Descendants

Historian Dan Cruickshank is invited through the closed doors of six of Britain’s greatest private houses in an illuminating and surprising journey through our architectural history. hese fascinating buildings remain private homes and closed to the public, but their owners have allowed Dan Cruickshank to roam the corridors, tease out each home’s story – who built them, lived in them and lost them – and uncover tales of excess and profligacy, power and ambition.

Naturalist Stewart McPherson travels to all the UK Overseas Territories, exploring their wildlife, landscapes, history and peopleStewart McPherson, writer, explorer, and naturalist, sets out to follow his childhood dream - to be the first person to set foot on every one of Britains overseas Territories.We follow him on a journey which will take him across all Seven Seas, allow him to study some of the most pristine nature reserves on the planet, and one which will see him cross paths with conservationists, "Saints", survivors of volcanic eruptions, and the descendants of infamous mutineers.

Now for the first time in history a man of faith and a man of science are teaming up to search for Jesus' DNA. Using the latest advances in DNA technology Oxford University geneticist George Busby and biblical scholar Pastor Joe Basile are investigating the world's most famous holy relics including the Shroud of Turin, The Sudarium of Oviedo and the newly discovered bones of Jesus' cousin, John the Baptist. Their journey takes them to holy sites around the world from Spain and Italy to Israel and the shores of the Black Sea.

Explorer correspondent Bryan Christy investigates how pharmaceutical companies helped fuel the opioid crisis in America and how this epidemic is set to spread around the world. The descendants of Nat Turner, an enslaved African American preacher who led a rebellion in 1831, are reunited with their ancestor's remains.

The team travel to the Lake District where Fiona Bruce and the experts meet hundreds of local visitors proudly bringing their family treasures for evaluation. There's an eclectic mix of objects featured ranging from a writing desk from the Tsar's Palace bought after the Russian Revolution, over 100 vintage fire helmets owned by a former firefighter, Edwardian weightlifting equipment still in use today by a 75 year old owner, and a collection of glam rock stage costumes. But closing honours goes to a rare collection of signed first editions by Beatrix Potter still owned by descendants of the writer's solicitor.

David Dimbleby and Aasmah Mir present live coverage from the Orkney Islands of commemorations marking the Battle of Jutland, one of the greatest sea battles in naval history and a pivotal point in the First World War.

The story of Ishi, who became known as the "last wild Indian" when, at about 50 years of age, he wandered out of the woods in Oroville, Cal., in 1911. He died five years later; and his brain was sent to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.. Eighty years later, however, his descendants successfully fought to have his remains repatriated to his ancestral home.

An amazing discovery has been made beneath a farm field in Northern France: a vast underground city where World War I soldiers, on both sides of the conflict, took refuge a century ago. Even more remarkable, it is one of hundreds of buried havens set up close to a 45-mile stretch of the Western Front. Follow American explorer and photographer Jeff Gusky as he documents one of these long forgotten shelters, and witness his attempts to connect the names of the American soldiers etched into the limestone walls to their living descendants.

Discover the mythical network of trade routes that for centuries linked the Far East to the West with Alfred de Montesquiou.

A star-studded lineup of music, film and television stars will join the celebration of Mickey Mouse on Mickey's 90th Spectacular. The two-hour television event honoring 90 years of the internationally beloved character will feature appearances by actress, activist and mom …