Social & External
The people behind it
Kari Heiskanen
Self / Host
The three part series explores the presidency, policies and long term impact of Ronald Reagan's two terms in office. The series includes notable members of Reagan's team as well as many who opposed his policies. Interview subjects include Walter Mondale, Condoleezza Rice, Sandra Day O'Connor, Andrew Young, Robert Reich, Bud McFarlane, George Shultz, Reza Aslan, Trita Parsi, Douglas Brinkley, Svetlana Savranskaya, Oscar Arias and others.
Taking viewers back to the Atomic Age of the mid-20th century by going on a mission to identify the endless possibilities of atoms as an energy source.
Montagu, Garbo, Fuchs, Penkovsky... they were the greatest spies of the twentieth century. Through analysis of declassified documents, archives, reconstructions, and interviews, “Spies of War” offers you a glimpse into the minds and methods of undercover operatives. Discover the tactics for transmitting top secret information. See how one man assumed 24 identities to simulate the existence of a spy ring. Witness how scientists provided the USSR with ultra-confidential plans for the atomic bomb.
A chronicle of John F. Kennedy's life, including his youth, ascension into politics, presidency, and his lasting impact on history.
How did the Soviet Union impose its communist ideology on the countries of Central and Eastern Europe after World War II? The story of how, from 1945 until the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, these countries were gradually subjected to the totalitarian Soviet yoke.
In the aftermath of the Second World War, relations between the former allied eastern and western powers deteriorated fast. Suddenly, the small island nation found itself in the midst of the ensuing “cold-war”, which it used to its full benefit to catapult into the modern world. A founding member of the NATO alliance, Iceland provided an important base for forward operations in protection of NATO’s northern flank and Scandinavia and the approaches to North America by U.S. and allied forces.
The story of this fantastic period of history between 1945 and 1991, which was defined by the confrontation of two worlds and two systems. The capitalist West, dominated by the ever-powerful United States, is pitted against the Communist East, the Soviet Empire.
Pandora's Box is a six-part 1992 BBC documentary television series which examines the consequences of political and technocratic rationalism. The episodes deal, in order, with communism in The Soviet Union, systems analysis and game theory during the Cold War, economy in the United Kingdom during the 1970s, the insecticide DDT, Kwame Nkrumah's leadership in Ghana during the 1950s and 1960s and the history of nuclear power.
The story of an empire: From its founding in 1922 to its dissolution in 1991, the Soviet Union was shaped by revolutionary idealism, but also by oppression and decay. The USSR evolved from Stalinist terror through the Thaw under Khrushchev to political processes such as glasnost and perestroika under Gorbachev. Finally, in 1991, it collapsed.
328 / 5 000 The Kremlin's strategy consists of infiltrating places of power throughout Europe and securing the services of more or less lucid personalities, more or less aware of what is going on.
Hell Below is an event-based series charting the stealth game of sub sea warfare, tracking the dramatic narrative from contact to attack of the greatest submarine patrols of World War II. From the rise of the Wolfpack to the drive for victory in the Pacific, we profile the strategic masterminds and the rapid evolution of technology and tactics, as the threat of undersea warfare brings every sailor's worst nightmare to life. Expert analysis and stock footage are woven with narrative driven re-enactments filmed on authentic Second World War era submarines to place the characters at the heart of the action.
With firsthand accounts and access to prominent figures around the world, this comprehensive docuseries explores the Cold War and its aftermath.
Communism spread to all of the continents of the word, lasting through four generations and over seven decades. Hundreds of millions of men and women were affected by this political system, one of the most unjust and bloodiest in history. Using newly discovered propaganda films and archival photos, these four episodes explore the mysteries of this totalitarian political machine that lured its share of important followers into the fold. Known as the red church, communism seduced its ardent followers like some earthly religion.
Mount Kologet, Goldsboro, Palomares, Thule… Four nuclear accidents, four stains on the history of the Cold War. Four names that are now forgotten. These events lay undiscovered for years having been classified as official secrets. Now published, the files show how the relentless standoff between the two superpowers spiraled out of control and led us to the brink of obliteration.
Spy Web: International Espionage uncovers some of the most fascinating spying and espionage stories of the 20th century.
Featuring revealing interviews with survivors speaking publicly for the first time, alongside rare insight into the CIA and Soviet responses, this series exposes a web of secrecy, miscalculation, and human cost. Astonishing new footage from inside the nuclear exclusion zone reveals how this scarred landscape is once again under siege as war encroaches on one of the most dangerous places on Earth.
Expert analysis and dramatic storytelling of recent crime stories.
Don Wildman unearths relics from the world's greatest institutions to reveal secrets from the past. He examines each artifact to illuminate history's most incredible triumphs, sensational crimes and bizarre encounters.
Explores WWII from Germany's invasion of Poland through the atomic age, examining pivotal battles, wartime leaders like Churchill and Roosevelt, and the human cost of total war.
Infographics and archival footage deliver bite-size history lessons on scientific breakthroughs, social movements and world-changing discoveries.
American Masters is a PBS television series which produces biographies on enduring writers, musicians, visual and performing artists, dramatists, filmmakers, and others who have left an indelible impression on the cultural landscape of the United States.
Maritime mysteries—old and new—come to life in this series, combining scientific data and digital re-creations to reveal shipwrecks, treasures, and sunken cities on the bottom of lakes, seas and oceans around the world.
Honoring service members whose courage merited the awarding of a Medal of Honor, this docudrama series re-creates their inspiring true stories.
An in-depth look at the history and pop cultural significance of horror films.
Through the prism of Jeff Goldblum's always inquisitive and highly entertaining mind, nothing is as it seems. Each episode is centered around something we all love — like sneakers or ice cream — as Jeff pulls the thread on these deceptively familiar objects and unravels a wonderful world of astonishing connections, fascinating science and history, amazing people, and a whole lot of surprising big ideas and insights.
Investigates a wide range of historically compelling topics and the mysteries surrounding each including the Titanic, D.B. Cooper, Roswell, John Wilkes Booth, and more. Fresh, new evidence and perspectives will be showcased, such as never-before-released documents, personal diaries and DNA evidence.
Morgan Freeman presents his quest in order to find how most religions perceive life after death, what different civilizations thought about the act of creation and other big questions that mankind has continuously asked.
TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.
Doctor Who Confidential is a documentary to complement the revival of the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Each episode was broadcast on BBC Three on Saturdays, immediately after the broadcast of the weekly television episode on BBC One. The running time of the first two series was 30 minutes, being extended to 45 minutes in the third. BBC Three also broadcast a cut-down edition of the programme, lasting 15 minutes, shown after the repeats on Sundays and Fridays and after the weekday evening repeats of earlier seasons.
Explore the surprising things we know (and don’t know) about why people are the way they are through expert interviews, rare footage from historical experiments, and brand-new, ground-breaking demonstrations of human nature at work.
In this true-crime documentary, a cult expert and filmmaker infiltrate a polygamist sect to expose a self-proclaimed prophet and bring him to justice.
Actor, model, and global superstar Brooke Shields’ journey from a sexualized young girl to a woman who embraces her identity and voice.
The epic motorcycle adventure continues in this third chapter of the Long Way series, as Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman journey to glorious landscapes across South and Central America—on the backs of prototype electric Harley-Davidsons.
The team behind Frozen II open their doors to cameras for a six-part documentary series to reveal the hard work, heart, and collaboration it takes to create one of the most highly-anticipated films in Walt Disney Animation Studios’ near-century of moviemaking. Cameras were there to capture an eye-opening - and at times jaw-dropping - view of the challenges and the breakthroughs, the artistry, creativity and the complexity of creating the #1 animated feature of all time.
The spy game is a serious business, and throughout history, the tools and technologies developed for it have mattered as much as the spies themselves.
30 for 30 is the title for a series of documentary films airing on ESPN, its sister networks, and online highlighting interesting people and events in sports history. This currently includes four "volumes" of 30 episodes each, a 13-episode series under the ESPN Films Presents title in 2011–2012, and a series of 30 for 30 Shorts shown through the ESPN.com website. The series has also expanded to include Soccer Stories, which aired in advance of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and audio podcasts. This entry refers to the main Volumes of the series presented by ESPN