Taking his clues from archaeology, modern laboratory experiments, historical criminology and literature, psychologist Steven Pinker traces the social and neurobiological roots of human violence and asks, ‘Are human beings becoming less violent? And if so, why?’

Documentary series. Psychologist Steven Pinker examines the evidence behind the argument that the world is becoming more peaceful, including whether income equality and sport curb violence.

Series exploring how a violent and racist government was destroyed by the concerted efforts of men and women working on multiple fronts inside and outside South Africa for more than three decades

Ten years in the making, this series explores how a violent and racist government was destroyed by the concerted efforts of men and women working on multiple fronts inside and outside South Africa for more than three decades.

This second episode looks at how athletes and activists around the world hit white South Africa where it hurts - on the playing field.

In the third episode, in the wake of the Soweto Uprising and the murder of Steve Biko the world's young people take the lead in the anti-apartheid campaign.

In the fourth episode, South Africa is brought to its knees as the world refuses to let business go on as usual.

In this final episode, the campaign to free Nelson Mandela ignites a worldwide crusade which brings apartheid to an end.

The World at War (1973–74) is a 26-episode British television documentary series chronicling the events of the Second World War.

Japan's society and culture during wartime, and how life is transformed as the country gradually becomes aware of increasinly catastrophic setbacks including the Doolittle raid, defeat at Midway, the death of Isoroku Yamamoto, the battle of Saipan and the relentless bombing of Japanese cities.

The conflicts in Europe and the Pacific are two separate wars. Many Americans are content to forget about Hitler and Europe and concentrate their war efforts on the Japanese. President Roosevelt is committed to the fight against Hitler, but Congress is not. Inexplicably, Hitler declares war on America, thus relieving Roosevelt of a difficult decision and, ultimately, altering the course of the war. Seventh in the series

The successive and increasingly bloody land battles on tiny islands in the expansive Pacific, aimed towards the Japanese heartland. Following the bombing of Darwin, the Japanese are progressively turned back at Kokoda, Tarawa, Peleilu, the Philippines, Iwo Jima and finally Okinawa.

The situation in post-war Europe including the allied occupation of Germany, demobilisation, the Nurenburg trials and the genesis of the Cold War. The episode concludes with summations about the ultimate costs, advantages and consequences of the war. Interviewees include Charles Bohlen, Stephen Ambrose, Lord Avon, Lord Mountbatten and Noble Frankland.

This programme remembers the millions of men and women who died during the Second World War. The war was the most significant experience of their lives. They were young and far from home, living dangerously and fighting a good fight.

Hitler's early successes in Russia made him reckless and he resolves to capture Stalingrad. The battle lasts six months with the Russians emerging as victors. The Wehrmacht never recovers.

Following the events from the death of US President Roosevelt through to the dropping of the two bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that prompted Japan's surrender.

The the desert war, starting with Italy's unsuccessful invasion of Egypt and the successive attacks and counter-attacks between Germany and Commonwealth forces, and the Afrika Korps's eventual defeat at El Alamein. Interviewees include General Richard O'Connor, Major General Francis de Guingand and Lawrence Durrell.

This thirteenth episode documents the two-year fight for Italy, initially thought of as a soft spot by Churchill, who later realised his error in complacency

A documentary about World War I with never-before-seen footage to commemorate the centennial of the end of the war.

Dan Snow travels to Syria to see how the country's fascinating and tumultuous history is shaping the current civil war.

On June 20th, a young Iranian woman was shot in the street in Tehran. The video of her death, filmed on a mobile phone, was seen by millions around the world.

This World has gained rare access to Nelson Mandela, after years of retirement from public life.

Joe Frazier takes British filmmaker John Dower back to 1975 and the most hyped boxing match in history - his epic third and final battle with sporting legend Muhammad Ali.

Timeshift lifts the veil on the taboo that is corporal punishment. What it reveals is a fascinating history spanning religion, the justice system, sex and education.

Timeshift digs into the archive to trace the extraordinary story of the ultimate sanction. At the beginning of the 19th century you could still be hanged in Britain for offences such as stealing a sheep or shooting a rabbit. Even children as young as seven were sent to the gallows. The last hanging in this country took place as recently as 1964.

The surprising story of the hidden powerhouse behind the globalised world - the diesel engine, a 19th-century invention that has become indispensable to the 21st century.

It is unique in the Roman World. A spectacular and complex stone barrier measuring 74 miles long, and up to 15 feet high and 10 feet thick. For 300 years Hadrian's Wall stood as the Roman Empire's most imposing frontier and one of the unsung wonders of the ancient world.

Documentary that looks back to the furore caused by Princess Margaret's affair with Peter Townsend, a divorced commoner. Billed as a constitutional crisis, Margaret's dilemma was the first modern royal scandal which would shape the future of royal relations with the media. In 1955 she chose to sacrifice love for duty by ending the affair, but new evidence presented here suggests that hers was a needless sacrifice.

In the 1950s and '60s, one million Britons voluntarily migrated to what had been a former penal colony only a hundred years earlier. The Ten Pound Pom scheme to Australia was one of the largest planned migrations of the 20th Century.

Documentary looking at the Secret History of the Mongols, said to have been written by Genghis Khan's adopted son, which reveals a very different man to the brutal butcher of Western legend.