favorite documentaries

Oliver Stone's re-examination of under-reported events in American history.

Rococo art is often dismissed as frivolous. But Waldemar Januszczak disagrees and in this three-part series he tries to bring Rococo art closer to us, and argues that the Rococo was the age in which the modern world was born.

Writer and broadcaster Stephen Smith finds out what it took to survive and prosper in the most artistic, decadent and dangerous royal courts in history: Richard II of England's Medieval Court; Renaissance Florence under the reign of Italy's Grand Duke Cosimo Medici; and the flamboyant Baroque court of France's Sun King, Louis XIV.

Christianity slowly emerged from being a persecuted minority to the state religion of the Roman Empire. This episode is a history of the ways believers grappled with a way to depict Jesus. Simple symbolic meaning developed into splendid art and churches.

Journalist Fiona Bruce teams up with art expert Philip Mould to investigate mysteries behind paintings.

Documentary in which Andrew Graham-Dixon reveals how the Medici family transformed Florence through sculpture, painting, and architecture and created a world where masterpieces fetch millions today.

Investigating art prices and their rapid value-loss.

A series about Henry VIII and his wives, chronicling the ups and downs in his marriages and how they shaped his reign as King and ultimately the face of Britain.

Documentary series looking at the influence of art on the current day situation of our society.

In this three-part documentary series Waldemar Januszczak discovers paintings, sculptures and architecture of the Baroque period. Starting from the square of Saint Peter's Basilica in Italy to St Paul's Cathedral in England.

A documentary on the effect of fishing the Nile perch in Tanzania's Lake Victoria. The predatory fish, which has wiped out the native species, is sold in European supermarkets, while starving Tanzanian families have to make do with the leftovers.

Lucy Worsley, chief curator at Historic Royal Palaces, explores how the physical and mental health of our past monarchs has shaped the history of the nation.