Browse documentary series in US
Dive into the world of documentary series in US. From timeless classics to trending hits, explore an exciting collection of titles that define the documentary genre.
Explore critically acclaimed blockbusters, hidden gems, and trending new releases that showcase the diversity and creativity of documentary storytelling. Use our filters to find top-rated titles, recent hits, or beloved classics tailored to your taste.
With Popcorn Time, uncover your next favorite series and enjoy the best of documentary entertainment. Start browsing now and bring documentary into your watchlist today!
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Descending is an exciting new weekly TV show now airing on Canada’s Outdoor Life Network, and featuring some stunning underwater video from around the world. Host Scott Wilson, from Brantford, Ontario, though fairly new to scuba, jumps right in to explore some of this planet’s “most remote locations” in the one-hour weekly show. Noting that so much of planet Earth is underwater and so few people get to see this realm firsthand, he said, “We knew it was important to shoot spectacular footage.” Wilson’s co-host is New Zealand diver Ellis Emmett, author, adventurer and friend. Emmett has penned five adventure books and is the owner of a New Zealand river rafting company. “I want people to be inspired, educated and enlightened, and have a laugh or two along the way,” he said. This year the hosts explore the underwater world on scuba, wearing full-face masks and dry suits. As post-production work continues on episodes scheduled to air in the coming weeks, they’re planning a switch to rebreathers, and even the occasional use of mixed gases in season two, officially not a go yet, but they’re hopeful! With government backing and the support of the Outdoor Life Network, Descending joins a long list of Canadian made underwater TV series that have found strong audience support.
Descending (2012 )
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Mankind The Story of All of Us is an epic 12-hour television event about the greatest adventure of all time—the history of the human race. It takes 10 billion years for the ideal planet to form and 3 billion more for the right conditions to emerge before it finally happens: mankind begins. From there unfolds a fast-paced story told here through key turning points—stepping stones in our journey from hunter-gatherer to global citizen. It’s a tale of connections—why some ideas take hold and spread around the globe, and how the lives of people in one part of the world are shaped by events in another.
Mankind: The Story of All of Us (2012 )
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Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, Henry ford – their names are synonymous with innovation, big business and the American Dream. These leaders sparked incredible advances in technology while struggling to consolidate their industries and rise to the top of the business world. The Men Who Built AmericaTM chronicles the connections between these iconic businessmen and explores the way they shaped the country, transforming the U.S. into a global superpower in just 50 years.
History Classroom: The Men Who Built America (2012 )
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Historian Dr Helen Castor explores the lives of seven English queens who challenged male power, the fierce reactions they provoked and whether the term 'she-wolves' was deserved.
She-Wolves: England's Early Queens (2012 )
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Noted Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has been helping people discover long-lost relatives hidden for generations within the branches of their family trees. Professor Gates utilizes a team of genealogists to reconstruct the paper trail left behind by our ancestors and the world’s leading geneticists to decode our DNA and help us travel thousands of years into the past to discover the origins of our earliest forebears.
Finding Your Roots (2012 )
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Professor Mary Beard looks beyond the stories of emperors, armies, guts and gore to meet the everyday people at the heart of Ancient Rome's vast empire.
Meet the Romans with Mary Beard (2012 )
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Uncovers the extraordinary truth behind some of the Mafia's most notorious outlaws, and reveals how the FBI and law enforcement developed the techniques to crack the organization and bring it to justice. This is the story of the rise and fall of the Mafia, told by the people who brought it down.
Mafia's Greatest Hits (2012 )
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Christianity slowly emerged from being a persecuted minority to the state religion of the Roman Empire. This episode is a history of the ways believers grappled with a way to depict Jesus. Simple symbolic meaning developed into splendid art and churches.
The Dark Ages: An Age of Light (2012 )
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Serial Killer Earth brings together compelling footage and eyewitness accounts of recent natural disasters, including Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan, in an attempt to understand and explain what happened during these events and how they compare with disasters of the past.
Serial Killer Earth (2012 )
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Battleground is a mockumentary comedy-drama television series created by J. D. Walsh streamed on Hulu. The show follows a group of political campaign staffers working to elect a dark horse candidate to the U.S. Senate in the battleground state of Wisconsin. Walsh serves as executive producer alongside Hagai Shaham and Marc Webb. The show marks Hulu's first foray into original scripted programming. It premiered online on February 14, 2012.
Battleground (2012 )
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Islands can be home to the most extreme examples of life and the some of the most dramatic landscapes. Natural selection fuels evolution in the most extraordinary way. Isolated for hundreds of thousands of years, pockets of individuals survive, thrive and adapt to fill all available niches fuelling a rapid development of new species. Wildest Islands, a stunning five-part series featuring the world’s most spectacular island locations. Dive into the crystal clear waters of the Caribbean; journey through the lush forests of Zanzibar; discover the unspoilt environs of the Hebrides; and uncover the enduring wonders of the Galapagos Islands as Wildest Islands investigates the rich history of these pristine paradises.
Wildest Islands (2012 )
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Those who knew them best describe the sensational lives and premature deaths of iconic actors and musicians whose passing left a void in pop culture.
Too Young to Die (2012 )
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A two part series on an inside look at a maximum security prison in Texas featuring interviews with death row inmates.
On Death Row (2012 )
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Dive into the mysteries of some of NASA’s most curious missions and explore stories of engineering achievement and human endurance. Each episode offers first hand testimony from astronauts, NASA mission footage, plus beautifully rendered CGI to bring to life these voyages that reveal unexplained sightings that have dogged many of NASA’s most famous missions.
NASA's Unexplained Files (2012 )
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Channeling sibling rivalries and deadly childhood pacts, this series follows true-crime mysteries surrounding cases of these double-duty archetypes.
Evil Twins (2012 )
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Through beautiful photography and the extraordinary stories of the animals and people that live there, this series celebrates Latin America's most iconic and dramatic locations. Trek across the mountainous peaks and volcanic slopes of the Andes; explore the windswept plains of the Patagonian wilderness; journey into the teeming forests of the Amazon, and wade through the giant swamps of Venezuela, as this beautiful five- part series celebrates the region's most iconic and dramatic locations.
Wildest Latin America (2012 )
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Stephen Hawking draws on 40 years of research to answer some of life's most compelling questions.
Stephen Hawking's Grand Design (2012 )
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A seven-episode TV series that focuses on the production of The Art of Flight. We follow the crew through locations including Patagonia, Jackson Hole, Alaska and Revelstoke.
Art of Flight: The Series (2012 )
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From the outside, families seem like harmonious units in loving homes. But you don't necessarily know what secrets families are hiding from the outside world. Narrated by actress Brenda Strong, the voice of Desperate Housewives character Mary Alice Young, this series explores families hiding the most extreme of family secrets: murder. Each episode explores a death in a family, unravelling the motives of the family members, all of whom are potential suspects - and potential victims.
Blood Relatives (2012 )
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Whether it's a love triangle that violently collapses or a workplace affair that implodes, the re-enactments -- two per episode -- allow viewers to knock down closed bedroom doors, navigate secret trysts, and witness salacious liaisons. Hosted by Emmy-winning actress Susan Lucci, who's been a part of a few steamy scandals and deadly dalliances in her daytime soap career.
Deadly Affairs (2012 )
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This soon-to-be classic documentary mini-series traces the causes, courses as well as the major events and personalities of the American Civil War. Between 1861 and 1865, this epic American story of struggle and survival was written in blood, and in this series is told mostly from first-hand accounts and in the spoken words of the participants themselves, through their diaries, letters, and memoirs. The series concludes with Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House and the surrender of the western Confederate Army to Sherman in North Carolina in the spring of 1865. It then explores the legacy of slavery and the consequences and meaning of a war that transformed the country forever.
The Ultimate Civil War Series (2012 )
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Dublin Fire Brigade and ambulance services receive around 133,000 calls a year. Whatever the emergency, whenever it happens, the firefighters are first to respond, putting themselves in danger to save lives. And it’s not just fighting fires. Every member of Dublin Fire and Rescue is a trained paramedic, and whether it’s ambulance services, rapid river rescues, marine emergency response or high line rescues that are called for, they're equipped and trained to give people in need of rescue the best chance of survival. Using state of the art technology including vehicle and helmet mounted cameras this series will bring viewers deep into the heart of the fire scene with the firefighters themselves to witness and experience a level of danger, drama and emotion never before seen on Irish television.
Firefighters (2012 )
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Elite Military/Special Police Force TV series hosted by US Special Forces veteran Terry Schappert.
Close Quarter Battle (2012 )
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This comprehensive cinematic portrait of Europe's second-longest river presents scenes of breathtaking beauty along the banks of the Danube and investigates the tension between humans and nature, civilization and wilderness. Dams and power stations alternate with sections of natural wilderness along this mighty river, which flows through great cities such as Vienna and Budapest.
Danube: Europe's Amazon (2012 )
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Exploring China: A Culinary Adventure is a four-part British documentary television series that aired on BBC Two. Chefs Ken Hom and Ching He Huang, both Chinese food specialists, describing their travels through China and the recipes and personal stories they find there.Hom and Huang will travel to Beijing, learning about Peking Duck, and on to the Silk Road, Kashgar, and the Sichuan Province,together bringing a unique and authoritative perspective on Chinese food that will surprise and inform.Ken and Ching undertake an epic 3000-mile culinary adventure across China - not only to reveal its food, but its people, history, culture and soul.BBC Books has acquired and published the title to accompany the BBC Two series of four hour-long episodes.
Exploring China: A Culinary Adventure (2012 )
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How does an oil platform work? What keeps a Boeing 747 up in the air? How big is the engine of a cross channel ferry? Engineering Giants lets us see these monster machines like never before. With access to some of the most fascinating demolition jobs on the planet, we'll get under the skin some of the largest things mankind has ever created and show you how they really work.
Engineering Giants (2012) (2012 )
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Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes of the most legendary monuments and powerful organizations in the United States? America’s Book of Secrets lifts the veil of mystery, giving you unparalleled access to historical narratives and insider information previously hidden from the public. Through in-depth research and exclusive channels, this series delves into a variety of familiar but enigmatic American institutions, from the FBI and the Pentagon to Fort Knox and Area 51. Go beyond the locked doors and security checkpoints of government agencies, famous landmarks and stealthy societies to glimpse the hidden worlds you were never intended to see.
America's Book of Secrets (2012 )
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Las Grandes Batallas de la Guerra Civil Española (2012 )
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A documentary series examining the obesity crisis in the U.S. looks at the health risks of being overweight, weight-loss ideas, childhood obesity and efforts to improve the public health.
The Weight of the Nation (2012 )
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Animal Planet takes viewers on an exotic journey through India, from the epic Himalayan Mountains, down the mighty River Ganges, and across to the lost world of the North East, to explore its iconic wildlife, secret locations and grand terrains.
Wildest India (2012 )
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999: What's Your Emergency? follows members of emergency services throughout Britain as they work together to tackle crime and disorder, providing insight through the eyes of the police, fire, and ambulance services using a mixture of fly-on-the-wall footage taken at incidents and retrospective interviews with the people and staff featured. With rig technology inside the emergency vehicles to call centres to multiple crews on the ground 24/7, the series captures in a unique way the issues that face Britain today, from the emergence of new drugs and the despair of domestic violence to the way we parent our children and those who slip through society's safety net.
999: What's Your Emergency? (2012 )
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The brightest young vet students from around the world take on the ultimate test as they are plunged into the African wilderness for a crash hands-on course in animal conservation. Under the guidance of wildlife vet Dr Will Fowlds, whose family have lived on the Amakhala Game Reserve in South Africa for five generations, the students will work long hard days in the extreme environment. Not knowing when they will be called upon to sedate an elephant or assist in a rhino’s autopsy, will they rise to the challenge or be crushed by the pressure? Famed vet Steve Leonard will be on hand to help out and offer support to the strained and emotional students. Set in the exotic, beauty of wild Africa the young vets are far from home as they face the greatest challenge of their lives.
Safari Vet School (2012 )
