9.0/1015 votesLoading...#1 - The Battle of Midway
Season 3 Episode 7 - Aired 12/1/2005
4 June 1942 At a tiny atoll in the Pacific Ocean, the massed forces of the US and Japanese fleets meet for a decisive showdown. In the space pf just four minutes, the entire course of World War II is about to be transformed.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.8/1013 votesLoading...#2 - Rule of the Gun: The O.K. Corral/Saint Valentine's Day Massacre
Season 3 Episode 2 - Aired 4/22/2006
26 October 1881 and 14 February 1929 From the wild west and the mob-run city come two stories that have entered American mythology: the gunfight in the obscure mining town of Tomestone and Al Copone's frenzied attack on George 'Busgsy' Malone in Chicago.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.5/107 votesLoading...#3 - Let Freedom Rise: The Boston Tea Party/The Independence of India
Season 3 Episode 5 - Aired 11/17/2005
6 December 1773 and 14 August 1947 The catalyst and repercussions of freedom from colonial rule are explored in the American 'patriots' raid on a British ship and the web of devastation and destruction the soured India's independence celebrations.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.4/1011 votesLoading...#4 - Reach For The Stars: Trials of Galileo / Yuri Gagarin's Flight
Season 2 Episode 6 - Aired 11/15/2004
12 April 1633 and 12 April 1961. Two days on which science challenged the conventional view of our place in the universe: April 12, 1633 when Galileo stands trial for heresy for claiming the sun and not the Earth is the centre of the known universe, and exactly 328 years to the day later (1961) when Soviet cosmonaut Major Yuri Gagarin steps from the Earth into space.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.4/107 votesLoading...#5 - Cold War Spies: Gary Powers/Rudolf Abel
Season 2 Episode 9 - Aired 7/1/2004
1 May 1960 and 18 February 1962 These two stories from the height of the Cold War illustrate the mistrust and suspicion of an era. A spy plane shot down from the skies over Russia and the eventual dramatic exchange of the pilot for a Russian spy across a bridge in Berlin.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.3/107 votesLoading...#6 - The Overthrow of Ceaucescu
Season 3 Episode 10 - Aired 12/22/2005
No description available
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.2/1011 votesLoading...#7 - The Cost of Betrayal: The Defection of Burgess & MacLean/The Execution of the Rosenbergs
Season 3 Episode 1 - Aired 10/20/2005
19 June 1953 and 25 May 1951 The differing fates of the most famous Soviet spies are explored as, in the USA, the Rosenbergs face the electric chair for passing atomic secrets to the Soviets and, after a dramatic flight, the British spies Burgess and Maclean find safety in the hands of the KGB.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.1/1010 votesLoading...#8 - Grand Heist: The Theft of the Crown Jewels / The Great Train Robbery
Season 2 Episode 4 - Aired 11/1/2004
9 May and 28 August 1963. The intriguing stories behind two of Britain's most audacious robberies centres on the parts played by the central characters mastermind criminals, victims, a getaway driver and the King himself.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.0/108 votesLoading...#9 - The Christmas Truce
Season 2 Episode 2 - Aired 10/11/2004
25 December 1914 The first Christmas of World War 1 bore witness to an incredible phenomenon. A spontaneous truce broke out in the murderous trenches, led by the gun-fodder troops of each side and reluctantly followed by, for once, important officers and generals.
Director: Nic Young
Writer: Nic Young
7.9/107 votesLoading...#10 - Dinosaurs & Duplicity: Discovery of the First Dinosaur/Piltdown Man
Season 2 Episode 7 - Aired 11/22/2004
September 1824 and 20 November 1953 Two archaeological 'discoveries' which profoundly altered our understanding of the natural world: the first unearthing of the bones of an ancient giant reptile, and the astonishing discovery of the 'missing link' between ape and man - soon to be revealed as an elaborate hoax.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.6/1011 votesLoading...#11 - The Assassination of JFK / Nixon's Last Day
Season 1 Episode 10 - Aired 10/30/2003
22 November 1963 and 8 August 1974. No one could have dreamed or anticipated the seismic shocks America suffered in the 20th century with the assassination of its youngest-ever leader and the disgrace and expulsion of its most successful election winner.
Director: David Bartlett
Writer: N/A
7.5/109 votesLoading...#12 - Chuck Yeager & Bluebird
Season 1 Episode 12 - Aired 1/7/2004
14 October 1947 and 4 January 1967. Compelled by a sense of patriotic duty and driven by incredible bravery, 20 years separate the determined efforts of two mens aim to become the fastest men on the planet.
Director: Matthew Whiteman
Writer: Matthew Whiteman
7.4/1015 votesLoading...#13 - Disaster in the Sky: The Hindenburg / Challenger Disaster
Season 2 Episode 1 - Aired 9/27/2004
6 May 1937 And 27 January 1986. Two traumatic air disasters highlighting the human cost of aviation: the transatlantic crossing of the luxurious airship Hindenburg ends in disaster while tragic events accompany the launch of the Challenger space shuttle.
Director: Angus Cameron
Writer: N/A
7.4/1015 votesLoading...#14 - Terrorism: Assassination of Abraham Lincoln/Oklahoma City Bombing
Season 2 Episode 8 - Aired 12/6/2004
14 April 1865 and 19 April 1995 Eye-witness accounts, key figures and court transcripts are used to retell tow terrorist acts which shook America. The killing of the President and the bombing of a federal office over a century apart were both committed by Americans seemingly at war with their own country.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.3/1017 votesLoading...#15 - Attack on Pearl Harbor
Season 2 Episode 3 - Aired 10/18/2004
7 December 1941 The devastating pre-emptive strike on the American fleet in Hawaii that caught the USA sleeping was a strategic triumph for the Japanese. With eye-witness accounts and reconstructions, we relive the events that propelled America into the second World War.
Director: Dan Clifton
Writer: N/A
7.2/1010 votesLoading...#16 - The Road To Revolution: The Execution of Ceauşescu/The Iranian Revolution
Season 3 Episode 8 - Aired 12/22/2005
No description available
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.1/109 votesLoading...#17 - The War to End All Wars: The End of World War I
Season 3 Episode 4 - Aired 11/10/2005
11 November 1918 This dramatic story of the final days of World War 1 finds soldiers still fighting and Germany turning to anarchy. Meanwhile, in a wood in France, hostile negotiations take place in a race to end the war.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.1/108 votesLoading...#18 - Battle For The Holy City: The Six-Day War
Season 3 Episode 6 - Aired 11/24/2005
7 June 1967 By the third day of a six day war, Israeli forces have destroyed egypt's armies in the Sinai, captured the West Bank and seized the Old City of Jurusalem. But the euphoria of victory soon turns to anguish.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
7.0/1018 votesLoading...#19 - The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II & The Death of Diana
Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 11/1/2003
No description available
Director: Tanya Cheadle
Writer: Tanya Cheadle
7.0/1012 votesLoading...#20 - Black September Hijackings / Lockerbie
Season 1 Episode 9 - Aired 11/5/2004
In September 1970 Terrorists hijacked a number of jetliners, flew them to Jordan and kept numerous hostages to enforce their demands. In December 1988 Pan Am flight 103 was blown from the sky killing all aboard and a number of Lockerbie Scotland residents.
Director: Paul Overton
Writer: Paul Overton
7.0/1013 votesLoading...#21 - Fact or Fiction: The War of the Worlds/Hitler Diaries
Season 3 Episode 3 - Aired 11/3/2005
30 October 1938 and 24 April 1983 Over a million radio listeners panic thinking the nation was being attacked by Martians in Orsen Welles 'War of the Worlds' and one of the world's most venerable newspapers falls for fake diaries of Adolf Hitler. Clever fakers or just a gullible public?
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.9/1015 votesLoading...#22 - Affairs of the Crown: The Execution of Anne Boleyn/The Abdication of Edward VIII
Season 2 Episode 10 - Aired 12/20/2004
19 May 1536 and 10 December 1936 The Story of two English kings whose private affairs become national events - how the Queen of England gambled everything only to end her life on the scaffold and how the King put his love for a divorcee before his duty to the nation.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
6.6/1017 votesLoading...#23 - Marconi's First Transatlantic Radio Transmission / Concorde's First Transatlantic Flight
Season 1 Episode 11 - Aired 1/22/2004
It is 19th October 1977 and Concorde taxis onto the runway at Toulouse Airport. Onboard, the crew are preparing for an historic day - the first supersonic test flight to New York. At JFK airport, protestors are waiting with a hostile welcome, but for the Concorde team and the French and British governments it is a moment that represents the end of an exhausting struggle.
Director: Alex Lay
Writer: Alex Lay
NaN/100 votesLoading...#24 - Conspiracy to Kill: The Real Day of the Jackal / Wolf's Lair
Season 2 Episode 5 - Aired 11/8/2004
22 August 1962 and 20 July 1944. Two assassination attempts that, if successful, might have changed the course of history: the Algerian Secret Army's attempt to shoot President de Gaulle of France and Colonel von Stauffenberg's planting of a bomb under Hitler's desk.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- NaN/100 votesLoading...
#25 - Episode 9
Season 3 Episode 9 - Aired 12/15/2005
No description available
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of Days That Shook the World
Every episode of Days That Shook the World ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Days That Shook the World!
Days That Shook the World is a British documentary television series that premiered on BBC Two on 17 September 2003. The programme features various milestones...
Genre:Documentary
Network:BBC Four
Best Episodes Summary
"The Battle of Midway" is the best rated episode of "Days That Shook the World". It scored 9/10 based on 15 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 12/1/2005. This episode scored 0.2 points higher than the second highest rated, "Rule of the Gun: The O.K. Corral/Saint Valentine's Day Massacre".