# Need some new Documentary/PBS/BBC recommendations **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 17, 2010, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-new-documentary-pbs-bbc-recommendations/550510 "2010-08-17T07:04:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fried_Dough_Ho)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-new-documentary-pbs-bbc-recommendations/550510/1 "2010-08-17T07:04:16Z")
As a stay-at-home artist, I tend to rely on my much-too-large of a collection of movies for background noise and companionship. I don’t get cable so I rely on downloads for any new influx and am looking for some suggestions for some quality produced documentaries and historical series that are hopefully available on a torrent site. I tend more towards history than nature shows; I am listening more than watching. I also like extended series that will engage me for multiple hours. An example of those series which I have enjoyed tremendously and will happily re-watch a number of times: - PBS American Experience (just about all of them and most recently the The Lobotomist, John Addams, the one on Whaling and the Donner Party were especially good). - Terry Jones’ series on The Crusades and The Barbarians. - BBC’s series on The Beauty of Maps. - The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century (an especially great series done about 1996 - never saw a better documentary on WWI). - Simon Schama’s Power of Art (LOVED those!) - Sister Wendy’s Art Shows ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-new-documentary-pbs-bbc-recommendations/550510/2 "2010-08-17T07:45:01Z")
Check out the History Channel’s Boudica documentary. It’s got old British guys talking about Roman battles! Not sure how much they charge for it- the History Channel tends to make their stuff expensive. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-new-documentary-pbs-bbc-recommendations/550510/3 "2010-08-17T08:27:56Z")
**Three Men In A Boat** , and its followups. The first one follows the Jerome K. Jerome journey. Griff Rhys Jones, Rory McGrath and Dara O’Briain travel around Britain in various water-going craft. Currently 8 hours of documentaries. _Coast_. An amazingly thorough and involved series about the coasts of Britain and surrounds. _Time Team_. Archaeology show. Been going for 17 years. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-new-documentary-pbs-bbc-recommendations/550510/4 "2010-08-17T09:57:52Z")
[The Smithsonian Folkways Collection podcast](http://www.folkways.si.edu/explore_folkways/folkways_collection.aspx) is amazing, 26 or so hours about Moses Asche and Folkways Records, and the collection of records. Just amazing. And they play the whole song they are discussing, not just a little snippet =) I know it isn’t video, but it is fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-new-documentary-pbs-bbc-recommendations/550510/5 "2010-08-17T13:09:18Z")
My all time favorite documentary series was James Burkes’ “Connections” series, on the history of technology. Fascinating stuff, narrated briskly and entertainingly by Burke himself. ---
**Author:** ![Trom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Trom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trom)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-new-documentary-pbs-bbc-recommendations/550510/6 "2010-08-17T14:59:27Z")
For a good history/nature mix you could check out the recent Ken Burns [documentary](http://www.pbs.org/aboutpbs/news/20080714_nationalparks.html) on the National Parks. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-new-documentary-pbs-bbc-recommendations/550510/7 "2010-08-17T17:24:43Z")
Anyone who liked Schama’s _Power of Art_ should check out his _History of Britain_. ---
**Author:** ![Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fried_Dough_Ho)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-new-documentary-pbs-bbc-recommendations/550510/8 "2010-08-17T17:42:51Z")
This is brilliant - thank you, all! I’ve got Schama’s _History of Britain_ downloading now. Trom, I should have said that I have _all_ of Ken Burns’ works already. Guano - Unfortunately, the _Three Men in a Boat_ series hasn’t shown up in any of the searches I’ve done on the current torrents I am using. I do have one of the\* Time Team\* specials on Westminster Abbey downloading now as well. I’ll see how I like it before looking at the others. Evil Captor - I remember those _Connections_ series! The first series or two was really good but I thought that later, he was making some really questionable stretches of connectivity… Aruvqan - I am very intrigued with the Folkways series you mentioned. I have never actually listened to a podcast before… ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-new-documentary-pbs-bbc-recommendations/550510/9 "2010-08-17T18:16:17Z")
One of my favourite documentaries of recent years was _The Lost World of Mitchell and Kenyon_, M & K being two early filmamkers in the years after the turn of the 20th century. They used to go around northern England filming everyday scenes and then charging people to marvel at the sight of their own image. Someone found a ton of their material in a shop a few years ago, and it was restored. It was just a fascinating glimpse into that period. Normally when you see very early film footage it is of some historical event or is rather formal, but this was just ordinary people sort of hanging out, pouring out of factories, taking day trips to the seaside, that kind of thing. I’ve never seen footage of that vintage that looked so real, if you know what I mean. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-new-documentary-pbs-bbc-recommendations/550510/10 "2010-08-17T18:29:39Z")
You’d probably like podcasts if you’re doing something else anyway; there’s no chance you’d want to look at something. It would have been hard for me not to watch The Power of Art! I don’t know if you can download or stream them, but the series POV and Independent Lens have some fabulous documentaries. If you like American Experience you’d probably like American Masters too. There’s programs on John James Audubon, Cole Porter, Edward R. Murrow, Carol Burnett. Who else? James Brown, Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, Cary Grant. Nova is very reliable as well. They frequently feature historical subjects as well as science and nature. ---
**Author:** ![Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fried_Dough_Ho)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-new-documentary-pbs-bbc-recommendations/550510/11 "2010-08-17T18:38:42Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > You’d probably like podcasts if you’re doing something else anyway; there’s no chance you’d want to look at something. It would have been hard for me not to watch The Power of Art! Oddly, I am the opposite. I occasionally will put on the radio but find myself stopping what I am doing all the time to write down a certain song or to listen more closely. With _The Power of Art_, I am already very familiar with the works of art which he is discussing. And I guess I have gotten really accustomed to half-watching or just glancing at whatever is on and getting the gist of it. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-new-documentary-pbs-bbc-recommendations/550510/12 "2010-08-17T19:08:53Z")
PBS: “History Detectives”. “Independent Lens” tends to be interesting but is more of a current events thing. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-new-documentary-pbs-bbc-recommendations/550510/13 "2010-08-17T19:13:18Z")
History Channel: [Wild West Tech](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_West_Tech). ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-new-documentary-pbs-bbc-recommendations/550510/14 "2010-08-17T19:14:04Z")
> [@Trom](#): > > For a good history/nature mix you could check out the recent Ken Burns [documentary](http://www.pbs.org/aboutpbs/news/20080714_nationalparks.html) on the National Parks. Seconded. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-new-documentary-pbs-bbc-recommendations/550510/15 "2010-08-17T19:21:43Z")
[Rape of Europa](http://www.pbs.org/therapeofeuropa/) seems to be in the aug/sept rotation for PBS. Excellent documentary about the quest for art, the attempts to hide it and protect it during WWII. ---
**Author:** ![Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fried_Dough_Ho)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-new-documentary-pbs-bbc-recommendations/550510/16 "2010-08-17T19:25:04Z")
> [@Disheavel](#): > > [Rape of Europa](http://www.pbs.org/therapeofeuropa/) seems to be in the aug/sept rotation for PBS. Excellent documentary about the quest for art, the attempts to hide it and protect it during WWII. LOVE that! And the book! I really enjoy everything art related and wish there were more… ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-new-documentary-pbs-bbc-recommendations/550510/17 "2010-08-18T01:36:58Z")
I enjoyed Michael Woods’ In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great. Woods has several historical docs that are worth watching. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2010, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-some-new-documentary-pbs-bbc-recommendations/550510/18 "2010-08-18T16:23:23Z")
Ken Burns has done a number of significant documentaries, but, IMNSHO, his _Civil War_, is the best. It’s style of narration became influential, with many shows copying it.