True Stories

8:30pm Friday, October 26 on Prime

Documentary

This is the Changing Face of Victoria and David Beckham. How did they turn themselves from childhood wannabes into global superstars? And what does the future hold? As well as seeing how they have changed over the years we also get the chance to see their faces transformed beyond recognition with an exclusive look at the Beckhams aged 75.

8:30pm Friday, October 19 on Prime

Documentary

The Moustache season is almost upon us again and to celebrate we look back at five Man Of Movember competitors. This local documentary follows kiwi blokes taking part in Movember. It informs viewers about men’s health while entertaining with a tongue in cheek narrative about five guys who take their moustache WAY too seriously!

8:35pm Friday, March 25 on Prime

Documentary

Every parent thinks their child is beautiful, but their faces really do have the power to sell. Child modelling is big business. In the UK, baby models advertise over three billion pounds’ worth of products each year. But what makes mothers decide to send their children into such a cut-throat industry? Some, like proud mums Jamie and Kelly, believe that their child has got what it takes to be hugely successful. They noticed eight-month-old Frankie’s potential at an early age, but he’s still waiting to land his first paid job. Esther, meanwhile, believes that little Hadley Jack, five-months-old, has the potential to fulfil his mother’s ambitions of his being a model.

But, being a mum to five children, will she really be able to drop everything to travel the hours across London to auditions and shoots? Then there’s Matthew and Leanne who believe they have something so special that they are sitting on a goldmine. Their identical triplets are just three of the new wave of “credit crunch babies”, whose parents need the extra money their modelling could bring in. My Supermodel Baby is an intimate and diverse portrayal of the lives of these parents and their children.

9:35pm Tuesday, September 21 on Prime

Documentary

September 2008 saw the 10th anniversary of the NHS approving Viagra for use as a treatment for male impotence. To mark this historic birthday Happy Birthday Viagra embarks on a personal journey to meet the makers, backers, detractors and even Viagra popping hamsters on a global erectile grand tour. Around the world, $2 billion-worth of Viagra is sold annually; nine tablets are dispensed every second and over the last ten years 20 million men in 110 countries have used the pill to help solve their erectile dysfunction issues. With these huge numbers, what impact has the drug had throughout the world? Tonight we also explore what the drug actually does to the human body – how it works and its physical effects.

But it’s not always safe – some men have reported problems with their vision and others have died from cardiac arrest. We also find out whether Viagra is really saving endangered animals, and look at how the drug has become a favourite of conmen. The search for a magic potion that can produce erections has gone on for centuries, and now charlatans have a ‘brand’ they can sell online. So from Panda’s being given Viagra to get them ‘in the mood’ to the Church of England earning millions from investing in Viagra, tonight’s doco discovers that over the past 10 years, Viagra has had a huge impact on western society and not just in the bedroom!

9:35pm Tuesday, September 14 on Prime

Documentary

Presented by Stephen K Amos, Money Envy explores why Britain has become a nation motivated by bank balances and consumer goods, and looks at the world of the super-rich to attempt to uncover whether being rich makes people as happy as people believe it will. Stephen will be our guide into the world of ‘bling’ and will find out exactly what it takes to become a millionaire. We speak with Alan Sugar, Simon Jordan and Theo Pathitis, all of whom have made high street fortunes out of electronics phones and knickers. And Stephen gives it a go for himself by moving out of his flat and investing his rent weekly with a budding entrepreneur to try and make �10,000 in three weeks!

We also meet three go getters with big dreams of Ferraris, yachts and executive jets and take them on a journey with Stephen looking at what they would spend their fortune on when they’ve got it. We also meet the millionaire who has just borrowed �3m and has an overdraft of �150k per month with a dream of turning it all around by running a new business from a car park. And we meet the playgirl living the jet set lifestyle with dreams of hooking a millionaire. And the real posh lady, who has a �250 million fortune, is building a new country mansion in the Surrey hills and is desperately seeking happiness by breeding and racing horses and searching for love with a stable of toy boys.

9:35pm Tuesday, September 7 on Prime

Documentary

When human error happens in surgery, lives can be ruined and reputations shattered. Twenty-five million operations take place in the United States every year. Medical teams perform miracles every day, but mistakes do happen. Don was slow to recover from abdominal surgery, he had pains in his chest every time he bent over. A routine X-ray found the answer and shocked everyone. Don has a 13-inch stainless steel retractor inside him! The OR is a busy, tense and difficult environment to work in and distractions are frequent. Time pressure, team pressure and the fact that every operation is different contributes to human error. Dr Atul Gawande has been investigating cases of surgical tools left behind for years. Now he believes he has the answer. If his trial operation goes according the plan, it might just revolutionise OR’s around the world.

9:35pm Tuesday, August 31 on Prime

Documentary

Medically trained Michael Mosley goes on a journey of discovery tonight to see if cutting edge science really can improve his life. Michael has an IQ of 135. We’re told there are lots of ways we can increase our intelligence – from drugs, to the things we eat and the music we listen to. Can Michael boost his score by 12 points in order to secure a place in Mensa, the society for bright people? Michael meets contestants in the UK Memory Championships to find out. He travels to institutes in America which use training, combined with specific diet and exercise to nurture intelligence in babies. But according to ‘America’s smartest man’ Chris Langan, intelligence is innate. He participates in a neuro -feedback session and plays specially designed video games, all in a bid to up his IQ. But will it work?

9:35pm Tuesday, August 24 on Prime

Documentary

October 16th 1987, the biggest storm for 300 years raged across Southern England. With wind speeds almost double that of a hurricane, it killed 19 people, ripped up 15 million trees and cost the country a billion pounds – and yet no-one knew it was coming. Exactly 20 years on, using state-of-the-art CGI, reconstruction and first hand accounts, tonight’s PRIME True Stories dramatically recreates the horrors and heroism of that fateful night.

9:35pm Tuesday, August 17 on Prime

Documentary

It was the biggest cult soft porn movie of its time, spurning hundreds of sequels and watched by an audience of 300 million people worldwide. Its main star paved the way for a new definition of feminism. But whatever happened to her? When “Emmanuelle” first opened theatrically in France in the 1970′s, nobody could foresee that over 3 million people would line up to see it in Paris alone and that it would spawn a legacy spanning three decades. This film explores the impact the film had on society and why it inspired a public dialogue tantamount to a political battle on the sexual front. Sylvia Kristel’s life was transformed by her starring role in the first “Emmanuelle”. Since then, she has withdrawn herself from the public eye. In a rare interview, the actress offers a first hand account of what it was like to begin a sexual revolution.

9:35pm Tuesday, August 10 on Prime

Documentary

If you believe your ten year old son could be the next Tiger Woods or your twelve year old daughter a future Grand Slam winner, what do you do? On tonight’s True Stories we chart the progress of some of Britain’s most talented sporting prodigies. Are sporting talents born, or made? How do you raise a child champion? And what does it really take to become the World’s Number One? To propel their kids to the top, the parents are taking a massive gamble – they’ve given up their jobs, cashed in their savings and taken their children out of school. Success will bring fame and fortune – but for every world champ thousands of kids have ended up on the sporting scrap heap…. childhoods lost, families at war and in financial ruin. Trophy Kids ventures into the most competitive and financially rewarding individual sports, Tennis, Golf and Boxing – where, with no team mates to fall back on, young shoulders and vulnerable minds are placed under immense pressure.

We follow talented ten year olds with names like ‘The Wolf’ and ‘The Iceman’, throughout a season climaxing at the World Junior Championships. Have these children really got what it takes or is it all a fantasy forced upon them by their parents?