BBC Documentaries collection (updated)

Tchaikovsky - Women



Tchaikovsky: Women
Xvid | 576×432 | 1:10:08 | 650MB

The first of two films by Christopher Nupen about the music and the artistic preoccupations of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky covers the period from the first tentative stirrings of Tchaikovsky’s musical talent to the composition of his opera Eugene Onegin and the disastrous failure of his marriage to Antonina Milyukova.

It looks at the women who fired his musical imagination in the early years, from Katerina Kabanova in his first orchestral work, The Storm, to his dearly loved Tatyana in Onegin. There are, however, natural correspondences with the women in his private life – his mother Alexandra, his governess Fanny Durbach, the Belgian opera singer Desiree Artot, Antonina Milyukova and his patroness, Nadezhda von Meck.

Up to the time of his marriage the prime source of inspiration for much of his best music lay in Tchaikovsky’s deep identification with the fate of his vulnerable young heroines. All through his life he was preoccupied with the idea of fate and in the beginning it was the fate of these young women that touched him most – Katerina in The Storm, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Francesca in Francesca da Rimini and above all Tatyana in Eugene Onegin. His identification with Tatyana was so complete that it had a direct influence on his decision to marry Antonina Milyukova with such unhappy consequences.

The film features Cynthia Harvey and Mark Silver, both principal dancers with the Royal Ballet, as well as Welsh soprano Helen Field and Swedish Soprano Clarry Bartha. The music is performed by the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy.



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BBC – Shangri La (2010)



BBC – Shangri La (2010)
XviD | 704×400 | Runtime: 52min | 700MB

Sue Johnston goes in search of her lifelong dream – the lost, fantasy world of Shangri La.

Sue first came across the story of Shangri La as a 16 year old in 1959 when she watched the movie Lost Horizon with her mother on their first black and white television. The film was based on a book written by Englishman James Hilton in 1933. She read the book voraciously and has re-read it many times over the years since. As a child she was fascinated by the Orient and the mysteries of the Far East, but in those post-war austerity days the chances of ever following her dream, of finding the actual place, seemed an unattainable goal.

It looked like her dream would remain just that, as life took over and she got married, had a child, started a successful acting career and got divorced. The dream slipped further away into the dark, forgotten corners of her mind. Recently, as her life has changed, she has recalled her longed-for Shangri La. Her parents died, her son left home and settled into his own life, and her sense of mortality hit home. She decided that it was time to find the inspiration for the book, the story of Lost Horizon.

Sue’s quest takes her through south-west China’s Yunnan province and into Tibet, travelling over high mountain passes, into deep, hidden valleys and gorges, through bustling towns and ultimately on horseback to her final destination, the sacred mountain of Kawarkapo and the tiny, isolated village of Yipung – on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau and the basis for James Hilton’s novel.




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The Lure of Las Vegas



The Lure of Las Vegas
XviD | 608×336 | 1:13:50 | 600.21MB

Dream city, Sin City, Las Vegas is a film set in its own right, a piece of pop art, an outdoor museum of American culture. What is the story behind the neon lights and fantastical buildings? What will its future be in these tough times? Alan Yentob takes a mob tour and talks to producers and performers about the golden days when Sinatra and Dino held the stage, and the wise guys called the shots. With Jerry Weintraub, producer of Ocean’s Eleven and Thirteen, and Brandon Flowers of the Killers.



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BBC – Vatican - The Hidden World (2010)



BBC – Vatican: The Hidden World (2010)
Xvid | 704×396 | 1187 Kbps | 25 fps | MP3 128kbps | 59min | 560MB

To mark the Papal visit to the UK, a camera crew have spent a year filming a world that few have ever seen. With unprecedented access to the Vatican and the people who live and work there, this is a unique profile of the heart of the Catholic Church and the world’s smallest Sovereign State.
Archivists reveal the Vatican’s secrets, including the signed testimony of Galileo recorded by the Inquisition. A Cardinal journeys deep below St Peter’s Basilica to inspect the site claimed to be tomb of the Saint himself, and curators share a private viewing of Michelangelo’s extraordinary decoration of the Sistine Chapel.
An intriguing behind-the-scenes look at the workings of one of the world’s most powerful and mysterious institutions.

BBC Natural World – Butterflies A Very British Obsession (2010)



BBC Natural World – Butterflies: A Very British Obsession (2010)
Xvid | 720×416 | 59mins | 747MB

Wildlife documentary featuring the fascinating lives of Britain’s beautiful butterflies filmed in exquisite detail and also a celebration of their enduring appeal to the British people. Butterfly-costumed carnival-goers dance at Notting Hill, street artist Nick Walker uses their image to brighten bare city walls, burlesque dancer Vicky Butterfly recreates butterfly dances and at Britain’s biggest tattoo convention women reveal their butterfly tattoos.
Britain’s butterflies have never been so threatened, three quarters are in decline. A search for butterflies leads to some of the most beautiful parts of Britain. It opens up the intriguing possibility that a passion for butterflies could help us preserve the landscapes that we love.

The Man Who Ate Everything - The Alan Davidson Story



The Man Who Ate Everything: The Alan Davidson Story
XviD | 640×352 | 58m55s | 466MB

Andrew Graham-Dixon presents a personal profile of the legendary food writer Alan Davidson, one of the unsung heroes of the culinary world.

Davidson’s greatest work, The Oxford Companion to Food, took him 20 years to write. It’s an encyclopaedia of everything a human being can eat, from aardvark to zucchini, all catalogued in 2,650 separate entries. But it is much more than just a food reference book; it is a portrait of the whole human race, its many cultures, customs and histories, all revealed through the stories of what we eat. If you want to understand why the Genoese enjoy dolphin, how to cook a warthog, why the French call dandelions ‘piss-en-lit’ or who invented Spam, then ‘The Companion’, as it is known by aficionados, is the place to look.

Alan Davidson died in 2003, just four years after his magnum opus was published. He had already achieved guru status among foodies and professional chefs but, in fact, he became a writer almost by accident. His first career had been as a British diplomat, serving in various overseas offices. A visit by his wife to a Tunisian fish market first piqued his interest in writing about seafood, and a later posting to Laos convinced him to resign from the Foreign Service and become a full-time writer.

Through interviews with Davidson’s colleagues, admirers, family and friends, Graham-Dixon creates a portrait of a remarkable man who not only compiled a unique record of humanity’s eating habits, but also helped turn the study of food into a serious academic discipline by instigating an annual symposium at Oxford University where visitors can learn about, amongst other things, the role of vegetables in the conquest of space and how to make a musical carrot.


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Paul Merton’s Weird and Wonderful World of Early Cinema



Paul Merton goes in search of the origins of screen comedy in the forgotten world of silent cinema – not in Hollywood, but closer to home in pre-1914 Britain and France.

Revealing the unknown stars and lost masterpieces, he brings to life the pioneering techniques and optical inventiveness of the virtuosos who mastered a new art form. With a playful eye and comic sense of timing, Merton combines the role of presenter and director to recreate the weird and wonderful world that is early European cinema in a series of cinematic experiments of his own.



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BBC – Geisha Girl (2009)



BBC – Geisha Girl (2009)
XviD | 704×400| Runtime: 58:49min | 746MB

Documentary following 15-year-old Yukina as she leaves home and moves to Kyoto to embark on the arduous training needed to become a geisha.

The profession has always been shrouded in controversy, with some believing geisha are little more than high-class prostitutes. At such a young age, does Yukina really understand what this ancient profession has in store for her?



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BBC – The Lost World of Communism episode 1



BBC – The Lost World of Communism – EP1 (2009) DVDRip XviD
English | 00:44:05 | 512×384 | XviD 1333Kbps | 29.970fps | MPEG Audio 128Kbps | 349MB
Genre: Documentary


1989 marked the collapse of communism in Eastern and Central Europe and an end to a way of life for millions of people. Having lived through extraordinary times, they tell their stories of life behind the Iron Curtain, looking beyond the headlines of spies and surveillance, secret police and political repression, to reveal a rich tapestry of experience.

The Lost World of Communism episode 2 – Kingdom of Forgetting



The Lost World of Communism – Kingdom of Forgetting (2009) DVDRip XviD
English | 59 Min | 624 x 352 | x264 – 128Kbps | 25.000fps | MP3 – 134Kbps | 469 MB
Genre: Documentary

Attempts to reform communism were brutally crushed in an invasion by Warsaw Pact allies in 1968. Hard-line rule, known as normalisation, was reimposed, where reformers were removed, reforms reversed and history rewritten. The country became known as The Kingdom of Forgetting.

Lost World Of Communism episode 3 – Socialism In One Family



Lost World Of Communism – Socialism In One Family (2009) TVRip x264
English | 59 Min | 624 x 352 | x264 – 128Kbps | 25.000fps | MP3 – 134Kbps | 469 MB
Genre: Documentary

The final programme in the series looks at communist Romania where Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu ran a personal dictatorship for nearly a quarter of a century. Romanians jokingly called it Socialism in One Family. Abortion and contraception were banned as the Ceausescus rule reached far into the private lives of every Romanian. When communism collapsed, the self-styled mother and father of the nation met a bloody end in front of a firing squad.

BBC – The Life Of Buddha



BBC – The Life Of Buddha
English | Xvid | 704×384 | AC3 192kbps | 702MB |

Life of the Buddha is a major new landmark documentary following Buddha on his journey from the lap of luxury to the verge of starvation and final enlightenment. Shot on location in Nepal and India, Life of the Buddha uses dramatic computer-generated images and recent archaeological discoveries to piece together this remarkable story.



pass : calek

This World – Britain’s Most Wanted



BBC – This World – Britain’s Most Wanted
English | Xvid | 704×384 | 25FPS | MP3 | 128Kbps | 471MB |

info:
This World – Britain’s Most Wanted wegi7

Documentary
This World – Britain’s Most Wanted
BBC2 19:00 – 19:30 30 Min
25th November 2007

International investigative documentary series. Who poisoned Alexander Litvinenko? Reporter Mark Franchetti gains exclusive access to Scotland Yard’s prime suspect, Andrei Lugovoi. As Lugovoi prepares to stand in this week’s Russian parliamentary elections, the programme places the Litvinenko murder mystery in the context of a newly resurgent Russia

Baddiel and the Missing Nazi Millions



BBC : Baddiel and the Missing Nazi Millions
XviD | English | 624 x 368, 25FPS | MP3 | 128Kbps | File Size ~ 400MB |

Screenz:

Info:

Baddiel and the Missing Nazi Millions
Wed 14 Nov, 10:40 pm – 11:30 pm 50mins

David Baddiel travels to New York, Berlin and Poland to find out what
the Nazis did with the money they robbed off his ancestors.

Time Shift-Spy Stories



BBC – Time Shift: Spy Stories
English | Xvid | 640×368 | 25FPS | MP3 | 128Kbps | 400MB |

iNFO:
Bill Nighy narrates a documentary telling the story of the long and often extraordinary relationship between fact and fiction in the mysterious world of British espionage. The programme charts the evolution of spying through the twentieth century and looks at the parallel development of spy fiction during the same period. Contributors include Stella Rimington, Daphne Park, David Shayler, John Le Carre, Charlie Higson, Bernard Porter, Nick Hiley and Stephen Dorril.