Plots of Freedom – The Cry of Samba for Democracy

Enredos da Liberdade – O Grito do Samba Pela Democracia is a Brazilian documentary series available on Globoplay that delves into the pivotal role of samba schools during Brazil's transition from military dictatorship to democracy in the 1980s. Spanning five episodes, the series showcases how samba-enredo compositions became powerful tools of political resistance, addressing themes like censorship, economic hardship, and racial inequality. Through rare archival footage and interviews with prominent figures such as Martinho da Vila, Leci Brandão, and Rosa Magalhães, the documentary highlights the creative defiance of these cultural institutions. Each episode concludes with a reimagined performance of a significant samba, featuring artists like Teresa Cristina and Mart’nália, underscoring the enduring impact of these musical expressions in Brazil's democratic journey.

The Dictator's Playbook

Learn how six dictators, from Mussolini to Saddam Hussein, shaped the 20th century. How did they seize and lose power? What forces were against them? Learn the answers in these six immersive hours, each a revealing portrait of brutality and power.

Tehran Confidential

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or IRGC is the protector of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the military arm of the Supreme Leader. Also known as the Pasdaran, this deep-state mafia comprising 120,000 men has extensive powers, ensuring bloody repression of the people. No strangers to smuggling and trafficking, the IRGC’s economic empire is worth hundreds of billions of dollars. The Supreme Leader Khomeini has allowed the organization to infiltrate the state and its members are now mayors, members of parliament and ministers, cultivating their networks at the highest levels. The IRGC is responsible for Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs, and cultivates not only the art of deterrence, but also a strategy of asymmetrical warfare via the militias and terrorist organizations they finance, arm, and control across the Middle East.

Verbotenes Begehren

Stalin

Three years in the making, this comprehensive study of the Soviet dictator blends documentary footage and interviews with experts and surviving witnesses.

Mussolini: The First Fascist

Mussolini seized power in Italy in 1922, after his March on Rome. He would hold it in his grasp until his death in 1945, establishing a dictatorship that lasted more than 20 years. Long considered a buffoon and a second-rate dictator, Il Duce invented fascism that was imitated by Hitler, who viewed the Italian as his political master. He wanted to transform his country into a warrior nation and promised Italians a return to the grandeur of the Roman Empire. He governed by violence and trickery and was one of the first populist leaders of modern times, leading his country into the catastrophe of the World War II. But who was Mussolini, this former teacher who came from the extreme left to become a newspaper editor and creator of the Fascist Party? Why did he ally himself with Hitler? Were the Italians really behind him? With archives and interviews with the last-surviving witnesses of the era, this portrait takes a look back at one of the most notorious dictators of the 20th century.

Julius Caesar

Twenty year-old Julius Caesar flees Rome for his life during the reign of Sulla but through skill and ambition rises four decades later to become Rome's supreme dictator.

Freedom

Freedom is a short-lived 2000 American science fiction television show on the UPN network. There were 12 episodes filmed but only 7 were aired in the US. Some episodes were further aired internationally, and the full series is still occasionally broadcast in Brazil.

Aquarela do Brasil

Tyrant

The story of an unassuming American family drawn into the workings of a turbulent Middle Eastern nation. Bassam "Barry" Al Fayeed, the younger son of the dictator of a war-torn nation, ends a self-imposed 20-year exile to return to his homeland, accompanied by his American wife and children, for his nephew's wedding. Barry’s reluctant homecoming leads to a dramatic clash of cultures as he is thrown back into the familial and national politics of his youth.

Tell Me How It Happened

Television drama series which has been broadcast on RTP1 of Rádio e Televisão de Portugal from 2007 to 2011 and since 2019. It recounts the experiences of a middle-class family, the Lopes (Portuguese: Os Lopes), during the last years of the Estado Novo. In February 2019, RTP announced that the series, after eight years shelved, would be renewed, with the storyline moving firmly into the 1980s. The first episode of the sixth season was broadcast on 7 December 2019 with the Lopes entering 1984.

Cuéntame cómo pasó

Recounts the experiences of a middle-class family, the Alcántaras, during the last years of the rule of Francisco Franco and the beginning of the Spanish Transition to democracy.

Wagner and Me

Actor and writer Stephen Fry explores his passion for the world's most controversial composer - Richard Wagner.

China Triumph and Turmoil

Niall Ferguson examines China's ascendancy, and asks what the future holds for the world's most populous country and its relationship with the rest of the world

Your Bleeped Up Brain

Penny Arcade: The Series

The Ashes – The Greatest Series - 2005

Searching for Lost Worlds

Journey into lush jungle foliage, up fog-bathed mountains, under flaming desert sands, back in time. How would it feel to be the first one, to be a bold explorer, to make a one-of-a-kind discovery? Return to the golden age of exploration as five men set out into the world to make their names. This exciting five-episode Discovery Channel series will take you to South Africa, the Gobi Desert, the Andes Mountains, Egypt's Valley of the Kings, and the islands of Crete and Santorini to discover the missing link in human evolution, the bones of new dinosaur species, the lost city of the Inca, the undisturbed tomb of King Tutankhamun, and the lost civilization of the Minoans.

The Secret World of Children

Kids get their first taste of adult life as anxious parents secretly watch their progress.

Jay Blades The West End Through Time

Jay Blades discovers what made the West End of London the iconic place it is today. He explores how it was shaped by its close connections to power, royalty, and wealth and learns how the West End attracted all walks of life.