* Animal Odd Couples (2013)

Wildlife biologist Liz Bonnin sets off on a worldwide journey of discovery to find out why animals of different species make friends with each other, and even with humans.

Part 1:
In recent years, the internet has been changing the perception that most species have evolved to stick to their own kind and to generally not get along. Videos, generating millions of hits, are showing different species interacting in ways previously not thought possible. These animals are displaying what looks like friendship, affection and even love towards one another. But what lies at the heart of these behaviours? Can science explain why these unusual partnerships take place? And if so, what can they teach us about how the animal kingdom really works? Liz is on a mission to find the reasons behind t he world's cutest and weirdest Animal Odd Couples. Why a cat would adopt some ducklings? Could an orangutan really keep a dog as a pet? Could two animals of different species even fall in love?

Part 2:
Liz wants to find out how these relationships are formed, why they work, and what's in it for both the humans and the animals. We love to keep pets, forming close bonds with them, and making them part of our lives. But around the world some people have sought out unusual - and even potentially dangerous - relationships, with some very surprising animals. For a human to want to befriend a lion or a buffalo is one thing, but why do these animals also form close relationships with us? Can science help us understand how a hippo can become part of the family? Why a polar bear would let a man give her a hug? And how it is possible to join a pack of hyenas without being attacked?

* Ancient Greece: The Greatest Show on Earth (2013)

Dr. Michael Scott journeys to Athens to explore how drama first began.

Part 1: Democrats
He discovers that from the very start it was about more than just entertainment - it was a reaction to real events, it was a driving force in history and it was deeply connected to Athenian democracy. In fact, the story of theatre is the story of Athens.

Part 2: Kings
He looks at the dramatic decline of Athens and the remarkable triumph and transformation of theatre. During the 4th century BC Athens would lose its Empire, its influence and even its democracy. But theatre, that most Athenian of inventions, would thrive, spreading throughout the Greek world and beyond and giving rise to a new kind of comedy, one so popular and prevalent that it is still at the heart of our comedy today.

Part 3: Romans
He examines the vital role played by the Romans in the preservation of Greek drama and in the history of theatre. He explores how the Romans absorbed Greek theatre and adapted it to their own, very Roman, ends and looks at how this famous empire provides one of the crucial connections between our modern drama and the great plays of the ancient Greeks.

* Ancient Egypt: Life and Death in the Valley of the Kings (2013)

Part 1: Life
Joann explores how people lived during this time, from the tightly packed houses and villages of the common people, to the clothes they wore and the food they ate. She discovers the ordinary Egyptians' love of poetry and their enthusiasm for interior design, as well as what it was like working in the most famous cemetery on Earth.

Part 2: Death
This episode reveals a strange and mysterious world: the ancient Egyptian afterlife. To them life was just a dress rehearsal for the perfect afterlife they were trying to reach. Joann clambers into rarely visited tombs, explores a treasure trove of long-buried objects and examines spectacular mummies to discover just why the Egyptians spent a fortune preparing for death - and what they hoped to find when they got there.

* America's Poor Kids (2013)

In the United States, child poverty has reached record levels, with over 16 million children now affected. Food banks are facing unprecedented demand, and homeless shelters now have long waiting lists, as families who have known a much better life sometimes have to leave their homes with just a few days notice. This World asks three children whose families are struggling to get by to explain what life in modern America really looks like through their eyes. Told from the point of view of the children themselves, this one-hour documentary offers a unique perspective on the nation's flagging economy and the impact of unemployment, foreclosure and financial distress as seen through the eyes of the children affected.

* America's Gun Addiction (2013)

The Newtown massacre, in which 20 primary schoolchildren died, has been hailed as a turning point on gun control in America. President Obama wants to ban assault weapons, but his opponents say more guns are the answer, not fewer. At a gun range, Panorama meets the teachers who want to take guns into their classrooms to protect their pupils. With many of America's mass killers having both mental health issues and easy access to guns, Panorama reveals the national crisis in mental healthcare which has left 4.5 million severely mentally ill Americans untreated. And reporter Hilary Andersson goes undercover to show how easy it is in Texas to buy the type of assault weapon used at Newtown, even if you are mentally unstable. Will Newtown finally change things, or will the mass killings continue?

* America on a Plate: The Story of the Diner (2011)

Writer and broadcaster Stephen Smith re-envisions the story of 20th century American culture through its most iconic institution - the diner. Whether Edward Hopper's Nighthawks or the infamous encounter between Pacino and de Niro in Heat, these gleaming, gawdy shacks are at the absolute heart of the American vision.

Stephen embarks on a girth-busting road journey that takes him to some of America's most iconic diners. He meets the film-makers and singers who have immortalised them, and looks at the role diners have played not only in America's greatest paintings and movies, but also in the fight against racial oppression and the chain restaurants' global takeover.

For Stephen, it is because the diner is the last vestige of a vital part of the American psyche - the frontier. Like the Dodge City saloon it is a place where strangers are thrown together, where normal rules are suspended and anything can happen. And it is this crackle of potentially violent and sexual energy that have drawn so many artists to the diner, and made it not a convenient setting but an engine room of 20th century American culture.

*** HomePage

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