Engineering Repurposed

An insider's look at the engineering and scientific miracles behind the things that form the modern world.

Don Wildman unearths relics from the world's greatest institutions to reveal secrets from the past. He examines each artifact to illuminate history's most incredible triumphs, sensational crimes and bizarre encounters.

MegaStructures is a documentary television series appearing on the National Geographic Channel in the United States and the United Kingdom, Channel 5 in the United Kingdom, France 5 in France, and 7mate in Australia. Each episode is an educational look of varying depth into the construction, operation, and staffing of various structures or construction projects, but not ordinary construction products. Generally containing interviews with designers and project managers, it presents the problems of construction and the methodology or techniques used to overcome obstacles. In some cases this involved the development of new materials or products that are now in general use within the construction industry. MegaStructures focuses on constructions that are extreme; in the sense that they are the biggest, tallest, longest, or deepest in the world. Alternatively, a project may appear if it had an element of novelty or are a world first. This type of project is known as a Megaproject.

HISTORY’s longest-running series moves to H2. Modern Marvels celebrates the ingenuity, invention and imagination found in the world around us. From commonplace items like ink and coffee to architectural masterpieces and engineering disasters, the hit series goes beyond the basics to provide insight and history into things we wonder about and that impact our lives. This series tells fascinating stories of the doers, the dreamers and sometime-schemers that create everyday items, technological breakthroughs and manmade wonders. The hit series goes deep to explore the leading edge of human inspiration and ambition.

James May takes a look at the 'peoples car'. Covering every form of cars for the masses - from the Beetle to the Kei Car, May looks at the many forms of people's car, their origins and their effect on history. Each episode covers a particular theme; these being cars from dictatorships, microcars and the dream cars we aspire to.

Motoring programme featuring reviews of and reports about cars of all types.

Documentary series investigating why some of the world's most advanced architectural achievements were abandoned.

Explore the explosive life of Mike Tyson — one of the most feared and fascinating figures in sports history.

Sir Kenneth Clark guides us through the ages exploring the glorious rise of civilisation in western man. Beginning with the bleakness of the dark ages to the present day, we consider civilisation's articulations and expressions in some of man's finest works of art.

Through the prism of Jeff Goldblum's always inquisitive and highly entertaining mind, nothing is as it seems. Each episode is centered around something we all love — like sneakers or ice cream — as Jeff pulls the thread on these deceptively familiar objects and unravels a wonderful world of astonishing connections, fascinating science and history, amazing people, and a whole lot of surprising big ideas and insights.

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.

In a docuseries set at one of NCAA football's most fertile recruiting grounds, guys with red flags seek to prove their worth on the field and in class.

Step inside the minds of the most innovative designers in a variety of disciplines and learn how design impacts every aspect of life.

Infographics and archival footage deliver bite-size history lessons on scientific breakthroughs, social movements and world-changing discoveries.

Explore the surprising things we know (and don’t know) about why people are the way they are through expert interviews, rare footage from historical experiments, and brand-new, ground-breaking demonstrations of human nature at work.

American Masters is a PBS television series which produces biographies on enduring writers, musicians, visual and performing artists, dramatists, filmmakers, and others who have left an indelible impression on the cultural landscape of the United States.

A celebration of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward’s iconic careers and decades-long partnership. Director Ethan Hawke brings life and color to this definitive history of their love, lives, and philanthropy.

This compelling series investigates the motives and m.o. of female murderers. While males are often driven by anger, impulse and destruction, women usually have more complex, long-term reasons to kill.

Award-winning architect Piers Taylor and actress and property enthusiast Caroline Quentin explore extraordinary homes built in mountain, forest, coast and underground locations around the world.

Explores WWII from Germany's invasion of Poland through the atomic age, examining pivotal battles, wartime leaders like Churchill and Roosevelt, and the human cost of total war.

James May gives a straightforward guide to some of science's big ideas, explaining everything from evolution and Einstein to engineering and chemistry.

Providing a rare glimpse into the concepts and processes behind some of Mark Rober's most outrageous viral videos, including all-new and never-before-seen footage.

International trade has been ferried around the world via boat for centuries. If the business of shipping stopped tomorrow, half the world would starve, and the other half would freeze. A testament of humanity's will to tame the elements and expand our reach; shipping has pioneered new technologies, revolutionized the global economy and reshaped the world as we know it.

In this eight-part documentary, Roman engineering expert Isaac Moreno Gallo takes you on a tour through the different techniques and architectural elements that gave shape and life to the Roman Empire.

These are some of the most spectacular examples of abandoned engineering the world has ever known. The series explores how and why they were built, consider the financial and social costs of their failure and examine the environmental and ecological impacts. The series also explores how experts came up with plans to make something beautiful or useful from the ruins.

The documentary series, filmed over seven years, delves into the complexities of the Sydney Metro project, focusing on the tunnel construction, including under-harbor tunnelling, the use of large tunnel boring machines, and excavation work deep below the city. It also highlights the role of steam locomotives and other aspects of the project including rigorous testing of the automated driverless trains to ensure the safety and longevity for many years of public use.

Submarines today are highly complex machines crammed with technology and weapons. As impressive as their construction is, as terrifying is their destructive power. Hardly any other weapon triggers as many emotions as the submarine. It strikes from ambush and can use nuclear missiles to drag the whole world into the abyss. Submarines originated from a completely non-military idea, namely to be able to view the world under water. But the interest in the military use of submarines soon prevailed.

Presenter, motorcycle adventurer and writer, Henry Cole, takes a look at the world of motorcycling.

Carrying nearly five million passengers per day, the London Tube is one of the world's oldest and busiest metro systems in the world. Today the Tube is undergoing a complete overhaul that is long overdue. Take a behind the scenes look into the daily lives of drivers, emergency personnel, operations managers, and many others among the near twenty thousand employees of this massive rail system, as they navigate the evolution of the London Tube.

The triumphs and failures of the men and women who created the world's first atomic bomb as part of the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos. This the story of the men and women who worked on a research and development project that produced the first nuclear weapons during the Second World War with First-hand accounts from the men and women who worked on the Manhattan Project and developed the atomic bomb at Los Alamos during the Second World War.

Discover how and why the world’s most iconic bridges were built.

Mega Manufacturing takes the viewer behind the scenes of the biggest or the most advanced factories in the world, focusing on the creation of inimitable products that are of its own kind.

The most spectacular vehicles in the world are milestones of engineering that have changed land, water, and air transport for good. Each episode features a different class of vehicle, from the breathtakingly fast to the impressively powerful.

What propelled the construction of higher and higher buildings? Which technologies made the discovery of the oceans possible? How are gravity defying bridges designed? What will the future of the aircraft industry be? Combining bluechip photography with innovative CGI, all set in spectacular locations across the world, this documentary series highlights the history of human ingenuity.

Swapping spatulas for spanners, the Hairy Bikers restore amazing relics of Britain's past.

The fascinating and dramatic stories behind some of the grandest designs never built.

Unlock the secrets of iconic machines, such as roller coasters, bullet trains, and cargo planes. Transforming our understanding of the machines around us, the series goes inside, under, over, and through them, revealing how they were built, how they work, and more.

The history and technology behind a fleet of remarkable machines from around the world.

From the hilarious to the mind-boggling, from the deadly to the bank-busting, witness some of the most outrageous structural disasters and the genius resolutions to get things back on track.