Horizon Christmas Special: Hand me my Sword, Humphrey

S00 E01 • Sunday, Dec 25, 1966 • Dec 25 • 1h

It is Christmas Day in the house of Hastings. The time (the 1830s), the place (a suburban Victorian home), and the atmosphere (after the pudding with the children waiting to be entertained) are ripe for father to stun his audience with his knowledge of the world of natural philosophy. It is a world of exploding biscuit tins, unpredictable hard-boiled eggs, singing drainpipes, and enough amateur science to make young enthusiasts reach for their bunsen burners, and mothers for their smelling salts.

The Case of the Ancient Astronauts

S00 E02 • Friday, Nov 25, 1977 • Nov 25 • 1h

In this special episode, Horizon reports on Erich von Däniken and his theories about astronauts visiting Earth long ago.

The Mind's Eye

S00 E03 • Monday, Jan 28, 1980 • Jan 28 • 1h

This special episode of Horizon shows the latest advances in research into how the visual eyesight system of humans and animals work.

25 Years in Space

S00 E04 • Saturday, Dec 25, 1982 • Dec 25 • 1h

This Horizon special episode recalls the highlights of the past 25 years of the space age.

Biology at War: The Mystery of Yellow Rain

S00 E05 • Tuesday, May 15, 1984 • May 15 • 1h

In the first part of this special two-part series, Horizon reports on the yellow rain problem in South-east Asia.

Beyond the Moon

S00 E06 • Saturday, Jul 21, 1984 • Jul 21 • 1h

In this special episode, Horizon brings you a report on space exploration and exploitation. The first half of this episode looks back at the Apollo 11 moon landing, and second the second half looks at the future plans of the space program.

Biology at War: A Plague in the Wind

S00 E07 • Monday, Oct 29, 1984 • Oct 29 • 1h

This is the second part, of a two-part special series. In this episode, Horizon looks at the history of germ warfare and the research still continuing today in military labs under deceptive name of defensive biology.

Twenty-First Birthday

S00 E08 • Monday, May 20, 1985 • May 20 • 1h

Horizon celebrates twenty one years of work, achievement, and awards with a birthday compilation of highlights from past episodes.

Halley's Comet - The Apparition

S00 E09 • Monday, Nov 25, 1985 • Nov 25 • 1h

This report by Horizon looks into how the apparitions of Halley's comet came to be predicted so accurately.

Halley's Comet - The Encounter

S00 E10 • Thursday, Mar 13, 1986 • Mar 13 • 1h

Special on Halley's comet

The Diary of Discovery

S00 E11 • Wednesday, Sep 28, 1988 • Sep 28 • 1h

This Horizon special follows the 20 months preparation of the five astronauts who are to man the American space shuttle Discovery launching on the 29th of September in 1988. This is the first shuttle flight since the Challenger disaster in January 1986.

Making an Honest Fiver

S00 E12 • Wednesday, Jun 6, 1990 • Jun 6 • 1h

This Horizon special explores the production and processes behind the scenes of the new five pound note to be launched on the 7the June, 1990, in Britain. It considers the design and production of money and the intricate techniques developed to prevent forgeries.

Red Star in Orbit: The Invisible Spaceman

S00 E13 • Friday, Dec 7, 1990 • Dec 7 • 1h

This Horizon special episode is part one of a three part series on the projects, cosmonauts, and engineers involved in the Soviet Union space program.

Red Star in Orbit: The Dark Side of the Moon

S00 E14 • Friday, Dec 14, 1990 • Dec 14 • 1h

This Horizon special episode is part two of a three part series on the projects, cosmonauts, and engineers involved in the Soviet Union space program.

Red Star in Orbit: The Mission

S00 E15 • Friday, Dec 21, 1990 • Dec 21 • 1h

This Horizon special episode is the last part of a three part series on the projects, cosmonauts, and engineers involved in the Soviet Union space program. In this episode, two Soviet cosmonauts risk their lives earlier this year in a dangerous space walk to try and repair their stricken craft.

A Close Encouter of the Second Kind

S00 E16 • Friday, Jul 10, 1992 • Jul 10 • 1h

This Horizon special program explores what happened when the "Giotto" explorer spacecraft passed within 100 kilometres of Halley's Comet.

Hide and Seek in Iraq

S00 E17 • Sunday, Aug 23, 1992 • Aug 23 • 1h

This documentary by Horizon reveals the disturbing discoveries made in over 40 inspections looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

The Truth About Sex

S00 E18 • Monday, Oct 12, 1992 • Oct 12 • 1h

This report by Horizon brings you the results of a landmark survey about sex.

Assault on the Male

S00 E19 • Sunday, Oct 31, 1993 • Oct 31 • 1h

This Horizon special looks at the mysterious changes in wildlife that has been reported in the USA and that man's reproduction may also be adversely effected.

30th Anniversary - The Far Side

S00 E20 • Monday, May 23, 1994 • May 23 • 1h

Horizon celebrates its 30th birthday by checking on some of the scientific predictions of last three decades.

Twice Born

S00 E21 • Tuesday, Feb 14, 1995 • Feb 14 • 1h

In this special episode, Horizon examines the use of foetal surgery for life saving operations.

Einstein: The Miracle Year

S00 E22 • Sunday, Mar 17, 1996 • Mar 17 • 1h

First part of a two-part drama looking at the work and life of Albert Einstein. Mixes archival material with dramatised sequences. Looks at his turbulent private life and the six month period in which he worked out the size of atoms, the quantum theory of light and invented the Special Theory of Relativity.

Einstein: Fame

S00 E23 • Monday, Mar 18, 1996 • Mar 18 • 1h

This is the second part of a two-part Horizon series on Albert Einstein looking at Einstein's life and work. This program deals with the break up of his first marriage, his second marriage to his cousin, and the completion of the General Theory of Relativity which replaced Newton's view on gravity.

BSE: The Invisible Enemy

S00 E24 • Sunday, Nov 17, 1996 • Nov 17 • 1h

First part of a two-part investigation into BSE. Looks into the scientific confusion and official bungling surrounding the problem, which allowed BSE to spread into the human population. Includes an interview with Sir Richard Southwood, Chairman of the first Government advisory committee, who reconsiders evidence they first weighed up in 1988.

BSE: The Human Experiment

S00 E25 • Monday, Nov 18, 1996 • Nov 18 • 1h

This is part two of a two-part Horizon series on Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), more commonly known as "mad cow" disease, and how it is transmitted to humans, becoming CJD (Creutzfeldt Jakob disease), how many people are at risk, and what the chances are of finding a cure.

Molecules With Sunglasses (Update)

S00 E26 • Monday, Dec 9, 1996 • Dec 9 • 1h

An update on the earlier 1992 episode, and the continuing story of the Carbon 60 molecule.

Ice Mummies: The Ice Maiden

S00 E27 • Thursday, Jan 30, 1997 • Jan 30 • 1h

Follows archeologist Natalya Polosmok as she journeys to the Altay Mountains in southern Siberia to search for traces of an ancient people known as the Pazyryk. * Polosmok and her team discover and unearth a wooden tomb surrounded by the frozen remains of six horses, uncovering a 2,400-year-old woman dubbed the Siberian Ice Maiden. * The Ice Maiden is buried alone, lying as if asleep, in a wood coffin with a headdress and a mirror. An afterlife meal, a yak horn vessel and a wooden table are also found outside the coffin. Archeologists record the Ice Maiden's height, and discover a hole in her skull and peat packed in her body. *They use radiocarbon dating, tree-ring chronology and biological testing to determine the age of the remains and time of death. *The body is excavated and taken to Moscow for preservation and facial reconstruction. Another mummy, and other skeletons, are discovered elsewhere. *The program concludes by raising the question of who has rights to the ancient graves.

Ice Mummies: A Life in Ice

S00 E28 • Thursday, Feb 6, 1997 • Feb 6 • 1h

In this second part of the Ice Mummies trilogy, attention turns to Ötzi, the Neolithic man plucked with an ice pick and some not inconsiderable brute force from an Alpine glacier. Once again, as with the Ice Maiden, an impressive set of relationships are on display in the vicinity of the leathery character and his bedraggled belongings. By far the most important man in Ötzi's life is Konrad Spindler, whose chance identification of the age of the mummy upon its discovery catapulted him to stardom and a life of analysis and scientific monitoring. Spindler is fiercely defensive of Ötzi, like Frankenstein and his monster, although the relationship is much less emotional than Natalia and her Ice Maiden. A bewildering array of more minor characters emerge during the course of the film, my particular favourite being a yodeling mountain dweller, included as a representation of how Ötzi has effected the local population. All varieties of archaeological life appear in this film, from Professors zur Nedden and Seidler, whose double act hints at the Muppets Stadtler and Waldorf, to an extra from This is Spinal Tap, Hanspeter Schrattenthaler, whose bare chest and rock star poses suggest he dearly wishes his copper axe were a guitar. Also worthy of mention is the lovable Harm Paulsen, who lives and works in a reconstruction of a Neolithic village and whose lilting Danish tones express some of the more human elements of the sad demise of Ötzi, such as the family he may have left behind, providing a stark contrast to the strictly 'scientific' views of Spindler.

Ice Mummies: Frozen in Heaven

S00 E29 • Thursday, Feb 13, 1997 • Feb 13 • 1h

This is the bizarre and fascinating story of the remains of Inca culture, frozen for posterity high in the mountains of the Andes. Evidence has emerged of sacrifice to the mountain gods, whose existence dominated the civilization over 500 years ago. The film traces the frozen bodies of children uncovered by archaeologists in South America, and follows an archaeological expedition to a high-altitude sacred site in search of ritual remains and another body. How did they come to be there? Why did they go to their deaths willingly? What was the religious framework that dictated their sacrifice to fierce gods?

Computers Don't Bite, Inside the Internet

S00 E30 • Saturday, May 17, 1997 • May 17 • 1h

Antarctica: The Ice Lives

S00 E31 • Thursday, Oct 30, 1997 • Oct 30 • 1h

This is part one of a three-part Horizon special about the scientists and others who became explorers in the earth's final frontier, Antarctica.

Antarctica: The Ice Forms

S00 E32 • Thursday, Nov 6, 1997 • Nov 6 • 1h

This is part two of a three-part Horizon special about the scientists and others who became explorers in the earth's final frontier, Antarctica.

Antarctica: The Ice Melts

S00 E33 • Thursday, Nov 13, 1997 • Nov 13 • 1h

This is part three of a three-part Horizon special about the scientists and others who became explorers in the earth's final frontier, Antarctica.

Crash

S00 E34 • Thursday, Jan 8, 1998 • Jan 8 • 1h

This programme traces the lessons learned from a century of road fatalities. How have car makers learnt to predict the injuries their designs will inflict, and how have doctors learnt to patch up the damage to the frail human body?

Darwin: The Legacy

S00 E35 • Sunday, Mar 29, 1998 • Mar 29 • 1h

Longitude

S00 E36 • Monday, Jan 4, 1999 • Jan 4 • 1h

In this documentary special, Horizon explores how to solve the problem of sailors being unable to pin-point their exact east-west position on the globe.

Fat Files: Born to Be Fat

S00 E37 • Thursday, Jan 7, 1999 • Jan 7 • 1h

Horizon presents a three-part series focusing on weight-gain, dieting, and eating disorders. In this episode, there is scientific proof that we are not always in control of our appetites and weight, and introduces the hormone called Leptin.

Fat Files: Fixing Fat

S00 E38 • Thursday, Jan 14, 1999 • Jan 14 • 1h

Horizon presents a three-part series focusing on weight-gain, dieting, and eating disorders. In this episode, Horizon examines the shift away from invasive dieting methods to more natural weight-loss strategies, based on products already present in the food we eat.

Fat Files: Living on Air

S00 E39 • Thursday, Jan 21, 1999 • Jan 21 • 1h

Horizon presents a three-part series focusing on weight-gain, dieting, and eating disorders. In this episode, Horizon looks at the eating disorders called Anorexia and Bulimia.

Atlantis Uncovered

S00 E40 • Thursday, Oct 28, 1999 • Oct 28 • 1h

This is part one of a two-part special Horizon series about Atlantis. In this episode, Horizon explores the mystery of whether Atlantis really did exist. Was there really, about 12,000 years ago, a fabulous city whose people had already evolved into a sophisticated civilization with culture and society, writing, astronomy, religion, monument-building, while everyone else was still living in the Stone Age?

Atlantis Reborn

S00 E41 • Thursday, Nov 4, 1999 • Nov 4 • 1h

This is part two of a two-part special Horizon series about Atlantis. In this episode, Horizon puts Graham Hancock's controversial theories about the past to the test, dissecting his evidence for a lost civilization.

Life and Death in the 21st Century: Living Forever

S00 E42 • Tuesday, Jan 4, 2000 • Jan 4 • 1h

Will we find the magic formula that allows us to live forever in the 21st Century?

Life and Death in the 21st Century: Future Plagues

S00 E43 • Wednesday, Jan 5, 2000 • Jan 5 • 1h

Ancient diseases we thought we had defeated are returning to haunt us, and plagues of new viruses and bacteria are now emerging.

Life and Death in the 21st Century: Designer Babies

S00 E44 • Thursday, Jan 6, 2000 • Jan 6 • 1h

Will we ever be able to hand-pick genes to manufacture our own tailor-made baby?

Inside the Internet

S00 E45 • Saturday, Jun 10, 2000 • Jun 10 • 1h

Life on Mars

S00 E46 • Thursday, Jan 11, 2001 • Jan 11 • 1h

Horizon explores how the search for Martians is hotting up.

Destination Mars

S00 E47 • Thursday, Jan 18, 2001 • Jan 18 • 1h

Tantalising new evidence has emerged that life could exist on Mars. But to find out for sure humans will have to journey to this dry, frozen planet.

What Sank the Kursk?

S00 E48 • Wednesday, Aug 8, 2001 • Aug 8 • 1h

In August 2000, the Russian submarine, the Kursk, sank with the loss of 118 lives. It was a tragedy which shocked the world. But to many the tragedy remains incomprehensible, for the Kursk had been built to be unsinkable. How could this submarine have foundered?

First Olympians: A Horizon Special

S00 E49 • Friday, Jul 23, 2004 • Jul 23 • 1h

In this documentary, Horizon reports on a skeleton was found 50 years ago in Southern Italy. The bone structure suggests the owner was an ancient athlete.

Everest: Doctors in the Death Zone (1)

S00 E50 • Sunday, Sep 23, 2007 • Sep 23 • 1h

A team of doctors conducts potentially life-saving experiments in Horizon's 'death zone' This two-part special follows a team of doctors conducting a series of groundbreaking experiments as they climb Everest, the world's highest peak. From their laboratory tents, pitched in -25&degC conditions, the experts use their own bodies for medical tests. They push themselves to the limit to better understand the human body's behaviour in a low-oxygen environment. The team hopes their work will lead to new, life-saving treatments for intensive care patients suffering from hypoxia, a shortage of oxygen in the body.