The BEST episodes of BBC Documentaries season 2020
Every episode of BBC Documentaries season 2020, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of BBC Documentaries season 2020!
Documentaries produced by or for the BBC.
#1 - My Mate's a Muslim
Season 2020 - Episode 92 - Aired 5/19/2020
Rapper Krept and vlogger Rumena are fasting for Ramadan and challenge their non-Muslim friends to join in. Can their mates make it through the day without food or water?
#2 - An Address by Her Majesty The Queen
Season 2020 - Episode 59 - Aired 4/6/2020
A special broadcast by Her Majesty the Queen to the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth in relation to the coronavirus outbreak
#3 - Plague Fiction
Season 2020 - Episode 159 - Aired 9/13/2020
In light of the COVID-19 global outbreak, Professor Laura Ashe takes a look back at the Black Plague of the 14th century, the deadliest pandemic in human history. Going from one of the earliest accounts of plague in 1347 through to Samuel Pepys's record of the Great Plague of London in the 1660s, Professor Ashe explores how literature helped us cope with fear and tragedy, the importance of bravery and personal sacrifice, and whether the words of the past can offer us the comfort and healing that we need now.
#4 - The Secret World of Japanese Bicycle Racing with Sir Chris Hoy
Season 2020 - Episode 64 - Aired 4/11/2020
Olympic icon Sir Chris Hoy heads to Japan, host of next year's Tokyo Games, to explore the Japanese phenomenon of the keirin, the most extreme and exciting event in track cycling. A test of controlled pacing then a tactical fight to the line, keirin is a sport in its own right in its country of origin, and is steeped in the history and rituals that make Japanese culture so unique. Attending keirin school is a once in a lifetime opportunity for international riders, and back in 2005, multiple Olympic gold medallist Sir Chris was one of the first Britons to be invited to savour the ultimate experience in the career of any track cyclist. He now makes a nostalgic return.
#5 - Noteworthy with Chris McQueer
Season 2020 - Episode 68 - Aired 4/14/2020
People may sometimes recognise the faces on our Scottish banknotes for the very reason that they feature on the money that we spend. However, apart from the usual suspects - such as Walter Scott, Robert Burns and Robert the Bruce - many of us have no idea who many of them are, or of their extraordinary impact on the world.
#6 - The Scran Van
Season 2020 - Episode 91 - Aired 5/19/2020
Chef Danny McLarenhits the road in his Scran Van and throws himself into the local nightlife around Scotland. His aim is to show how quick it can be to make your own food instead of grabbing a takeaway. His passion is cooking up food that’s cheap and absolutely rammed with flavour, dishes so easy you can throw them together at the end of a night out. However, as two revellers get the low-down from Danny on cooking up a storm, the big question is can Danny tempt them away from their favourite takeaway at the end of the night?
#7 - Killer Kicks
Season 2020 - Episode 90 - Aired 5/18/2020
The sneaker industry has tripled in the last ten years, accounting for almost half of global footwear sales, and every pair produced emits the same amount of C02 as a ten-mile drive.
#8 - Racism in the Ranks
Season 2020 - Episode 106 - Aired 6/10/2020
Reporter Callum Tulley investigates complaints of bullying, harassment and discrimination in the British Army that come disproportionately from ethnic minority soldiers
#9 - Viral: The 5G Conspiracy Theory
Season 2020 - Episode 118 - Aired 7/4/2020
How Covid-19 triggered the spread of a 5G conspiracy theory, firing it into mainstream British life and inspiring a new generation of believers.The idea that 5G could have health implications isn’t new. But, thanks to celebrities like Amir Khan and Eamonn Holmes, it spread further than ever before during lockdown.We speak to new converts to the anti-5G cause, as well as telecoms engineers who have been abused in the streets, police dealing with arson attacks, and activists on both sides. Where did this theory come from? How did it spread? And where will it end? The pandemic has converted many anti-5G activists to the anti-vaccination movement too.This is a story about how easy it is for disinformation to infect us all and how it has become particularly contagious in the coronavirus era
#10 - The Australian Dream
Season 2020 - Episode 139 - Aired 8/9/2020
The Australian Dream is a theatrical feature documentary that uses the remarkable and inspirational story of AFL legend Adam Goodes as the prism through which to tell a deeper and more powerful story about race, identity and belonging.
#11 - Shooting the Darkness
Season 2020 - Episode 205 - Aired 11/23/2020
Shooting the Darkness is a film about the men who unwittingly became photojournalists on the streets of their own towns. They did not leave home in search of war and adventure; the violence erupted around them. They expected a career of wedding photography and celebrity photocalls, and instead the images they produced during the worst years of the Troubles would come to define that conflict. The press photographer deals in single images that must distil story, character and context into a single frame. In the days before digital, a single click of the shutter at the right moment was all that mattered. What did it cost them to take those pictures? What was the value of those images as the conflict raged on for 25 years? Did they help Northern Ireland move beyond the cycle of violence, or did they just sell more newspapers? / / Shooting the Darkness features men who did not choose to go to war; the war happened around them in the streets of their home towns. The stories they were covering did not feature the unknown natives of a foreign land but their own neighbours, colleagues and countrymen. The victims and the perpetrators were often one and the same and, as the chaos deepened, it was impossible to say who were the good guys and who were the bad. / / The film focuses on a small number of photographers who witnessed the Troubles from their inception in 1968 until the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998
#12 - Free Will: Who Is Really in Charge of Our Minds?
Season 2020 - Episode 66 - Aired 4/13/2020
In this fascinating journey, Melissa Hogenboom considers whether or not we are in charge of our own decisions; from neuroscience to physics to how our understanding of free will impacts on our morality and the choices we make.
#13 - The Schoolgirl Who Helped to Win a War
Season 2020 - Episode 124 - Aired 7/11/2020
The untold story of 13-year-old Hazel Hill - and her crucial role in the design of the famous Spitfire and Hurricane fighter planes - in the run-up to the Battle of Britain.
#14 - Trump in Tweets
Season 2020 - Episode 121 - Aired 7/6/2020
Trump in Tweets examines how Trump used Twitter to change US politics. We learn why this technophobe became a serial tweeter and witness the impact his tweets have on the world.
#15 - Tutankhamun in Colour
Season 2020 - Episode 111 - Aired 6/18/2020
Oxford University Egyptologist Elizabeth Frood is our guide to the discovery of the tomb on 4 November 1922 by British Egyptologist Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon. It provided much-needed good news, following the Great War and the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1919 and we’ve been transfixed ever since. Uncovering detail not seen for a century, colourisation provides a fantastic insight into the artefacts themselves and the context that they were found in. From bringing to life the young Carter from an old family photo, documenting Egypt’s transformation during the Great War, to the great operation excavating the tomb and the grand revealing of Tutankhamun itself - colourisation will bring a new element of realism and incredible detail to this great moment in history, as if it were in front of us.
#16 - The Brewdog Story
Season 2020 - Episode 47 - Aired 3/23/2020
In 2007, two men and a dog set out to beat the behemoths of brewing. James Watt and Martin Dickie first met at Peterhead Academy in the northeast of Scotland and within 10 years the close friends turned their craft beer cottage industry into a global phenomenon. Today they employ over 2,000 people, and have opened over 100 bars globally from Japan to Australia and America, all from their base in Aberdeenshire. But their journey wasn’t smooth, and the business nearly went under until a supermarket competition changed their fortune. They faced negative press and grew through unconventional means. In 2018, they sold a 22% share to a private equity company, earning £50m each in the process. They are adamant they won’t sell out, but have the punks grown up to be just like the corporate giants they fought so hard against? With exclusive access – they tell us their own story from the beginning.
#17 - The 'Topless Tongan's' Tokyo Quest
Season 2020 - Episode 146 - Aired 8/22/2020
BBC Sport's Nick Hope visits Pita Taufatofua, the taekwondo fighter turned cross-country skier, in his homeland to learn about the Tongan's humble beginnings.
#18 - France '98 - The Three Musketeers
Season 2020 - Episode 112 - Aired 6/20/2020
Documentary tracing the contrasting fortunes of David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo at the 1998 World Cup.
#19 - Idris Elba Meets Paul McCartney
Season 2020 - Episode 217 - Aired 12/19/2020
In a world exclusive, two of the biggest names in entertainment come together for a very special one-off show: music legend Paul McCartney is interviewed by Golden Globe-winning actor Idris Elba. Recorded in London in December 2020, Idris talks to Paul about his peerless career as the most successful musician and composer in pop music history. Paul talks about his writing process, which has produced some of the best-loved and most performed songs ever. As a producer and musician himself, Idris is fascinated by the craft and joy that drives Paul’s remarkable and prolific output and wants to find out what inspires Paul to continue to innovate creatively, as he releases his 26th post-Beatles album, McCartney III, which features Paul playing every instrument and writing and recording every song.
#20 - Once Were Lions
Season 2020 - Episode 204 - Aired 11/21/2020
After over a decade in the wilderness, Rugby League's Great Britain Lions are back and on the road again. This documentary follows their tour of New Zealand and Papua New Guinea as they fight for their sporting future. From Rugby League's northern England heartlands to the exotic surroundings of Papua New Guinea, the tour provides a lens to examine the soul of a game with a proud past but uncertain fate, as well as issues such as masculinity in 21st Century Britain, class, friendship, ambition, loyalty and sacrifice. Through unseen archive, interviews and privileged actuality, the film highlights the most compelling aspects of Rugby League's rise, and explores how and why it has come to be synonymous with a way of life, all within the band-of-brothers framework of the reformed GB RL Lions' exploits down under.
#21 - Liverpool FC: The 30-Year Wait
Season 2020 - Episode 151 - Aired 8/30/2020
Jason Isaacs narrates the story of Liverpool's quest to return to the top of English football by winning the Premier League, with contributions from Jurgen Klopp, Michael Owen, John Henry and more.
#22 - Lombardy: Journey to Italy's Virus Heart
Season 2020 - Episode 113 - Aired 6/27/2020
The northern Italian region of Lombardy saw the first Coronavirus outbreak in Europe. Mark Lowen, who has reported on the story from the start, returns to ask what went wrong.
#23 - Athletics: How Dina and Kat Struck World Gold
Season 2020 - Episode 103 - Aired 5/31/2020
How Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Dina Asher-Smith won gold medals in the heptathlon and the 200m at the 2019 world championships in Doha.
#24 - The Price of Everything
Season 2020 - Episode 77 - Aired 4/27/2020
Documentary that explores the labyrinthine art world of the 21st century and examines both the place of art and artistic passion in our money-driven, consumer-based society.
#25 - Dana - The Original Derry Girl
Season 2020 - Episode 86 - Aired 5/11/2020
In 1970, an 18-year-old schoolgirl left the Bogside in Derry to represent Ireland in the 15th Eurovision Song Contest. What happened that night was to change her life forever. Dana - The Original Derry Girl is an emotional and honest look back at a girl’s incredible life story, retracing her steps to Amsterdam’s RAI theatre, where, against the odds, she became Ireland’s first Eurovision winner. At a time when the violent conflict of the Troubles was dominating the news, Rosemary Scallon, better known as Dana, became a national hero overnight. Studying for her A levels when she won, Dana was totally unprepared for the instant celebrity that followed and she recalls how the whirlwind of sudden success left her feeling lonely and isolated. The programme looks at the fascinating story of what happened she won the competition, including her successful pop and TV career in the 70s, her marriage to Newry hotelier Damien Scallon, her move to Alabama, her switch to religious music, including performances for the pope, before entering the spotlight of Irish politics. The highs and lows of her career are laid bare in a revealing, emotional interview. ‘Like in everybody’s life, there are the really hard things that happen. They either crush you completely or they make you stronger and I’m working on that.’ After some difficult years, Dana returned to music, recording a new album in Rome in 2018. This retrospective is an archive-rich trip down memory lane, with incredible access and an honest, and sometimes raw, look at her incredible career. With contributions from Derry Lindsay, Senator David Norris, Dave Fanning and many others, the programme ends with Dana joining local choirs on stage in the Guildhall Derry, where she performed as a young girl, to take part in a moving version of Derry Lindsay and Jackie Smith’s All Kinds of Everything, the song that won Eurovision. Asked what advice she would give to her 18-year-old self if she could travel back in tim