Timewatch Season 24 Episodes

Episode 1

Who Killed Ivan the Terrible?

A surprisingly good documentary, made in a time when the BBC was still a label for quality. Looking for a solution to the riddle about the death of Ivan the terrible, this TV-movie gives also an almost nostalgic look at Moscow at the beginning of the 1990s, richly supplemented with nice image work about this legendary city. Unfortunately the DVD gives at end credits not on who was responsible for the acted film fragments added to the documentary. These are Russian spoken (not subtitled), so this is probably a Russian cinematographic production. The film fragments and documentary images are nicely balanced, and the music in the background is equally good. That makes the whole thing just pleasant to look at. But the most important is that you gradually get a better look on the history of Russia and the power struggle of the first Tsar against the Boyars and how Tsar Boris Godunov, as second, finally could take over the power. A pearl for who are interested in history. (M)

Episode 2

Murder in Rome

49 mins

Cicero, the future Consul of Rome, is just starting out as a trial lawyer in crime-ridden Rome where assassinations for political advantage and for estate grabbing had become de rigueur. The matriarch of a prominent family hires him to defend a relative on a charge of patricide. He faces one of the shrewdest criminal trial prosecutors in the Republic who is backed by powerful political forces with motives to see that his client is convicted and executed in one of the most horrible manners possible.

Episode 3

Who Killed Stalin?

Was Josef Stalin, one of the Worlds most powerful leaders killed? Or was the Communist party afraid of losing their power? Could the heart attack be a cover up? This documentary goes through secret KGB-files in search of truth.

Episode 4

Princess Margaret: A Love Story

Episode 5

The Killer Wave of 1607

Striking suddenly, a killer wave of water struck the counties of the Bristol Channel on 30 January 1607. The flooding stretched as far as the Glastonbury Tor 14 miles inland, and inundated two hundred square miles of Somerset, Devon, Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire. 'Timewatch' follows the research of two scientists, Professor Simon Haslett from Bath Spa University and Australian geologist Ted Bryant from the University of Wollongong, who are increasingly convinced that the killer wave was not simply a freak storm but a rare British tsunami.

Episode 6

Britain's Lost Colosseum

50 mins

UK historians Tony Wilmot and Dan Garner head up a summer-long dig to discover more about the great lost Roman Amphitheatre at Chester.

Episode 7

The Year Without Summer

Episode 8

Emperor Hirohito

Episode 9

The Gunpowder Plot

49 mins

Four hundred years after the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was discovered and thwarted, 'Timewatch' revues the scheme of a group of young extremist Catholics to blow up King James I and his parliament with more than three tons of gunpowder. Using CGI imaging, 'Timewatch' examines the logistics of the plan and offers intriguing answers as to what would have happened if the plot had succeeded.

Episode 10

Pol Pot: The Journey to the Killing Fields

Thirty years ago, Communist Cambodian leader Pol Pot set about establishing a nation of people living to serve the state. He insisted that anything private, right down to his subjects' thoughts and emotions, were immoral. When Pol Pot's plan to increase rice production failed, he declared it was due to enemies within the party. Thus began the purge of some of Pol Pot's most devoted followers and their families. Almost two million people were brutally tortured and executed in the killing fields of Cambodia, a quarter of the country's population in less than four years. Exceptional for a revealing interview with Nuon Chea ("Brother Number Two"), the former deputy to Pol Pot who admitted partial responsibility and expressed willingness to go before a United Nations tribunal to be questioned, this British Documentary Award nominee was noted for its interviews of both survivors and former leaders within the Khmer Rouge.

Episode 11

Children of the Doomed Voyage

Episode 12

Inside the Mind of Adolf Hitler

48 mins

Psychological analysis of the biggest madman of the 20th century.