9.6/1018 votesLoading...#1 - The Last Surrender
Season 20 Episode 7 - Aired 5/11/2001
For Japanese officer Hiroo Onoda, the Second World War continued until 1974. Now 78 years old and living in Brazil, Onoda tells how he finally accepted defeat and emerged from the Philippine jungle. NEW SEASON 1/6.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.5/107 votesLoading...
#2 - Gladio: 3: The Foot Soldiers
Season 11 Episode 11 - Aired 6/24/1992
Examines whether Italian Special Forces were involved in the kidnapping and assassination of Italian prime minister Aldo Moro, who supported including the Italian Communist Party in national government. Also reconstructs a preceding series of unexplained killings in Belgian supermarkets. Part 3 of 3.
Director: Allan Francovich
Writer: N/A
- 8.5/107 votesLoading...
#3 - Mystery of the Missing Ace
Season 22 Episode 10 - Aired 11/14/2003
Revealing the extraordinary detective story behind the disappearance in 1944 of highly decorated pilot Wing Commander Adrian Warburton, whose vanishing at the age of 26 sparked a 60-year mystery. In 2002 a diverse group of historians, archaeologists, and air-crash investigators began to piece together the puzzle through a series of seemingly unrelated investigations.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.5/1028 votesLoading...
#4 - Through Hell for Hitler
Season 22 Episode 13 - Aired 12/5/2003
In a dramatised account, Timewatch follows a German soldier caught up in the most destructive conflict in history - Hitler's invasion of Russia. We travel the route that idealistic young Nazi Henry Metelmann took and see how the choices he made meant he emerged from the war a brutalised man. Last in series, which returns in January.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.5/1015 votesLoading...
#5 - The Wave That Destroyed Atlantis
Season 26 Episode 9 - Aired 4/20/2007
New evidence from the island of Crete suggests that Europe's first great civilisation, the Minoans, was destroyed by a cataclysmic natural disaster. Was the terrible fate of the Minoans the source of Plato's story of Atlantis? A team of archaeologists and scientists scour Crete for conclusive evidence. 2/5.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.3/107 votesLoading...
#6 - Gladio: 2: The Puppeteers
Season 11 Episode 10 - Aired 6/17/1992
In August 1980, the left-wing Red Brigades were blamed for the bombing of a Bologna, Italy, railway station that resulted in 86 dead and scores injured. But the Red Brigades had long been penetrated by right-wing agents working for the State whose aim was to commit atrocities that would terrify civilians into pleading for greater state security, even at the cost of personal freedom. Part 2 of 3.
Director: Allan Francovich
Writer: N/A
- 8.2/1044 votesLoading...
#7 - Gladio: 1: The Ringmasters
Season 11 Episode 9 - Aired 6/10/1992
For 40 years the Gladio - a secret network of former Nazis originally tasked with resisting the communist threat in occupied territories at the end of the Second World War - has bombed and murdered scores of innocent civilians to keep control of Europe for their political masters. This documentary reveals the crucial role the CIA has played in manipulating the political affairs of post-war Europe through the Gladio. Part 1 of 3.
Director: Allan Francovich
Writer: N/A
- 8.2/109 votesLoading...
#8 - Kill 'Em All: American War Crimes in Korea
Season 21 Episode 4 - Aired 2/1/2002
In July 1950, No Gun Ri in Korea witnessed one of the largest civilian massacres in US military history. This film, based on Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism, hears from eyewitnesses on both sides of the war and uses recently declassified documents to tell the shocking story.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.1/1086 votesLoading...
#9 - Murder in Rome
Season 24 Episode 2 - Aired 3/4/2005
Rome, 81 BC: Sextus Roscius is accused of patricide. If found guilty, he faces a brutal execution. Defending him is a young lawyer - Cicero. Using the actual trial record, this drama reconstructs one of the most celebrated murder trials in history. NEW SERIES 1/5.
Director: David Stewart
Writer: Colin Swash
8.1/1016 votesLoading...#10 - The Princess Spy
Season 25 Episode 12 - Aired 5/19/2006
In 1943 the daughter of an Indian mystic was sent into France by the SOE (Churchill's secret service) to provide a vital link with Nazi-occupied Paris. Betrayed and tortured, she revealed nothing of the SOE before being executed. Awarded the George Cross for bravery, this is the story of Noor Inayat Khan. 6/6.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
8.1/1010 votesLoading...#11 - The First Blitz
Season 26 Episode 5 - Aired 2/2/2007
Unlikely as it seems now, the first aerial bombardment of Britain was a Zeppelin raid on the unfortunate Norfolk town of Great Yarmouth with one fatality. The next three years saw a terror campaign that would take hundreds of lives and whose psychological effect was arguably as harrowing as the Blitz of the Second World War. 5/6.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.0/106 votesLoading...
#12 - The Columbus Conspiracy
Season 10 Episode 10 - Aired 10/16/1991
Was Columbus really the first to discover America? Five hundred years ago three ships sailed from Spain on the most famous voyage in history - west, west and always west across the unknown ocean. But now a modern Spanish ship's officer and a journalist have re-created that momentous voyage to test their astonishing theory that Columbus not only knew where he was going but also what he would find in the not-so-New World.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.0/105 votesLoading...
#13 - Harvests of Iron: 2: The Theatre of Operations
Season 10 Episode 12 - Aired 11/6/1991
The letters between military surgeon Georges Duhamel and his wife Blanche lay forgotten in a family attic for 75 years. Recently rediscovered, they reveal a poignant love story set against the backdrop of the First World War. In 1914, Blanche Duhamel moved to the frontline capital at Amiens, from where the lights of the trenches were visible, in order to be closer to her husband. Previously unseen film footage shows how business and pleasure continued alongside scenes of suffering as British and colonial troops came and went from the city.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.0/106 votesLoading...
#14 - Uncle Ho and Uncle Sam
Season 14 Episode 2 - Aired 3/23/1995
Using unique archive material from Vietnam and interviews with US agents, this programme tells the story of the friendly relations in 1945 between the United States government and Vietnamese communist leader Ho Chi Minh.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.0/107 votesLoading...
#15 - Stalin and the Betrayal of Leningrad
Season 21 Episode 10 - Aired 8/9/2002
Over 1,500,000 people died from starvation and disease when Germany besieged Leningrad for 900 days in one of the Second World War's darkest episodes. But even when the Soviets forced the Germans to surrender, Joseph Stalin secretly purged the city, executed the very people whose bravery had ensured its future and imprisoned their families. The documentary series draws on hitherto classified Russian documents and survivors' testimony to explain the dictator's actions.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.0/107 votesLoading...
#16 - How Mad Was King George?
Season 23 Episode 5 - Aired 2/6/2004
He's best known for having suffered bouts of mental illness and losing the American colonies, but what was King George III really like? With contributions from the Prince of Wales, Timewatch re-examines the life of Britain's longest-reigning king who, despite a painful metabolic condition, was a dutiful, plain-living monarch whose 60 years on the throne saw a flowering of the arts and sciences. 5/5.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 8.0/107 votesLoading...
#17 - The Secrets of the Mary Rose
Season 23 Episode 10 - Aired 10/29/2004
The story of the men who served on board the Tudor warship, which sank in Portsmouth harbour during a battle with French forces. Archaeological analysis of artefacts recovered from the wreck, reconstructions, and computer graphics combine to lay bare 16th-century naval life. 5/6.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.9/1010 votesLoading...
#18 - Himmler, Hitler, and the End of the Reich
Season 20 Episode 2 - Aired 1/19/2001
Heinrich Himmler was regarded as Hitler's most loyal henchman. But in the last days of the war, his role in a plot to make peace with the west emerged: the final act of a fascinating drama of double-dealing and ideological compromise. 2/6.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.9/108 votesLoading...
#19 - The Queen and Her Lover
Season 21 Episode 6 - Aired 2/15/2002
Love, greed, murder, rape, and political treachery were ingredients in the doomed 16th-century relationship between Mary, Queen of Scots and her lover, the Earl of Bothwell. Dr Saul David investigates Bothwell's plot to kill Mary's husband, Lord Darnley - was the queen herself involved? Love letters of hotly contested authenticity may hold the key to explaining this extraordinary affair.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.8/109 votesLoading...
#20 - Forgotten Heroes
Season 13 Episode 1 - Aired 1/12/1994
One In four British merchant seamen died during the Second World War. Life on board ship was dangerous, poorly paid and carried a far higher casualty rate than any of the armed services. Yet their bravery and sacrifices have barely been recognised. In this programme the merchant seamen who faced the North Atlantic storms and the deadly U-boat menace to keep Britain supplied during the war years tell their own brave and moving story.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.8/1012 votesLoading...
#21 - Bombing Germany
Season 20 Episode 12 - Aired 8/23/2001
Towards the end of the Second World War, many German towns with minimal strategic or industrial importance suffered "saturation bombing". The historical strand throws new light on the political decisions behind the Allied campaign's final stages, and tells the story of raids on two such towns. 6/6.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.8/108 votesLoading...
#22 - Myths of the Titanic
Season 21 Episode 7 - Aired 4/19/2002
No maritime tragedy has captured the public's imagination like the sinking of the Titanic. In the week that marks the 90th anniversary of the disaster, rare archive footage, plus location filming in America, Britain, and Northern Ireland, explains why the ship's story still exerts such a fascination.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.7/109 votesLoading...
#23 - The Myth of the Spanish Inquisition
Season 13 Episode 7 - Aired 11/6/1994
An entire popular mythology has made the Spanish Inquisition a byword for human evil - sadistic, fanatical and omnipotent. But in reality it was none of these things. How did the truth come to be so distorted? Through special access to the secrets of the Inquisition's own archives, Timewatch presents a very different version of history's most notorious institution. NEW SERIES.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.7/106 votesLoading...
#24 - The Forgotten Volunteers
Season 18 Episode 7 - Aired 6/5/1999
Two-and-a-half million Indians fought for Britain in Second World War campaigns from Egypt to the Far East. Subject to some of the most brutal attacks on the Allies and decorated for bravery, they were forgotten by the British and disowned by India. This film recreates the era and interviews survivors of the largest volunteer army in military history.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
- 7.7/106 votesLoading...
#25 - The Mystery of the Black Death
Season 23 Episode 8 - Aired 10/15/2004
Could the Black Death - killer of up to half of Europe in the 14th century - be lying dormant, ready to strike again? New evidence refutes received opinion that the cause was bubonic plague spread by rats, but was actually a deadly virus that emerged from animals and then vanished again. 3/6.
Director: N/A
Writer: N/A
The Best Episodes of Timewatch
Every episode of Timewatch ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Timewatch!
Timewatch is a long-running British television series showing documentaries on historical subjects, spanning all human history. It was first broadcast on 29 September 1982 and...
Genre:Documentary
Network:BBC Two
Best Episodes Summary
"The Last Surrender" is the best rated episode of "Timewatch". It scored 9.6/10 based on 18 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 5/11/2001. This episode scored 1.1 points higher than the second highest rated, "Gladio: 3: The Foot Soldiers".