The BEST episodes of BBC Documentaries season 2014
Every episode of BBC Documentaries season 2014, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of BBC Documentaries season 2014!
Documentaries produced by or for the BBC.
#1 - Jumbo: The Plane that Changed the World
Season 2014 - Episode 35 - Aired 2/27/2014
Documentary about the development of the Boeing 747 jumbo jet. The 747 was a game changer; the airliner that revolutionised mass, cheap air travel. But the first, wide-bodied plane was (originally) intended as a stopgap to Boeing's now-abandoned supersonic jet. This is the remarkable, untold story of the jumbo, a billion-dollar gamble that pushed 1960s technology to the limits to create the world's most recognisable plane.
#2 - Genghis Khan
Season 2014 - Episode 98 - Aired 2/3/2014
He was a man who combined the savagery of a real-life Conan the Barbarian with the sheer tactical genius of Napoleon, a man from the outermost reaches of Asia whose armies ultimately stood poised to conquer Europe. His name was Genghis Khan. Today the name of Genghis Khan is synonymous with dark evil yet in his lifetime he was a heroic figure, a supreme strategist capable of eliciting total devotion from his warriors. He grew up in poverty on the harsh unforgiving steppe of Mongolia. From the murder of his father, the kidnap of his wife and the execution of his closest friend, he learned the lessons of life the hard way. So how did this outcast come to conquer an empire larger than the Roman Empire? And was Genghis Khan the brutal monster who ruthlessly slaughtered millions in his quest for power, or was he a brilliant visionary who transformed a rabble of warring tribes into a nation capable of world domination? Filmed entirely on location in Mongolia, the film tells the truth behind the legend that is Genghis Khan.
#3 - Neil Sedaka: King of Song
Season 2014 - Episode 26 - Aired 2/14/2014
Neil Sedaka is one of the most successful American singer-songwriters of the last century. A classically-trained musician, he won a scholarship to the Julliard School at the age of nine and four years later he embarked on a writing career that would see him create some of the most perfect pop songs of all time. Throughout his career, he wrote, recorded and sang a litany of instantly recognisable and memorable tunes, as well as delivering a string of hits as a songwriter for other artists. This documentary portrait film tells the story of Neil Sedaka's life and career, in which he had two distinct periods of success. Between 1958 and 1963 he sold over 25 million records, but then his career nose-dived after the Beatles and the British Invasion hit the USA. Leaving his homeland, he found success in the UK in the early 1970s and relaunched his career before returning to the US and achieving new stardom with songs like Solitaire and Laughter in the Rain. Neil gives great insight into how he created catchy classics like Calendar Girl, (Is This the Way to) Amarillo, Breaking Up Is Hard to Do, Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen and Stupid Cupid, amongst many others.
#4 - PQ17: An Arctic Convoy Disaster
Season 2014 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/2/2014
Jeremy Clarkson tells the dramatic story of the Arctic convoys of the Second World War, from Russia to the freezing Arctic Ocean. Accompanied by moving first hand testimony from the men who served on these convoys, Clarkson reveals the incredible hazards faced by members of the Merchant and Royal Navy who delivered vital war supplies via the Arctic to the Soviet Union: temperatures of minus 50 degrees, huge icebergs, colossal waves, not to mention German U-boats and the Luftwaffe. It is no wonder that Churchill described the Arctic Convoys as 'the worst journey in the world.'
#5 - Photographing Africa
Season 2014 - Episode 47 - Aired 3/10/2014
Photographer and film director Harry Hook, who grew up in the Sudan and Kenya and has been documenting life in Africa for 40 years, uses his images to tell a personal story as he crosses the continent to visit remote tribal groups. Harry tracks down five Samburu women he first photographed in Kenya 30 years ago. His aim is to give them a copy of their portrait and discover how their lives have changed over three decades. The search will be no small task - Samburuland covers an area the size of Wales and, as a semi-nomadic group, the women may well have moved great distances. During his search Harry witnesses a Lenkarna Lmuget, a once-in-a-decade coming-of-age ceremony for Samburu warriors, as they are initiated to become elders. There are not many parts of Africa where the lure of the city life is not felt. Harry ventures to isolated communities and encounters people living with one foot rooted in a rich cultural past, but who also embrace the here and now of contemporary Africa.
#6 - Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan
Season 2014 - Episode 85 - Aired 4/17/2014
Documentary featuring the work of stop-motion camera and special effects guru Ray Harryhausen. Including clips from Jason and the Argonauts and contributions from Peter Jackson, Nick Park, Phil Tippet, Peter Lord, Terry Gilliam, Dennis Muren, Rick Baker, John Landis, Ken Ralston, Guillermo Del Toro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Robert Zemeckis, James Cameron and Steven Spielberg.
#7 - Oscar Pistorius The Truth
Season 2014 - Episode 205 - Aired 9/15/2014
Reeva Steenkamp was shot dead on Valentines Day 2013 inside a toilet cubicle at Oscar Pistorius home. Pistorius insisted that he was innocent of the charge of premeditated murder, claiming he fired a gun in the mistaken belief that he was protecting both Reeva and himself against an intruder. The show follows a BBC team that flew to South Africa to talk to Reevas parents Barry and June Steenkamp as they prepared for the start of the trial in March 2014. Six months later as the trial reaches it's conclusion, Barry and June give their reaction to the judges verdict.
#8 - Cosmonauts: How Russia Won the Space Race
Season 2014 - Episode 218 - Aired 10/13/2014
When Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon in 1969, America went down in popular history as the winner of the space race. But that history is bunk. The real pioneers of space exploration were the Soviet cosmonauts. This remarkable feature-length documentary combines rare and unseen archive footage with interviews with the surviving cosmonauts to tell the fascinating and at times terrifying story of how the Russians led us into the space age.
#9 - Vets in the Disaster Zone
Season 2014 - Episode 100 - Aired 4/28/2014
Michael Mosley travels to the Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan to explore the disaster from a completely fresh perspective - looking at the animals caught up in the crisis and the specialist team of vets who have come to save their lives and those of the people who depend on them. Amid the devastation, Michael learns about the little-known work these expert vets do, both in the short term by providing immediate veterinary care to thousands of animals and in the long term, by using their skills to develop pioneering technology that could help save millions of animals the next time a disaster strikes. He discovers what motivates this team to travel to some of the most dangerous places on earth to help animals and encounters many of the challenges they face as they work against the clock to leave a lasting legacy behind.
#10 - The Science of D-Day
Season 2014 - Episode 131 - Aired 6/7/2014
Seventy years ago one of the greatest amphibious assaults in history was launched from here on the south coast of England. And within a matter of hours, 7000 vessels had landed 156,000 troops on the beaches of Normandy. It was a manoeuvre that changed the course of the war and tested innovations in science and engineering for the first time. On this programme, engineer Rob Bell looks at the nuts and bolts which made such a staggering invasion possible. From giant troop carrying gliders to tanks that could drive on water. How necessity really did become the mother of invention. Like all new inventions - not all of them worked and resulted in devastating consequences. We find out why. This is the science of D-Day.
#11 - David Beckham Into the Unknown
Season 2014 - Episode 132 - Aired 6/9/2014
After 22 years playing for the world's greatest football teams, David Beckham has retired. For the first time in his adult life he has freedom to do whatever he wants and to mark the occasion he's going on an adventure. He's chosen Brazil, and he's taking three of his closest friends to join him on this once in a lifetime experience. Starting with beach footvolley in Rio, the friends travel deep into the Amazon, ending up with the remote Yanonami tribe, with David desperately trying to explain the beautiful game
#12 - Jimi Hendrix: The Road to Woodstock
Season 2014 - Episode 24 - Aired 1/10/2014
The definitive documentary record of one of Jimi Hendrix's most celebrated performances, now digitally remastered and featuring footage never seen on television before. It includes such signature songs as Purple Haze, Voodoo Child (Slight Return) and his rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, as well as interviews with Woodstock promoter Michael Lang and Hendrix band members Mitch Mitchell, Billy Cox, Larry Lee and Juma Sultan among others.
#13 - Tales from the Royal Wardrobe with Lucy Worsley
Season 2014 - Episode 149 - Aired 7/7/2014
Today, few people's clothes attract as much attention as the royal family, but this is not a modern-day Hello magazine-inspired obsession. As Dr Lucy Worsley reveals, it has always been this way. Exploring the royal wardrobes of our kings and queens over the last 400 years, Lucy shows this isn't just a public preoccupation, but our monarchs' as well. From Elizabeth I to our present queen, Lucy believes that the royal wardrobe's significance goes way beyond the cut and colour of the clothing and that royal fashion is and has always been regarded as their personal statement to their people. So most monarchs have carefully choreographed every aspect of their wardrobe and, for those who have not, there have sometimes been calamitous consequences.
#14 - The Birth of Empire: The East India Company
Season 2014 - Episode 298 - Aired 7/17/2014
The Birth of Empire: The East India Company - Learning Zone Dan Snow looks at the rise and fall of the East India Company in this version of the BBC Two series made specially for schools. Just over 400 years ago, a group of London merchants arrived on the Indian coast. Over the course of 200 years, the company they formed grew into a commercial titan. Its wealth rivalled that of the British state. The East India Company had its own army and eventually ruled over 400 million people. Its trade was vital to Britain's commercial success and it revolutionised the British lifestyle. By accident, it created one of the most powerful empires in history. But the company's rise was followed by a dramatic fall into profiteering and corruption. Unchecked greed led to devastating consequences.
#15 - Rhod Gilbert vs Kilimanjaro
Season 2014 - Episode 270 - Aired 12/9/2014
Rhod Gilbert faces the toughest challenge of his life when he attempts to climb Kilimanjaro. Together with celebrities, comedians and fundraisers, Rhod sets out into some of the worst weather conditions experienced on the infamous African mountain. Rhod attempts to overcome a chronic lack of fitness to complete the challenge, while shooting his own film of this extraordinary adventure.
#16 - Tutankhamun: The Truth Uncovered
Season 2014 - Episode 229 - Aired 10/26/2014
What killed King Tutankhamun? Ever since his spectacular tomb was discovered, the boy king has been the most famous pharaoh of all ancient Egypt. But his mysterious death, at just 19 years old, has never been explained. In this BBC One special, presenter Dallas Campbell reveals new scientific research and carries out unique experiments to get to the truth. For the first time, a virtual autopsy of Tut's mummified body reveals astonishing secrets about the pharaoh. Using CT scan data, the programme creates the first ever full size, scientifically accurate image of the real Tutankhamun. Brand new DNA analysis uncovers a shocking secret about Tut's family background, and the genetic trail of clues leads to a radical and revolutionary new theory to explain Tut's sudden and unexpected death. This is an epic detective story that uncovers the extraordinary truth of the boy behind the golden mask.
#17 - Swastika over Wales?
Season 2014 - Episode 210 - Aired 8/19/2014
On a clear Autumn day in 1938, the Nazi flag was raised over Cardiff City Hall - a startling reminder of the respect, even admiration, that some in Wales felt towards Hitler. This story of political intrigue and espionage reveals how the Third Reich tried to exploit an ambivalence that stretched across the Welsh political spectrum. But ultimately the Germans' belief that they could recruit the Welsh to their cause would prove fatally damaging - not to Wales, but to the Nazis themselves.
#18 - Gunpowder 5/11: The Greatest Terror Plot
Season 2014 - Episode 228 - Aired 10/22/2014
For the first time, the inner secrets of the gunpowder plotters are dramatised using the actual words of their most senior captured leader Thomas Wintour, Guy Fawkes and state interrogators investigating the 18-month conspiracy in which a family circle of militant Catholic gentlemen tried to blow up King and Parliament. Wintour's insider account of this epic tale of faith, fanaticism, persecution and betrayal is told in detail, from his recruitment of both Fawkes and his own brother, to his capture in a dramatic siege and bloody shoot out on November 8th. The hopes, fears and plans for a Midlands rebellion, royal kidnap, the plotters' penetration of the King's bodyguard and Fawkes' attendance, sword in hand, at a wedding attended by the King in December 1604 are shown, as well as a dramatisation of the thrilling, forgotten story of the final days after 5/11 as the conspirators are hunted down and then face the terrible punishments reserved for traitors.
#19 - Dan Cruickshank and the Family That Built Gothic Britain
Season 2014 - Episode 227 - Aired 10/20/2014
As good as any Dickens novel, this is the triumphant and tragic story of the greatest architectural dynasty of the 19th century. Dan Cruickshank charts the rise of Sir George Gilbert Scott to the very heights of success, the fall of his son George Junior and the rise again of his grandson Giles It is a story of architects bent on a mission to rebuild Britain. From the Romantic heights of the Midland Hotel at St Pancras station to the modern image of Bankside power station (now Tate Modern), this is the story of a family that shaped the Victorian age and left a giant legacy.
#20 - Schama on Rembrandt: Masterpieces of the Late Years
Season 2014 - Episode 226 - Aired 10/18/2014
Icarus-like, Rembrandt flew ever higher towards the sun - the most successful artist in the richest city on earth, 17th-century Amsterdam. He lived like a prince and he loved living like a prince. But when his fall came - deep into bankruptcy and scandal, poverty and unfashionability - far from destroying him, it took him to new creative heights and a sense of humanity and the human condition that speaks more directly to us today than Rembrandt in his heyday. Simon Schama celebrates the masterpieces of the last years to coincide with the National Gallery's major exhibition on late Rembrandt.
#21 - Swap My Council House
Season 2014 - Episode 225 - Aired 10/14/2014
Swap My Council House charts the growing phenomenon of the mutual exchange - where social housing tenants simply swap their homes in order to move house. Since the introduction of the spare room subsidy or so-called bedroom tax last year, there has been a massive upsurge in the number of tenants needing to move. And many of them are resorting to swapping to downsize, upsize, or build a new life hundreds of miles away. But just how easy is it to swap? We follow five groups and families who are hoping to move, to reveal first hand the truth about home swapping. Devon cabbie Cheryl McCarthy and her family are about to complete a 300-mile swap from Plymouth to Eccles, Greater Manchester - she thinks Manchester will provide a better life for her children. Cheryl is swapping homes with Jeni Burdett and partner Keith Ainger who want to live closer to the sea. Claire Webb and her family are involved in a rather more complicated three-way swap. But will a faulty electrical inspection scupper the whole move? Some tenants live in homes no-one fancies swapping to. Francis Harris from Vange needs to downsize as a matter of urgency as she can't afford the spare room tax, but sadly there's no queue of potential swappers for Vange, a former mining village near Basildon. And former model and actress Jenny Rainbird, who wants to upsize to a two-bedroom in Wimbledon, is also stuck - her one-bed flat in leafy Epson is proving hard to swap - possibly because it's painted bright pink throughout. And while some tenants are stuck in seemingly unswappable homes, others can't stop swapping - we meet Jane Martin who has moved from one council house to another 18 times.
#22 - Swallowed By The Sea: Ancient Egypt's Greatest Lost City
Season 2014 - Episode 224 - Aired 10/15/2014
Documentary following a team of maritime archaeologists as they uncover the remarkable city of Heracleion, lost to the sea and forgotten for over two thousand years. In the fading days of the pharaohs, the city of Heracleion was the gateway to Egypt and a port beyond compare. In the 4th century BC, this was an opulent and prosperous place adorned with statues and sphinxes. It was a city of religious significance and home to the temple of Amun. In the 2nd century BC it was wiped off the face of the earth. In a mysterious subsidence, the coastline dropped by over 20ft and Heracleion was consumed by the sea. The lost city slept for centuries beneath the waters of the Mediterranean. In 2000, archaeologists made an incredible find. Using ancient texts, they discovered the city's remains six kilometres off the Egyptian coast and only 10 metres underwater. Pristinely preserved, it is an archaeological jewel - an ancient Egyptian city frozen in time. The glorious temples, statues, houses and boats of the cities lie perfectly preserved by the sea, providing a snapshot of ancient Egyptian life. But many mysteries remain. What caused this sacred city to plunge into the sea? And why did its inhabitants deliberately sink over 65 ancient warships?
#23 - The Spaceman of Afghanistan
Season 2014 - Episode 223 - Aired 10/12/2014
In 1988 the first and only Afghan astronaut, Ahad Momand, went into space. He spent a week on the Russian space station Mir and was welcomed back a hero. But civil war tore his country apart and Ahad fled with his family to Germany. A quarter of a century later, with his country still suffering violence, Ahad now wants to revisit his historic space mission. He travels first to Moscow, where he relives the joys and dangers of his flight, before returning to Afghanistan hoping to inspire a new generation of Afghans by telling his story once more.
#24 - Danny MacAskill - Riding the Ridge
Season 2014 - Episode 222 - Aired 10/10/2014
'Riding the Ridge' is a documentary following Scottish cycling star Danny MacAskill as he attempts to create an incredible new viral film on and around one of the most dramatic mountain ranges in Scotland, the Black Cuillin in Skye. Danny and his film crew spent ten days on the shoot, enduring long treks and tricky terrain, all in a bid to capture Danny performing in this most thrilling and challenging environment.
#25 - Ceasefire
Season 2014 - Episode 221 - Aired 9/1/2014
On the 20th anniversary of the 1994 ceasefires in Northern Ireland, this documentary explores the background to those momentous events and the tragic human cost of the final months of the Troubles.