The True Story - Season 8 / Year 2011

Titanic is one of the top grossing movies of all time. Apart from the love story, most of the background events are accurate – with great attention to detail. 

But the culmination of a three year research project has revealed a new discovery.  Another ship steamed to within five miles of the stricken liner and could have saved all aboard. Instead, on the orders of its fearful captain, it turned back, leaving the passengers to drown. Survivors of the wreck recalled seeing a "mystery ship" which refused to come to their aid. For decades the wrong man, Captain Stanley Lord of the Californian, bore the blame. 

Now, for the first time on television, we set the record straight, cross-referencing eye witness testimony from 1912, with Bob Ballard's discovery of where the Titanic sank. We draw on archive footage, and present an astonishing voice recording that Captain Lord made in 1961, in which he reveals the identity of the man who abandoned the drowning passengers.

Jurassic Park tells the story of billionaire John Hammond creating a theme park where the main attractions are dinosaurs. He invites Alan Grant, an eminent palaeontologist, and other scientists to the island to share his vision. They are in awe of what he has achieved, but things go wrong when there is a security breach and the dinosaurs escape. The visitors become the hunted as the dinosaurs pick off the visitors one by one. Finally, the remaining four survivors make a desperate escape from the island via helicopter.

This documentary reveals the science behind Jurassic Park is based on rigorous scientific research and that the key character at the centre of the film is inspired by a real life individual. The vision of how dinosaurs could be bought back to life has now been shown to be impossible. But this documentary will feature recent remarkable breakthroughs in biology that would allow dinosaurs to walk again. Using cutting edge evolutionary biology, scientists are getting closer to bringing the dinosaur back to life.

With extensive location filming, expert interviews, forensic science and drama recon we bring the real story of Jurassic Park to life.

Steven Spielberg's Jaws is one of the most successful movies of all time. According to the author of the novel behind the movie, the story is based on a spate of shark attacks off the cost of New Jersey in 1916, which left four people dead. The savageness of the attacks dramatically altered the scientific view of Great Whites. And Jaws cemented their reputation as terrifying man-eaters. 

More recently however, new evidence shows that the Great White may have been unfairly blamed for the 1916 attacks.  

This documentary conducts new scientific tests using handwritten descriptions of the wounds of the 1916 victims. And, returning to the scenes of the attacks, it explores whether a Great White could really have come so close to land, finally revealing the identity of the real culprit.

Gladiator tells the story of an accomplished General, Maximus. who is unexpectedly handed the Emperorship of Rome by the outgoing dying emperor - instead of the Emperor's own son, Commodus. Maximus escapes being murdered by Commodus, is found half-dead by some slave-traders who sell him to a gladiator trainer. He is a natural fighter, and finds his way to the Coliseum, where he wows the crowds, culminating in gladiatorial combat with his arch nemesis Commodus, where both men fight to the death.  

This documentary reveals that so many of the characters from the movie are based on real-life individuals from history: the dying Emperor; the vicious Commodus; his seductive sister Lucilla. And an archaeological investigation in Rome revealed a perfectly preserved tomb of the man believed to be the inspiration for Maximus himself. 

Using extensive location filming, forensic science, leading  experts and drama recon, we tell the remarkable real story behind Gladiator.