Horizon backdrop

Horizon poster

Documentary

The Best Episodes of Horizon

Every episode of Horizon ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Horizon!

Binge this in 48d 19h•Peaking at 10.0/10

Horizon tells amazing science stories, unravels mysteries and reveals worlds you've never seen before.

Airs on

Seasons61

All 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61

#1 Fan Favorite
Click to reveal
10.0/10(1 votes)
#1 - The Mysterious Mr. Tesla
S19:E2212/20/1982
Documentary about the little known Yugoslav-American scientist Nikola Tesla, whose experiments with electricity and wireless foreshadowed the discoveries of Edison and Marconi. Some of his most spectacular experiments are recreated by the programme's presenter Robert Syme.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
Be the first to start the conversation for this episode
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
10.0/10(1 votes)
#2 - Playing God
S49:E71/17/2012
Adam Rutherford meets a new creature created by American scientists, the spider-goat. It is part goat, part spider, and its milk can be used to create artificial spider's web. It is part of a new field of research, synthetic biology, with a radical aim: to break down nature into spare parts so that we can rebuild it however we please. This technology is already being used to make bio-diesel to power cars. Other researchers are looking at how we might, one day, control human emotions by sending 'biological machines' into our brains.
Director:Matthew Dyas
Writer:Matthew Dyas
Be the first to start the conversation for this episode
Director:Matthew Dyas
Writer:Matthew Dyas
10.0/10(1 votes)
#3 - The Truth About Exercise
S49:E82/28/2012
Like many, Michael Mosley want to get fitter and healthier but can't face hours on the treadmill or trips to the gym. Help may be at hand. He uncovers the surprising new research which suggests many of us could benefit from just three minutes of high intensity exercise a week. He discovers the hidden power of simple activities like walking and fidgeting, and finds out why some of us don't respond to exercise at all Using himself as a guinea pig, Michael uncovers the surprising new research about exercise, that has the power to make us all live longer and healthier lives.
Director:Toby MacDonald
Writer:Unknown
Be the first to start the conversation for this episode
Director:Toby MacDonald
Writer:Unknown
10.0/10(1 votes)
#4 - Solar Storms: The Threat to Planet Earth
S49:E93/6/2012
Scientists are expecting a fit of violent activity on the sun which will propel billions of tonnes of superheated gas and pulses of energy towards our planet. They have the power to close down our modern technological civilization. Horizon meets the space weathermen who are trying to predict what's coming our way, and organistions like the National Grid which are preparing for the impending solar storms.
Director:Ben Fox
Writer:Unknown
Be the first to start the conversation for this episode
Director:Ben Fox
Writer:Unknown
10.0/10(1 votes)
#5 - Out of Control?
S49:E103/13/2012
We all like to think we are in control of our lives - of what we feel and what we think. But scientists are now discovering this is often simply an illusion. Surprising experiments are revealing that what you think you do and what you actually do can be very different. Your unconscious mind is often calling the shots, influencing the decisions you make, from what you eat to who you fall in love with. If you think you are really in control of your life, you may have to think again.
Director:Ben Lawrie
Writer:Ben Lawrie
Be the first to start the conversation for this episode
Director:Ben Lawrie
Writer:Ben Lawrie
10.0/10(1 votes)
#6 - Global Weirding
S49:E113/27/2012
Something weird seems to be happening to our weather - it appears to be getting more extreme. In the past few years we have shivered through two record-breaking cold winters and parts of the country have experienced intense droughts and torrential floods. It is a pattern that appears to be playing out across the globe. Hurricane chasers are recording bigger storms and in Texas, record-breaking rain has been followed by record-breaking drought. Horizon follows the scientists who are trying to understand what's been happening to our weather and investigates if these extremes are a taste of whats to come.
Director:David Stewart
Writer:Unknown
Be the first to start the conversation for this episode
Director:David Stewart
Writer:Unknown

The 20 WORST Episodes of Horizon

10.0/10(1 votes)
#7 - Defeating Cancer
S49:E134/10/2012
Over the past year, Horizon has been behind the scenes at one of Britain's leading cancer hospitals, the Royal Marsden in London. The film follows Rosemary, Phil and Ray as they undergo remarkable new treatments - from a billion pound genetically targeted drug designed to fight a type of skin cancer, to advanced robotic surgery. We witness the breakthroughs in surgery and in scientific research that are offering new hope and helping to defeat a disease that more than one in three of us will develop at some stage of our lives.
Directors:Naomi Law, Diana Ellis-Hill
Writer:Unknown
Be the first to start the conversation for this episode
Directors:Naomi Law, Diana Ellis-Hill
Writer:Unknown
10.0/10(1 votes)
#8 - Eat, Fast and Live Longer
S50:E38/6/2012
Michael Mosley has set himself a truly ambitious goal: he wants to live longer, stay younger and lose weight in the bargain. And he wants to make as few changes to his life as possible along the way. He discovers the powerful new science behind the ancient idea of fasting, and he thinks he's found a way of doing it that still allows him to enjoy his food. Michael tests out the science of fasting on himself - with life-changing results.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
Be the first to start the conversation for this episode
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
10.0/10(1 votes)
#9 - How Big Is the Universe?
S50:E48/27/2012
Cosmologists talk about their project to create a map of everything in existence, and also reveal that their research has some highly unexpected results, creating a picture stranger than anything they had ever imagined.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
Be the first to start the conversation for this episode
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
10.0/10(1 votes)
#10 - Goodbye Cassini - Hello Saturn
S54:E149/18/2017
A billion miles from home, running low on fuel, and almost out of time. After 13 years traversing the Saturn system, the spacecraft Cassini is plunging to a fiery death, becoming part of the very planet it has been exploring. As it embarks on its final assignment - a one-way trip into the heart of Saturn - Horizon celebrates the incredible achievements and discoveries of a mission that has changed the way we see the solar system. Strange new worlds with gigantic ice geysers, hidden underground oceans that could harbour life and a brand new moon coalescing in Saturn's magnificent rings. As the world says goodbye to the great explorer Cassini, Horizon will be there for with a ringside seat for its final moments.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
Be the first to start the conversation for this episode
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
9.0/10(1 votes)
#11 - Einstein's Unfinished Symphony
S42:E21/20/2005
The unpredictable results of the Theory of Relativity. Horizon brings you the second part of a two-part series on Albert Einsten. In the summer of 1939 Albert Einstein was on holiday in a small resort town on the tip of Long Island. His peaceful summer, however, was about to be shattered by a visit from an old friend and colleague from his years in Berlin. The visitor was the physicist Leo Szilard. He had come to tell Einstein that he feared the Nazis could soon be in possession of a terrible new weapon and that something had to be done.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
Be the first to start the conversation for this episode
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
9.0/10(1 votes)
#12 - Einstein's Equation of Life and Death
S42:E31/27/2005
The story of Einstein's most famous equation E=mc² – its role in the creation of the atom bomb and our understanding of the beginnings of the Universe. Horizon brings you the second part of a two-part series on Albert Einsten. In the summer of 1939 Albert Einstein was on holiday in a small resort town on the tip of Long Island. His peaceful summer, however, was about to be shattered by a visit from an old friend and colleague from his years in Berlin. The visitor was the physicist Leo Szilard. He had come to tell Einstein that he feared the Nazis could soon be in possession of a terrible new weapon and that something had to be done.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
Be the first to start the conversation for this episode
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
9.0/10(1 votes)
#13 - What on Earth is Wrong With Gravity?
S45:E31/29/2008
Dr Brian Cox wants to know why the Universe is built the way it is. Particle physicist and ex D:Ream keyboard player Dr Brian Cox wants to know why the Universe is built the way it is. He believes the answers lie in the force of gravity. But Newton thought gravity was powered by God, and even Einstein failed to completely solve it. Heading out with his film crew on a road trip across the USA, Brian fires lasers at the moon in Texas, goes mad in the desert in Arizona, encounters the bending of space and time at a maximum security military base, tries to detect ripples in our reality in the swamps of Louisiana and searches for hidden dimensions just outside Chicago.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
Be the first to start the conversation for this episode
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
9.0/10(1 votes)
#14 - Little Cat Diaries
S50:E126/14/2013
50 cats were fitted with GPS collars to track their every movement, and cat-cams to record their unique view of the world. In this groundbreaking experiment, a few cats stood out. They include the intruder cat, an unneutered tomcat, who comes into the village and seems to have no owner; the hunter, who prefers food that he can catch and kill to anything his owners might buy him; and the deserter cat who has abandoned his home in favour of a new set of owners. This film reveals that the relationship between cats and their owners isn't quite what we imagine.
Director:Helen Sage
Writer:Unknown
Be the first to start the conversation for this episode
Director:Helen Sage
Writer:Unknown
9.0/10(1 votes)
#15 - Swallowed by a Black Hole
S50:E146/26/2013
This summer, the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way is getting ready to feast. A gas cloud three times the size of our planet has strayed within the gravitational reach of our nearest supermassive black hole. And across the globe, telescopes are being trained on the heart of our Milky Way galaxy, some 27,000 light years from Earth, in the expectation of observing this unique cosmic spectacle. For cosmic detectives across the Earth, it is a unique opportunity. For the first time in the history of science, they hope to observe in action the awesome spectacle of a feeding supermassive black hole.
Director:Dan Clifton
Writer:Dan Clifton
Be the first to start the conversation for this episode
Director:Dan Clifton
Writer:Dan Clifton
9.0/10(1 votes)
#16 - Defeating the Hackers
S51:E28/19/2013
Exploring the murky and fast-paced world of the hackers out to steal money and identities and wreak havoc with people's online lives, and the scientists who are joining forces to help defeat them. Horizon meets the two men who uncovered the world's first cyber weapon, the pioneers of what is called ultra paranoid computing, and the computer expert who worked out how to hack into cash machines.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
Be the first to start the conversation for this episode
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
9.0/10(1 votes)
#17 - Man on Mars - Mission to the Red Planet
S51:E62/10/2014
Horizon goes behind the scenes at Nasa to discover how it is preparing for its most ambitious and daring mission: to land men - and possibly women - on the surface of Mars. It's over 40 years since Neil Armstrong made the first human footprint on the moon. But getting to the red planet would involve a journey of at least three years. Horizon meets the scientists and engineers who are designing new rockets, new space suits and finding ways to help astronauts survive the perils of this long voyage. And it turns out that having the 'right stuff' for a mission to mars might not be quite what you expect.
Director:Alex Hearle
Writer:Unknown
Be the first to start the conversation for this episode
Director:Alex Hearle
Writer:Unknown
9.0/10(1 votes)
#18 - Allergies: Modern Life and Me
S52:E38/27/2014
Changes to the bacteria that live inside all of us are responsible for increasing the number of people with allergies, suggests new research. The show investigates this claim by conducting a unique experiment with two allergic families in order to find out just what it is in the modern world that is to blame. With a raft of mini cameras, GPS units and the very latest gene sequencing technology, the show discovers how the western lifestyle is impacting their bacteria. Why are these changes making people allergic? And what can be done to put a stop to the allergy epidemic?
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
Be the first to start the conversation for this episode
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
9.0/10(1 votes)
#19 - Dancing in the Dark - The End of Physics?
S52:E93/17/2015
Scientists genuinely don't know what most of our universe is made of. The atoms we're made from only make up four per cent. The rest is dark matter and dark energy (for 'dark', read 'don't know'). The Large Hadron Collider at CERN has been upgraded. When it's switched on in March 2015, its collisions will have twice the energy they did before. The hope is that scientists will discover the identity of dark matter in the debris.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
Be the first to start the conversation for this episode
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
9.0/10(1 votes)
#20 - Inside CERN
S53:E138/10/2016
With exclusive behind-the-scenes access, Horizon follows the highs and lows of an extraordinary story in particle physics. In June 2015, teams at CERN started running the large hadron collider at the highest energy ever. Rumours quickly emerged that they were on the brink of a huge discovery. A mysterious bump in some data suggested a first glimpse of a brand new particle that could change our understanding of how the universe works. A new particle could hint at extra dimensions and help us understand the very beginning of the universe - but first the team has to find it. Horizon follows the scientists as they hunt for the elusive signals that would prove if there is a new particle or if it is just noise from their machine.
Director:Serena Davies
Writer:Unknown
Be the first to start the conversation for this episode
Director:Serena Davies
Writer:Unknown
9.0/10(1 votes)
#21 - My Amazing Twin
S53:E148/25/2016
The acerbically witty and severely facially disfigured broadcaster Adam Pearson presents a personal film about genetics. He and his twin brother Neil are genetically identical and both share the same genetic disease, Neurofibromatosis 1 (Nf1) - yet they are completely different. Adam's face is covered with growths, whereas Neil has none. Neil has short term memory loss, whereas Adam is razor sharp. How can the same genetic disease affect identical twins so differently? Adam is on the cusp of a successful film and television career, but the disease has left tumours on his face that are growing out of control and he could lose his sight. For years, everyone thought Adam's brother Neil had escaped symptoms, but today his life is governed by epilepsy and a mysterious memory loss that suddenly came on during his teens. Determined to save their future, Adam tries to find out why the disease affects the twins so differently and see if there is anything he can do to stop it from tearing their lives apart.
Director:James Newton
Writer:Unknown
Be the first to start the conversation for this episode
Director:James Newton
Writer:Unknown
9.0/10(2 votes)
#22 - Space Volcanoes
S54:E65/23/2017
Horizon follows an international team of volcanologists in Iceland as they draw fascinating parallels with the volcanoes on Earth and those elsewhere in the solar system. Through the team's research, we discover that the largest volcano of the solar system - Olympus Mons on Mars - has been formed in a similar way to those of Iceland, how a small moon of Jupiter - Io - has the most violent eruptions anywhere, and find out that a moon of Saturn called Enceladus erupts icy geysers from a hidden ocean. Computer graphics combined with original NASA material reveal the spectacular sights of these amazing volcanoes. Along the way, we learn how volcanoes are not just a destructive force, but have been essential to the formation of atmospheres and even life. And through these volcanoes of the solar system, scientists have discovered far more about our own planet, Earth- hat it was like when Earth first formed, and even what will happen to our planet in the future.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
Be the first to start the conversation for this episode
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
9.0/10(1 votes)
#23 - Being Transgender
S54:E159/26/2017
How does a person know their gender? Do they see themselves as male or female, or somewhere in between? More and more people around the world do not identify with the gender they were assigned to at birth. Increasingly, people are expressing their gender identity outside of the 'norms', and the lines of gender are becoming more blurred than ever. This film explores what it actually means to be transgender, and what happens when a person transitions psychologically, physically and biologically. We follow a number of transgender people going through their own transition. From a socially transitioning transwoman to two young transmen embarking on hormones, to a transwoman going through gender confirmation surgery - we get a snapshot into what transitioning and being transgender is really like from those living it. We also hear from experts in the field of gender and find out how modern medicine is helping people to transition their gender. And we explore where gender identity actually comes from.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
Be the first to start the conversation for this episode
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
9.0/10(1 votes)
#24 - The Battle to Beat Malaria
S60:E17/22/2024
In medical science, there’s been no longer harder fight than against malaria. This is the inside story of a historic new vaccine - from the Oxford lab behind the Covid jab. Part of the Horizon strand
Director:Catherine Gale
Writer:Unknown
Be the first to start the conversation for this episode
Director:Catherine Gale
Writer:Unknown
8.5/10(2 votes)
#25 - The Secret Life of the Dog
S47:E71/6/2010
We have an extraordinary relationship with dogs - closer than with any other animal on the planet. But what makes the bond between us so special? Research into dogs is gaining momentum, and scientists are investigating them like never before. From the latest fossil evidence, to the sequencing of the canine genome, to cognitive experiments, dogs are fast turning into the new chimps as a window into understanding ourselves. Where does this relationship come from? In Siberia, a unique breeding experiment reveals the astonishing secret of how dogs evolved from wolves. Swedish scientists demonstrate how the human/dog bond is controlled by a powerful hormone also responsible for bonding mothers to their babies. Why are dogs so good at reading our emotions? Horizon meets Betsy, the world's most intelligent dog, and compares her incredible abilities to those of children. Man's best friend has recently gone one step further - helping us identify genes responsible for causing human diseases.
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown
Be the first to start the conversation for this episode
Director:Unknown
Writer:Unknown

Best Episodes Summary

"The Mysterious Mr. Tesla" is the best rated episode of "Horizon". It scored 10/10 based on 1 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 12/20/1982. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "Playing God".