History Channel

The History Channel – Saturday 7 June, 8.30pm

This special investigates the origins of ancient Greek mythology. Mythology was interwoven in every aspect of Greek life. Each city devoted itself to particular Gods and built temples of worship. Different parts of the home were dedicated to gods, who were also honoured in festivals. Ironically, these gods also had human frailties. Where did these Gods come from? Are these stories based on fact or fiction? Recently uncovered archaeological findings shed light on the truth and origins of ancient Greek mythology in this intriguing special that leads viewers to startling answers.

The History Channel – Tuesday 10 June, 9.30pm

They invented the swirling, circling wagon train attack. They took captives…or decorated their lances with the scalps of those who fought back. From a ragtag band of scavengers, the Comanche transformed themselves into superior warriors by becoming the first tribe to tame the wild mustangs. In less than a generation, the Comanche became the world’s greatest horsemen. For more than 150 years, the Comanche of the Southwest were ferocious raiders who stuck terror into the hearts of the plains tribes, Mexican villagers, and frontier settlers. They became the most feared and powerful tribe to follow the massive buffalo herds across the American heartland. We detail the motivation, tactics, weapons, and experiences of these nomadic Native Americans known as the “Lords of the Southern Plains”.

The History Channel – Thursdays from 12 June, 8.30pm

This series will explore the world of the Navy Submariner in World War II. Dive deep to periscope depth in the Pacific and hunt a convoy of Japanese freighters, surface in the Atlantic and fire upon a stricken German U-Boat. Learn about the men who lived and hunted under the sea, while discussing the different submarines and their use in war. We’ll explore the tactics used to destroy the enemy, and how submarines contributed to the final victory of Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany.

The History Channel – Monday 2 June, 9.30pm

Focusing on a daring and dangerous operation that took place near WWII’s end, this is the story of US missionaries and civilians trapped in the Philippines during the island nation’s occupation by Japanese troops. The dramatic story involved top-secret documents. In 1944, a Japanese plane went down in the Philippines carrying a copy of “Z-Plan”- Japan’s strategy to win the war in the Pacific. The papers fell into the hands of pro-American guerrilla forces, and US military officials desperately wanted to retrieve them and get them to Australia, site of General Douglas MacArthur’s headquarters. The closest sub in the area, the USS Crevalle, was instructed to proceed immediately to the island of Negros, where it would pick up the refugees and the “Z-Plan”. The secret documents could perhaps shorten the war, if only they could make it to Australia.

The History Channel – Sunday 25 May, 9.30pm

At the height of the Greek/Persian War, Xerxes, King of Persia, led the largest army ever assembled intent on conquering all of Greece. King Leonidas of Sparta accompanied by 300 Spartan warriors and a few thousand other Greek troops waited in the pass at Thermopylae to delay the might of the Persian Army, estimated at over a million men. Impossible odds – yet the Spartans and their allies held the narrow pass for seven days in August 480 BC inflicting shocking casualties on the Persians and fighting until every last defender was slain. After Custer, Thermopylae is the most famous last stand in history. It is still used today by military academies around the world as an example of how a group of well trained and well led soldiers can have an impact out of all proportion to their numbers.

The History Channel – Monday 26 May, 8.30pm

Hippies will be a vivid, mind-expanding exploration of one the most explosive, controversial and misunderstood periods in modern history. It will show how the roots of the movement go back to the communal experiments of the 19th century and to the aggressive non-conformity of the Beatniks, and how the Hippies were actually the inheritors of a great American tradition of spiritual exploration and rebellion against authority. We’ll dig into every aspect of the movement – free love, the peace movement, drugs, Eastern religions, communes, Gestalt therapy, macrobiotics – and introduce the gurus whose words and actions inspired it – Marshall McCluhan, Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, Jerry Rubin, Gloria Steinem, Dick Gregory and a host of others.

The History Channel – Thursday 29 May, 8.30pm

Everest is the highest mountain in the world, thrusting 29,108 feet into the sky. A height where human blood thickens to the consistency of treacle, where every move you make, every breath you take, is sheer agony. For the first half of last century Everest was the unclaimed jewel in mountaineering’s crown, resisting expeditions and claiming twenty-two lives until a lanky beekeeper from New Zealand and a beaming Sherpa from Eastern Nepal, roped up together and became a truly remarkable team. However Hillary blossoms into a creature of grace and power in New Zealand’s remote high country. The solitude, the uncompromising physical effort demanded, and the need to be self-sufficient in unforgiving landscapes is deeply rewarding. At last Hillary finds something he genuinely excels in: mountaineering. This film is the story of how he leaves beekeeping to find fame scaling Everest in 1952, overcoming shyness to marry the beautiful daughter of the President of the New Zealand Alpine Club, Louise Rose; how he becomes the first man to cross the Antarctic by vehicle, and how, in his hour of triumph, he loses his wife and daughter Belinda in a tragic helicopter crash. The loss is crippling. Outwardly stoic, Hillary doggedly continues his lecture tours of Europe and North America, raising money for his aid projects in Nepal but inwardly he is broken and despairing. Hillary can offer little solace to his other children, Peter and Sarah. For two and a half years he sinks into an abyss and takes sleeping pills and whiskey in doses that would kill a less powerful man.

The History Channel – Monday 19 May, 8.30pm

This two-hour special relies on experts’ knowledge and understanding of history in order to predict the future. Experts from the fields of engineering, botany, ecology, biology, geology, climatology, and archaeology will paint a picture of what Earth will look like in the days, weeks, months, years and millennia after humans are gone. Looking farther into the future, and using analyses based on the past, we see how nature will reclaim New York City as realized through striking graphics. Eventually glass buildings topple, stone buildings crumble, successive freezing and thawing turn streets and sidewalks to rubble, ground water rises, subways flood, sewers crack and lightning ignites overgrown grass in Central Park, engulfing the city in flames. What kind of species will survive? Will humans ever return? Will man begin the cycle again, excavating our ruins and trying to imagine what life was like before?

The History Channel – Friday 23 May, 7.30pm

He was a king who died too young, was forgotten by his own people, and went missing for thousands of years. But Tutankhamen has become the most famous pharaoh of all, known worldwide for the treasures found buried with him – and the mysterious deaths of those involved in his discovery. 82 years after the opening of Tutankhamen’s tomb, this episode takes a scientific look at the legend of King Tut’s Curse.

The History Channel – Monday 12 May, 8.30pm

Dinosaurs roamed and ruled earth for more than 140-million years, then suddenly vanished leaving only fossils to fascinate and befuddle us. In a 2-hour unique approach to historical analysis of these creatures, we don’t focus on the latest technology or the most controversial theory. Instead, we look chronologically at what we’ve gotten wrong about dinosaurs throughout the short history of scientific study of these magnificent, misunderstood creatures, and see where palaeontologists are digging today.