Author: phillynews215

‘How to Prepare for Prison’ focuses on the lives of three vastly different people who are steeling themselves against the daunting prospect of serving prison sentences for the very first time. Shot over three years,…

This episode analyses Hitler’s decisions during the Battle of Britain, which lead to the first major defeat of Nazi Germany, and Operation Barbarossa, the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union. In 1940, when virtually the…

At just 19 years old, Clinton Young was charged with the murder of two men and sentenced to death. Now, 14 years later, he is still awaiting execution and continues to plead he was not…

We investigate the mafia’s illegal traffic in toxic waste in Italy. It’s an industry worth billions of euros a year, with many businesses happy to pay the camorra to dump toxic waste in the countryside…

France has become a top target for international criminal networks, each with its own speciality: organised robbers from Georgia, bank card fraudsters from Romania and prostitution bosses from Nigeria. These mafias are often fleeing prosecution…

Number one in the cocaine market, earning more than 53 billion Euros a year, the ‘Ndrangheta is the most powerful branch of the Italian mafia. Their members are enrolled young into this huge organization, seen…

The Roman empire was a time of power and brutality, fuelled by violent games and bloodbaths. However, it was also abundent in refinement and extreme sensuality. Food and cooking was an key indicator of success,…

Under Louis XIV at the Palace of Versailles, the standards for all courts in Europe were set. Unparalleled banquets, fuelled by Cantini’s horticultural innovations in the palace’s gardens, were the foundations for the quality-emphasised dishes…

It wasn’t just Japanese Americans who were interned by America during World War II. Nearly 11,000 German-Americans, perceived as enemy ’aliens’ were also interned. Tens of thousands more suffered illegal searches and seizures, relocation, harassment,…

Academy Award nominee James Cromwell (director) asks what are the boundaries of the ‘war on terror’, and how can we reconcile civil liberties with security? For the past 15 years, the phrase ‘War on Terror’…

If HSBC were a country, it would be the fifth world economic power. Founded during the golden age of the Opium trade to enable the British Empire to access the Chinese market, it has created…

We follow paleontologist Annette Richter and her team as they attempt to reconstruct the lives of these giant lizards. With the help of 3D animation, this film re-creates the world of the dinosaurs and bring…

For 13 days in 1962, the world was on the brink of nuclear war. Krushchev’s decision to place nuclear weapons in Cuba sparked the Cuban Missile Crisis. But what’s relatively unknown is that he was…

With its sandy beaches, Spanish colonial architecture and volcanic lakes lined with restaurants, El Salvador has all the assets of a dream tourist destination. Yet foreign visitors are rare. The reason: this tiny state in…

For 50 years, Berlin was the symbol of the Cold War. The city at the heart of the intelligence war between the US and the Soviet bloc. Thousands of KGB or CIA, agents observed each…

Nominated for the Best Documentary Award at the 2012 Goyas, this is the unbelievable story of Manuel Cortés, the ‘mole of Mijas’. When the Spanish civil war ended and the borders closed, hundreds of people…

In the twilight of his life, Mike, an ordinary American man from Kentucky, is convinced of one thing: his son Kelly was murdered. The police have closed the case but Mike intends to uncover the…

Filmmakers Katharina Wolff and Larissa Klinker see Queen Elizabeth II as a symbol of the centuries-old power structure in the United Kingdom. Although Britain’s monarch has no direct political power, every week the prime minister…

The value systems and attitudes towards, bread, cheese, meat and fish, meant that food provided a strong sense of identity for the medieval consumer. Spices from far away countries, and traders of these valuable commodities…

The transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People’s Republic of China in 1997 marked the end of the British Empire in the Far East after a 150 years…

Why was journalist Roger Milliss stalked by Australian spies for 30 years? In this episode, journalist and author Roger Milliss dives back into his past to recount the trauma of having been stalked by Australian…

This episode covers the tumultuous era that was 1960s, as Michael Hyde revisits his past as a student revolutionary who called for the violent overthrow of the state. A prime target at the top of…

In this series, a ‘person of interest’ is given their previously secret Australian intelligence file and recounts the allegations contained within it. Gary Foley – a prominent figure of the 1970s “Black Power” movement in…

As well as a period of radical social and political upheaval, the 19th century in Europe was a period of gastronomic progression, with trends as susceptible to change as French ruling. The conflicts caused many…

In the Renaissance, with cities like Venice and Florence at the helm of European innovation, changes in the arts and sciences lead to a new outlook in eating habits. Vegetable gardens became horticultural laboratories, recipes…

It was one of the most important books of the twentieth century. An account so shocking few believed it could be true. But the real story of how Russian writer and Soviet dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s…

This is the unknown story of secret negotiations between the Taliban and America to build a pipeline through Afghanistan. When America invaded Afghanistan in 2001, the stated aim was to dismantle Al-Qaeda, denying it a…