Mega Machines

Speed

Investigating mankind's insatiable necessity to move faster and further; for pleasure, for work, to explore, to survive.

Time Scanners

This is your chance to reach out and touch the past! Just as a forensic anthropologist analyses bones, and a historian deciphers ancient texts, we now have the technology to "read" the buildings, ruins and landscapes where history was made. The series, presented by Dallas Campbell, teams Steve Burrows (pictured), the brains behind the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing, with a team of pioneering laser scanning experts from the Centre for Advanced Spatial Technologies to unlock the secrets of the world’s greatest engineering and cultural achievements. Locations include the Colosseum, Petra, Machu Picchu, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Pyramids and Jerusalem.

Rise of the Machines

It is 2014 and the machines have not taken over…yet. The newest, most technologically advanced series from H2™, Rise of the Machines, reveals how the inventions behind the world’s most extreme machines have enabled them to evolve beyond humanity’s wildest imagination. This visually stunning series uses mind-blowing CGI animations to reveal the extraordinary engineering at the heart of the world’s most extreme machines. From the world’s biggest mega truck to the world’s fastest train to a revolutionary heavy lift ship, ground breaking CGI animation explodes the machines apart to reveal the ingenious inventions hidden under their skin that enables the teams who drive, fly and sail them to be at the top of their game. This series takes us inside these machines in close up detail and explores what helps these elite ships, trucks, trains and aircrafts rise above all others.

How Britain Worked

Guy Martin celebrates the workers of the Industrial Revolution by getting stuck into six of the country's biggest restoration projects, bringing some of the 19th century's most impressive engineering achievements back to life.

James May's Things You Need To Know

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

Incredible Engineering Blunders: Fixed

Former aerospace engineer Justin Cunningham tries to keep the Glasgow Tower turning, and Tomo Umewaka helps engineers in Osaka keep their airport from sinking into the sea.

The Engineering That Built the World

The stories behind the iconic structures and engineering feats that have shaped and defined our nation and our world.

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.

World's Most Epic

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

Engineering Catastrophes

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.

Survival in the Skies

Coltrane's Planes and Automobiles

Impossible Railways

Paul Merton: Driving Amazing Trains

Paul’s fascination with trains stems from his childhood. His father was a driver on the London Underground and when, as a young boy, Paul witnessed his dad driving a train across Putney Bridge, it sparked a lifelong fascination of railways. Now, he is following in his father’s footsteps by joining the drivers upfront and in control of some of the world’s most amazing trains and experiencing the best views as he travels through breathtaking landscapes in the UK and Europe. From steep gradients and tight curves to pinpoint platform stops, Paul will learn what it takes to keep these mighty machines on track. Visiting Germany, France, Switzerland, Wales, Northern England and Isle of Wight, he’ll meet the people who keep the railways running - from engineers and conductors to passengers with fascinating stories of their own.

The Tube: Going Underground

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.

Engineering Repurposed

Extraordinary structures, buildings and machines around the world have been transformed from their original function into something completely different. Experts reveal how.

Shipping the World

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.

World's Greatest Bridges

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

Ultimate Vehicles

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.

Tales of the Gun

In the centuries since the gun was invented, hundreds of innovators, engineers and inventors have brought their vision together to create what has become one of the most perfectly produced items ever made. Tales of the Gun chronicles the long history of firearm design and construction from the first, primitive weapons to today's computer-controlled, high-tech factories. From the gunslingers of the Wild West to the newest technology being developed for tomorrow's super-weapons, guns have etched a place in today's culture for their masterful combination of form, function and beauty.