A League of Extraordinary Makers

Innovation Effect

An educational series that explains everyday objects and makes complex science accessible through experiments and playful explanations. It shows how discoveries like waves enabled the smartphone, and explores radioactivity, dark energy, and blood circulation, featuring Curie, Röntgen, Newton, and Einstein, showing science is understandable and engaging.

Wallace & Gromit's World of Invention

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.

FRONTRUNNERS

FRONTRUNNERS highlights professionals at the very forefront of their field. We showcase their amazing work, discover their motivations, and learn about the challenges they face in the future.

The Food That Built America

The fascinating stories of the families behind the food that built America, those who used brains, muscle, blood, sweat and tears to get to America's heart through its stomach, those who invented new technologies and helped win wars.

Building the Impossible

Presenter Rob Bell takes us on a voyage around Britain and Ireland to reveal the hidden secrets that make offshore lighthouses such extraordinary feats of engineering.

How We Got to Now

How We Got To Now with Steven Johnson is a six part documentary series that reveals the story behind the remarkable ideas that made modern life possible; the unsung heroes that brought them into the world – and the unexpected and bizarre consequences each of these innovations has triggered.

American Genius

Behind every great genius was a great rival - an unstoppable adversary whose incredible vision, determination, and ambition is their match. Out of their struggles came the world's most brilliant inventions, the spoils of the heated battle between competitors.

Stephen Hawking's Science of the Future

Stephen Hawking’s Science of the Future investigates the very latest game changing innovations. Each episode takes one area of progress and sends five top scientists out to actively test the inventions and breakthroughs that are driving it. The team explore human upgrades, the virtual world, bio-mimicry, high-tech emergency responses, and more. Featuring a wide range of examples, from advanced robotics and breathtaking digital actors, to cutting edge smart homes and electronic brain stimulation, the series reveals how science is delivering astonishing improvements to all our lives. Using the evidence they gather, the team reveals the year when each innovation will be rolled out for us all to benefit from, and Hawking then draws out his own uniquely insightful predictions about what our world will be like in the years to come.

Megacitys - Wenn es Nacht wird in ...

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?

Breakthrough

Providing a thought-provoking and imaginative perspective on scientific discovery as it unfolds, each episode follows scientific explorers working on cutting-­edge projects with breakthrough potential, revealing the world of tomorrow... today.

Da Vinci inventions

SciTech Now

Capturing the latest breakthroughs in science, technology and innovation. With anchor Hari Sreenivasan, we check out the hottest gadgets, meet the innovators creating the startups of tomorrow and map out the mysteries of the scientific world.

James Brown: Say It Loud

Traces the incredible trajectory of Brown’s life and career from a 7th grade drop-out arrested and jailed at the age of 16 for breaking into a car in the Jim Crow-era South, to an entertainment legend whose groundbreaking talent and unique perspective catapulted him to become a cultural force.

The Icons That Built America

Highlights the talented, often provocative entertainers whose brilliance and rise to stardom transformed American popular culture.

House Of The Year

There's no place like home. Brill bungalows, cosy cottages, terrific terraces - Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen leads the search for Northern Ireland’s most desirable dwelling.

The Secret Life of Components

Coinciding with the release of the remastered original episodes of The Secret Life Of Machines, Tim Hunkin began a self-produced spiritual successor called The Secret Life of Components. It explores some of the individual parts that so often make up the appliances and machines that were the focus of the original series. The weekly episodes included what Hunkin has learned through his experience with the component, along with many models for demonstration and examples from his amusement machines and other works.

Genius of Britain

Genius of Britain is a five-part television documentary presented by leading British scientific figures, such as Stephen Hawking, Richard Dawkins, James Dyson, David Attenborough, Robert Winston, Paul Nurse, Jim Al-Khalili, Kathy Sykes and Olivia Judson. The series charts the history of some of Britain's most important scientists and innovators. It was first broadcast on Channel 4 on 30 May 2010.

Saving Country Houses with Penelope Keith

From cafes to craft fairs, glamping to ghosts, join Dame Penelope Keith as she meets the owners of Britain’s historic country houses struggling to keep their homes intact. Featured properties include Ashby Manor in Northamptonshire, Chillingham Castle in Northumberland, and Mapperton House in Dorset. As these estates turn to innovative ventures to stay afloat, Keith offers insight into the challenges of maintaining these grand homes in 2025. Will their creative solutions be enough to save their history?

100 Years Ago: From Berlin to the World

A century ago, the world experienced a revolution in mobility. Cities like Berlin grew rapidly, with the Graf Zeppelin soaring over the city in 1928, sparking excitement for airship travel. These majestic airships made ocean crossings faster and more luxurious, and even enabled polar expeditions. At the same time, automobiles and motorcycles became staples for many, although streets became congested. Women like Amelia Earhart and Elly Beinhorn broke barriers in aviation, inspiring new possibilities for both genders in the field of technology. While air travel grew in popularity, trains remained the main long-distance transport. The era also saw an explosion of new mobility options, with faster, cheaper ways to travel across the globe, making the world seem smaller and more connected. However, this golden age of mobility would be cut short by the outbreak of World War II.

Visionaries

Keanu Reeves and Gard Hollinger are kindred souls with a bond built on a love of motorcycles and an insatiable curiosity about the world around them. In 2011, they founded ARCH Motorcycle to reimagine what a motorcycle could be. To them, ARCH is a mindset, a lens through which to see the world. This is a journey of curiosity, to understand where human creativity comes from and to shine a light on the visionaries who are pushing the bounds of innovation and changing our world.