A BBC documentary series with a broad remit of geography, anthropology and natural history subjects.

A BBC documentary series with a broad remit of geography, anthropology and natural history subjects.

Paintings of the female nude are an important part of the tradition of European art. Writer and critic John Berger examines these paintings and asks whether they celebrate women as they really are or only as men would like them to be. Five women discuss his analysis in the light of the way women see themselves today. This is the second episode from a series of four.

A look at the rise and fall of the asylum, described by Miller as "a loony bin, a laughing academy, a bug house, a snake pit". Those who conceived of the idea had optimistic hopes of an asylum or safe haven for the insane. The depressing realities and often brutal treatments practised within the institutions they created are in complete contrast, culminating in the wholesale murder of the insane in Nazi Germany. As asylums are once again being closed down and their patients returned to the community, have attitudes to madness progressed at all during the last 400 years?

In the first of six programmes Margot Fonteyn explores her own world of dance-from the dominance of the ballerina in the 1930s to the emergence of the great male dancers of the 60s and 70s. Her story is illustrated by some of the world's greatest dancers performing some of the era's most enduring ballet dances - from Swan Lake to Top Hat, from Pierrot Lunaire to The Sleeping Beauty.

How bad can our drinking pattern be for our health? Doctors and genetically identical twins Chris and Xand van Tulleken want to find out. With the current drinking guidelines under review, the twins embark on self-experimentation to see the effects of different drinking patterns on their health. With Chris drinking 21 units spread evenly across the week and Xand having his 21 in single weekly binges, how will their bodies differ after a month? Catching up with the latest research into alcohol drinking patterns, we ask if moderate drinking is genuinely good for us - and whether binge drinking is really that bad.

From the last decadent days of the old monarchy through the Revolution and the rise and fall of Napoleon, the arts in France are dominated by one man - the mysterious figure of David. He is the greatest painter of his day, an ardent revolutionary - and a leading figure in Robespierre's secret police.

Napoleon has fallen, and David is in exile. His star pupil, Jean-Auguste Ingres, seems set to assume the role of first painter of France. But he seems to be a man out of his time, and his career is marked by bitter conflicts.

By the middle of the 19th century, Ingres is the grand old man of French painting. His arch-rival Delacroix is still the guiding light of the Romantics. But there is one genius, a contemporary of both men, who has been utterly forgotten. A writer, Charles Clement , sets out to investigate the mysterious and tragic Theodore Gericault.

The last programme of this series asks why we believe that technology has the power to bring a future heaven or hell on earth. At the start of this century, faith in technology took off with the "miracle" of flight. As the 90s draw to a close, it has delivered the futuristic fantasy of Disney's Epcot centre. But is this belief in our imagined future misplaced?

The programme sheds new light on the origins of the secret communications between republicans and the British government, particularly a message thought to have been sent by Martin McGuinness which stated "the conflict is over". https://www.irishtimes.com/news/tv-series-to-retrace-tense-and-tortuous-road-to-peace-1.313712

Bill Clinton gives his first ever interview on the Irish peace process, explaining why, in 1994, he decided to reverse policy and grant a US visa to Gerry Adams , kick-starting the process that eventually delivered IRA and loyalist cease-fires. But the all-party talks Sinn Fein expected never got started - and, after 17 months of quiet, John Major 's hopes of peace ended with the IRA bomb at Canary Wharf in London. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/a7a4fca5a9b94a2687785771f403ff95

Guns and Government. New Labour brokers a cease-fire that finally brings Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionists to the negotiating table to form the historic Good Friday Agreement. But despite Tony Blair 's decommissioning plans, more than three years after the Agreement, another British Prime Minister faces another Northern Ireland crisis. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/691c3e47353d41bfac6fda7edb1fb066

Using newly-uncovered wartime papers and eyewitness accounts, this programme shows how bungled operations created a mood of distrust between the leaders. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/2f4fc961a9204605a435ee1c236ec78f

By 1942 relations between President Roosevelt and Charles de Gaulle were beginning to sour. Roosevelt regarded the Frenchman as a nuisance and insisted that Churchill keep him in the dark about the imminent invasion of French North Africa. This decision only sought to deepen the rift between the allies and led to betrayal and murder as Roosevelt and Churchill tried in vain to bring the resilient Frenchman to heel. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/78c7747cd5894d40abf3c88677369418

Tonight's programme reveals the extent to which Roosevelt was prepared to go in an attempt to thwart de Gaulle's bid for power in France - a bid that became unstoppable once the French leader had marched into Paris at the head of the Allied Liberation. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/5a9e55cbc7064272ab1bc605d71c6791

The Russian Revolution of 1917, followed by the Russian Civil War caused a rift between the Soviet Union and the United States. But when President Franklin Roosevelt took office in 1933, diplomatic and trade relations between the two countries resumed. The relationship was strained yet again after the USSR annexed the Baltic States and signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany. Despite their differences the Soviet Union and the United States found themselves allied after the German invasion of Russia in June 1941. As the war in Europe began to wind down and victory was in sight, the two countries had very different views as to what the post-war world would look like. At the Potsdam Conference, just before the atom bomb was dropped on Japan, it became clear that Stalin wanted to put Eastern Europe under the Soviet sphere of influence, setting the conditions for the Cold War to commence. Episode 1 includes interviews from George F. Kennan, Zoya Zarubina, Hugh Lunghi and George Elsey. https://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/02/world/the-cold-war-landmark-documentary/index.html

As wartime turned to peacetime, a resurgent United States enjoys economic prosperity while Europe is left to recover from the ravages of war. In the Soviet Union, Stalin has resumed his feared purges and the country is gripped by famine. Germany is forced to cede some of its eastern territory to Poland, and the Germans living in that area are expelled from their homes. Stalin begins to increase his hold on Eastern Europe, installing communist regimes, but decides to stay out of the Greek Civil War. The United Kingdom, exhausted from the war, sees its once-powerful empire go into decline. As food shortages begin to threaten the stability of Europe, a more assertive United States begins to challenge the USSR's influence in both Turkey and Iran. Episode 2 includes interviews from Lord Annan, Sir Frank Roberts and Paul Nitze. https://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/02/world/the-cold-war-landmark-documentary/index.html

For both selfless and selfish reasons, the United States institutes the Marshall Plan, giving massive amounts of aid to the war-ravaged countries of Europe. Suspicious of American intentions, Stalin prevents countries in the Soviet sphere from taking part in the plan. As a counter to the U.S. plan, Stalin established the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. In Czechoslovakia, communists seize power in a 1948 coup. While Yugoslav leader Marshal Tito was originally allied with the Soviet Union, he decides to forge his own foreign policy path and accepts aid from the Marshall Plan. After the 1948 Italian elections, the CIA and Catholic Church conspire to push the communist party there from power. The Marshall Plan successfully modernizes Western Europe and strengthens its ties to the United States. Interviewees from episode 3 include Vladimir Yerofeyev, Gianni Agnelli and Giulio Andreotti. https://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/02/world/the-cold-war-landmark-documentary/index.html

Opposed by the USSR, the United States emphasizes the need to rebuild the German economy. With the introduction of the Deutsche Mark, the Soviets react by tightening checkpoints leading into the French, British, and American sectors of Berlin, ultimately leading to a ground blockade of the city. To keep the city from starvation, the western allies begin the Berlin Airlift, ferrying in supplies by plane. German Communists in Berlin successfully take over the city's municipal government, which causes both the city and country to be divided between east and west. Interviews in Episode 4 include Gail Halvorsen, Sir Freddie Laker and Clark Clifford. https://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/02/world/the-cold-war-landmark-documentary/index.html

Korea was split between the United States and the Soviet Union at the end of World War Two. The Soviets install Kim Il-sung as the leader of the north, while the Americans place Syngman Rhee at the head of the south. In 1950, with the help of the Soviets, North Korea invades South Korea, pushing U.S. and South Korean forces to a city at the southern tip of the Korean peninsula, called Pusan. In response to the invasion, a United Nations force, led by the United States, regains the advantage, driving the communist forces towards the Chinese border. Feeling threatened, and at Stalin's behest, Chinese leader Mao Zedong attacks. This leads to a stalemate in the center of Korea. After protracted negotiations, an armistice is signed. Communism in Korea is contained, but the country is left divided. Interviews in Episode 5 include Lucius D. Battle, Paik Sun Yup and John Glenn. https://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/02/world/the-cold-war-landmark-documentary/index.html

Fear of one another permeates the eastern and western leadership, trickling down to the citizenry. The House Committee on Un-American Activities in the United States begins investigating alleged communist infiltration in the entertainment industry and diplomatic corps. In the USSR, an increasing cult of personality is being built up around Stalin and a more repressive police state is taking hold. In response to Yugoslavia's independent foreign policy, the Soviet Union pushes a series of purges in Prague as a warning to other satellite countries that may stray from Soviet policy. Fear and repression in the USSR hits its zenith right before Stalin's sudden death in 1953. Interviews in Episode 6 include Arthur Kinoy, Ralph de Toledano and Boris Pokrovsky. https://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/02/world/the-cold-war-landmark-documentary/index.html

After Stalin's sudden death, Nikita Khrushchev takes over the Soviet Union, reversing some of Stalin's oppressive policies. Khrushchev also reestablishes relations with Yugoslavia and in a secret speech given to the Soviet leadership he denounces Stalin's harsh policies. Meanwhile, West Germany begins to rearm, leading the USSR to establish the Warsaw Pact in response. Trying to maintain Soviet influence in Eastern Europe, Khrushchev sends troops into East Germany, Poland, and Hungary to put down revolts. Interviews in Episode 7 include Anatoly Dobrynin, Charles Wheeler and Sergei Khrushchev. https://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/02/world/the-cold-war-landmark-documentary/index.html

As West Germany and West Berlin become more affluent, East Germans begin to flee their country for their more prosperous neighbor. Khrushchev demands that the British, French, and Americans leave West Berlin, but they decline and the opportunity for a peaceful resolution is dashed when the Soviets walk out on the Paris Summit of 1960 because of the U-2 incident. On the night of August 12, 1962, East German security forces begin to build the Berlin Wall. In response, a tense standoff between U.S. and Soviet forces ensues. In 1963, President Kennedy delivers his famous "I am a Berliner" speech. Interviews in Episode 9 include Anatoly Gribkov, Valentin Falin, Stefan Heym, Egon Bahr, Raymond L. Garthoff and Conrad Schumann. https://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/02/world/the-cold-war-landmark-documentary/index.html

Fidel Castro seizes power as a result of the Cuban Revolution and becomes an ally of the Soviet Union. He begins to nationalize American assets in Cuba, which leads to the United States introducing an economic boycott of the island nation. The United States sponsors a failed counter revolution on the island with the Bay of Pigs Invasion. The Soviet Union begins to move medium range nuclear missiles into Cuba which sparks the Cuban Missile Crisis. The crisis leads to a U.S. blockade of Cuba, and a near war with the Soviet Union. The crisis ends after secret negotiations between the United States and USSR lead to a deal to remove American missiles from Turkey and Soviet missiles from Cuba. Interviews in Episode 10 include Fidel Castro, Walter Cronkite, Pierre Salinger and Theodore Sorensen. https://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/02/world/the-cold-war-landmark-documentary/index.html

This episode looks at why we humans find this machine vision so beguiling. The film argues it is because all political dreams of changing the world for the better seem to have failed - so we have retreated into machine-fantasies that say we have no control over our actions because they excuse our failure. At the heart of the film is one of the most famous scientists in the world - Bill Hamilton. He argued that human behaviour is really guided by codes buried deep within us. It was later popularised by Richard Dawkins as 'the selfish gene'. It said that individual human beings are really just machines whose only job is to make sure the codes are passed on for eternity. The film begins in 2000 in the jungles of the Congo and Rwanda. Hamilton is there to help prove his dark theories. But all around him the Congo is being torn apart by 'Africa's First World War'. The film then interweaves the two stories - the strange roots of Hamilton's theories, and the history of the West's tortured relationship with the Congo over the past 100 years.

Professor Susan Greenfield, a leading neuroscientist from Oxford University introduces the human brain in the first of this six part documentary by the BBC.

This episode puts emotions under the microscope. Why do they feel the way they do, and how are they interwoven with our thought processes?

How do our brains generate consciousness? This episode tries to explain how the brain creates consciousness.