Top 250 Movies Like Seconds From Disaster

Global disasters begin to occur after archaeologists unearth a 2,000-year-old astrology artifact. A rogue scientist is the key to deciphering the artifact to avert the end of the world.

Months after a zombie plague has wiped out 90 percent of the American population, a small group of survivors fight their way cross-country to a rumored refuge on the island of Catalina.

The first successful motion picture in natural color, filmed with Kinemacolor. It is an 8 minute short film directed by George Albert Smith of Brighton, showing people doing everyday activities. It is ranked of high historical importance. Kinemacolor later influenced and replaced by Technicolor, which was used from 1916 to 1952.

This film does not deal with Chernobyl, but rather with the world of Chernobyl, about which we know very little. Eyewitness reports have survived: scientists, teachers, journalists, couples, children... They tell of their old daily lives, then of the catastrophe. Their voices form a long, terrible but necessary supplication which traverses borders and stimulates us to question our status quo.

Walking with Dinosaurs 3D is a film depicting life-like 3D dinosaur characters set in photo-real landscapes that transports audiences to the prehistoric world as it existed 70 million years ago. The film is based on the 1999 documentary television miniseries Walking with Dinosaurs, produced by the BBC. Walking with Dinosaurs 3D is being produced by Evergreen Studios, the company that produced Happy Feet, and it is was released on October 11, 2013.

A television program is interupted by a news network announcing that three meteors have hit the United States, France and China. At first it seems natural but after interviews by scientists and eyewitness seems to suggest that it is not. Three more meteors are coming and the various Earth governments combine forces to stop them.

Animated documentary promoting timely filing and payment of Federal income taxes, demonstrated by Donald Duck's difficulties with his tax return.

Operation Vittles is a 1948 American short documentary film about the Berlin Airlift, from the initial closure of the city in 1948 through 1949. It explains how, what, and why that supported the city. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

In this Pete Smith Specialty short, Dr. Harold E. Edgerton demonstrates stroboscopic photography, which he helped develop. This process allows us to see in slow motion what happens during events that occur too fast to be seen by the naked eye. Examples shown here include a bullet in flight as it shatters a light bulb, the moment of impact when a kicker kicks a football, and the motion of a hummingbird's wings as it hovers.

Through the magic of editing and animation, Claude Jutra is seen in dialogue with himself at various stages of his life – becoming the spirited narrator of his own biography. Excerpts from family films, interviews, and clips from some of Jutra's well-known works are seamlessly intertwined with these sequences, forming a portrait of a man whose life was devoted to creativity. Jutra is simultaneously a homage, a love letter to cinema, and the dramatic story of a brilliant artist whose life was all-too-short.

A teacher opens a time capsule that has been dug up at his son's elementary school; in it are some chilling predictions -- some that have already occurred and others that are about to -- that lead him to believe his family plays a role in the events that are about to unfold.

After "The Poseidon Adventure", in which the ship got flipped over by a tidal wave, the ship drifts bottom-up in the sea. While the passengers are still on board waiting to be rescued, two rivaling salvage parties enter the ship on search for money, gold and a small amount of plutonium.

Still haunted by the memory of the son they lost to an accident years ago, Ted and Mary Hocken take up residence with their two young daughters on the remote, windswept reaches of a tiny East Coast island. The Hockens are determined to forget their painful past and spend a quiet, uneventful summer. But as immense flocks of birds begin massing around the island, it becomes clear that something is very wrong in this isolated, deceptively calm oasis. Before long, the sky is darkened by a hideous onslaught of the screeching, winged creatures. It's an assault unlike anything in the history of man or beast – or is it? For one old timer recalls a similar, horrific outbreak that gripped the West Coast decades ago...

When the space shuttle Challenger blew up in 1986, it was the most shocking event in the history of American spaceflight. The deaths of seven astronauts, including the first teacher in space Christa McAuliffe, were watched live on television by millions of viewers. But what was more shocking was that the cause of the disaster might never be uncovered. The Challenger is the story of how Richard Feynman, one of America's most famous scientists, helped to discover the cause of a tragedy that stunned America.

While doing a series of reports on alternative energy sources, opportunistic reporter Kimberly Wells witnesses an accident at a nuclear power plant. Wells is determined to publicize the incident, but soon finds herself entangled in a sinister conspiracy to keep the full impact of the incident a secret.

An ex-employee of a city oil refinery creates an explosion at the facility which starts a chain-reaction of fires that engulf the entire city.

The untold story of Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson – brilliant African-American women working at NASA and serving as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history – the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit. The visionary trio crossed all gender and race lines to inspire generations to dream big.

After an unprecedented series of natural disasters threatened the planet, the world's leaders came together to create an intricate network of satellites to control the global climate and keep everyone safe. But now, something has gone wrong: the system built to protect Earth is attacking it, and it becomes a race against the clock to uncover the real threat before a worldwide geostorm wipes out everything and everyone along with it.

Volcanologist Harry Dalton comes to the sleepy town of Dante's Peak to investigate the recent rumblings of the dormant volcano the burg is named for. Before long, his worst fears are realized when a massive eruption hits, and immediately, Harry, the mayor and the townspeople find themselves fighting for their lives amid a catastrophic nightmare.

The story of Captain Richard Francis Burton's and Lt. John Hanning Speke's expedition to find the source of the Nile river in the name of Queen Victoria's British Empire. The film tells the story of their meeting, their friendship emerging amidst hardship, and then dissolving after their journey.

A story set on the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, which exploded during April 2010 and created the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

For Halloween 1992, the BBC decides to broadcast an investigation into the supernatural, hosted by TV chat-show legend Michael Parkinson. Parky (assisted by Mike Smith, Sarah Greene & Craig Charles) and a camera crew attempt to discover the truth behind the most haunted house in Britain. This ground-breaking live television experiment does not go as planned, however.

In this highly speculative historical thriller, Colonel Franz Ritter (George C. Scott), a former hero pilot now working for military intelligence, is assigned to the great Hindenburg airship as its chief of security. As he races against the clock to uncover a possible saboteur aboard the doomed zeppelin he finds that any of the passengers and crew could be the culprit.

A break-in and sabotage attempt occurs at a top secret research institute and the culprit is cornered and captured. The problem is that he's been badly injured and claims to have lost his memory entirely. A cat-and-mouse game ensues between investigator Tuxan, the mystery intruder Welles and the people who sent him on the mission.

Marijuana is the most controversial drug of the 20th Century. Smoked by generations to little discernible ill effect, it continues to be reviled by many governments on Earth. In this Genie Award-winning documentary veteran Canadian director Ron Mann and narrator Woody Harrelson mix humour and historical footage together to recount how the United States has demonized a relatively harmless drug.

A powerful laser machine rips the core of the earth causing earthquakes and tsunamis, and only one man and his team can save the planet from destruction. Will they succeed?

Everyone knows the story of the Titanic, how the largest moving object ever fashioned by the hand of man hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage and sank in the middle of the North Atlantic, and 1,500 lives were lost. The tragedy has been well documented in books and on films. No matter how often the story is told, it never fails to capture the imagination. It is a story that has left many questions unanswered, and the programme provides an intriguing hypothesis that the ship that plummeted two miles to the bottom of the sea was not the Titanic but its sister ship the Olympic. This film is based upon the research of Andrew Newton and includes the evidence of the British and American inquiries, the eye witness reports of survivors, newspapers of the day, photographs, video, film and radio broadcasts. The views and opinions presented in this film are based on actual evidence and legitimate inference. It may be the ultimate conspiracy – or could it be the truth?

Archival material from the original NASA film footage – much of it seen for the first time – plus interviews with the surviving astronauts, including Jim Lovell, Dave Scott, John Young, Gene Cernan, Mike Collins, Buzz Aldrin, Alan Bean, Edgar Mitchell, Charlie Duke and Harrison Schmitt.

A misguided museum guard who loses his job and then tries to get it back at gunpoint is thrown into the fierce world of ratings-driven TV gone mad.

The residents of vacation spot Seal Island find themselves terrorized by a pack of dogs -- the remnants of discarded pets by visiting vacationers.

A freak weather system turns its deadly fury on New York City, unleashing a Sharknado on the population and its most cherished, iconic sites - and only Fin and April can save the Big Apple.

Take a stroll down Sesame Street and witness the birth of the most influential children's show in television history. From the iconic furry characters to the classic songs you know by heart, learn how a gang of visionary creators changed the world.

A man refuses to believe that pilot error caused a fatal crash, and persists in looking for another reason. Airliner crashes near Los Angeles due to unusual string of coincidences. Stewardess, who is sole survivor, joins airline executives in discovering the causes of the crash.

The onset of the 21st Century will be an era in which the very nature of what it means to be human will be both enriched and challenged as our species breaks the shackles of its genetic legacy and achieves inconceivable heights of intelligence, material progress, and longevity. While the social and philosophical ramifications of these changes will be profound, and the threats they pose considerable, celebrated futurist Ray Kurzweil presents a view of the coming age that is both a dramatic culmination of centuries of technological ingenuity and a genuinely inspiring vision of our ultimate destiny.

The Man Who Saved the World is a feature documentary film about Stanislav Petrov, a former lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defence Forces.

INTER SCI climatologist Dr. David Kotzman has evidence that a shift in the Earth's polarity triggered the last Ice Age...in a single day. Now, it's happening again, and there's no time to escape. As the temperature plummets, Miami is blasted with snow and ice. Evacuation routes are jammed. The only chance David, his old flame Bryn, and a few other hopeful survivors have is to hole themselves up in a special chamber at INTER SCI. A desperate race for survival is ignited as nature's fury rages and the temperature plunges toward -459.67° F...ABSOLUTE ZERO!

Brief scenes of death related material: mortuaries, accidents and police work are filmed by TV crews and home video cameras. Some of it is most likely fake, some not as much.

Parallel stories: 18th century Harrison builds the marine chronometer for safe navigation at sea; 20th century Gould is obsessed with restoring it.

Documentary-drama recounting the Martian War of 1913–1917. Europe was on tenterhooks in the 2nd decade of the 20th century, everyone was expecting a Great War between the major European powers. But then, in 1913, something crashed into the forests of SW Germany. Troops were sent to investigate but were wiped out. Martian fighting machines began making their way across Western Europe and the countries of Europe combined forces to resist them. With aspects taken from ‘The War of the Worlds’ by H.G. Wells and from WWI itself, this dramatisation presents a documentary style look at events as they unfolded and the effect they had of our world today. Lots of references to real events including the mass attacks and defeats as men were thrown against machines on the Western front, the Christmas truce and the Angel of Mons, America's isolationism and late entry into the conflict, the worldwide Spanish flu epidemic that killed more people than the war, and many other things.

A documentary about the major events of the first fifty years of the Twentieth Century.

As his country is gripped by revolution and war, a Ukrainian victim of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster discovers a dark secret and must decide whether to risk his life and play his part in the revolution by revealing it.

San Francisco becomes a target for waves of destructive meteors after a rogue comet orbits around the earth... For astronomer, Michelle Young, what was meant to be a once-in-a-lifetime celestial event, soon turns into her worst nightmare as thousands of meteors break the surface of the atmosphere and bombard the city of San Francisco.

When a shower of massive meteors threatens an extinction level on Earth, the world's greatest minds devise a dangerous plan that will take the planet off its axis in order to avoid the impact.

When a sudden, unexplained rise in local temperatures threatens to turn Los Angeles County into a parched, lifeless desert, one scientist must put her theories to the test in a desperate effort to prevent the catastrophe.

An on-the-scene documentary following the events of September 11, 2001 from an insider's view, through the lens of two French filmmakers who simply set out to make a movie about a rookie NYC fireman and ended up filming the tragic event that changed our lives forever.

What happens when you ask the most powerful computer program, run by the most powerful computers, to follow, listen and predict human behavior? The program learns, becomes sentient and begins to behave like a human. When a master computer program, Echelon, takes over America's entire online system, our country is threatened to be brought to its knees. Hacking into DARPA, Echelon gains the ability to manipulate the weather, create earthquakes, and cause a level of destruction unlike anything the country could ever imagine. But how do you stop a computer program when it has control over any and every defense you have?

When a solar eclipse sends a colossal blast of super chilled air towards the earth, it then sets off a catastrophic chain of events that threatens to engulf the world in ice and begin a new Ice Age.

When a discredited L.A. Seismologist warns of an impending 12.7 earthquake, no one takes her seriously. Now on her own, she races desperately to get her family to safety before the earthquake breaks Los Angeles apart from the mainland.

A scientist readies a boat after his warnings of an Earth-destroying flood are ignored. However, after the disasters reach a peak level of destruction those who maligned the scientist now turn to him in desperation, as he and other refugees look to save the world and stop the disaster using the two Supercolliders on opposite sides of the Atlantic.

After an earthquake rocks D.C., the Army Corp races against the clock to rescue the President trapped under the rubble while a sinister plot aims to capitalize on the disaster.

A group of talented but rebellious 'rock-star scientists' find themselves in a race against time to save Earth when a comet makes an unexpected turn towards our blue planet where all life may cease to exist within days if our small town heroes fail to find a solution.

When a former Special Ops commando visits Pompeii, his wife and daughter are trapped as Mt. Vesuvius erupts with massive force. While his family fights to survive the deadly onslaught of heat and lava, he enlists his former teammates in a daring operation beneath the ruins of the city of Pompeii.

A science-fiction story of a billionaire's private space exploration program returning to Earth with an abducted extraterrestrial from a newly discovered alien planet.

A Yellowstone National Park scientist and a thrill-seeking ranger join forces to plug-up a volatile super volcano that threatens to wipe out the entire United States.

In the remote, sun soaked Pennsylvanian countryside, Ned Larson - a retired professor and reclusive inventor is killed in an explosion at his home. Soon after, small-time investigative journalist Eve Pretson crawls from the wreckage of a burnt out car nearby. She suffers a complete loss of memory - with no recollection of who she is or anything that preceded the accident. Weak and disorientated, she stops at a gas station for help, but instead witnesses the murder of a local mechanic. How are these events connected? In a desperate search for answers, Eve pieces together the scattered fragments of her life, becoming ever more fearful of all she uncovers.

On its maiden flight, the crew of America's first supersonic transport learns that it may not be able to land, due to an act of sabotage and a deadly flu onboard.

Hosted by Orson Welles, this documentary utilizes a grab bag of dramatized scenes, stock footage, TV news clips and interviews to ask: Did 16th century French astrologer and physician Nostradamus actually predict such events as the fall of King Louis XVI, the rise of Napoleon, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy? And are there prophecies that have yet to come true?

As Sir David Attenborough turns 90, this intimate film presents new interviews, eye-opening behind-the-scenes footage and extraordinary clips from some of his most recent films. The doc, which was made for the occasion of Attenborough’s 90th birthday, was shot over seven years and follows him as he travels to Borneo, Morocco and the Galapagos to shoot wildlife specials. Anthony Geffen, the CEO of Atlantic Productions, commented, “This is such a special Attenborough film because unusually he is the subject. As I look back over the last seven years, I never fail to be amazed by his extraordinary ambition and drive to use the very latest technology to communicate the natural world to audiences around the globe. This film gives audiences the chance to see what it’s like to be on the road with David.”

Life on Air: David Attenborough's 50 Years in Television is a BBC documentary film that recounts David Attenborough's television career. It is presented by Michael Palin and produced by Brian Leith. The BBC first transmitted the documentary in 2002 and is part of the Attenborough in Paradise and Other Personal Voyages collection of 7 documentaries. It includes interviews with Attenborough and several of his former colleagues, along with archival footage.

A documentary on the life and career of Norwich's finest broadcaster, Alan Gordon Partridge. In the programme Alan is asked tough questions about his divorce, Toblerone addiction and his autobiography 'Bouncing Back' by formidable interviewer Ray Woollard. The documentary will show rare and previously unseen footage of Alan broadcasting on Radio Norwich, commentating on sport and reading extracts from his book. He also talks candidly about the state of television today, his hatred of London and his three rules for life.

Join Apollo 11 on its historic journey. The film seamlessly blends mission audio featuring conversations among Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins with new footage, NASA archive and stunning CGI to recreate the first moon landing.

One of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century, Arthur Miller created such celebrated works as Death of a Salesman and The Crucible, which continue to move audiences around the world today. He also made headlines for being targeted by the House Un-American Activities Committee at the height of the McCarthy Era and entering into a tumultuous marriage with Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe. Told from the unique perspective of his daughter, filmmaker Rebecca Miller, Arthur Miller: Writer is an illuminating portrait that combines interviews spanning decades and a wealth of personal archival material, and provides new insights into Miller’s life as an artist and exploring his character in all its complexity.

In this special follow-up programme, the only television team with access to the dig and the scientific tests on the skeleton uses unseen footage and conducts two days of additional interviews to tell this extraordinary forensic detective story in even greater scientific and archaeological detail.

Showtime's "In the 20th Century" is a millennium-related strand of feature-length documentaries in which famous directors take on major subjects of their choosing. In the fourth of the six films, "The Pursuit of Happiness," filmmaker Robert Zemeckis delves into the history of America's relationship with mind-altering substances over the past 100 years, presenting interviews with historians and professionals in the drug treatment field, interspersed with a treasure trove of film and television clips depicting the highs and lows of smoking, drinking and drugging in the 20th century

The film explores the background and build-up to this final flight to disaster. Using dramatic reconstruction, archive footage and exclusive interviews with leading historians and engineering experts, the special delves into the political and scientific events that led up to the catastrophe.

Originally produced for The Learning Channel, this documentary aims to dissect the events surrounding the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, addressing many of the questions that still continue to haunt the public. Through CGI graphics, interviews with witnesses and discussions with those who designed and engineered the buildings, this program examines the horrific incident in full detail.

This programme recalls the events that led up to one of the most dangerous moments in the entire history of the Cold War: a NATO command post exercise, code named Able Archer 83, which caused the USSR to believe that NATO was planning a genuine nuclear attack.

The sinking of the RMS Titanic remains one of the most enduring and mysterious tragedies of the 20th century. For decades, investigators and amateurs alike have floated theories for why it occurred and who was to blame for the extraordinary loss of life, but no one answer could fully explain what happened. Until now. To mark the 100th anniversary of the infamous disaster, Smithsonian Channel will premiere Titanic's Final Mystery. The two-hour special investigates a century of theories and uncovers astonishing new forensic evidence that proves the most likely theory for the case.

From the creators of critically acclaimed Inside 9/11 comes another powerful journalistic account, Inside Hurricane Katrina. Go beyond the round-the-clock news coverage for a comprehensive look behind the devastation caused by nature's fury and human error. How did this happen? Can it happen again? Why weren't emergency personnel fully ready to respond to a real disaster? Using comprehensive analysis of events, hours of government audio tapes, and personal interviews, National Geographic takes viewers into the eye of Katrina to uncover the decisions and circumstances that determined the fate of the Gulf residents.

All interviews in this documentary were shot over a long weekend at a 1984 hacker conference by the Whole Earth Catalog editors Stewart Brand and Kevin Kelley in Sausalito, California. The event itself (the hacker conference) was inspired by Steven Levy's classic book "Hackers - Heroes of the Computer Revolution"

Lusitania: an ocean liner to rival Titanic. On May 7th 1915 11 miles off the Old Head of Kinsale she was struck by a single torpedo from a German U-boat. 18 minutes later she was gone: a death toll of nearly 1200. Who will live and who will die, as the political shockwave is felt around the world?

A documentary about modern consumerist culture. Evolution and psychology underpin a narrative of our times, constantly locating man at its centre with an unhealthy dose of pathos. Fantastic 20th century archive and interviews.

Three years in the making in conjunction with the BBC. Using never seen before home movies, photos and eye witness accounts - this is the inside story of the world's biggest motorsport disaster.

The origins of Halloween are explored in this engrossing program on the subject. A ghoulish array of costumes, make up, and decoration descend on communities every year on October 31st, but few people are aware of how the celebration came to exist. Harry Smith attempts to get to the bottom of the mystery in THE HAUNTED HISTORY OF HALLOWEEN, which delves into the 3,000 years of hoopla that traditionally unfolds when October comes around. As the history is explained, so are various failed attempts to co-opt the festival by various religious groups; but the most compelling revelation is how little the festival has changed over the centuries. A marvelous way to gain a historical perspective on this entertaining holiday, Smith's program is almost as fun as carving a pumpkin, donning a spooky costume, and undertaking a little trick or treating!

The precautionary prowess of the British is proudly on display in this programme which proves that the wonder of apocalyptic wariness isn’t purely an American phenomenon. Civil unrest, financial chaos and natural disasters are everyday news – and, whether it involves survivalists stockpiling away in Surrey or completely upping sticks and moving to Slovakia, Preppers UK: Surviving Armageddon features British preppers who’ve armed themselves with much more than just a stiff upper lip. In Surrey, Royston is preparing for the aftermath of a solar flare and hosts a radio show for fellow preppers. Over in Buckinghamshire, tree surgeon Malcolm explains how he prepares for disaster by sampling the local wildlife – he has feasted on squirrel, rabbit, magpie, and even tried ant eggs! ....

Documentary presented by Professor Simon Schaffer which charts the amazing and untold story of automata - extraordinary clockwork machines designed hundreds of years ago to mimic and recreate life. The film brings the past to life in vivid detail as we see how and why these masterpieces were built. Travelling around Europe, Simon uncovers the history of these machines and shows us some of the most spectacular examples, from an entire working automaton city to a small boy who can be programmed to write and even a device that can play chess. All the machines Simon visits show a level of technical sophistication and ambition that still amazes today.

Comedian Jason Manford and singer-songwriter Chelcee Grimes present Eurovision Calling: Jason and Chelcee’s Ultimate Guide. This entertainment programme will see the pair explore why the Eurovision Song Contest is the greatest show on Earth. Using a mix of fascinating archive footage and revealing interviews with fans, experts and competitors, this one hour film will delve into the story of how the Contest has become the world’s largest live music event, creating global superstars and leaving an impact on the lives of many.

Documentary which follows the construction of a trailblazing 36,000-tonne steel structure to entomb the ruins of the nuclear power plant destroyed in the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

The story behind the creation of the transistor, one of the 20th century's most important inventions.

THE BRAIN is an astonishing voyage of discovery into our last biological frontier. Although today s computers can make calculations in one-100th of a second and technology can transport us outside the bonds of Earth, only now are we beginning to understand the most complex machine in the universe. Using simple analogies, real-life case studies, and state-of-the-art CGI, this special shows how the brain works, explains the frequent battle between instinct and reason, and unravels the mysteries of memory and decision-making. It takes us inside the mind of a soldier under fire to see how decisions are made in extreme situations, examines how an autistic person like Rain Man develops remarkable skills, and takes on the age-old question of what makes one person good and another evil. Research is rushing forward. We’ve learned more about the workings of the brain in the last five years than in the previous one hundred.

It has been said that 10,000 years from now only one name will still be remembered, that of Neil Armstrong. But in the four decades since he first set foot on the moon, Armstrong has become increasingly reclusive. Andrew Smith, author of the best-selling book Moondust, journeys across America to try and discover the real Neil Armstrong. He tracks down the people who knew Armstrong, from his closest childhood friend to fellow astronauts and Houston technicians, and even the barber who sold his hair, in a wry and sideways look at the reluctant hero of the greatest event of the 20th century.

Showtime's "In the 20th Century" is a millennium-related strand of feature-length documentaries in which famous directors take on major subjects of their choosing. In the third of the six films, "Yesterday's Tomorrows," filmmaker Barry Levinson delves into what we, as Americans, thought the future would be as we traveled through the 20th century. Houses and cars of the future, the promise of technology, and the other hopes and dreams of the early part of the century gave way to the fears and anxieties brought about by the atomic age and the Hollywood disaster films that followed. Soon we wondered if we could control technology, or if it would control us. This film is by turns light-hearted and thoughtful, and rare historical and archival film, produced by government and industry, alternates with on-screen interviews with people as diverse as consumer advocate Ralph Nader, cartoonist Matt Groening, futurist Alvin Toffler, comedienne Phyllis Diller, and actor Martin Mull.

An expedition looks into whether Titanic's hull had a construction design flaw that caused her to break apart. Featuring advanced CGI technology, archive documents and photographs, as well as footage from the modern-day History(R) expeditions, "Titanic's Achilles Heel" is a remarkable journey into the ongoing legacy of a ship that continues to capture the world's attention.

A tribute to British comedian Mel Smith, who died in July 2013, aged 60, featuring home video footage, rare archive material and many classic sketches. Far more than a comic actor, Smith also wrote and edited a host of celebrated TV comedies in the 1980s and 90s. He was a theatre and film director, and as a TV producer he was responsible for several innovative comedy series. Friends and colleagues, including Griff Rhys Jones, John Lloyd and Richard Curtis, talk about Smith's talents, both in front of- and behind the camera. The programme also traces his time at Oxford and, before that, Latymer Upper School, where Smith's talents were first spotted.

The documentary is based around the Evel Knievel Days event in Butte, Montana. The presenter, Richard Hammond, spends four days with former motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel. Knievel, by now 69 years old, had become very ill, requiring an oxygen tank strapped up to him constantly to aid with breathing. 48 hours before the film crew arrived, Knievel had a stroke. At several points during filming, Knievel cuts the interview short and leaves before Hammond has finished asking questions.

First transmitted in 1969, this documentary follows the construction of the world’s most advanced underground system. Macdonald Hastings narrates the story of one of the most complex tunnel engineering feats of its time. He reveals the isolation felt by the miners who spent six years burrowing deep beneath the streets of London, shows what they did beneath one of London's most famous department stores and explains why the ground at Tottenham Court Road had to be frozen during the hottest weeks of 1966. The result is a brave new world of transport with automated trains, two way mirrors, automatic fare collection and closed-circuit television, all choreographed by a computer programme played out by an updated version of a pianola located in a control room somewhere near Euston station.

The aftermath of a shocking explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power station made hundreds of people sacrifice their lives to clean up the site of the catastrophe and to successfully prevent an even bigger disaster that could have turned a large part of the European continent into an uninhabitable exclusion zone. This is their story.

A commercial-jet captain (Chuck Connors) has ghosts on board from stones of an English abbey being shipped overseas.

In 79 AD, one of the infamous natural disasters in human history occurred when Mount Vesuvius erupted. With speculative dramatizations of various inhabitants' final hours along with detailed documentation of the known facts concerning the eruption, the horrific day is vividly brought to life.

An exploration into the various ways in which, within the circumstances of one day, civilisation could be brought to an abrupt end..

A historical drama documentary depicting the eruption of Krakatoa volcano in 1883. The volcano was located in the Sunda strait in Indonesia and its eruption resulted in tsunami, rains of coals and ash, and ended with a very hot tsunami. The eruption killed more than 36,000 people and those survived were left with burns.

1986, Chernobyl disaster. Couples, friends, and a risk-taking journalist are woven into the larger framework of the disaster. Panic follows.

There is a ballad written by Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko called “That Catherine's hut is on the hill...". It is about a rescue of Catherine's lover, whom she saves by posing him as her brother. This story, as a parable, flies throughout Ukraine's history and reconstructs its dramatic and heroic episodes. Every challenge, including the Chernobyl accident, leaves Catherine without her home. But she is stubborn, as many generations of Ukrainians, in rebuilding her house out of pieces. The story is not only about Catherine's redemption, but also about Ukraine's survival throughout the centuries that is reflected in a folk tradition called Toloka.

Mothers and doctors speak out about the grim reality of life in the five years following the Chernobyl disaster. In children, doctors witnessed a massive increase of recurrent infections, baldness, as well as leukaemia and other cancers.

A film that looks at the genius of JMW Turner in a new light. There is more to Turner than his sublime landscapes - he also painted machines, science, technology and industry. Turner's life spans the Industrial Revolution, he witnessed it as it unfolded and he painted it. In the process he created a whole new kind of art. The programme examines nine key Turner paintings and shows how we should re-think them in the light of the scientific and Industrial Revolution. Includes interviews with historian Simon Schama and artist Tracey Emin.

A haunting evocation of the aftermath of the explosion at Chernobyl, 25 years on. This visually stunning road movie takes the spectator on a bleak journey from the shores of the Black Sea to the frozen heart of Chernobyl, passing through desolate, snowy landscapes, littered with abandoned villages. Squatting in this icy wasteland, the ghostly sarcophagus of Reactor No.4 is a constant reminder of the threat still lurking below. Accompanied by testimony from a group of unseen veterans of the disaster, Precarious bears witness to both the folly and resilience of humans and to nature's fragility.

When a group of archaeologists dig up a human skeleton near the historical monument of STONEHENGE, an ancient piece of machinery hidden beneath the bedrock is discovered. Not knowing what it could be the workers accidentally trigger the mechanism and start a chain of events that may very well end the world as we know it

On a secret military base a group of scientists have made a discovery unequaled since the invention of the A-bomb; code-named Eruptor, it's a device that supercharges Dark Matter and uses it to change the molecular structure of its target, thereby eradicating it. But when the Eruptor malfunctions and a leading scientist on the project is blasted with Dark Matter, he receives incredible abilities

With unprecedented access to the nuclear industry in France, Russia, and the United States, Nuclear Now explores the possibility for the global community to overcome the challenges of climate change and energy poverty to reach a brighter future through the power of nuclear energy. Beneath our feet, Uranium atoms in the Earth’s crust hold incredibly concentrated energy. Science unlocked this energy in the mid-20th century, first for bombs and then to power submarines. The United States led the effort to generate electricity from this new source. Yet in the mid-20th century as societies began the transition to nuclear power and away from fossil fuels, a long-term PR campaign to scare the public began, funded in part by coal and oil interests.