The car. The aeroplane. The smartphone. The rocket. The robot. The telescope. We take these devices for granted, yet each one is a pinnacle of human achievement - with a story that stretches far back in time. They're the result of years of accidents, breakthroughs, insights and wonders. Each was born out of a fundamental human need - to travel, to communicate, or to explore. This series is a voyage through our history, told through the lens of six technological icons. It reveals how science, invention, accident and discovery built on one another in interconnected ways to create not just the modern world, but the modern human being.
Mondays - Wednesdays at 21:30, starts 10 August
Shakespeare and Hathaway: Private Investigators - S3
Now that Lu has passed her private investigator exams and Frank’s tidied himself up a bit, there’s no stopping them. But murder, kidnap, blackmail and infidelity still abound in the pretty tourist town of Stratford-upon-Avon. An ageing heavy metal star with a pact with the devil. A Shakespeare museum full of deadly secrets. A King Lear story set in a carpet warehouse. Welcome to the birthplace of the Bard, where low-life criminals get caught up in deliciously high drama.
Mondays - Wednesdays at 20:30, starts 24 August
DCI Banks - S3&4
Stephen Tompkinson returns as the tenacious and stubborn Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks in more gripping crime stories.
Thursdays - Fridays at 20:30, starts 20 August
Treasures Decoded - S3
New forensic science sheds light on six of the world's ancient mysteries, helping to reveal their hidden secrets and so uncover their part in history. The mysteries explored include: The World's Greatest Pyramids, not as you might imagine in Egypt, but in Indiana, USA; the discovery of the remains of a ruined ancient city in Santorini that could possibly be the fabled Atlantis: the uncovering of evidence within Tutankhamun's tomb which seems to point towards it possibly also being the resting place of none other than Nefertiti. Stunning documentary sequences, arresting science and gripping drama reconstructions bring the remarkable stories behind these mysteries to life.
Mondays - Wednesdays at 21:30, starts 24 August
Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed The World
The untold story of Black America – struggle, triumph and resistance – told through the lens of a unique art form: rap. Narrated by Chuck D and a galaxy of rap superstars, cultural experts and historians, each episode – starting from the smouldering ruins of the Bronx in the 1970s to the present day – reveals how rap has protested injustices, revolutionised society and spoken truth to power. Via interviews, archive, specially shot footage and slick graphics, this ambitious series weaves two seemingly separate narratives (the rise of rap and American history) into one seamless, emotive thread.
Thursdays - Fridays at 21:30
South Korea with Alexander Armstrong - S1
Alexander Armstrong explores South Korea and finds out what makes one of the most dynamic nations on earth tick, delving into K-Pop, robot waiters and stunning palaces. Gangnam Style, Squid Games and K-Pop have all helped to boost South Korea's global popularity, yet most people know little about this extraordinary country.
Monday - Wednesday at 21:30
Turkey with Simon Reeve - S1
Simon Reeve takes a dramatic journey across the historical nation of Turkey, a popular tourist destination that's now at the epicentre of a crisis. Caught between war-torn Syria and a foundering European Union, the country is under threat from terrorism, mass-migration and political unrest.
Thursday - Friday at 21:30
Mud, Sweat and Gears - S1
The ultimate car construction and challenge competition where regular hosts and their teams of petrolheads go head-to-head super-customising, super-racing and generally blowing up the craziest mutated cars this side of Mad Max!
Mondays - Wednesdays at 21:30
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: The Ties That Bind
Moral and principled, Jonathan 'Jack' Whicher was the real life, 19th-century "Prince of Detectives" whose ability to read people inspired the works Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins. In The Ties That Bind, Whicher returns to rural Wiltshire, where his career as a police officer was destroyed.
Thursday - Friday at 20:30