Jews and Muslims: Intimate Strangers

This amazing biblical drama chronicles the brave and historic legend of Hadassah, a Jewish orphan with exceptional beauty who rises to become Queen Esther of Persia and saves Persian Jews from genocide. By revealing her heritage to the king, Esther thwarts the evil prime minister's plan to annihilate all Jews in the Persian Empire. The annual festival of Purim is inspired by her heroism.

A historical satire critical of the rising tide of Anti-Semitism in Germany. Based on the novel by Lionel Feuchtwanger, Jew Süss is the story of life in the 18th century Jewish ghetto of Württemberg. Süss (Veidt) works himself out of the ghetto and into a position of power himself with the help of an evil Duke.

Handsomely-mounted historical epic concerns the birth of the Islamic faith and the story of the prophet Mohammed.

Two stories separated by 1400 years. After losing his mother in the midst of a war-torn country, an Iraqi child learns the importance and power of patience by discovering the historical story of Lady Fatima and her suffering.

More than fourteen centuries ago, Mecca was filled with gambling, drunkenness, slavery, the mistreatment of women, and greed. The holy Ka'bah was littered with idol gods. Pilgrims came by the thousands to worship them. Quarysh, Mecca's ruling body, reveled in the their good fortune but cared little for the welfare of the pilgrims of Arabia.Against this dismal scene, a man named Muhammad (pbuh) retreated to a cave high above Mecca to pray. The events that transpired in that cave changed the course of human history.This is the story of the blessings of Muhammad (pbuh) - The Last Prophet.

Sudan, East Africa, 1980. A team of Israeli Mossad agents plans to rescue and transfer thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel. To do so, and to avoid raising suspicions from the inquisitive and ruthless authorities, they establish as a cover a fake diving resort by the Red Sea.

The Turkish Passport tells the story of diplomats posted to Turkish embassies and consulates in several European countries, who saved numerous Jews during the Second World War. Whether they pulled them out of camps or took them off trains that were taking them to concentration camps, the diplomats, in the end, ensured that the Jews, who were Turkish citizens, could return to Turkey and thus be saved. Based on the testimonies of witnesses, who traveled to Istanbul to find safety, the Turkish Passport also uses written historical documents and archive footage to tell this story of rescue and bring to light the events of the time.

Stephen Fry embarks on a journey to discover the stories behind some of the world's most fantastic beasts that have inspired myths and legends in history, story-telling and film.

The true story of German-Czech businessman Oskar Schindler (1908-74) as told by some of the Jews — more than a thousand people — whose lives he saved from extermination during World War II.

Welsh poet Ifor Ap Glyn has a passionate interest in the toilet: its history and how it has evolved over the centuries, right up to the development of the current design. Here, he explains the reasons behind his fascination.

Algeria from above is the first documentary made entirely from the sky on Algeria. Through the eye of the famous Yann Arthus-Bertrand this documentary vividly depicts this great country, and its vibrant cultural and natural treasures. From North to South and from West to East, it shows us the entirety of Algeria, lives in the large hectic coastal cities, Atlas mountains, oases of the Sahara or gentle hills of the Sahel. With a rich past that seems to have crossed all civilizations, and a territory where all natural environments amalgamate, Algeria appears here in all its diversity and its unity.

The Quran is the Holy Book of Islam, a religion shared by more than a billion followers worldwide. For the Muslim tradition, since its revelation to the Prophet Muhammad between the year 610 and 632 of the Christian era in Mecca and Medina, the Koran is immutable, and has remained maintained. However, recent discoveries of Koranic manuscripts analyzed by scientists, dated around the year 680 - the oldest known in the world - revealed that the Koran has a history. During the first century of Islam, and before the canonical version of the Caliph Uthman imposed itself, the holy book of Islam would have known competing versions, a different organization of the suras, variable readings due to a writing, in its beginnings, very rudimentary… It is to this meeting of knowledge, at the crossroads between the Muslim tradition and scientific research, that this journey to the origins of the Koran invites.

World War II, June 1940. France has fallen and suffers the relentless boot of Nazi Germany. But Algeria, the prized French colony in North Africa, remains part of the territory controlled by the Vichy regime of Marshal Pétain. A strict colonial order is maintained: the French of European origin rule, while local Jews are stripped of French citizenship and discrimination against the mainly Muslim population increases.

Inspired by historical facts, this film is a story of love and survival against the background of the 1951 Communist ordered deportation of 40,000 landowners and people of non-Romanian origins to the Baragan Plain, the "Romanian Siberia".

The 20 year old Muslim religious law student Ibn Battuta (1304–1368), whose full name was Abu Abdullah Muhammed Ibn Abdullah Al Lawati Al Tanji Ibn Battuta, set out from Tangier, a city in northern Morocco, in 1325, on a pilgrimage to Mecca, some 3,000 miles (over 4,800 km) to the East. The journey took him 18 months to complete and along the way he met with misfortune and adversity, including attack by bandits, rescue by Bedouins, fierce sand storms and dehydration.

Set against the backdrop of the greatest clandestine race against time in the history of science with the mission to build the world's first atomic bomb in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Flawed scientists and their families attempt to co-exist in a world where secrets and lies infiltrate every aspect of their lives.

Battlefield Detectives is a forensic documentary television series that aired on the History Channel from 2003 to 2006. The series explores famous battles focusing on the battlefield itself, and tell its story based on recent scientific research. It uses modern science to examine how the battles were won or lost. According to History Television, "This series approaches the perennially interesting topic of famous battles in a fresh and exhilarating way. Focusing on the battlefield itself, each programme takes an important battle telling its story and posing a puzzling central question about the battle that recent scientific research is helping to illuminate - a contemporary journey of discovery and a compelling story from the past."

From the Legends of King Arthur and Robin Hood to the recent events of the Russian Revolution, history is full of fascinating and evocative unsolved mysteries. They have inspired, intrigued and often confounded us – but how much do we really know about them? And can we separate fact from fiction? In Mystery Files, the dust is blown off the case files of the world’s most famous and iconic mysteries in a dynamic series that asks, what is the truth behind the greatest stories ever told?

It was the world's last Islamic empire - a super-power of a million square miles. From its capital in Istanbul it matched the glories of Ancient Rome. And after six centuries in power it collapsed less than a hundred years ago. Rageh Omaar, who has reported from across this former empire, sets out to discover why the Ottomans have vanished from our understanding of the history of Europe. Why so few realise the importance of Ottoman history in today's Middle East. And why you have to know the Ottoman story to understand the roots of many of today's trouble spots from Palestine, Iraq and Israel to Libya, Syria, Egypt, Bosnia and Kosovo.

Chronicles the lives of Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, three members of the most prominent and influential family in American politics. It is the first time in a major documentary television series that their individual stories have been interwoven into a single narrative. This seven-part, fourteen hour film follows the Roosevelts for more than a century, from Theodore’s birth in 1858 to Eleanor’s death in 1962.

A blood-soaked, medieval epic that tells the story of Wilkin Brattle, a 14th century warrior, whose life is forever changed when a divine messenger beseeches him to lay down his sword and lead the life of another man: a journeyman executioner. Set in northern Wales during a time rife with rebellion and political upheaval, Wilkin must walk a tight rope between protecting his true identity while also serving a mysterious destiny. Guided by Annora, a mystical healer whose seeming omniscience keeps Wilkin under her sway; manipulated by Milus Corbett, a devious Chamberlain with grand political aspirations; and driven by a deepening connection with the Baroness Lady Love, Wilkin struggles to navigate political, emotional and supernal pitfalls in his quest to understand his greater purpose.

Inspired by the original novella by Robert Louis Stevenson, Jekyll and Hyde is set in 1930s London and follows Robert Jekyll, the grandson of Henry Jekyll, on his quest to discover his real identity, his true family history and the nature of his ‘curse’ – which his foster father, Dr Vishal Najaran, is controlling with medication. His journey takes him into a dark and unforgiving place, as his alter ego seems capable of anything. At the same time there are shadowy forces trying to find Jekyll and the source of his powers.

The story of the penniless Mary Thorne, who grows up with her rich aunt/cousins at Greshamsbury Park estate.

Brothel owner, Margaret Wells, struggles to raise her daughters in London during the 18th century.

The early 17th Century story of three courageous, dynamic women who leave their dark pasts behind in England, and make the journey of a lifetime across the ocean for a new life in America.

The fascinating story of the early life of England’s most iconic Queen, Elizabeth Tudor, an orphaned teenager who became embroiled in the political and sexual politics of the English court on her journey to obtain the crown.

Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II wages an epic campaign to take the Byzantine capital of Constantinople and shapes the course of history for centuries.

An origins story, beginning in 1947, which follows Ratched's journey and evolution from nurse to full-fledged monster tracking her murderous progression through the mental health care system.

During London's swinging sixties, young Jewish Vivien Epstein follows her lover into danger and when he is caught between life and death, she finds herself going undercover with the fascists, not only for him but for the sake of her country.

Inspired in part by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s “Americans and the Holocaust” exhibition and supported by its historical resources, this documentary series examines the rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany in the context of global antisemitism and racism, the eugenics movement in the United States, and race laws in the American south.