Back to The Beginning

Since the beginning of time, generations have looked to the moon – it's a place filled with wonder, romanticism and dreams. It commands time, tide and life and has had an astonishing impact on life on Earth. It's spawned countless myths and legends, from werewolves to the belief that a full moon can make you crazy. Now, in this two-part documentary – writer, comedian, amateur astronomer and astrophotographer Dara Ó Briain explores the ways in which the moon shapes just about everything around us and how we are now looking to shape the moon in the future.

In this three-part series historian Bettany Hughes goes back to the beginning of time and visits the world's oldest religious site’s to find startling evidence that women were part of the very birth of organised religion. She visits a world where goddesses ruled the heavens and earth, and reveals why our ancestors thought of the divine as female.

In mind-blowing IMAX detail, unravel the enshrouded human time capsules that have become the most fascinating mystery of our time - Egypt's mummies. Probe ancient tombs to uncover these carefully hidden phenomena, and experience the dramatic adventure of their excavations. Follow top scientists as they embark on a modern-day forensic investigation of the mummies, extracting clues from our past that could have an enormous impact on medical science in our future.

Barney Ross leads the "Expendables", a band of highly skilled mercenaries including knife enthusiast Lee Christmas, martial arts expert Yin Yang, heavy weapons specialist Hale Caesar, demolitionist Toll Road and loose-cannon sniper Gunner Jensen. When the group is commissioned by the mysterious Mr. Church to assassinate the merciless dictator of a small South American island, Barney and Lee head to the remote locale to scout out their opposition. Once there, they meet with local rebel Sandra and discover the true nature of the conflict engulfing the city. When they escape the island and Sandra stays behind, Ross must choose to either walk away and save his own life - or attempt a suicidal rescue mission that might just save his soul.

A kindly grandfather sits down with his ill grandson and reads him a story. The story is one that has been passed down from father to son for generations. As the grandfather reads the story, the action comes alive. The story is a classic tale of love and adventure as the beautiful Buttercup, engaged to the odious Prince Humperdinck, is kidnapped and held against her will in order to start a war, It is up to Westley (her childhood beau, now returned as the Dread Pirate Roberts) to save her. On the way he meets a thief and his hired helpers, an accomplished swordsman and a huge, super strong giant, both of whom become Westley's companions in his quest.

A girl arrives from London to visit her estranged relatives in a remote castle for the reading of her father's will. After a while she discovers that they are all in fact dead and her decision to live with them turns into a nightmare. Unable to leave she's drawn into a macabre underworld through visions of nude satanic rituals and her own impending sacrifice.

Richard Smith takes us from the birth of the solar system to the modern world, and tells an Australian story that spans 4.6million years. When Europeans first stepped into the island of Australia they saw it as a young country, but nothing could have been farther from the truth. In reality, Australia is a land with the oldest rocks and oldest fossils on Earth, all harbouring secrets from the time when the planet was being formed.