Best Documentary Series Movies & TV Shows

Mike Rowe shows how many things in the world are connected. By using historical facts, Mike takes two seemingly unrelated things and shows an indirect connection.

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

The largest art museum in the Americas prepares to celebrate its 150th birthday with a treasure trove of landmark exhibitions. When COVID-19 strikes, the world shuts down and, for the first time in its history, the Met closes its doors. Then comes another crisis: in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, there are urgent demands for social justice.

The year 2004 saw two hundred years of railways in Great Britain and to celebrate this historic landmark year, dedicated train enthusiast Mark Williams traveled the length and breadth of Britain in an exciting new TV series. Travelling the length and breadth of Britain, Mark tracks down the nation's fascinating railway heritage and gets to grips with locos such as the magnificent 160 ton Duchess of Sutherland. From the earliest designs of Richard Trevithick and George and Robert Stephenson to the advent of Class 31s, and from the development of London's Underground to the evolution of railway coaches, he reveals how our railways have changed over 200 years of history.

A unique fusion of blue chip natural history and earth science that explains how our living planet operates. This five-part series shows how the forces of nature drive, shape and support Earth’s great diversity of wildlife.

The four-part series takes an awe-inspiring look at the world around us, shot with ultra-high-definition cameras that capture sweeping panoramas and extraordinary close-ups of Canada’s majestic terrain and diverse species.

This spectacular documentary series invites us to visit Chile. Traveling behind the tracks of its great animal diversity, Chile also offers impressive geographical variations, from the cold coasts of the south to the Andes mountain range and its fantastic landscapes. Chile, a magical and captivating country where the sky embraces the sea while it unites with the earth.

After one of the most shocking presidencies in history, Donald Trump’s top advisers and the leaders who clashed with him lift the lid on the critical moments of his foreign policy.

There is nowhere more powerful and unforgiving yet more beautiful and compelling than the ocean. Join us and explore the greatest yet least known parts of our planet.

This documentary series about plants is the first immersive portrayal of an unseen, inter-connected world, full of remarkable new behaviour, emotional stories and surprising heroes in the plant world. Planet Earth from the perspective of plants.

Experience our planet's natural beauty and examine how climate change impacts all living creatures in this ambitious documentary of spectacular scope.

Follow comedian and writer Wyatt Cenac as he explores America’s most pressing issues. Traveling to different parts of the country, Cenac brings unique perspectives to systemic issues, while tackling more benign everyday inconveniences with comedic solutions.

A celebration of the animals you thought you knew. Primates is the definitive portrait of a hugely charismatic family of animals, to which we all belong.

David Attenborough presents a documentary series exploring how animals meet the challenges of surviving in the most iconic habitats on earth.

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.

The Joy of Painting was an American television show hosted by painter Bob Ross that taught its viewers techniques for landscape oil painting. Although Ross could complete a painting in half an hour, the intent of the show was not to teach viewers "speed painting". Rather, he intended for viewers to learn certain techniques within the time that the show was allotted. The show began on January 11, 1983, and lasted until May 17, 1994, a year before Ross' death.

Nigel Spivey reveals how the images which surround us today come from the ancient world. It's an epic journey spanning five continents and a hundred thousand years of history.

Journalist Fiona Bruce teams up with art expert Philip Mould to investigate the provenance or attribution of notable artworks.

The Emmy®-winning documentary series is now on SHOWTIME, delivering immersive reporting from the frontlines of global conflicts, civil uprisings and beyond, and tackling untold and complex geopolitical stories from all corners of the globe.

Africa, the world's wildest continent. David Attenborough takes us on an awe-inspiring journey through one of the most diverse places in the world. We visit deserts, savannas, and jungles and meet up with some of Africa's amazing wildlife.

Millions of years ago, incredible forces ripped apart the Earth’s crust creating seven extraordinary continents. This documentary series reveals how each distinct continent has shaped the unique animal life found there.

David Attenborough travels to the end of the earth, taking viewers on an extraordinary journey across the polar regions of our planet.

David Attenborough narrates a natural history of the oceans.

Bettany Hughes relives eight pivotal days that defined the Roman Empire and made it the world's first superpower.

This immersive series follows the world's most magnificent creatures, capturing never-before-seen moments from the heartwarming to the outrageous.

A landmark, three-part series that tells the human story through our relationship to water. We find out how our success is intimately connected to our control of the molecule, but that the growth of our civilizations has also created a dangerous dependence on a precious resource. One that may be about to run out.

Follow the true stories of five of the world's most celebrated, yet endangered animals; penguins, chimpanzees, lions, painted wolves and tigers. Each in a heroic struggle against rivals and against the forces of nature, these families fight for their own survival and for the future of their dynasties.

America: The Story of Us is a six-part, 12-hour documentary-drama television miniseries that premiered on April 25, 2010, on History channel. Produced by Nutopia, the program portrays more than 400 years of American history. It spans time from the successful English settlement of Jamestown beginning in 1607, through to the present day. Narrated by Liev Schreiber, the series recreates many historical events by using actors dressed in the style of the period and computer-generated special effects. The miniseries received mixed reviews by critics; but it attracted the largest audiences of any special aired by the channel to date.

An access-all-areas look at the step-by-step process of how to construct the most impressive cars on the planet, told by the specialists who do it every day.

John Barrowman offers a look into the lives of working animals.

Monarchy is a Channel 4 British TV series, 2004-2006, by British academic David Starkey, charting the political and ideological history of the English monarchy from the Saxon period to modern times. The show also aired on PBS stations throughout the United States, courtesy of PBS-member station WNET. In Australia, all four seasons were broadcast on ABC1 from May 2005 onwards.

Sir Kenneth Clarke guides us through the ages exploring the glorious rise of civilisation in western man. Beginning with the bleakness of the dark ages to the present day, we consider civilisation's articulations and expressions in some of man's finest works of art.

Andrew Marr's History of the World is a 2012 BBC documentary television series presented by Andrew Marr that covers 70,000 years of world history from the beginning of human civilisation, as African nomadic peoples spread out around the world and settled down to become the first farmers, up to the twentieth century.

The true story of America's iconic 16th president as told by weaving together both scripted dramatizations of important moments in his life and commentary by authoritative historians and public figures.

Influential builders, dreamers and believers whose feats transformed the United States, a nation decaying from the inside after the Civil War, into the greatest economic and technological superpower the world had ever seen. The Men Who Built America is the story of a nation at the crossroads and of the people who catapulted it to prosperity.

The series shows how meditation can help in your daily life. From tackling stress to embracing gratitude, each episode first teaches the basics and techniques of the practice, and then concludes with a guided meditation. Push play, close your eyes, and explore the many benefits of meditation.

Professor Brian Cox reveals how the fundamental scientific principles and laws explain not only the story of the universe but also answer mankind's greatest questions.

In this definitive six-part UKTV Original, Gold explores every aspect of Britain's most loved sitcom, Only Fools and Horses. With exclusive access to the key cast members, including Sir David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst, the series gives rare insights into the show and what went on both on and off camera. The Story Of Only Fools And Horses reunites cast members, rebuilds some of the sets and features rare and previously unseen material.

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.

Step inside the minds of the most innovative designers in a variety of disciplines and learn how design impacts every aspect of life.

Find out what's inside the kitchens and minds of the international culinary stars who are redefining gourmet food.

An Idiot Abroad is a British travel documentary television series broadcast on Sky1 and Science, as well as spin-off books published by Canongate Books, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant and starring Karl Pilkington. The ongoing theme of both the television series and the books is that Pilkington has no interest in global travel, so Merchant and Gervais make him travel while they stay in the United Kingdom and monitor his progress.

Historic footage and leading voices of the era examine the "Bobby Phenomenon" of the 1960s and the legacy of the man who helped redefine the country.

After 25 years of his record-breaking solo career, Robbie looks back on his younger self and reflects on a lifetime spent in the spotlight.

Explore Richard Nixon’s life and times; tracking his rise, fall, incredible comeback and political destruction during some of America’s most tumultuous decades. From his early political maneuvers in California, to the game-changing Kennedy-Nixon debates through his disgraceful Watergate exit, featuring never-before-seen footage this fully archive based series offers fresh insight into a riveting story of politics, power and scandal.

Hit the hardwood in East Los Angeles as a coach with strong convictions leads young men who hope to fulfill major college potential.

Exploring the vital role colour plays in the daily lives of many species.

The third installment from executive producers Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Mark Herzog, following in the footsteps of critically-acclaimed series THE SIXTIES and THE SEVENTIES, tackles 10 years shaped by exceptionalism and excess. Like its predecessors, THE EIGHTIES intersperses rare archival newsreel footage, interviews, and comments by historians, journalists, politicians, celebrities and others, painting a perspective-rich picture of a vibrant decade. Episodes examine the age of Reagan, the AIDS crisis, the end of the Cold War, Wall Street corruption, the evolving TV and music scene, and everything in between.

Stanley Tucci travels across Italy to discover the secrets and delights of the country’s regional cuisines.

Writer, director and food enthusiast Jon Favreau and chef Roy Choi explore food in and out of the kitchen with accomplished chefs and celebrity friends.