One Life

Pompeii: one of the most famous volcanic eruptions in history. We know how its victims died, but this film sets out to answer another question - how did they live? Gleaning evidence from an extraordinary find, Cambridge professor and Pompeii expert Mary Beard provides new insight into the lives of the people who lived in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius before its cataclysmic eruption. In a dark cellar in Oplontis, just three miles from the centre of Pompeii, 54 skeletons who didn't succumb to the torrent of volcanic ash are about to be put under the microscope.

There's nothing else like it. Chris Packham reveals the epic, 4.5-billion-year story of our home - from its dramatic creation to the arrival of human life… and whatever's next. A BBC production for the Open University.

Six classic British books are considered with a fresh eye. Returning to the authors' original manuscripts and letters, expert writers and performers bring their personal insights to these great works.

For the BBC series ‘The Secret Life of Elephants’ we’ve revealed the elephant’s hidden world – the depth of their emotions, their remarkable intelligence, and the intimate complexities of their family life. We spent three months in Kenya, filming the elephants and following the work of Iain Douglas-Hamilton and the Save the Elephants research team. We wanted to tell the stories of individual elephants, which meant we spent every hour from dawn till dusk finding and following our stars across the Samburu reserve. We focussed on the most dramatic moments in their lives – a calf from the day of her birth, a bull using tactics to win a mate, a matriarch making decisions to protect her family. We followed the research team on missions across northern Kenya to protect the elephants; we see them helping a community terrorised by crop raiding bulls, uncovering an outbreak of poaching which killed two of their best known elephants, and tracing the new dangers on ancient elephant migration routes.
After weeks of hard work, we were rewarded with astonishing glimpses into the elephant’s lives. But we couldn’t have imagined that we’d become so directly involved in a life or death operation to save a baby elephant’s life.

Singer Alfie Boe explores the extraordinary life and work of Freddie Mercury. He discusses Freddie's legacy as a performer and a musician with those who knew him best, including Queen guitarist Brian May, opera diva Montserrat Caballe, designer Zandra Rhodes, Sir Bob Geldof and other close friends and family.

The Shape Of Life tells the gripping and magnificent tale of the beginnings of all animal life. Using innovative camera techniques to capture rarely seen creatures and breathtaking computer animation to reveal stunning detail, this digital high definition series tells the stories of the revolutionary findings and scientific breakthroughs in biology, genetics and paleontology that are rewriting the book of life. The series celebrates the splendors and struggles of evolution, unveiling eight biological designs that are the underpinnings of nearly all animal life. A Co-Production of Sea Studios Foundation and National Geographic Television.

In the series we will explore some of the world's most well known works of art through 'The Private Life of a Masterpiece', that introduces viewers to the extraordinary stories contained in the history of art.

The extraordinary story of one of world's great, lost masterpieces: Caravaggio's "The Taking of Christ". This film traces the painting's journey from its birth in Rome in 1602 to its amazing re-discovery in 1990. "The Taking of Christ" by Italian Baroque master Caravaggio today holds pride of place in the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin. Its subject is the arrest of Jesus, the moment when the son of God, is betrayed with a kiss - the Judas kiss.

The extraordinary story of one of world's great, lost masterpieces: Caravaggio's "The Taking of Christ". This film traces the painting's journey from its birth in Rome in 1602 to its amazing re-discovery in 1990.

The story of probably the most renowned painting in the world. A work three years in the making, Leonardo Da Vinci's The Last Supper remains one of the greatest masterpieces of all time. Even over 500 years after the painting was completed, this piece remains one of the most studied paintings in history.