The story of how the emergency services in New York swung into action when engineer William Le Messurier discovered that a flaw in the skyscraper he designed threatened thousands of lives in one of the most densely populated areas on Earth.
Documentary following the trail of America's most wanted homegrown terrorist, the Unabomber, who for 20 years waged a bombing campaign that killed three people and injured dozens.
Judge Antonio Cassese heads the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia. It falls to him to examine evidence of atrocities committed on all sides in Bosnia. The distinguished Italian jurist keeps faith with humanity by seeking solace in the work of 17th-century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, who produced serene images when his country was similarly torn apart.
An investigation into the private world of one of Britain's greatest painters, Francis Bacon. Psychoanalyst Darian Leader attempts to explain why Bacon was obsessed with Velazquez's portrait of Pope Innocent X, which inspired his powerful and disturbing paintings known as The Screaming Popes series.
Booker Prize winner Pat Barker tours the Somme battlefield to explore her ideas about war, memory and ghosts. She focuses on the poet Siegfried Sassoon, one of the central characters in her award-winning trilogy about the men who fought in the First World War.
Three years ago photojournalists Christopher Riley and Doug Niven discovered photographic evidence of one of Cambodia's most infamous prison camps. The Khmer Rouge guerrilla group photographed each of the 14,200 prisoners, of whom only seven survived. Their time is now devoted to creating a haunting record of the country's deadly legacy.
The story of a complex, brilliant architect who designed some of Britain's most inventive modernist buildings before retreating from the public eye - and of his daughter Louise's search for clues to her father's true identity.
Walt Disney's dream of building high-tech town run according to old-fashioned ideas of neighbourliness and community values was never realised during his lifetime. But the corporation bearing his name has invested $4 billion and engaged leading architects to build the town of Celebration in Florida. Setting strict standards of behaviour and decor, this experiment in social engineering will eventually support 20,000 inhabitants. Ben Woolley watches the first families move in.
Peter Green's band, Fleetwood Mac, sold more records in 1969 than the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. But at the height of his success he retreated from public life. This programme tells the story of his lost years and his triumphant return to playing live.
Don Simpson co-produced some of the last decade's biggest Hollywood blockbuster films, including Beverly Hills Cop and Top Gun. In January this year he died from a drug overdose at his Bel Air mansion. Don Simpson's story is one of brilliance and determination that took him to the top in Hollywood. But what forces drove him to such despair and self-abuse?
Gulf War artist John Keane examines the life of one of Britain's greatest landscape painters, Paul Nash. His works brought home the horror of the First World War trenches; but it was the bold, surreal landscapes created during the Second World War that were to seal his reputation.
In 1943, Anita Lasker-Wallfisch was sent to almost certain death in Auschwitz. Instead, she became the only cellist in the concentration camp's orchestra, playing for high-ranking Nazis like the notorious Dr Mengele. Anita Lasker-Wallfisch survived her ordeal and later became a founder member of the English Chamber Orchestra. In this programme, she describes how music saved her life, and travels back to Auschwitz, meeting old and dear friends from the camp's orchestra.
The great German dadaist painter Kurt Schwitters lived in poverty. But now his legacy - an estimated 700 unsold works worth up to £30 million - is at the heart of an acrimonious wrangle in the art market. This documentary investigates the story and attempts to unravel the web of intrigue that surrounds control of Schwitters's estate. Among those appearing in the programme are members of the painter's family and the art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon.
Celebrated crime writer Minette Walters tries to solve a famous real-life whodunit. In 1934, two panels of the Van Eyck masterpiece The Adoration of the Lamb were stolen. Only one panel was ever recovered.
Famous for his role in the cult comedy Withnail and I, the quintessentially English actor provides a revealing insight into an often surreal world, supported by a rich cast of characters, from the bizarre to the legendary.
Last June's brutal murder in Dublin of the fearless investigative reporter Veronica Guerin had all the hallmarks of a gangland contract killing, as The Works discovers.
Producer Beryl Vertue has seen several hit British comedy formats, including Steptoe and Son and Till Death Us Do Part, translate successfully to American television. Her latest launch in the US is Men Behaving Badly, showing in an American version on the channel NBC. Vertue discovers that there are more differences between the two nations than simply what makes them laugh.
Thirty years ago, Mayor Richard J Daley conceived a masterplan to breathe new life into the heart of Chicago. The redevelopment of Block 37 - three acres of land in the city's bustling commercial district - would be the jewel in its crown. But today the area lies derelict. The Works investigates.
With the help of a Lottery Fund grant, environmental sculptor Andy Goldsworthy is currently working in the fields of Cumbria on Europe's biggest public art project- building 100 sculptures and installations related to both sheep farming and the landscape. The work brings Goldsworthy into close contact with the colourful local farming community, not all of whom are convinced the project represents money well spent.
Pope John Paul II is considered by many to be the most conservative pope of this century. Fifty years ago, however, he was better known as the subversive playwright, actor and poet Karol Wojtyla. Mark Lawson journeys into the heart of Roman Catholic Poland to meet the director of Brother of Our Lord, a film based on one of Wojtyla's plays, and he talks to old friends of the radical writer who would later become pope.
On 29 January 1996 La Fenice, the world-famous opera house situated in the Italian city of Venice, burntto the ground. The Works uncovers the tale of arson and intrigue behind this event.
A film by Jean-Jacques Beineix, director of Diva, that follows the extraordinary story of Jean-Dominique Bauby, former editor-in-chief of French Elle. He suffered a stroke in December 1995 which left him almost totally paralysed but completely mentally alert. In an incredible demonstration of determination, he dictated, by blinking his left eye, an account of his paralysis. Published just four days before Bauby's death earlier this year, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly became an instant bestseller in France.
Michael Grade was the first television executive to become as famous as the stars of his programmes. Following his resignation from Channel 4, Grade leaves television after a controversial career. He's been responsible for some of TV's biggest hits and others that received a critical mauling. Grade talks to Mark Lawson about his childhood in a family of Ukrainian immigrants, the highs and lows of his career with the BBC, ITV and Channel 4, and the reasons for his resignation. With contributions from collaborators and rivals, including Lord Lew Grade, Bob Geldof, Jeremy Isaacs, Alan Bennett, Bill Cotton and Bruce Forsyth.
Varian Fry was an American journalist who became the Schindler of the art world. He arrived in Marseille in the summer of 1940 with $3,000 hidden under his clothes and helped to rescue 2,000 people from Nazi persecution in Vichy France, including some of the greatest writers, artists and intellectuals of the times. Max Ernst, Marc Chagall and Heinrich Mann were among the many people who owed their liberty to this unlikely hero. Varian Fry died in 1967 with his achievements virtually unrecognised. The Works tells the story of his secret rescue mission and reveals how the dramatic escapes that he engineered came to have a profound impact on the culture of the century.
The grandfather of conceptual art was undoubtedly Marcel Duchamp. Having shocked the art establishment in the 1920s by turning everyday objects - from bicycle wheels to urinals - into art, Duchamp seemed to retreat from the art world. But in secret he was working on his final masterpiece, EtantDonnes, an elaborate peepshow of a nude that intrigued art critics and public alike. Now the story behind Duchamp's last work, and the personal drama that inspired it, have come to light.
Theatre critics Nicholas de Jongh and James Christopher come under scrutiny as they take on the challenge of directing for the first time. Through the ups and downs of rehearsal, the fledgling directors verge on euphoria - and despair. But the ultimate test will be on opening night. How will a paying audience respond and will the reviews give them a taste of their own medicine?
In this film, violinist Tasmin Little expounds hertheorythatthe English composer Frederick Delius had a passionate love affairwith a blackwoman called Chloe in 1884. She believes their secret liaison produced an illegitimate child, and that after Delius's return to England the three were never reunited. Little examines the effect that the relationship might have had on Delius's music, and scours Florida in search of the child's possible descendants
He is one of the most controversial designers of his generation, the working-class Londoner whose rise to the top of the fashion world has been nothing short of meteoric. Alexander McQueen left school at the age of 16 with only one O-level to his name: last October, just 27, he became head of design at Givenchy. This film follows McQueen at the recent London Fashion Week, and records his preparations for Givenchy's pret-a-porter show in Paris.
The writer and scientist Arthur C Clarke has been hailed as a visionary, a man listened to and respected by Nasa, the United Nations and the US Congress. His abilityto forecast future scientific breakthroughs was epitomised by novels such as 2001: A Space Odyssey. This film meets Clarke at his home in Sri Lanka as he approaches his 80th birthday. He assesses his own past and mankind's future and talks about his latest book, 3001: the Final Odyssey.
British composer Michael Nyman, best known for his score for the Oscar-winning film The Piano, was commissioned to compose a piece of music by Japanese car giant Mazda. The resulting concerto for saxophone and cello was premiered at the Royal Festival Hall in March. This film charts the unusual relationship between Michael Nyman, maverick of the music world, and David Heslop, managing director of Mazda UK.
London band Bush seem to have it all. Their million-selling albums have made them superstars. Last year they played to more people in America than any other band and they have sold 12 million records - easily outstripping Oasis in the US charts. But there is one thing that they still want - success at home. This film follows Bush on tour in Britain and in America to uncover the secret of their US success and looks at their struggle for recognition in the UK.
The first in a series of 11 programmes features Oscar-winning actor Ralph Fiennes and his six siblings talking candidly about their mother, the novelist and painter Jennifer Lash.
Andrew O'Hagan looks at a critical point in the life of Beat Generation writer Jack Kerouac. In 1956 he spent spent 63 soul-searching days as a fire-watcher on Washington state's Desolation Peak. After this stint he was never the same creative force again.
Turner prize-winning sculptor Rachel Whiteread isoneof Britain's leading artists with a growing reputation at home and abroad. The last year has been an extraordinary one for her: she's had a major retrospective at the Liverpool Tate and was the British representative at the 47th Venice Biennale, where she won the prestigious Award given each year to the best young artists. This film follows heroverthe course of the year as she struggled to fulfil her commission to build a Holocaust memorial in Vienna.
Photographer Davide Sorrenti 's death earlier this year from a heroin overdose sparked an outcry against the use of images that seemed to glamorise addiction. Sorrenti specialised in pictures of emaciated girls with blank expressions, shot in dimly lit alleys and shabby rooms. Just 20 years old when he died, Davide Sorrenti was controversial to the end, and his death may not have been a straightforward result of a life misspent. Including interviews with his mother Francesca, this programme examines the photographer's art, his lifestyle and the mark he made on the world in which he worked.
Artist Carl Larsson and his wife Karin lived in a cottage which they transformed into Sweden's most influential home. Their distinctive style of interior design became hugely popular and was a source of inspiration for furniture giant IKEA. This programme, coinciding with an exhibition of Carl Larsson 's paintings at London's Victoria and Albert Museum , examines the couple's often uneasy domestic life.
An examination of the life of American artist Robert Rauschenberg, whose work is currently the subject of a major exhibition at New York's Guggenheim museum. The programme includes an interview with Rauschenberg in which he discusses the huge autobiographical opus he has been working on for 16 years.
Simone de Beauvoir , author of The Second Sex, is renowned as a feminist icon and remembered for her enduring relationship with Jean-Paul Sartre. However, at the age of 40, shortly before writing The Second Sex, she fell in love with American writer Nelson Algren, who was to become one of America's toughest realist writers.
For conductor Ben Zander, music is not just a matter of notes or technique, more a method of communicating the language of the soul, arguing that the way music is absorbed or performed can shape attitudes and change approaches to life. This documentary follows Zander from the concert hall to the boardroom as he applies his beliefs to his roles as musician and consultant to the business community. His goal is to get artists and executives alike to live life on the edge or, as he puts it, "on one buttock".
In August, Roni Size and Reprazent's New Forms album came from nowhere to take the Mercury Music Prize. On their first tour of Europe, the band talk about the effects of this surprising success.
A behind-the-scenes look at the raunchily satirical Chicago during the musical's translation from Broadway to the West End. Exclusive access to rehearsals involving the London cast, which includes Nigel Planer, Ruthie Henshall, Henry Goodman and Ute Lemper, captures the atmosphere from the first day of preparations to the tensions of opening night.
Appearing in music hall aged just nine, Hughie Green made his first film four years later. But it was on the small screen that he made his name. From the fifties until the seventies, hit shows such as Double Your Money, The Sky's the Limit and Opportunity Knocks made him one of the biggest stars to appear on British television. But, by the late seventies, Green's failure to adapt to new television ideas saw him frozen out.