Archaic Festivals

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

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

An in-depth look at the history and pop cultural significance of horror films.

Learn how popular Disney attractions and destinations came to be, how they have changed over time, and how fans continue to obsess over them.

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.

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.

Actor Zac Efron journeys around the world with wellness expert Darin Olien in a travel show that explores healthy, sustainable ways to live.

Bourdain travels across the globe to uncover little-known areas of the world and celebrate diverse cultures by exploring food and dining rituals. Known for his curiosity, candor, and acerbic wit, Bourdain takes viewers off the beaten path of tourist destinations – including some war-torn parts of the world – and meets with a variety of local citizens to offer a window into their lifestyles, and occasionally communes with an internationally lauded chef on his journeys.

Award-winning actor and nervous explorer Eugene Levy steps out of his comfort zone for a whirlwind tour of the world's most beautiful and intriguing destinations.

Explore Marvel’s rich legacy of pioneering characters, creators and storytelling to reflect the world outside your window. Each documentary, helmed by a unique filmmaker, showcases the intersections of storytelling, pop culture, and fandom within the Marvel Universe.

A series of standalone documentaries powered by the unparalleled journalism and insight of The New York Times, bringing viewers close to the essential stories of our time.

The epic motorcycle adventure continues in this third chapter of the Long Way series, as Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman journey to glorious landscapes across South and Central America—on the backs of prototype electric Harley-Davidsons.

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.

Drivers, managers and team owners live life in the fast lane — both on and off the track — during each cutthroat season of Formula 1 racing.

A worldwide guided tour of the greatest movies ever made and the story of international cinema through the history of cinematic innovation.

Morgan Freeman presents his quest in order to find how most religions perceive life after death, what different civilizations thought about the act of creation and other big questions that mankind has continuously asked.

The history of the sport of baseball in America, told through archival photos, film footage, and the words of those who contributed to the game in each era. Writers, historians, players, baseball personnel, and fans review key events and the significance of the game in America's history.

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

Biography is a documentary television series. It was originally a half-hour filmed series produced for CBS by David Wolper from 1961 to 1964 and hosted by Mike Wallace. The A&E Network later re-ran it and has produced new episodes since 1987. The older version featured historical figures such as Helen Keller and Mark Twain, or long-dead entertainment figures such as Will Rogers or John Barrymore. The A&E series has placed the emphasis on such people as Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Plácido Domingo, Freddie Mercury, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Eric Clapton, Pope John Paul II, Gene Tierney, Selena, Diego Rivera, Mao Zedong and Queen Elizabeth II, and fictional characters like The Phantom, Superman, Hamlet, Betty Boop, and Santa Claus. The program ended up profiling enough figures that in 1999, A&E spun it off into an entire network, The Biography Channel.

A documentary series exploring the myths and legends behind some of Hollywood’s notoriously “cursed” horror film productions. From plane accidents and bombings during the making of The Omen, to the rumored use of real human skeletons on the set of Poltergeist, these stories are legendary amongst film fans and filmmakers alike. But where does the truth lie?

Glittering facades, vibrant life, and people facing the daily struggle for survival. ZDF correspondents each profile a megacity within their reporting area. How do people celebrate, laugh, and love in such a city? How are problems like housing shortages, food supply, transportation, and climate change solved – in metropolises with over ten million inhabitants?

A spectacular journey which uncovers how the Viking era has left its imprint on the way of life and landscape of Norway, and the parallels observed in Lorraine’s home nation of Scotland to this day when it was once sieged under Norse rule. Lorraine will meet people along her travels that are keeping the rich history of Norway alive through folk traditions and Nordic tales, and immerse herself in the crafts and culinary delicacies of the region. The TV icon will sail north along the coast to see what natural beauty it offers, spotting whales and eagles, in hopes to end her journey with a Northern Lights (aurora borealis) spectacle.

In this four-part BBC documentary, former Monty Python funnyman and renowned globe-trotter Michael Palin sets off from Gibraltar to travel across the Sahara, his witty humor downplaying the hardships he faces along the arduous journey. He travels to Morocco, Mauritania, Mali and beyond, across some of the harshest terrain on the planet.

This series explores the history, traditions and culture of Chinese food. Filmed at over 160 locations across China, this series truly is a feast for the senses. The seven-episode documentary series introduces the history and story behind foods of various kinds in more than 160 locations in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The documentary has also been actively encouraged as a means of introducing Chinese food culture to those unfamiliar with local cuisine.

Adam Richman is on the ultimate hunt to uncover the most unique, surprising, and delicious hidden food treasures in every town. He'll uncover the dishes you would never find anywhere else on the planet, at the places you would never expect.

Storyteller Bill Weir and renowned filmmaker Philip Bloom embarks on a quest to tell the untold stories of extraordinary people, places, cultures and creatures that are at a crossroads.

Exploring some of the world's most isolated and iconic tropical islands.

When she was a child, Kate Humble wanted to be a nomad. Living in some of the world's most remote wildernesses, cheek by jowl with nature, seemed like such a wildly romantic existence.

Alice embarks on her most ambitious journey to date, in search of the Roman Empire, travelling 1300 miles through Italy, France and Spain to discover the origins and secrets of Rome’s success.

In each 1-hour episode of 36 Hours, co-hosts Kristen Kish and Kyle Martino arrive in a new city, where they’ll have 36 hours to explore the most delicious foods and hot spots, meet fascinating local insiders and experience the best attractions unique to each destination. Their itineraries will be informed by New York Times editors and contributors, who bring extensive research and expertise to each locale. Each episode will be timed to coincide with new or updated New York Times 36 Hours newspaper columns. There also will be companion editorial and video content across platforms on NYTimes.com and Travel Channel digital properties.

PhantasIA explores the creative potential of AI in an eclectic, exhilarating, and uninhibited way. A monthly magazine showcasing original creations and the human, political, and environmental questions raised by AI, PhantasIA invites readers to engage with AI through creation in order to better understand it. Far from seeking to replace the artist with the machine, PhantasIA places the artist and the human being at the heart of creation and examines the impact of these new practices.

The cameras follow Joanna Lumley as she travels from East to West on a Trans-Siberian adventure. She starts in Hong Kong and crosses 5777 miles of both Asia and Europe, through seven time zones, taking in an immense panorama of vistas and cultures, people and places, before her final arrival in Moscow.

Simon Schama explores the story of the Jewish experience from ancient times to the present day.

Adventurer and filmmaker Tim Noonan embarks on a solo journey of self-discovery to worlds beyond his imagination to try and unlock the mysteries of some of the most ancient tribes and to discover what it means to be the ultimate man.

Sixty-foot waves, nosy killer whales, hypothermia, tongue rot. Ultra-athlete Ross Edgley attempts to swim all the way around Iceland - 1000 miles of icy water.

No two volcanoes are alike; each one has its own distinctive landscape, climate, and geological context. Just as unique are the people we meet along the way who help us comprehend how greatly our planet – and our lives – have been shaped by volcanic phenomena. For the scientific aspect of each episode, we explore the very diverse range of questions raised by volcanic phenomena in such varied fields as earth sciences, climatology, biodiversity, oceanography, geography, agronomics, and archaeology. The cultural part of the show delves into mythology, religion, philosophy, folk and artistic traditions, cooking, and ways of life.

Sometimes obsolete, sometimes shocking, sometimes even comical, taboos and laws shape the face of our planet. Hosted by Christian Laurence, the show goes out to meet those who respect or transgress prohibitions.

Did democracy actually originate in Greece? Was the plague the worst epidemic of all time? And did we really work harder in the past than we do today? Is it true that ...? questions what we think we know and takes another look at history.

A six-part series in which photographer Ruben Terlou travels from Shanghai, the most westernized part of China, to the much more traditional Tibetan city of Shangri-La. Through the stories of people he meets along the 6,300-kilometre river, Ruben discovers the real China, forty years after Mao’s death.