The WORST episodes of Channel 4 (UK) Documentaries

#1 - Opus Dei and the Da Vinci code

Season 2005 - Episode 24 - Aired 12/12/2005

#2 - D-Day: The King Who Fooled Hitler

Season 2019 - Episode 18 - Aired 5/5/2019

In a tale of double agents and decoys, this documentary reveals, for the first time, the story of King George VI's elaborate ruse to divert German attention away from the Normandy landings in 1944

#3 - The Curry House Kid

Season 2019 - Episode 17 - Aired 4/29/2019

At their height there were 12,000 curry houses in Britain, the vast majority run by Bangladeshi immigrants. Akram Khan's father was one of them, and he expected his son to inherit the family business. But Akram had other ideas: he wanted to dance. Now he's one of the world's leading dancers and choreographers. This film sees Akram return to the curry houses of his childhood, meeting the chefs who created this culinary institution in the face of hostility and, often, violent racism. Exploring their stories of immigration, this effortlessly global artist comes face to face with his own past, his family history and the reasons why he became a dancer. All of this is woven into a poetic new piece of dance that tells a universal story - the immigrant experience in Britain.

#4 - Inside Jaguar: A Supercar is Reborn

Season 2019 - Episode 16 - Aired 4/27/2019

Car enthusiast Mark Evans is witness to the resurrection from scratch of the XKSS, a legendary lost supercar from the 1950s and one of the most sought after cars in the world.

#5 - Britain's Viking Graveyard

Season 2019 - Episode 15 - Aired 4/21/2019

A mass Viking grave has been found in a Derbyshire garden. It reveals the extraordinary stories of female Viking warriors and new evidence of a massive military encampment.

#6 - The Massacre That Shook the Empire

Season 2019 - Episode 14 - Aired 4/13/2019

Writer Sathnam Sanghera explores the events leading up to 1919's Jallianwala Bagh massacre, in which hundreds of peaceful protesters in Amritsar, India, were gunned down by British troops. Sathnam explores the profound implications of the massacre on modern attitudes to the British Empire, and travels to Punjab to meet descendants of the survivors.

#7 - The Escort Agency

Season 2006 - Episode 22 - Aired 8/9/2006

#8 - Torture: The Guantanamo Guidebook

Season 2005 - Episode 25 - Aired 2/28/2005

Guantanamo Guidebook films seven British volunteers - three Muslims and four white Britons - locked up in a makeshift detention center at a warehouse in east London as they are subjected for over a period of 48 hours to a range of torture techniques known to be used at the Guantanamo Bay by US interrogation experts, Reuters said. The show, produced by the Production company Twenty, is seeking answers on whether the torture methods applied by US investigators at the US navy base in Cuba, Iraq and Afghanistan can be justified in efforts to combat terrorism. We want the viewers to watch techniques that we know are used at Guantanamo and really to raise questions about whether torture is justified and if it works and what does it say about our values as a western society, a spokesman for the British station told Agence France Presse (AFP) Tuesday, on condition of anonymity.

#9 - Can I Improve My Memory?

Season 2019 - Episode 13 - Aired 3/22/2019

Fashion guru Gok Wan, reality TV star Joey Essex and veteran presenter Valerie Singleton each want to improve their memories, so accept the challenge of a unique contest in which they must memorise hundreds of facts. The aim of the competition is to encourage them to master new memory techniques taught by world memory grandmaster Mark Channon. Gok Wan learns the periodic table. Valerie Singleton studies UK grime artists. And Joey Essex swats up on William the Conqueror. Whose memory comes out on top?

#10 - Skeletons of the Mary Rose: The New Evidence

Season 2019 - Episode 12 - Aired 3/17/2019

A unique, cutting-edge scientific investigation reveals surprising new information about the crew of Henry VIII's favourite warship, redefining what we thought we knew about Tudor England.

#11 - Ice Age: Return of the Mammoth

Season 2019 - Episode 11 - Aired 3/3/2019

In the wilds of northern Siberia, a team of international scientists search for the frozen remains of long extinct beasts. Could their findings lead to the return of the woolly mammoth?

#12 - The Great San Francisco Earthquake

Season 2006 - Episode 23 - Aired 1/28/2006

In April 1906, San Francisco was destroyed by earthquake and fire. Thousands were killed, and tens of thousands were left homeless. But three years later the city had been rebuilt. This film looks at the destruction and rebirth of San Francisco, and how this great natural disaster became a part of American folklore. Here is a spectacular and highly emotional account of this unforgettable event.

#13 - The Secrets of the 12 Disciples

Season 2008 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/23/2008

In The Secrets of the Twelve Disciples, broadcast in Easter 2008, Beckford explored Paul the Apostle's role in founding the Church and his relationship with Jesus' family; the Roman Catholic Church's claim to Saint Peter; Thomas the Apostle's travels to India; James, son of Zebedee as a patron saint of Spain; the demonisation of Judas Iscariot; and female Apostles.

#14 - Three Identical Strangers

Season 2019 - Episode 10 - Aired 2/28/2019

This feature-length documentary tells the astonishing true story of three men - Robert Shafran, Edward Galland and David Kellman - who make the chance discovery, at the age of 19, that they are identical triplets, who were separated at birth and adopted by three different sets of parents within a 100-mile radius of each other in New York State. The trio's joyous reunion catapults them to fame: they became instant media sensations, open up an A-list New York restaurant and even appear in a movie with Madonna. But the brothers' discovery also sets in motion a chain of events that unearths an extraordinary and disturbing secret that goes far beyond their own lives: a secret that might one day answer key questions at the heart of all human behaviour.

#15 - Sleeping with the Far Right

Season 2019 - Episode 9 - Aired 2/21/2019

Extremist attitudes are on the rise throughout the Western world. In a bid to understand why, broadcaster Alice Levine is spending a week living with British nationalist Jack Sen, his wife of Ukrainian heritage, their young daughter, and Jack's mother - whose hero is Donald Trump. As a liberal who embraces diversity and tolerance, Alice aims to understand why Jack holds the views he does and attempts to dig deeper into what leads people to fanaticism. Jack, a nationalist activist who uses the internet to spread his message, stood for election as a UKIP MP, but was expelled from the party for sending tweets considered anti-Semitic to Labour MP Luciana Berger.

#16 - 100 Vaginas

Season 2019 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/19/2019

Documentary artist Laura Dodsworth photographs women and hears their intimate, shocking, moving, powerful or funny stories about how their vaginas have shaped their lives

#17 - The First Brit: The 10,000 Year Old Man

Season 2018 - Episode 9 - Aired 2/18/2018

This documentary follows an ambitious project that uses cutting-edge DNA analysis to accurately recreate the face of Britain's oldest complete skeleton, Cheddar Man.

#18 - Teachers Training to Kill

Season 2019 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/4/2019

In a remote training camp in Butler County, Ohio, we meet school teachers who are learning how to shoot and, if necessary, kill. This documentary explores the heated and divisive debate around how best to protect pupils, as schools prepare for gun attacks and school boards in America seriously consider arming their teachers. The film follows a group of teachers who attend 'Faster', one of America's most controversial summer schools, where teachers are trained to use guns, deal with potential school shooting scenarios and, if the situation demands it, kill. Included is the Trump-supporting local sheriff, who is so passionate about arming teachers that he puts billboards up in town to persuade the community to get onside.

#19 - Arrivals

Season 2018 - Episode 58 - Aired 12/28/2018

An insight into the lives of some of the thousands of people passing through the Heathrow airport arrivals halls, featuring captivating stories told by passengers and their waiting loved ones.

#20 - Superkids: Breaking Away from Care

Season 2018 - Episode 56 - Aired 11/28/2018

Lemn Sissay meets seven young people who are in the care of their council and sets out to help them express their experiences through words and perform them to a packed theatre of decision-makers

#21 - The World's Most Expensive Presents

Season 2017 - Episode 107 - Aired 11/12/2017

Gold-plated bikes, £40,000 ball gowns for dogs, million-dollar watches... This programme goes behind closed doors to meet the craftsmen and women who make lavish gifts for the world's richest people.

#22 - Hardcore

Season 2001 - Episode 15 - Aired 4/7/2001

Hard hitting documentary about an English girl trying to break into the American pornography industry to support her daughter.

#23 - Warriors of Rome: Race to the Death

Season 2019 - Episode 29 - Aired 7/6/2019

Documentary exploring new discoveries about chariot racing in ancient Rome, exploring how influential the sport was in Roman culture. While charioteers are still among some of the best-paid sports stars in history, the stakes were particularly high, with riots provoked by the results of races and curses employed to influence the outcome. The documentary follows a team attempting to reconstruct a racing chariot and take it round a test track, and uncovers the story of the slave who became Rome's most successful driver.

#24 - George Clarke's Council House Scandal

Season 2019 - Episode 38 - Aired 7/31/2019

George Clarke embarks on a campaign to kick start a housing revolution, and attempts to uncover the reasons behind the steep decline in affordable council house building. George meets visionary architects of the past, and visits the best and worst examples of housing on offer, and a trip to Vienna - where social housing can come with indoor and outdoor pools - proves inspirational for his housing vision for the future. Back in the UK, George challenges government to reform housing policy, before taking matters into his own hands on his campaign to kick start a new wave of council house building.

#25 - Lifers

Season 2012 - Episode 78 - Aired 6/18/2012

Every year in Britain, more than 600 people commit murder. The majority of these killers will eventually be sent to Gartree Prison in Leicester, which is home to Europe's largest population of life-sentenced prisoners. A brand new Cutting Edge documentary filmed over six months at HMP Gartree now provides an unprecedented insight into the lives of convicted killers facing a lifetime behind bars. These men will die in prison unless they can convince the authorities they have changed and are no longer a risk to society. With unique access to Gartree's cells, landings, segregation unit and visiting rooms, Lifers explores the everyday realities of prison life for those convicted of murder. The documentary examines the psychological impact of killing, following prisoners as they try to come to terms with what they've done, with varying degrees of remorse and contrition. Unlike regular prisoners, lifers do not have a fixed release date - after serving a minimum term behind bars (set by the trial judge), they will only be set free if they can prove that they are no longer a danger to the public. Lifers explores the behavioural courses and psychological interventions that convicted killers are expected to undergo as part of their rehabilitation. The film follows this process through to the parole board, where a team of independent experts must make the difficult decision of whether a prisoner is safe to be released back into the public or must remain behind bars for the foreseeable future.