Channel 5 (UK) Documentaries

A countdown show looking at the shocking truth behind what we eat and the often dangerous and misguided methods we adopt in order to lose weight. Scientists, industry experts and exponents discuss the pros and cons of fad diets, 'healthy' foods and extreme exercise regimes. We all know about the benefits of exercise, good diet, looking good and living a healthy lifestyle, but most of the things that are good for us can bring side-effects that are precisely the opposite. Incontinence, infertility, infected genitalia, energy drink madness, hip replacements and even death are commonplace among the beautiful people – as are botched surgeries, extremely dangerous self-harming diets and bizarre exercise programmes.

This insightful documentary looks at one of the most volcanic regions in the world and presents a gripping analysis of Iceland’s past, present and possible future volcanic activity. Weaving together rich visuals from this incredible island with the latest scientific research, the programme reveals how the country’s volcanoes have already exerted a dramatic effect on the population of Europe and beyond. The documentary combines background information, CGI and interviews with scientific experts to take a fresh look at major events in the island’s volcanic history, such as the poisonous sulphur dioxide haze exhaled by Laki in 1783. Fieldwork and scientific research reveal how it is possible to reconstruct past Icelandic eruptions. There is also a look at how we might predict the style and magnitude of future volcanic events and the effect that they could have on modern life.

Documentary exploring whether alien life exists and revealing the research being undertaken by the Kepler Space Telescope, which is on a mission to find other habitable planets.

Documentary exploring the kidnapping - and recent release - of the three young women who were held captive in a cellar in suburban Cleveland, Ohio, for 11 years. Featuring interviews with neighbours, witnesses, mental-health professionals and criminologists, the programme examines the long-term psychological effects of the girls' traumatic ordeal, and speculates the motives of Ariel Castro, the man charged with snatching them.

The parents of Reeva Steenkamp open their hearts to tell for the first time the story of the daughter they lost, shot dead by her boyfriend Oscar Pistorius.

In the past few years, the Traveller community have been buying land and property in Rathkeale in County Limerick. 80% of the town's land and property now belongs to them, placing a dwindling settled community under siege. Over the course of a six-month investigation which takes him across Europe, journalist Paul Connolly digs down to the core of Rathkeal's cross-cultural tug-of-war, uncovering a criminal network, widespread corruption and a town gripped by fear.

Documentary about America's first recorded serial killer, HH Holmes, who may have killed as many as two hundred people inside his Chicago hotel.

Andrew Craig and the Odyssey Marine Exploration team set out in search of the SS Gairsoppa.

Snags foil an attempt to recover the SS Gairsoppa's silver.

This film reveals the technological leaps forward that have enabled the world's biggest space station – the International Space Station – to be built. The International Space Station orbits 200 miles above our heads, hurtling around the Earth at 17500 thousand miles an hour. It is one of the greatest engineering feats of all time. Its crew performs vital experiments that will one day allow humans to live permanently in space. A test bed for future missions deeper into space, the space station could enable future generations to journey throughout the Solar System or even live on Mars.

Odyssey have just one more month of summer weather before they will be forced to shut down operations for the year. Aboard the Seabed Worker, a deepwater recovery vessel, Andrew Craig and his team work furiously to salvage a fortune in silver from the SS Gairsoppa. They think there may be up to 200 tonnes of bullion stashed in her holds.

Charts the history of the high-security psychiatric hospital from the Victorian era to the present day, examining the diverse treatments and regimes that have been applied during the 150 years it has been in operation.

Fat for Cash is the eye-opening story of women who, far from counting calories, count the cash from selling their size to men who adore women built on a grand scale. Forget dieting – these women are fat and proud. The secret world of overweight entrepreneurs is revealed as we meet three women determined to make their fortunes by flaunting what they've got. Jen from Boston weighs 30 stone. She is a dedicated weight gainer, deliberately piling on the pounds in order to bring in the dollars. She regularly posts video clips online of her stepping on to weighing scales and straining to get a measuring tape around her thighs, and internet-based fat enthusiasts are more than happy to buy. Big Jen also sells 'squashing' films, in which she records herself lowering her bulk on to a man's chest as he lies on her specially reinforced bed. It makes him happy and it makes her money. Former supersized model Sammee has identified a business opportunity – big girls pole dancing for dollars. Sammee is promoting an alternative club night in Las Vegas called Thick Sundaes. It is a night for big, beautiful women to strut their ample stuff and get paid by a crowd of appreciative men. Christina's 40-stone frame means that she is almost immobile – but she too is capitalising on her bulk. Some men believe that Christina has the perfect figure and they will pay to watch her over the web. Now this mum-of-three is taking her business venture a step further with her own subscription website, for which we see her posing topless in a paddling pool. Despite inviting potentially serious health issues, these women are proud of their pounds. Fat for Cash explores how these women are sexually and financially empowered, and finds out that as their weight rises, so does their bank balance.

An astonishing 85% of relationships end within two years of one partner having weight-loss surgery. In a society obsessed with being thin, it is almost taken for granted that losing weight will lead to health, sometimes wealth and definitely happiness. This programme dares to ask if that is a big fat lie. Far from bringing a guarantee of happiness, shedding the pounds can turn relationships upside-down as the fairy tale of weight loss quickly turns into a nightmare of epic proportions. For some, their new body means more confidence and an exciting new life with someone else. For others, the weight loss has no impact on their low state of mind, as more complex issues bubble to the surface and cracks quickly begin to show. For some, the love they thought they had melts away with the pounds as their other half reacts with jealousy and insecurity to their new, slimmer partner. Cheryl went from a size 30 to a size six, but her husband left her to have an affair with a woman more than twice her new dress size. Jayne had to cancel her wedding when her obsession with her weight became too much for her fiancé to handle after she lost nine stone. Dave moved out of the family home after 14 years of marriage when his obsession with his weight caused him to think about cheating on his wife Rachel, who had also lost an astonishing 13 stone. Finally, we meet Jo and Darren, whose 11-year marriage shows signs of breaking down as they both try to shed the pounds. Will specialist therapy enable them to lose weight without losing each other? This intimate and at times humorous programme lays bare the impact of weight loss on the love lives of some of Britain's biggest couples.

Documentary giving an insight into the lives of people whose love of animals has become an obsession. Retired secretary Marlene has 40 cats, which are groomed and bathed every day, while Deb and her family share their home with a brood of chickens. Matt keeps a huge collection of snakes, lizards and other reptiles, and he must also breed thousands of insects and worms to keep the creatures fed.

Countdown of the 50 greatest British Kids TV Shows of all time featuring guest contributions from Johnny Ball, Morwenna Banks, Christopher Biggins, John Craven, Dani Harmer, Phyllida Law, Peter Purves, Phillip Schofield, Valerie Singleton, Helen Skelton and Chris Tarrant.

Constant dieting leads to constant weight gain, something that people are not told when they sign up to slimming clubs. So why are some people condemned to a life as eternal dieters? And why does someone who has managed to lose half their body weight undo all their hard work and pile on the pounds again? Channel 5's Supersized season concludes with Got Thin - Got Fat Again, which explores why diets do not always work and how quickly and easily skinny success can turn into fat failure. We meet people who have lost weight but are now fat again, some more so than they were before the diet. Showing their before and after pictures, they explain the reasons why they wanted to lose weight in the first place and the triggers that caused them to put it back on. The average diet lasts just five and a half weeks, and the average woman will embark on 61 diets in her lifetime and spend around 31 years of her life trying unsuccessfully to lose weight. Within one year of their diet, 80% of people will gain weight, often more than they lost. Gina is 59 and weighs 24 stone. When she served in the Navy, she was fit and slim and her ideal weight. However, once she left the service she began comfort eating and ballooned in size. Having given up on fad diets,will Gina ever regain her once slim figure? Claudia has been dieting for almost half her life. Once she loses the weight, however, it doesn't take long for her to pile on the pounds once again. Now 13 stone, can she hold off the weight and regain her confidence? Hayley, 59, has been a yo-yo dieter for as long as she can remember. After suffering from severe medical complications due to her fluctuating weight, is there anyway out of this dieting cycle for her? The world of celebrity dieting is no different, as famous yo-yo dieter Josie Gibson reveals. Josie is determined not to go back up the scales, but what will it take for her to break her habit?

Documentary about the most momentous event of the war.

How did a handful of events turn the unremarkable son of an Austrian civil servant into the 20th century’s most evil dictator? This film unpicks the most momentous days of Hitler’s early life, each of which had a profound influence on his mental make-up. It begins with a look at the period when his ambitions to be an artist were crushed after he was rejected from an art academy. This set in motion a chain of events that led to further personal tragedies and triumphs as he became swept up in world events that seemed to be completely out of his control. The investigation ends with his invasion of Austria in 1938 – the moment that his plans for world domination began to be realised. Charting Hitler’s pre-WWII history, the film shows how, in the space of three decades, he turned from a rudderless dreamer into the leader of the most powerful country in Europe, poised to begin World War II. Interviews with a variety of experts from clinical psychologists to speech analysts give a unique and sometimes uncomfortable insight into Hitler’s inner world. As each of these pivotal moments unfolds, the experts illuminate precisely how it affected him and what the consequences were. The picture that emerges is that no single event made Hitler into the deranged despot he became, but that his transformation was due to a combination of many different factors, from his own twisted psychology and determination to his ability to take advantage of a situation and just plain luck. The film gets under Hitler’s skin to expose the seven most influential days of his life. It reveals how these seven days created the perfect personal storm which would create the Führer, the man who would lead the world into the most devastating war in history.

In 1935, Heinrich Himmler established the Lebensborn (spring of life) program, an obscene solution to Germany’s falling birth rate. The scheme involved secret birthing homes, the kidnapping of thousands of children and the murder of tiny babies. Its aim was to spawn a ‘racially pure’ generation to rule Hitler’s Reich, which was to last for a millennium. Throughout Germany and in the countries it occupied, Himmler set up a series of 25 birthing homes where ‘racially pure’ unmarried women could give birth to ‘genetically valuable’ Aryan babies, who would then be cared for by the state. http://www.channel5.com/shows/children-of-the-master-race

Documentary exploring one of the hundreds of undercover missions launched by the US government's Office of Strategic Services during World War II. Operation Greenup was comprised of two young Jewish refugees and one Wehrmacht officer. These three unlikely brothers-in-arms parachuted one winter night into the Austrian Alps and risked their lives to strike back at Nazi Germany. The film uses first-person accounts, re-enactments, CGI, archive material and expert commentary to tell their story.

This programme tells the amazing story of the longest recorded underground survival in history. After nearly a year and a half underground, the cave dwellers emerged in tattered clothes, blinded by a sun that some of the children had forgotten existed. This programme follows four of those young heroes, now in their 70s and 80s, as they travel back to the Ukraine with their grandchildren to re-enter the cave for the first time in more than 60 years. In what is now known as Priest's Grotto, the families created a refuge in a dangerously hostile environment. They were led by family matriarch Esther Stermer, whose fierce resolve kept the underground community intact. The teenage boys and the young men of the underground community put their lives on the line every time they had to venture out to gather firewood and collect food and essential supplies. What they accomplished was remarkable. Every single person, from grandparents to a one-year-old baby, emerged alive. This remarkable story is told using a combination of archive footage and a dramatic re-creation of what life was like for the subterranean survivors. It is an amazing story of triumph in the face of the most unbelievable odds.

Brand new documentary following a team of British archaeologists who have been granted unprecedented access to excavate Hitler's most notorious death camp, Treblinka.

We all remember ABBA for their amazing music and dozens of hits – but also for the way they presented themselves. ABBA’s “crazy” costumes have become symbols for the madness of Seventies fashion, while the visual consistency of the group’s album sleeves and their groundbreaking videos have helped strengthen the visual memory of the group. This film puts the spotlight on a side of ABBA that hasn’t previously been depicted in a television documentary: their legendary costumes, their design concepts, their groundbreaking videos – in short, everything with a connection to the group’s visual presentation. Without ever losing touch with ABBA and their music, which is prominently featured in the film, ABBA – Absolute Image offers an entertaining journey through the fashion madness of the Seventies, the fun stories behind the group’s endearing music videos – and much more! What was the inspiration behind the many “mad” and extreme costumes created by designer Owe Sandström in collaboration with the group? How did choreographer Graham Tainton work with Agnetha and Frida to create the dance steps that were imitated by millions of ABBA fans all over the planet? Which is the album sleeve designer Rune Söderqvist wishes he could do all over again, and how did the group react to his famous ABBA logo? How was director Lasse Hallström able to create visually exciting videos at a virtually non-existent budget? These and many other questions will be answered with the aid of archive materials and brand new interviews with Sandström, Söderqvist and Hallström, as well as costume supervisor Ingmarie Halling; legendary fashion journalist Caroline Baker who puts the costumes in historical perspective; veteran sleeve designer Richard Evans who shares his praise and his scorn for ABBA’s album sleeves; glam rock musicians such as Andy Scott of The Sweet, and Suzi Quatro – and many others. In this entertaining film, bursting with captivating behi

Archaeologist Melanie Giles sets out to solve one of history’s most intriguing murder mysteries...a rash of brutal killings carried out in peat bogs two thousand years ago. Using technology and forensic techniques more commonly employed by modern crime scene investigators, she teams up with leading forensic scientists and archaeologists to investigate the murders. These ancient victims, dozens in number, have been uncovered in bogs throughout Northern Europe for centuries – with the most recent unearthed only last winter. The remains are often astonishingly well-preserved; flesh, faces, fingernails, stomach contents and even hair have been mummified by the oxygen-free peat bogs in which the bodies were originally deposited. Many of the victims are strikingly similar: men in the prime of their life who have suffered hideous violence - they have been garrotted, their skulls smashed in, their throats slit and several have been decapitated before their burial in peat bogs. So who were these poor unfortunates? Who killed them, why, and why with such brutality? And why place the corpses in peat bogs? These are questions that have puzzled archaeologists for decades, but Melanie is determined to answer them. This gripping film unravels like an episode of CSI as Melanie scours the bodies and crime scenes hinting for clues... As in all good crime dramas the answer is elusive, and there’s a shocking twist in the tale – provided by the extraordinary results of a CT scan of one of the victim’s heads. What Melanie discovers not only explains the killings, it reveals a shocking truth about our ancestors and their brutal actions in times of crisis.

Documentary revealing how a spoilt rich kid became a brutal murderer.

Documentary exploring the remarkable success of Abba, featuring interviews with the band members, footage of tours and stage shows, digitally remastered archive footage and music.

Documentary following four UK households as they transform their suburban semis into a glittering festival of Christmas lights. Not for them the average procedure of rooting around the loft for an ageing box of decorations, our Christmas-obsessed characters plan their display months in advance.Narrated by the popular former Slade vocalist Noddy Holder, this documentary takes a warm-hearted look at those Christmas fanatics whose lives are fairly traditional for the most of the year but change dramatically in the run-up to the festive season. Eschewing the typical procedure of rooting around the loft for an ageing box of decorations, our Christmas-obsessed characters plan their displays months in advance. For them, putting up the lights also involves a head for heights, questionable DIY wiring and an unshakable resolve.