the oceans breathe. From the way animals behave to the way drinks taste, Dr Czerski shows how bubbles affect our world in all sorts of unexpected ways. Whether it's the future of ship design or innovative new forms of medical treatment, bubbles play a vital role.
#8 - A Night at the Rijksmuseum
Season 2013 - Episode 79 - Aired 4/18/2013
Andrew Graham-Dixon goes behind the scenes at the Rijksmuseum as the staff prepare to open the doors following a ten-year renovation, the most significant ever undertaken by a museum. Featuring over 8,000 works of art, Holland's national museum tells the story of 800 years of Dutch history and houses a world-famous collection including masterpieces by artists from Vermeer to Rembrandt. So, as the final paintings are rehung and objects settle into their new home, has the long wait been worth it?
#9 - Super Giant Animals
Season 2013 - Episode 175 - Aired 9/26/2013
Steve Backshall travels across the world to encounter the most charismatic super giant animals and discovers the remarkable things that their size enables them to do. Highlights include Steve swimming with Nile crocodiles in Botswana, dodging two-tonne elephant seals in California and diving with sperm whales in the Caribbean.
#10 - Iranian Enough?
Season 2013 - Episode 287 - Aired 10/19/2013
Musician and film-maker Roxana Vilk lives in Scotland but grew up in Tehran. Her family left Iran in the wake of the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and since the breakdown of diplomatic relations between London and Tehran in 2011, she has been unable to return. In this film, Roxana explores her identity as a British-Iranian and finds out how to teach her children about a country they have never visited. From a tower block in Glasgow to the glamour of Los Angeles, home to the largest group of Iranians living abroad, she finds out how other Iranian migrants keep their culture alive. While some of the questions she raises are specific to the Iranian diaspora, this film speaks to broader issues of identity faced by immigrants the world over.
#11 - Donald Campbell: Speed King
Season 2013 - Episode 55 - Aired 3/31/2013
Using rare archive and first hand testimony from those who knew him intimately, this film explores the life of Donald Campbell, one of Britain's most compelling but doomed heroes. Despite his triumphs, setting several world speed records on land and water, he remained a haunted man. His father Sir Malcolm Campbell had been a prolific record-breaker but an indifferent parent and all his life Donald felt driven to emulate his father. But instead of endless success his career was dogged by bad luck, bad weather and the growing apathy of the British public. In 1967 he took his Bluebird boat to Coniston in the Lake District for an attempt on the water speed record. With the eyes of the world upon him, he crashed and was killed instantly, his body and boat lost for thirty years.Told from the point of view of the children themselves, this one-hour documentary offers a unique perspective on the nation's flagging economy and the impact of unemployment, foreclosure and financial distress as seen through the eyes of the children affected.
#12 - Moscow 1980: The Cold War Olympics
Season 2013 - Episode 162 - Aired 8/14/2013
Back in 1980, a teenage Steve Cram was part of a team of British athletes who defied their government to go behind the iron curtain and compete in the Olympic Games. Steve Cram returns to the Russian capital to relive the story of the most controversial Olympics of modern times. An Olympics boycotted by the United States because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and blighted by allegations of cheating and state sponsored doping. But these were also the games of Daley Thompson, Duncan Goodhew, Alan Wells and the incredible rivalry between Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett. It's a fascinating story in which we hear how the games that threatened the very existence of the Olympic movement actually changed it for the better and, decades later, provided an unexpected bonus for the whole of British sport.
#13 - The Joy of Abba
Season 2013 - Episode 237 - Aired 12/27/2013
Combining European musical influences, perfect production and lyrics of love and loss, ABBA made us fall in love with the sound of Swedish melancholy. This documentary explores the music of ABBA and chronicles how they conquered both Sweden and Britain in the face of constant criticism.
#14 - Refugees of the Lost Rainforest
Season 2013 - Episode 218 - Aired 7/14/2013
John Nettles explores the late naturalist Gerald Durrell's legacy through the work of a small group of people trying to save endangered orangutans on two contrasting islands, Jersey and Sumatra.
#15 - The Mary Rose Reborn
Season 2013 - Episode 236 - Aired 6/1/2013
As Henry VIII's world famous warship, the Mary Rose, is unveiled to the public in a new museum, Robert Hall tells the extraordinary story of the restoration of the ship
#16 - The Enigma of Nic Jones - Return of Britain's Lost Folk Hero
Season 2013 - Episode 235 - Aired 9/27/2013
Nic Jones is a legend of British folk music. His 1980 record Penguin Eggs is regarded as a classic. In a poll by the Observer a few years ago, Penguin Eggs was rated number 79 of the 100 Best Records of All Time, just above Station to Station by David Bowie and just below Let It Bleed by The Rolling Stones - amazing for an LP that never actually charted. His iconic song Canadee-i-o has even been covered by Bob Dylan.
#17 - Great American Rock Anthems - Turn It Up To 11
Season 2013 - Episode 234 - Aired 12/26/2013
It's the sound of the heartland, of the midwest and the industrial cities, born in the early 70s by kids who had grown up in the 60s and were now ready to make their own noise, to come of age in the bars, arenas and stadiums of the US of A. Out of blues and prog and glam and early metal a distinct American rock hybrid started to emerge across the country courtesy of Alice Cooper, Grand Funk Railroad et al, and at its very heart is the Great American Rock Anthem. At the dawn of the 70s American rock stopped looking for a revolution and started looking for a good time - enter the classic American rock anthem with big drums, a soaring guitar, a huge chorus and screaming solos. This film celebrates the evolution of the American rock anthem during its glory years between 1970 and 1990, as it became a staple of the emerging stadium rock and AOR radio and then MTV. From Schools Out to Smells Like Teen Spirit, these are the songs that were the soundtrack to teenage lives in the US and around the world, anthems that had people singing out loud with arms and lighters aloft. To track the emergence of this distinct American rock of the 70s and 80s, Huey Morgan narrates the story of some of the greatest American rock anthems including Schools Out, We're an American Band, Don't Fear the Reaper, Paradise by the Dashboard Light, Don't Stop Believin', I Love Rock n Roll, Eye of the Tiger, I Want to Know What Love Is, Livin' on a Prayer and Smells Like Teen Spirit. Contributors include: Alice Cooper, Dave Grohl, Butch Vig, Meat Loaf, Todd Rundgren, Richie Sambora, Blue Oyster Cult, Journey, Survivor, Toto and Foreigner.
#18 - The Firing Line, 2013
Season 2013 - Episode 233 - Aired 12/26/2013
Some of the most dramatic video of the year has been brought to us by freelance journalists covering hostile environments around the world. Firing Line pays tribute to an international field of nominees in the 2013 Rory Peck Awards.
#19 - MR James: Ghost Writer
Season 2013 - Episode 232 - Aired 12/25/2013
Mark Gatiss steps into the mind of MR James, the enigmatic English master of the supernatural story. How did this donnish Victorian bachelor, conservative by nature and a devout Anglican, come to create tales that continue to chill readers more than a century on? Mark attempts to uncover the secrets of James's inspiration, taking an atmospheric journey from James's childhood home in Suffolk to Eton, Cambridge and France, venturing into ancient churches, dark cloisters and echoing libraries along the way.
#20 - Peter Higgs: Scotland's Nobel Winner
Season 2013 - Episode 231 - Aired 4/17/2013
On December 10 2013, the Edinburgh-based Peter Higgs receives the Nobel Prize for Physics, 50 years after he predicted the existence of a sub-atomic particle which gives mass to all the matter in the universe. BBC Scotland's Science Correspondent Kenneth Macdonald tells the story of how this modest 84-year-old became a physics superstar, and speaks to those who have awarded the prize.
#21 - Tractors and Trophies: Scotland's Young Farmers
Season 2013 - Episode 230 - Aired 11/7/2013
Young farmers will compete at just about anything. From the coveted categories of stock judging and tug of war, to the dafter contests of pillow fighting and best decorated toilet - you name it, there's a trophy for it. This year the Scottish Association of Young Farmers Clubs celebrates it's 75th anniversary, and three ambitious young farmers attempt to make their mark in the farming world. Tractors and Trophies offers a unique insight into Scotland's Young Farmers Clubs, past and present, and reveals what's behind the social phenomenon that is Scotland's Young Farmers Club - a strange mixture of competition, dating agency, and rural university.
#22 - One Wild Winter in the Scottish Mountains
Season 2013 - Episode 229 - Aired 12/11/2013
The winter of 2012 was one of the coldest, longest and busiest on record in the Scottish mountains. It was also one of the deadliest, with 14 lives lost as extreme weather and a series of lethal avalanches hit the Highlands. Blending dramatic archive material and footage recorded by people who live, work and play in this environment, this film reveals what really happened on the mountains and shows how a major meteorological phenomenon helped shape what was truly a unique winter.
#23 - 2013: Moments in Time
Season 2013 - Episode 228 - Aired 12/20/2013
The story of 2013 told through the high-impact images of the year, exploring how photography has changed in the age of smartphones, social media and the selfie. From the helicopter crash in London to the bush fires in Tasmania and the Boston Marathon bombing, this was a year in which the best camera was the one you had in your hand and saw ordinary people taking some of the most striking pictures of 2013. Meeting photographers, news editors and members of the public who were in the right place at the right time, this film reveals how these extraordinary pictures were taken and argues that the image remains as powerful as ever in the modern world.
#24 - The Fir Tree
Season 2013 - Episode 227 - Aired 12/22/2013
Inspired by Hans Christian Anderson's fairytale, this remarkable Danish film tells the story of a Christmas tree from a most unusual angle - through the 'voice' of the tree itself. The tree has big ambitions, doing everything it can to grow so tall that it reaches the sky. Featuring extraordinary photography, the film follows the adventures of its life from sapling to maturity, culminating in a triumphal Christmas Day. Along the way, viewers experience the natural - and human - world from a strangely moving perspective.
#25 - The 12 Drinks of Christmas
Season 2013 - Episode 226 - Aired 12/19/2013
Brothers-in-law and drinking buddies Alexander Armstrong and Giles Coren choose the booze that will give them their Christmas spirit. From mulled wine and fizz, eggnog and sloe gin to brandy and Boxing Day hangover cures, together these 12 drinks are the festive selection pack that will ensure their family's Christmas is full of good cheer For Alexander Armstrong and Giles Coren Christmas is about enjoying time with their families. In their case, that means each other since they are brothers-in-law. Just like the rest of us, they spend much of the festive season indoors eating and drinking. Every year Britons spend over £10 billion on alcohol at Christmas. And every year, exactly what is drunk in the Armstrong-Coren family is the subject of some debate. Alexander is usually hosting and he likes to push the boat out, spoiling his guests with the finest booze he can get his hands on. Giles does not really see the point of splashing out on wine since everyone's already a bit squiffy by the time they sit down for lunch. As far as he is concerned a bottle or four of something cheaper would do just as well. This year Giles and Alexander intend to settle this controversy once and for all. They are going to put together their definitive Christmas selection pack. But theirs will not come in a net stocking with a cardboard Santa at the top. It will come in bottles. However, just like the traditional selection pack, overconsumption may cause nausea. They look for twelve different festive drinks they can agree on. Sometimes they find the winner in a category together, other times they champion different things. In some categories they source their contenders, in others they make their own creations from scratch. Together their festive dozen represents everything they need to ensure they are brimming over with the spirit of Christmas.