BBC four

Nowhere in the British Isles was the viking connection longer-lasting or deeper than in Scotland. Hundreds of years after their first hit-and-run raids, the Norsemen still dominated huge swathes of the country. But storm clouds were gathering. In 1263 the Norwegian king, Haakon IV, assembled a fleet of 120 longships to counter Scottish raids on the Norse Hebrides. It was a force comparable in size

A great maritime mystery lies deep beneath the waters of the Channel Islands. On the morning of 19 February 1917, German submarine UC-18 opened fire on Royal Navy Q-ship the Lady Olive. As the U-boat drew near to assess the damage it had inflicted, the Lady Olive counter-attacked. Both vessels were said to have sunk. For decades, divers and historians have searched to discover their fate and under

The pub has been the mainstay of British society since medieval times, a cornerstone of any community playing a unique role in national life. But in the past 50 years the pub has undergone massive change. This programme examines the core values of this definitively British institution and questions its survival. With contributions from Jeremy Hardy, Rowan Pelling and Pete Brown. Narrated by Arthur

A thousand years ago, many millions of whales dominated the sea, with their ancient behaviours vital to the well-being of the oceans. These marine mammals are the ambassadors between one world and another, land and sea, their close communities only now being truly researched and understood. They are still a keystone species in our fragile ecosystem today, with crucial impact on our seas and the li

Nowhere in the British Isles was the viking connection longer-lasting or deeper than in Scotland. Hundreds of years after their first hit-and-run raids, the Norsemen still dominated huge swathes of the country. But storm clouds were gathering. In 1263 the Norwegian king, Haakon IV, assembled a fleet of 120 longships to counter Scottish raids on the Norse Hebrides. It was a force comparable in size

Writer and adventurer Will Millard returns with more of Wales's hidden wonders as he explores some of the country's forgotten historic buildings. In Wales, we are in danger of losing vital pieces of history that tell us who we once were. Beautiful buildings that are architectural gems but also some of the most endangered in the UK. These extraordinary structures, which can give us vital insights i

In 2017, a routine archaeological dig was taking place on the site of a proposed housing development in the village of Fenstanton in the Cambridgeshire Fens. When human remains were found alongside a variety of Roman artefacts, none of the team at Albion Archaeology saw anything out of the ordinary. But once the bones were washed back at HQ, something highly unusual was uncovered: a nail through t

A remarkable journey into the secret world of one of the most endangered and least understood animals on earth – bats. With cutting-edge night-vision cameras and ultrasonic detectors, this programme follows a greater horseshoe bat roost for four months during the summer of 2019, capturing the hidden life of the colony as never before. Witness the birth of a new generation of pups and follow their

Gardening expert Chris Beardshaw explores where soil comes from, what it's made of and what makes it so essential to life. For billions of years our planet was devoid of life, but something transformed it into a vibrant, living planet. That something was soil. It's a much-misunderstood substance, often dismissed as 'dirt', something to be avoided. Yet the crops we eat, the animals we rely on, the

Writer and adventurer Will Millard returns with more of Wales's hidden wonders as he explores some of the country's forgotten historic buildings. In Wales, we are in danger of losing vital pieces of history that tell us who we once were. Beautiful buildings that are architectural gems but also some of the most endangered in the UK. These extraordinary structures, which can give us vital insights i

Adventurer Paul Rose continues his exploration of the Yorkshire Wolds Way, arguably Britain's least well-known national walking trail. The 79-mile trail starts at the Humber Estuary and ends at the Yorkshire seaside resort of Filey. In this episode, Paul takes to the skies to get a unique view of this stretch of chalk downland and gets a special invitation to a military base that's been keeping th

The village of Milton Abbas in Dorset perfectly captures our romantic notion of what the idyllic English village should look like. But as archaeologist Ben Robinson reveals, behind it lurks a history of one man's wealth and power. With help from local historians, Ben learns how the local landowner in the 18th century destroyed a nearby town, uprooting its residents, because it ruined the view from

Deutschland 1944: Beim Bombenangriff der Alliierten auf Nürnberg wird die Maschine des US-Generals George Carneby abgeschossen. Im Nazi-Hauptquartier „Bergschloss Adler“, das hoch in den Alpen liegt und nur mit einer Seilbahn zu erreichen ist, will man Carneby zum Reden bringen. \n\nWeil der Gefangene über die Interna der geplanten Invasion in Europa Bescheid weiß, sollen der britische Abwehrspezi