Season 1 · Episode 1
Series on how Britain pays its way in the world. Evan Davis busts the myths that Britain was wrong to let manufacturing go abroad, and that it has become a nation of shopkeepers.
Series on how Britain pays its way in the world. Evan Davis looks at how Britain's focus on the knowledge economy contributes greatly to the nation's bank balance.
Series on how Britain pays its way in the world. Evan travels to Dubai to explore how the country's service expertise has been successfully exported around the world.
Take a mind-blowing journey through human history, told through six iconic objects that modern people take for granted, and see how science, invention and technology built on one another to change everything.
2019
Robbie Coltrane has set himself a challenge to take a road trip across a Britain that we don't normally see. The route is from Scotland to the tip of Cornwall, stopping off at various locations - all on the scenic 'B' roads.
2007
Have you ever wondered how the products you use every day are made? How It's Made leads you through the process of how everyday products, such as apple juice, skateboards, engines, contact lenses, and many more objects are manufactured.
2001
Documentary series revealing the inner workings of Britain's railways, introducing the track-workers, train guards, drivers, police officers and management teams determined to keep the country moving.
2013
Portillo's Hidden History of Britain sees former UK politician Michael Portillo investigating abandoned buildings around Britain.
2018
Britain’s rich horticultural history is being lost. More and more front and back gardens are paved over - for development, for parking spaces, or because families don’t have the time or inclination to manage these spaces. The trend for easy-to-maintain lawns, patios and paving has also led to a decline in traditional gardens full of flowers, plants and trees to the extent that some of our most iconic flora and fauna have all but disappeared. Step forward the BBC’s most-loved gardening experts, who are determined to turn us back into a green-fingered nation once again.
In the series, "Wallace will take a light hearted and humorous look at the real-life inventors, contraptions, gadgets and inventions, with the silent help of Gromit. The series aims to inspire a whole new generation of innovative minds by showing them real, but mind-boggling, machines and inventions from around the world that have influenced his illustrious inventing career" (the BBC press statement). Peter Sallis reprised his role as the voice of Wallace. The filmed inserts are mostly narrated by Ashley Jensen, with one in each episode presented in-vision by Jem Stansfield. John Sparkes also voices a portion in the unseen character of archivist Goronwy.
2010
The enormous popularity of recent British dramas such as Downton Abbey, Mr. Selfridge, and Sherlock, has led to vast interest in the real-life stories and history of the icons of Great Britain. Each episode of this series visits a famous British building or institution to explore its past and present, meeting a wide range of experts and historians along the way.
2014
Jonathan Meades gives a personal perspective of British history.
2005
In a unique experiment, five teachers from China take over the education of fifty teenagers in a Hampshire school to see whether the high-ranking Chinese education system can teach us a lesson.
2015
Documentary series which ranges widely over Britain's social and cultural history, its narrative-led storytelling offering a richly immersive and varied window onto the past.
2002
Acclaimed historian Dan Jones tells the story of the dynasty who ruled England and much of France during the Middle Ages. More shocking, brutal and exhilarating than Game of Thrones, these events actually happened.
How did a small island once rule over a quarter of the world's population? This shared history still shapes us today - and billions of people are part of its story.
2025
Every time we switch on a light or boil a kettle we rely on power - but most people don't stop to think about the inventions and discoveries that allow us to live the way we do. In an exciting new four-part series for BBC Two, The Genius of Invention reveals the fascinating chain of events behind inventions that make everyday life possible.
Sir David Jason explores his favourite great British inventions and discovers how and why they were first thought up
2020
Exploring the hidden corners of the UK in search of the best the countryside has to offer.