Name: Skywheel Chronicles – Reinventing the Wheel – Big Bigger Biggest @Element.18
Uploaded: 2026-09-29T08:17:00-05:00
Duration: 8 min 17 s
Description: Skywheel Chronicles – Reinventing the Wheel – Big Bigger Biggest

Skywheel Chronicles – Reinventing the Wheel – Big Bigger Biggest

Element 18 2026-09-29 | Skywheel Chronicles – Reinventing the Wheel – Big Bigger Biggest

Norway – Worlds Most Scenic Railway Journeys

Element 18 2025-10-03 | Cutting through the magical beauty of Norway, this train journey begins in the capital, Oslo, and takes us all the way to Bodø inside the Arctic Circle with tales of trolls, Nazi’s, reindeer and Vikings along the way. Our first leg is the 548km Dovre Line (Trail of the Trolls) running from Oslo to the remote northern wonderland of Trondheim, passing along the way, Lillehammer and its medieval village and across the awe-inspiring Dovresell mountain plateau where trolls lurk deep in the forests. The train stops at the picturesque mountain village of Dombås before changing to the Rauma Railway that will travel to the coast passed Norway’s grandest mountains. This line showcases Norway at its most breathtaking, with dramatic Fjords and one of the country’s most famous landmarks, Trollveggen (Troll Wall), the tallest vertical rock face in Europe. The route loops back up to Trondheim, to join a Viking festival, before boarding the Nordland line and settle in for a spectacular 11-hour journey. With 44 stations, 293 bridges and 154 tunnels, it’s the only rail line in Norway to cross the Arctic Circle and head into the land of reindeer and the midnight sun.

00:00 – Introduction
01:29 – Dovrebanen – Dovre Line
04:34 – Lillehammer – Little Rocky Hill
09:05 – Raumabanen – Rauma Line
15:10 – Trollveggen – The Troll Wall
20:17 – Trondheim – Viking Stronghold
28:52 – Indigenous Sámi Country
33:45 – Mosjøen’s Dark History
40:57 – Land of the Midnight Sun

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Lost Pyramids of Peru ~ Naked History

Element 18 2025-09-29 | For 5,000 years, the incredible Pyramids of Caral lay buried beneath Peru’s desert sands. Today, their discovery has forced archaeologists to rethink the history of civilization in the Americas. They’ve unearthed a lost culture unlike any other – a society based on trade that apparently grew in peace, not through conquest. A people guided by religious rituals, skilled in engineering and architecture, who battled earthquakes, floods and drought to build their monumental city. How did these people survive in this inhospitable landscape? And could they really be the very first civilization of the Americas?

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Viking City of the Dead ~ Naked History

Element 18 2025-09-29 | The Vikings are as famous as marauding pirates, but why did they also build monumental fortresses?

Archaeologists are investigating the great ring fort at Trelleborg in Denmark, built at the end of the Viking Age. This huge circular structure lay hidden for more than a thousand years beneath the frozen soil of Denmark. Now new discoveries across the Viking world are revealing more about the story of Harold Bluetooth – the great king who united Viking people – and what brought the Vikings’ reign of terror to an end.

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Cash in the Celebrity Attic – David Gest

Element 18 2025-09-26 | British celebrities rummage for collectables and antiques in their homes to be valued and sold at auction, the intention being to raise money for donation to their favourite charities.

Step inside the opulent London apartment of the late, great David Gest – flamboyant music mogul, reality TV sensation, and showbiz raconteur – as he welcomes broadcasting icon Gloria Hunniford for a heartfelt cause: raising funds for children and adults with lower limb conditions. But this isn’t just a charity appeal – it’s a glittering celebration of a man whose life was a headline-grabbing, star-studded spectacle.

Born in Los Angeles and raised among music royalty, Gest counted the Jackson 5 as childhood friends and later produced one of the most iconic concerts in television history: Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration at Madison Square Garden, featuring Britney Spears, Whitney Houston, and Elizabeth Taylor – a show so grand it drew 45 million viewers and earned Gest a place in entertainment legend.

Founder of the American Cinema Awards and a fixture on British television, Gest lit up screens in I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! and Celebrity Big Brother, where his eccentric charm and Hollywood anecdotes made him a fan favourite. His whirlwind marriage to Liza Minnelli was pure tabloid gold, and his friendships with stars like Al Green, La Toya Jackson, and Tom Jones added to his glittering orbit.

Beyond the glitz, Gest had a generous heart. He donated thousands of pounds worth of memorabilia – including signed items from The Beatles, Bowie, and Jackson – to charities like Me & Dee, helping seriously ill children and adults create unforgettable memories. He also founded the David Gest Foundation to support young people through music.

This video is more than a peek into his penthouse – it’s a tribute to a man who lived life like a Vegas revue: loud, lavish, and unapologetically unforgettable.

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Murder of the Romanovs (Extra) | Forbidden History

Element 18 2025-09-22 | Bonus Episode: King George V – Betrayer of the Romanovs?

In this episode of Forbidden Fruit, we take a deep dive into the Romanov’s relationship to the British Royal Family, and explore the question ‘Could Tsar Nicholas and his family have been saved by his cousin, King George V?’

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Birkhall – The Crown’s Hidden Sanctuary

Element 18 2025-09-19 | What was once the Queen Mother’s nostalgic country haven becomes a deeply personal sanctuary for Charles and Camilla. From antique clocks ticking in perfect harmony to Middle Eastern rugs woven into British tradition, Birkhall is revived with reverence and love. It’s where romance bloomed, a proposal unfolded, and where they found solace during the COVID pandemic.

Behind closed doors and towering firs, this is not just a royal residence – it's a heartfelt escape, a place steeped in history, sweet gestures, and quiet resilience. Get a rare glimpse into their world: the love, the laughter, and the legacy stitched into every curtain fold and garden path.

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Petra ~ Lost City of the Desert ~ Naked History

Element 18 2025-09-15 | Petra is an ancient and enigmatic city, carved from the rock of Jordan’s desert. Hidden at the end of a winding chasm, it is famous for its extraordinary beauty. But for decades it has baffled archaeologists. Who were the mysterious people that built it, how did they found a civilisation in the arid desert, and why did they suddenly disappear?

Now, the latest laser-scanning techniques are resurrecting the lives of Petra’s forgotten people to reveal what happened to the greatest lost city of the ancient world.

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Welcome to London ~ Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords

Element 18 2025-09-12 | On Britain’s streets a battle is raging, over 11 million of us rent, with thousands falling victim to rogue landlords. 2 million of us are private landlords, but many face financial ruin at the hands of bad tenants. In this series we’re on the frontline with the enforcement officers who crack down on rogue landlords, and the experts whose job it is to evict bad tenants.

In this episode of NTSL, housing enforcement officers in Harrow are on their way to one of the borough’s most prominent landmarks, The Masons Arms, which has ongoing issues with overcrowding and slum conditions. In Dagenham a high court sheriff helps an Essex grandmother evict her nightmare tenant who owes £4.5K in rent. A lawyer investigates a property in Woolwich being rented by a phantom landlord, are the tenants victims or villains? In St John’s Wood, a 72-year-old London landlord is furious when he finds his flat listed on Airbnb!

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Lost World of the Colosseum ~ Blood and Empire ~ Naked History

Element 18 2025-09-08 | The Colosseum is the greatest icon of the world’s most powerful Empire. It was an arena of death and glory, and the source of epic legends. Now archaeologists are using new techniques to solve ancient mysteries about this spectacular ruin.

Why was it built here? And why did it collapse? With unique access to the only Gladiator bones ever discovered, we reveal astonishing new evidence of how they lived and died. The Colosseum’s most incredible legend of naval battles held inside its walls are uncovered and clues within the walls of the Colosseum answer ancient riddles about the rise and fall of the Roman empire itself.

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Battle of Kursk – Generals at War

Element 18 2025-09-05 | 1943 – Germany and Russia clash near the Soviet city of Kursk, as each vies for control of the Eastern Front. The Germans are led by field marshal Erich von Manstein, an aristocratic master tactician. Facing him is the Red Army’s Marshal Georgy Zhukov – ruthless, opinionated, and dangerous to know.

Hitler is convinced new super-weapons like the Tiger tank will win the fight and insists von Manstein hold off his attack until more arrive. Zhukov exploits the delay and orders his men to dig for victory. They create an elaborate network of defences to grind the enemy down – or blow them up...

The two armies finally meet in a titanic clash of tanks – the biggest tank battle of all time, which will change the course of the war.

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The Terracotta Army ~ Phantoms of Qin ~ Naked History

Element 18 2025-09-01 | The Terracotta Army in Xi’an, China is perhaps the greatest archaeological discovery in the last 50 years, but it remains shrouded in mystery. Historians reconstruct the shattered remains of the warriors and reveal the dark secrets of a super-tomb built at the birth of China.

The discovery of real weapons and bizarre stone-plated armour amongst the statues reveals the supernatural enemy the army was designed to face. The discovery of dismembered skeletons thrown into the pits hint at the violent struggle for power that followed the death of China’s first emperor.

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Cash in the Celebrity Attic – Sophie Grigson

Element 18 2025-08-29 | British celebrities rummage for collectables and antiques in their homes to be valued and sold at auction, the intention being to raise money for donation to their favourite charities.

Food writer and chef Sophie Grigson invited Angela Rippon and the Cash in the Celebrity Attic team to her home in Oxfordshire. She wants to sell some of her much-loved collectables to raise money for her favourite charity, but will her items bring home the bacon in the saleroom?

Sophie Grigson is an English cookery writer and celebrity chef whose vibrant career blends a rich family legacy with innovative culinary flair. After a surprising stint in pop video production following a mathematics degree, she burst onto the food scene with her hit TV series, "Grow Your Greens, Eat Your Greens," earning top awards and acclaim. A passionate advocate of organic, local produce, Sophie not only launched the country’s first pop-up cookery school but now also captivates food lovers from her picturesque base in Puglia, Italy with her catering venture, Trulli Delicious.

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Machu Picchu ~ The Inca Enigma ~ Naked History

Element 18 2025-08-25 | Machu Picchu in Peru – the famous lost city of the Incas. Archaeologists discovered this mountaintop city one hundred years ago, but its purpose remains a hotly debated mystery. Was it a religious observatory or a holiday retreat for the emperor?

Could religious carvings and gruesomely deformed skeletons found in the city hold a crucial clue as to why this city was built? A newly uncovered network of roads places Machu Picchu as a strategic outpost for the Inca Emperor Pachacuti, but mysterious rock art suggests the site’s origins may be far older.

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The Lost Tomb of Egypt’s Last Warrior King

Element 18 2025-08-22 | Deep beneath the scorched sands of Thebes, carved into the bones of the mountain, lies a necropolis of kings – over sixty tombs etched into the Valley of the Kings, each a portal to eternity. At its heart rests the boy pharaoh Tutankhamun, whose golden mask became the icon of ancient Egypt. But just a hundred feet away, hidden in shadow and silence, lies our destination – tomb KV11.

This is the unexcavated burial chamber of Ramesses III – Egypt’s last great warrior king. His reign, etched in hieroglyphs, spanned 31 tumultuous years marked by monumental temple-building and fierce battles against invading Sea Peoples who threatened to shatter the empire. His mummified remains, astonishingly intact, were discovered 150 years ago in a cache high above the valley, far from the tomb meant to cradle his soul.

Now, for the first time in history, the team descends into the tomb’s depths to excavate the king’s final sanctuary. Its entrance, recently restored, glows with sacred texts meant to guide Ramesses into the afterlife. But beyond the painted corridors lies a chamber sealed in time – a scene of ancient destruction buried beneath centuries of debris, untouched for over a hundred years.

This is a mission of resurrection. To clear the rubble. To recover lost relics. To illuminate the twilight of Egypt’s imperial age. And to finally uncover the secrets of a king whose legacy shaped the fate of a civilisation.

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Taj Mahal ~ Palace of Secrets ~ Naked History

Element 18 2025-08-18 | The Taj Mahal is famous as the world’s most beautiful building – but could this Indian ode to love hide dark secrets? The grieving Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan famously built the Taj Mahal as a tribute to his dead wife – but new investigations are writing a surprising story of power and betrayal.

Is the layout of the mausoleum and its gardens a carefully concealed proclamation of religious beliefs? A team of top architects attempt to solve the riddle of the Taj’s towering dome and could a newly discovered flaw at the heart of Taj finally explain its impossible beauty?

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Victims or Villains ~ Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords

Element 18 2025-08-15 | On Britain’s streets a battle is raging, over 11 million of us rent, with thousands falling victim to rogue landlords. 2 million of us are private landlords, but many face financial ruin at the hands of bad tenants. In this series we’re on the frontline with the enforcement officers who crack down on rogue landlords, and the experts whose job it is to evict bad tenants.

In this episode of NTSL, Harrow council enforcement officers investigate a storage unit at the back of a laundrette that’s been converted into a home, but the building is too small to be legally used as a residence. In Mansfield a young mom regrets the mistake of letting her house out to a friend with a recuse dog problem, who owes over £6K in rent. A Notting Hill landlord finds himself in financial hot water, as his tenants, a married couple with children stopped paying the rent, leaving no choice other than to issue them with a Section 8 notice. And in Dagenham, Essex, a non-paying tenant is confronted on eviction day.

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Ghosts of Stonehenge ~ Naked History

Element 18 2025-08-11 | Stonehenge is the ancient world’s most famous and mysterious monument. Its origins and purpose have puzzled historians for centuries.

Why was this extraordinary monument built on a seemingly ordinary plain? Who visited the stones? And what did they do there? Now, using laser scanning, carbon dating and forensic technologies, archaeologists are finally piecing together the full story of the stones. The result is a tale of ancient magic and arcane ritual, acts of remembrance and brutal murder, that reveals Stonehenge was more famous and more ancient than anyone ever imagined.

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Inside Nature’s Giants – Leatherback Turtle

Element 18 2025-08-08 | The ING team uncover the evolutionary mystery of how turtles developed shells to protect themselves from some of the sharpest-toothed predators on the planet. The leatherback carcass is a two-meter-long male, which died after its flipper was sliced off by a motorboat propeller. Veterinary scientist Mark Evans and comparative anatomist Joy Reidenberg join the post-mortem to explore the inner workings of this ancient mariner.

Episode from the BAFTA award-winning series that gets under the skin of the largest animals on the planet to reveal the anatomy of some of nature’s most enigmatic creatures. Most wildlife documentaries show how animals behave, but by exploring their anatomy, veterinary scientist Mark Evans, comparative anatomist Joy Reidenberg and a team of experts show how these creatures really work. Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins explains how such distinctive beasts have evolved to thrive in their environmental niches, while biologist Simon Watt gets firsthand experience of the animals in action.

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Stirling ~ Hunt for King Arthur’s Castle ~ Naked History

Element 18 2025-08-04 | Stirling Castle in Scotland – one of Europe’s most celebrated forts and the legendary home of King Arthur’s round table. Scotland’s great kings claimed to be descended from Arthur – but why?

Historians follow the trail to France where they uncover how Arthur was used as a political weapon in Scotland’s bloody wars of independence. The gruesome discovery of a shattered skeleton inside the castle challenges the popular accounts of Stirling’s most famous battle, immortalized in the movie Braveheart. And could strange melted stones uncovered close to Stirling provide evidence that this famous site was the scene of a brutal thousand-year-old war crime?

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Drama at Dallas Palace – Prince Andrew’s Unravelling

Element 18 2025-08-01 | Built from scratch post-Queen’s 1986 wedding gift, Sunninghill Park became Prince Andrew and Fergie's 30-room playground – complete with a helicopter pad, ensuite overload, and vibes more nouveau riche than Buckingham chic. It was the first custom royal build since 1879, and boy, did it break the mold. Dubbed "Dallas Palace" for its glitzy sprawl and "Tesco Towers" for its supermarket chic, the mansion courted scandal from blueprint to bulldozer.

Inside: wild parties, alleged affairs, eyebrow-raising finances – including a curious sale to a Kazakh billionaire – and enough drama to make Versailles blush. By 2024, Andrew’s headlines veered from royalty to espionage, with rumoured ties to a Chinese spy. Now? A quieter life at Royal Lodge with his ex-wife, miles away from the architectural chaos that once made royal watchers squint.

Think this palace was just bad taste? Or was it a symbol of a royal era unravelling?

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Angkor Wat ~ Lost Temple of the Jungle ~ Naked History

Element 18 2025-07-28 | Angkor Wat in Cambodia is the world’s largest temple, but why did the Khmer civilization build this enormous Hindu shrine in the middle of the jungle? Laser technology reveals the astonishing truth: Angkor Wat was the centre of a long-lost megacity and the beating heart of a mighty empire.

Archaeologists hack through the jungle to reveal this sprawling metropolis and unearth how it thrived on the trade of rare iron. Blowing the temple apart exposes how water was the key to its success and how it’s secret true purpose may have been as a resurrection machine for a godlike King.

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What’s Inside an Escalator?

Element 18 2025-07-25 | Have you ever wondered what’s inside the machines you use so often in your daily life? How does an escalator haul hundreds of people up a slope as steep as mount Fuji? How does a leaf blower generate hurricane-force winds? And how come the tape measure crams sixteen feet of steel into your pocket? Using ultra-realistic computer-generated animation, this episode ‘explodes open’ everyday machines into their individual parts, to reveal their secret workings. Combined with stunning footage from the factories where these objects are designed, built, and tested, this compelling documentary series uncovers the mysteries of machines and how they work.

00:00 Introduction
00:41 Escalator
09:39 Leaf Blower
16:25 Tape Measure

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Karnak ~ Secret of Egypt’s Mega Temples ~ Naked History

Element 18 2025-07-21 | The Egyptian site of Karnak was the largest religious complex in the ancient world. Constructed over three thousand five hundred years ago, this giant labyrinth of temples and halls was a political and religious powerbase for the pharaohs. But what weird rituals went on behind its high walls? Unearthing grisly human remains and using the latest technologies, archaeologists are finally revealing the truth: how a jealous pharaoh destroyed the legacy of his own father, how Karnak’s largest hall was designed to house the gods themselves and how the unstoppable rise of a new religion brought this monumental site to its knees.

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Professional Freeloaders ~ Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords

Element 18 2025-07-18 | On Britain’s streets a battle is raging, over 11 million of us rent, with thousands falling victim to rogue landlords. 2 million of us are private landlords, but many face financial ruin at the hands of bad tenants. In this series we’re on the frontline with the enforcement officers who crack down on rogue landlords, and the experts whose job it is to evict bad tenants.

In this episode of NTSL, a builder’s relationship with his nightmare tenant in Hyde has reached breaking point and he’s owed more than £6K in rent. A private landlord who bought the cottage next door to her riverside home in Cambridgeshire must tackle an unusual case of a protected tenant and extreme hoarding. In Brent, London, a dawn raid housing team make a shocking discovery of dangerous overcrowding in a 5-bedroom HMO. And an A&E doctor rents out his old family home in Wakefield, a decision he came to regret!

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Secret History of the Sphinx ~ Naked History

Element 18 2025-07-14 | New investigations are slowly uncovering the secret history of the world’s most iconic monument. The Sphinx has mystified historians for generations, but an extraordinary new investigation is about to reveal which pharaoh the Sphinx was built for. Forensic work at the nearby Sphinx temples has uncovered an astonishing religious connection to the Sun. Was the Sphinx part of an elaborate machine to resurrect the Pharaoh in the afterlife? Digging deep below the desert sand scientists find that the Sphinx once gazed over a vast artificial lake. Half carved shelves uncovered at the perimeter of the Sphinx enclosure suggest this famous sculpture was never finished – but why?

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Telescopes – Celestial Technology – Big Bigger Biggest

Element 18 2025-07-11 | This film reveals the technological leaps forward that enabled the world’s largest optical telescope (by effective optical aperture) to be built. The Large Binocular Telescope sits on a mountain in Arizona over 3,000 metres above sea level. Equipped with two huge mirrors, this giant pair of eyes stares up into the night sky. Capable of producing images of heavenly bodies with startling clarity, the LBT focuses its mirrors on stars tens of millions of light years away from Earth. The documentary explores how this magnificent instrument was made possible through a series of six engineering breakthroughs. We analyse how landmark telescopes contributed innovations towards its development, allowing astronomers to see ever deeper into space. Using computer generated animation we reveal the incredible stories behind these structures, and the inventions that have allowed them to discover more about our universe. Six ingenious leaps forward that enabled telescopes to evolve from BIG, to BIGGER, into the world’s BIGGEST.

00:00 – Introduction
03:07 – Collecting Light – Newton’s Telescope
10:37 – Mirror – Parsons’s Telescope
20:45 – Tracking – Hooker Telescope
27:43 – Transporting the Mirror – Hale Telescope
37:02 – Temperature – Bolshoi Telescope
42:39 – Atmosphere – Large Binocular Telescope

Episode from the “Big Bigger Biggest” documentary series exploring the engineering breakthroughs that have enabled us to develop some of the largest structures in existence.

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Valley of the Kings ~ Tuts Buried Secret ~ Naked History

Element 18 2025-07-07 | The tomb of Tutankhamun is unique in the Valley of the Kings and historians are desperate to understand why. For decades King Tut’s tomb was a complete mystery: why was it built so small, why was it so sparsely decorated compared to its neighbours and how did it escape the clutches of ancient grave robbers? Using the latest technology, teams of archaeologists are finally finding the answers. With rare access, Unearthed proves why a sudden death, a calamitous burial and an astonishing force of nature led to a minor king rising to become the most famous of them all.

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CIA Mind Control: Declassified | Forbidden History

Element 18 2025-07-04 | In this episode, we explore the CIA mind control experiments of the 1950s, specifically the top secret program ‘MK Ultra’, who utilised LSD. We'll recount various chilling experiments and explore the mysterious death of one of their top scientists.

Cast List

Peggy Brunache
Historian, archaeologist and lecturer at University of Glasgow.

Lindsay Moran
Author and former CIA operative.

Dominic Selwood
Historian, barrister, bestselling author, novelist and frequent contributor to national newspapers including The Independent, The Spectator and The Daily Telegraph.

Luke Daly Groves
Historian, author and lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire.

Lynn Picknett
Historian and researcher specialising in exposing historical conspiracies. She is also the co-author of several notable works.

Colin Ross
Psychiatrist and former president of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation.

Tony McMahon
Former BBC news producer, author, print journalist and historian.

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Maximum Occupancy ~ Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords

Element 18 2025-06-27 | On Britain’s streets a battle is raging, over 11 million of us rent, with thousands falling victim to rogue landlords. 2 million of us are private landlords, but many face financial ruin at the hands of bad tenants.

In this episode of NTSL, a Southampton landlord struggles to evict two drug taking squatters, housing officers uncover appalling living conditions in Harrow, a landlord in Port Talbot is pushed to the limit by her rent dodging tenant, and a high court sheriff closes down a suspected subletting scam in Peckham.

This series follows the eviction specialists whose job it is to tackle tenants who can’t, or won’t pay the rent, and local authority housing offices tasked with going after rogue landlords. We also follow the work letting agents dealing with problem tenants. From a weed farm in a three-bedroom Blackburn semi, to drug addicts in a Blackpool bedsit, to 25 migrants squeezed into a suburban London home, Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords, delves into dark side of Britain’s housing crisis.

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Witches | Can Water Know the Devil’s Maid?

Element 18 2025-06-20 | Aye, in those foregone centuries when mist clung heavy to the moors and reason walked with a halting step, the hearts of men did quake at the thought of witches hid among them. 'Twas believed that the Devil marked his own, and to smoke them out, the folk devised cruel trials cloaked in righteousness. Chief among these was the swimming test, wherein the accused – oft a poor wretch or widow cast by fate’s ill favour – was bound and cast into the water. If she sank, the water had taken her in innocence; if she floated, 'twas said the very earth did spurn her soul, and thus was she branded a witch. Yet ponder this: did such trials reveal truth, or merely feed the frenzy of trembling minds seeking cause for their misfortunes? Whether witchcraft was truly abroad, or but the echo of fear made flesh, none can now say with surety – but the tale lingers still, like smoke after flame.

Watch the complete documentary here – Coming soon!

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Built Different | The Leatherback Sea Turtle

Element 18 2025-06-13 | There are few more prehistoric looking creatures swimming in the ocean than the sea turtle. It has a head like a dinosaur, a beak like a parrot, and looks like a tortoise, with flippers. Many animals survive as predators, relying on sharp teeth and claws to catch their prey, but turtles and tortoises have a different approach. They’ve evolved nature’s ultimate defence strategy, an armour-plated shell that has kept them safe for over 200 million years.

Clip from the award-winning “Inside Nature’s Giants” documentary series that gets under the skin of the largest animals on the planet returns to reveal the anatomy of some of nature's most successful predators

Watch the complete Leatherback Turtle episode here – youtu.be/ZAnaiqFGIDk

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Glam, Grime, and Arrears ~ Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords

Element 18 2025-06-06 | In this episode a dawn raid uncovers a dangerous overcrowded slum property, a couple in Manchester take on a rent dodging YouTube makeup guru, a London landlord fights to reclaim his Hamstead home from an antisocial aggressive tenant, and a drugs den is discovered in Essex.

This series follows the eviction specialists whose job it is to tackle tenants who can’t, or won’t pay the rent, and local authority housing offices tasked with going after rogue landlords. We also follow the work letting agents dealing with problem tenants. From a weed farm in a three-bedroom Blackburn semi, to drug addicts in a Blackpool bedsit, to 25 migrants squeezed into a suburban London home, Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords, delves into dark side of Britain’s housing crisis.

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The British Coach – A Journey Through Time

Element 18 2025-05-30 | From the earliest charabancs (char-à-banc) that took people on day trips to the seaside through to the air-conditioned super coaches of the modern day, this is the fascinating story of the UK's major coach operators, their vehicles, their passengers, and their services.

You'll discover how the motor coach has evolved since the turn of the century from the Great War charabanc to the super coaches travelling Britain's roads today. You'll learn about the independent express operators such as Greyhound, Red and White, and Ribble who joined together to form Associated British Motorways which operated out of the UK's second major hub at Cheltenham where a mass interchange of coaches travelling to every part of the country took place at 2pm every day on the ring of a bell.

The programme features interviews with coaching experts, preservationists and operators. Come with us on an excursion with a private operator, hear about the manufacturing giants of the past such as Leyland, Bristol, and Bedford, and see some of the big-name coaches in action.

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The Murder Trial

Element 18 2025-05-23 | Can you prove murder without a body?

After three years of negotiation, the Scottish High Court gave permission for this extraordinary and unique access – to film the case of a man accused of murdering his wife. Her body has never been found, there is no weapon, no crime scene and her husband appears to have a cast iron alibi for the day she disappeared.

For the first time in British history, remotely operated cameras were placed inside a British criminal court to capture a murder trial in its entirety for this feature-length documentary. Recorded over six weeks, this film shows the process of justice in a Scottish High Court like never before. With over 70 witnesses and 104 pieces of evidence the complex case is dissected firstly by the Prosecution QC Alex Prentice and then the Defence QC John Scott. The victim in the case is Arlene Fraser and her family who had been waiting over 14 years for justice.

Nat Fraser was first brought to trial in 2003 for the murder of his wife – he was found guilty. But Fraser argued that the trial was a miscarriage of justice and challenged the verdict in the highest courts in the land. The case became a cause celebre. Eventually, after years of protesting his innocence, the conviction was quashed in 2011. In April 2012, Nat Fraser was sent back to the High Court in Edinburgh for a fresh trial, 14 years after his wife’s disappearance. A new jury was sworn in to hear all the evidence against him. Would they find him innocent or convict him of murder?

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Size Matters | Telescope Engineering

Element 18 2025-05-16 | Back in 1672 Newton’s reflector telescope enabled astronomers to get their first clear view of our solar system. But to see deeper into space, engineers building the 183cm Parsons telescope (Leviathan of Parsonstown) in Ireland must learn how to make bigger mirrors. The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) uses two huge mirrors each measuring 840cm in diameter, making it the world’s largest optical telescope (by effective optical aperture).

Clip from the “Big Bigger Biggest” documentary series exploring the engineering breakthroughs that have enabled us to develop some of the largest structures in existence.

Watch the complete documentary here – youtu.be/EPGcfFOR1gg

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Eviction Wars ~ Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords

Element 18 2025-05-09 | With Britain’s sky-high rents more tenants on low incomes are being forced to live in an HMO, a house of multiple occupation. But stranger living together under the same roof can be a recipe for confrontation. In Blackburn, letting agents Paul and Sally are on their way to tackle complaints of antisocial behaviour in one of the shared homes they manage.

Four out of five of Britain’s landlords own just one rental property and many of them rely on the income to support their retirement. In Lewisham, Dale is on his way to court having begun eviction proceedings against his 81-year-old mother’s tenant, who is in serious arrears. The house is the former family home which adds to his mum’s distress.

Britain’s’ buy to let boom has created huge opportunities for the unscrupulous to make big money out of vulnerable tenants and small landlords. 16 months ago, Blaire thought she had found the perfect solution for her empty rental property in Wandsworth. She personally met and approved the tenant but hasn’t received a penny in rent for 6 months, so turns to eviction lawyer Chris for help.

Soaring demand in Britain’s rental market has led to more properties that are unsafe and overcrowded. Andrew from Harrow’s housing enforcement office has received a tip off about a suspect 2-bedroom flat in the borough. What will he be faced with?

This series follows the eviction specialists whose job it is to tackle tenants who can’t, or won’t pay the rent, and local authority housing offices tasked with going after rogue landlords. We also follow the work letting agents dealing with problem tenants. From a weed farm in a three-bedroom Blackburn semi, to drug addicts in a Blackpool bedsit, to 25 migrants squeezed into a suburban London home, Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords, delves into dark side of Britain’s housing crisis.

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Hidden Hotel ~ South Africa’s Most Unexpected Safari

Element 18 2025-05-02 | In the forests above Cape Province’s Walker Bay lies a hidden safari lodge with a difference, where the star attractions are not animals, but trees and wildflowers. A secret multi-award-winning hotel retreat that stands within 2,000 hectares of pristine wilderness, nestled between the Gansbaai coastline and Kleinrivier Mountains – this is the Grootbos Private Nature Reserve.

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Burn After Renting ~ Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords

Element 18 2025-04-25 | English teacher Muhammad is owed over £8,000 in rent and legal fees by his tenant. It’s been almost 4 months since he last received rent for his 3-bed house in Ilford, causing him deep financial trouble. In desperation, Muhammad asks eviction expert Paul Shamplina for help.

In Northwest London there’s been a fire at an unlicensed HMO, a house in multiple occupation. Housing enforcement officers from Harrow council are on their way to investigate.

Lawyer Chris Sharpe is on his way to serve squatters in Winsford, Cheshire, with an eviction notice. The owner of the 3-bedroom bungalow is currently abroad, Chris suspects the squatters know that and are hoping nobody will notice they’ve taken over his empty home.

This series follows the eviction specialists whose job it is to tackle tenants who can’t, or won’t pay the rent, and local authority housing offices tasked with going after rogue landlords. We also follow the work letting agents dealing with problem tenants. From a weed farm in a three-bedroom Blackburn semi, to drug addicts in a Blackpool bedsit, to 25 migrants squeezed into a suburban London home, Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords, delves into dark side of Britain’s housing crisis.

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Cash in the Celebrity Attic – Esther Rantzen

Element 18 2025-04-18 | British celebrities rummage for collectables and antiques in their homes to be valued and sold at auction, the intention being to raise money for donation to their favourite charities.

The English journalist, television presenter, and activist, raises funds for a cause close to her heart. Lorne Spicer and valuer Paul Hayes look through her mementoes for likely auction lots and have high hopes for the sale of an 18th Century accounts ledger from the household of Queen Caroline.

Esther Rantzen is best known for creating and hosting the long-running BBC consumer affairs programme That's Life! She has been a prominent advocate for social causes, founding the children's charity Childline to support young people in distress and later establishing The Silver Line, a helpline for elderly people. Throughout her career, Rantzen has been recognised for her contributions to broadcasting and charity work, receiving numerous honours, including a Damehood in 2015.

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Britain’s Housing Crisis ~ Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords

Element 18 2025-04-11 | With the rise of internet shopping Britain’s highstreets are facing downturn, meaning many former commercial properties have been turned into private rental accommodation. In Harrow there’s suspected overcrowded rooms located above a closed down pub. It’s the job of council enforcement officers to ensure any new conversions on their patch are up to scratch. What will they find?

Across the UK two thirds of people have experienced problems with noisy neighbours, in extreme cases leading to serios conflict. In Lancashire letting agents Paul and Deborah Ainsworth-Lord have been alerted to a spate of persistent loud antisocial behaviour at one of the properties they manage.

One in five of the UK’s population live in private rented accommodation and in popular areas landlords should be able to pick and choose who they let to, but not every tenant turns out to be what they claim. Eviction expert Paul Shamplina is in Central London meeting landlord Han who is owed 9 months rent for his Belgravia flat.

The spiralling cost of accommodation in the UK is forcing many people to move in with relatives, but when property disputes combine with family feuds the results can be ugly. In East London council worker Sade and her partner are heading to court in an attempt to evict her second cousin from her late mother’s Stratford home.

This series follows the eviction specialists whose job it is to tackle tenants who can’t, or won’t pay the rent, and local authority housing offices tasked with going after rogue landlords. We also follow the work letting agents dealing with problem tenants. From a weed farm in a three-bedroom Blackburn semi, to drug addicts in a Blackpool bedsit, to 25 migrants squeezed into a suburban London home, Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords, delves into dark side of Britain’s housing crisis.

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Worlds Fastest Train – Fast Faster Fastest

Element 18 2025-04-04 | The French ‘Train à Grande Vitesse’, known as the TGV, regularly reaches speeds exceeding 300 kilometres per hour. In special tests the train has been pushed to 574.8 kilometres per hour making it the fastest on earth. This film explores how the TGV was made possible through a series of four historic engineering breakthroughs. We analyse the inner workings of four iconic trains, including George Stephenson’s record-breaking Rocket and Japan’s revolutionary Bullet Train. Each features a major technological innovation that allowed engineers to build quicker trains. through the development of powerful engines, aerodynamic design, and innovations that keep trains firmly on the tracks. Using computer generated animation we reveal the incredible stories behind these machines and the inventions that have enabled them to get faster and faster. Four ingenious leaps forward that enabled trains to evolve from the world’s first steam passenger train, into the fastest train on the planet.

00:00 – Introduction
04:11 – Power – Stephenson's Rocket
17:36 – Aerodynamics – LNER Mallard
27:08 – Stability – Shinkansen
35:28 – Safety – TGV

Episode from the “Big Bigger Biggest” documentary series exploring the engineering breakthroughs that have enabled us to develop some of the largest structures in existence.

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Rent Wars ~ Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords

Element 18 2025-03-28 | In Lancashire letting agent Paul Ainsworth-Lord manages 800 properties on behalf of private landlords. Unemployment here is above the national average and many tenants are on the breadline or struggling with a range of social problems. Paul is on the way to a 2-bed terrace chasing up a tenant who hasn’t paid rent for 4 months and owes £3,000.

Nearly half of Britain’s buy-to-let landlords rent out just one property, so if the money stops it can have a huge effect on their income. Retired shopkeeper Jack lets out a 1-bed flat in his native Fleetwood but after 14 months with no rent he’s been left nearly £5,000 out of pocket. He calls in eviction lawyer Chris Sharpe to help.

On the Isle of Dogs in East London, eviction specialist Paul Shamplina in on route to assist a couple who are owed a 5-figure sum by their agency.

It’s the job of council enforcement officers to investigate complaints against one of the UK’s 2.5 million landlords. In Harrow there’s a report of a leak coming from a residential flat situated above a commercial property. For 7 months water has been cascading into the rear of the salon from the property above.

This series follows the eviction specialists whose job it is to tackle tenants who can’t, or won’t pay the rent, and local authority housing offices tasked with going after rogue landlords. We also follow the work letting agents dealing with problem tenants. From a weed farm in a three-bedroom Blackburn semi, to drug addicts in a Blackpool bedsit, to 25 migrants squeezed into a suburban London home, Nightmare Tenants Slum Landlords, delves into dark side of Britain’s housing crisis.

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Jungle Vampires | Bloodthirsty Hitchhikers of Borneo

Element 18 2025-03-21 | The minute you set foot in the jungle you’re besieged by things that want to eat you, from the top predator to the tallest trees, everything is on the menu, and that includes us.

Tiger leeches are parasites. It’s hard to imagine they’re useful, but nightmarish creatures like these hold the jungle in balance.

Clip from the award-winning “Inside Nature’s Giants” documentary series that gets under the skin of the largest animals on the planet returns to reveal the anatomy of some of nature's most successful predators

Watch the complete Jungle episode here – Coming soon!

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Penguins in Paradise – VIP Rehab

Element 18 2025-03-14 | Penguins, snowy birds that survive in some of the harshest environments known to man, but not all of them live in a winter wonderland – meet Africa’s only penguins. These bubbly birds are living on top of one of the busiest cities in South Africa, Cape Town, causing chaos wherever they roam, but with their fragile species under threat, their future is bleak.

Meet the heroes who’ve stepped in to help – this dedicated team are on hand 24/7 in Africa’s busiest emergency department for penguins. They rescue the weak and desperate, rehab them with lots of TLC, to get them back into the wild where they belong. This is the story of an extraordinary relationship between penguin and person, at the Penguin A&E!

Documentary series following a Cape Town hospital dedicated to caring for the city's penguin population. In this episode, Eddie has a life-threatening injured leg that has become severely infected, can multiple operations save his life? Rocky, the northern rockhopper, is grumpy about his unavoidable moult. Pogo had a traumatic experience resulting in missing toes, lacerations, and dislocations, will rehabilitation result in him being released into the wild? Nipper has a severe head injury caused by a dog bite causing him to black out and almost drown in the hospital pool. Stony Point rangers are out on the lookout for injured birds, abandoned eggs, and predators. And it’s a busy day in the chick rearing unit as it’s the height of the hatching season.

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Battle of Watling Street | Queen Boudicas Revolt | Instruments of Death (Part 2)

Battle of Watling Street | Queen Boudicas Revolt | Instruments of Death (Part 1)

Element 18 2025-03-07 | In AD 61, the rolling hills near Watling Street bore witness to a clash of empires and a desperate bid for freedom. The fearless Boudica, queen of the Iceni, led a massive rebellion against Roman oppression, her fiery resolve mirrored by an army of tens of thousands. Opposing her was Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, a seasoned Roman general commanding a vastly outnumbered force. Suetonius chose his ground wisely, positioning his men in a narrow gorge flanked by dense woods, forcing the Britons into a bottleneck. As Boudica’s warriors surged forward, the disciplined Roman legions held firm, their tight formations repelling wave after wave of Britons. What began as a tidal wave of rebellion turned into a chaotic rout, with tens of thousands of Britons cut down in the brutal slaughter. Boudica’s dream of liberation died on that battlefield, as the iron grip of Rome tightened once more, extinguishing one of history's most dramatic uprisings.

00:00 – Introduction
02:46 – Roman Invasion of Britain
04:04 – Boudica and the Iceni Tribe
06:15 – Tacitus Account
07:08 – Paulinus and the East Anglia Rebellion
08:21 – Boudican Revolt Begins
09:38 – Testing Roman Military Equipment
13:12 – Boudica’s Army and Verulamium
16:29 – Battle of Towcester
19:45 – Set Piece Battlefield Tactics
22:19 – Roman Throwing Spear – The Pilum
25:51 – Savage Charge vs Roman Discipline
27:56 – Wedge Formation Strategy Explained
33:29 – Final Battle, Boudica’s Fate, and Roman Medicine

Watch part 2 of the documentary here – youtu.be/wKOkrSs3HLI

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What Makes a Safe… Safe?

Element 18 2025-02-28 | The safe! These timeless machines are some of the toughest around. How do 21st century safes keep thieves out, and even protect your valuables from a raging house fire?

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Vampire Origins – Mythical Beasts

Element 18 2025-02-21 | Could the discovery of brutally impaled corpses in Eastern Europe shed light on the origins of the vampire myths?

The vampire is one of the most terrifying mythological monsters of all time, but the romantic vampire of modern fiction is very different to the horrible, undead creature our ancestors believed in. In Bulgaria, archaeologists excavate a graveyard where they find a skeleton that has been brutally impaled with an iron stake. Why did people here believe that the dead were rising from the grave? What did they see that convinced them that blood-sucking vampires existed? Science and archaeology is starting to reveal what really inspired the vampire stories and just how deep fear of these monsters ran.

For thousands of years, civilisations believed in mythical beasts – Dragons, Cyclops, Giants, Vampires and Sea Monsters. They still fascinate us today, but where did the stories of these fabled creatures come from? How much truth lies behind the legends, and what can these myths tell us about the medieval and ancient people that created in them? This series combines action-packed location filming and computer-generated animation, with experts in archaeology and palaeontology, to unearth the secrets behind some of the most famous and terrifying mythical beasts.

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Cash in the Celebrity Attic – Virginia Ironside

Element 18 2025-02-14 | British celebrities rummage for collectables and antiques in their homes to be valued and sold at auction, the intention being to raise money for donation to their favourite charities.

Angela Rippon and the team help British journalist, author, and agony aunt, Virginia Ironside, raise cash for a charity which helps orphans around the world. Ironside writes a column "Dilemmas" for The Independent, an agony column for the Idler, and a monthly column for The Oldie. Her first book, Chelsea Bird, was published when she was 19.

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Canals – Construction Megaprojects – Big Bigger Biggest

Element 18 2025-02-07 | With over 250 million tons of cargo passing along its length every year, the Panama Canal is the biggest canal in the America’s. The 5-billion-dollar infrastructure expansion project completed in 2017 doubled the waterway’s capacity, giving a new lease of life to this vital transport artery. Its construction relied on a series of great leaps in technology. In this film we explore the key historic canals that made each engineering breakthrough. Using computer generated animation we reveal the incredible stories behind France’s Briare Canal, the UK’s Bridgewater and Manchester Ship Canals, and the record-breaking Panama Canal. We focus on the innovations that allowed them to grow in size. Four ingenious leaps forward that enabled canals to evolve from BIG, to BIGGER, into the America’s BIGGEST.

00:00 – Introduction
04:06 – Climbing Hills – Briare Canal
18:15 – Water – Bridgewater Canal
29:51 – Excavation – Manchester Ship Canal
38:49 – Navigation – Panama Canal

Episode from the “Big Bigger Biggest” documentary series exploring the engineering breakthroughs that have enabled us to develop some of the largest structures in existence.

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