Anchored by the impassioned presence of David Dimbleby, How We Built Britain is a terrific documentary series that follows its host on a journey of Britain's architectural heritage. Spread across six hours, it's a diligent, patient journey too, allowing plenty of time and space to tell some of the extraordinary stories that underpin the buildings and work that Dimbleby discovers. ...
Walking with Dinosaurs, which must have surprised even its makers by reaching the viewing figures usually reserved for royal weddings, was the undoubted television event of 1999. (The companion book and soundtrack album became bestsellers, too.) Extending the computer animation techniques developed for Jurassic Park (1993) these six 30-minute programmes, narrated by Kenneth Branagh, ...
The most successful public-television miniseries in American history, the 11-hour American Civil War defined what has since become known as the "Ken Burns approach"--voice-over narrators reading letters and documents dramatically and stating the writer's name at their conclusion, fresh live footage of places juxtaposed with still images (photographs, paintings, maps, prints), anecdotal ...