After The Wave

Winston Churchill understood the power of films, but the true extent of his use of cinema as a propaganda tool is rarely explored. In 1934, one of Britain's most celebrated film producers, Alexander Korda, signed Churchill up as a screenwriter and historical advisor. It was the start of a unique collaboration. Churchill provided script notes for Korda's productions and penned an epic screenplay. When war broke out, their collaboration took on national importance. Korda was sent on a mission to Hollywood to help bring America into the war, with positive results. With access to previously undiscovered documents, this film documentary examines that mission and a friendship that underpinned a unique, creative partnership.

For three decades the Soviet Union's obsession with space stirred the soul of the nation like a secular religion - from the first space star Yuri Gagarin to the sad saga of cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev who circled the planet for almost a year, a helpless spectator of the momentous events back home on earth. Exploring the spiritual force of this grand obsession, Arena talks to Krikalev and the first cosmonauts, and ventures into the world of relics, icons and the memorabilia of the Soviet space venture.

The first major profile of the great British film director Nicolas Roeg, examining his very personal vision of cinema as in such films as Don't Look Now, Performance, Walkabout and The Man Who Fell to Earth. Roeg reflects on his career, which began as a leading cinematographer, and on the themes that have obsessed him, such as our perception of time and the difficulty of human relationships.

Advanced technology, groundbreaking scientific discoveries about the beginnings of life, and computer animation all combine to detail how multiple siblings develop in the womb as the filmmakers at National Geographic explore the fetal growth of twins, triplets, and quadruplets. Detailed pictures of these different groupings in various stages of fetal development bring the earliest stages of life to the screen as never before.

New interpretations of the Antikythera Mechanism reveal that it could be used to predict eclipses, and that it had a dial recording the dates of the ancient Olympiads. The 2,000-year-old box of intricate gearwork provides a glimpse of the engineering prowess of the Hellenic world. The team discuss their results here.

Details the German bombing of London the night of the 29th of December, in 1940.

Profile video of former racer and Formula 1 team owner Ken Tyrrell

Here is one of the great mysteries of English history. Elizabeth I is said to have carried on an affair with a leading nobleman, Robert Dudley. Rumors spread that the Queen wanted Dudley's wife, Amy Robsart, dead. Amy turned up savagely murdered. While an inquest cleared the Queen, new evidence today suggests that Amy was indeed assassinated so that her husband could be free to marry the Queen.

London, one year from today... The dogs of England are dying, of "Mad Dog Disease," and Rabbie Burns, young drifter and certified schizophrenic, is hearing voices again - on Underground trains, over supermarket tannoys, and on his own T.V. He has 30 hours, a last weekend, to save the world from itself, before the "Supreme Being" himself loses patience and starts over, with a new species...