Channel Four (Great Britain)

Picking up from this winter's Costa Concordia disaster and looking both back to the Titanic disaster a century ago, and into the future of sea travel, Nova looks at questions about cruise ship safety and the science of the ships' buoyancy.

Ernest Shackleton put out an ad requesting: Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success. The 27 men who joined his expedition found that Shackleton was true to his word. This is the true story of their extraordinary ordeal, and the death-defying, 800-mile journey in an open boat across the world₂s worst seas that made...

Chronicles the rise and fall of one of the most extreme civilizations the world has ever seen, a civilization originally founded on discipline, sacrifice, and frugality, where the onus was put on the collective and the goal was to create the "perfect" state and the "perfect" warrior. Classical historian Bettany hughes revals the secrets and complexities of everyday Spartan life: homosexuality was compulsory, money was outlawed, equality was enforced,...

Goes inside the largest animals on the planet to explore their anatomy, reveal their intricate inner workings and uncover their evolutionary secrets. In this episode, veterinary scientist Mark Evans and comparative anatomist Joy Reidenberg dissect a lion and tiger. On the outside, the animals look very different; but once their skins are removed, even the experts find it hard to distinguish the two.

Just how good were the good old days? Travel back in time with the Bowler family, smitten by the idea of experiencing the Victorian lifestyle right down to corsets, chamber pots and cutthroat razors, as they turn back the calendar to spring of 1900. Their eye-opening experiences of the grueling demands of a bygone era help them to understand another era with an exceptional clarity and a unique perspective.

A world scoop about the deception which fooled Hitler about the Normandy landings of 1944. In a tale of double agents and decoys, the investigation reveals, for the first time, the identity of the most secret of them all: George VI, as well as how the royal family managed to lose one of Britain's greatest secrets.

This documentary looks not only at how his talent, style and imagination have shaped all of our lives, but also at the influences that shaped and molded the man himself. Through interviews with the people who worked closely with him or chronicled his life, we gain unique insight into what made him tick. In a never before broadcast, exclusive interview, Steve Jobs expounds his own philosophy of life, and offers advice to us all on changing our own...

In August, 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton, renowned explorer set sail with 27 men on his ship The Endurance. His plan was to be the first expedition to cross the Antarctic continent. Marooned on four feet of ice, in over 8,000 feet deep water, Shackleton and his crew survived some 635 days and nights, without proper shelter or rations, enduring the harshest conditions imaginable.

"Anders Østergaard's...documentary... is a rare and exceptional look into the 2007 uprising in Burma (Myanmar) where 100,000 people, including thousands of Buddhist monks, peacefully took to the streets to protest the country's repressive regime that has held them hostage for over forty years. During the uprising, the military turned their guns on the peaceful protestors, and blood spilled in the streets. Foreign news reporters were banned and the...

Produced by Granada Television in their Manchester studios for transmission by the then fledgling Channel Four, this video production of King Lear is the timeless tale of avarice and lust for power in which a foolish king descends into madness after he divides his vast kingdom between two of his three daughters based on their flattery of him, unleashing a conspiracy of greed and cruelty and bringing tragic consequences for all.