Ice Road

Canada is today the world’s third producer of diamonds both in value and quantity. These are not just any diamonds, they are ice diamonds or «clean» diamonds in opposition with Africa’s «blood» diamonds that finance war, weapons and use child labor. Clean diamonds are widely appreciated on the international market for their purity as well as their ethics. Extracting these rocks is no easy feat. By minus 50 degrees celsius and polar winds, thousands of men work in giant open-air mines of 1,5 km diameter.

In this mini series we explore some of the most unique and hard-core truck journeys on the planet. Destinations in the six part series are Iceland, Guatemala, Turkey, Morocco, Ethiopia and Russia.

John Thomson and Simon Day go on a tour of Britain.

The world's largest palace, the Forbidden City, stands at the heart of Chinese history, as the home to the emperors for 600 years. And it's full of secrets. This documentary goes behind closed doors to explore this extraordinary palace-city and to discover the clues to its creation. Unique access to the latest conservation works uncovers evidence hidden in locked halls and high in the mighty roofs, revealing a ruler who governed by fear but also created an exquisite and enormous work of art and technology. Tests on the paints reveal trade with Europe, and the programme experiments with an ice road to move an entire marble stairway.

The world's largest palace, the Forbidden City, stands at the heart of Chinese history, as the home to the emperors for 600 years. And it's full of secrets. This documentary goes behind closed doors to explore this extraordinary palace-city and to discover the clues to its creation. Unique access to the latest conservation works uncovers evidence hidden in locked halls and high in the mighty roofs, revealing a ruler who governed by fear but also created an exquisite and enormous work of art and technology.

A risky expedition along thoroughfares that harbour mortal danger for those who use them or live on them. They run through deserts, ice and snow, deep in the jungle, along water and over mountains: the world's most dangerous roads, truly "hot roads." Many have died along these roads.

A risky expedition along thoroughfares that harbor mortal danger for those who use them or live on them.

A risky expedition along thoroughfares that harbor mortal danger for those who use them or live on them.