Season 2014 2014

TV-PG

A look at how much of today's news footage is shot by members of the public using mobile devices. It includes many of the year's most dramatic events such as the Boston bombings.

Experts look with fresh eyes at some of the most notorious criminal cases in which the perpetrator has appeared in front of the cameras with sham displays of grief.

Documentary marking the 30th anniversary of the 1984 miners' strike, one of the bitterest industrial disputes in British history, with stories from both sides of the conflict.

Machines will be capable of doing more than a third of Britons' jobs by 2030, exclusive research for ITV's Tonight predicts. The study by the University of Oxford looked at 702 different categories of occupation and found that 36% of the UK workforce are in jobs where there is a high risk that a machine could be capable of doing their work by that time. This programme sees a range of experts predicting that technological changes in the coming decades will be at a pace not seen since the industrial revolution of the 19th century.

If I Don't Come Home - Letters From D-Day (History Documentary)

itv Wales
Thursday 5th June 2014 on at 22:35 to 23:35
1 hour long

On 6 June 1944 the Normandy Landings were launched on the north coast of occupied France. Carried out along five beaches - Omaha, Sword, Gold, Utah and Juno - it was the single largest seaborne invasion in history. To mark the 70th anniversary of D-Day, this dramatised documentary follows four allied soldiers as they pen what could be their last letters to the people they love. Along with 150,000 of their comrades they face the most terrifying day of their lives, their aim, to liberate Europe from Nazi oppression. Their experiences form the background to this historical documentary through powerful and emotional readings of the words they sent home. In these letters, which have been treasured by the combatants' families ever since, the men open their hearts and in so doing give a unique insight into the raw reality and horror of battle - a battle from which only two of the four would return.

Starring: Ben Lamb, Samuel West, Seamus Morrison, Tom Rhys Harries, Charlotte Hamblin

Actress and ‘twitcher’ Alison Steadman fulfills her ambition to visit Shetland in this new documentary. Alison explores the breathtaking landscape and experiences the region’s abundant wildlife getting to see gannets, otters, puffins and Shetland ponies in their natural habitat.

Road Rage Britain: Caught On Camera There are more cars on the roads than ever before – and we’re cycling far more than we used to. But that’s leading to regular bouts of road rage, with the two tribes most often at loggerheads: cyclists and drivers. The difference is that, new, cheap technology means that when the red mist descends, many incidents are caught on camera by the cyclists and motorists in the thick of it. Road Rage Britain: Caught on Camera features astonishing footage of shocking road rage – plus a unique experiment, in which two committed cyclists, one from London and one from Manchester, swap modes of transport with a London cabbie and a white van man from Preston, both of whom view their two wheeled counterparts as a menace. How will they cope experiencing life on the road from the perspective of their road rage rivals? At the end of the experiment they come face to face in a showdown to share their views.

Inside Asprey gains exclusive access into an extraordinary world where unique, luxury British goods have been made and sold to some of the world’s wealthiest people for more than two centuries.

Situated on one of London’s most prestigious streets and spread over five Georgian town houses, Asprey has been jewellers to the Royal family since Queen Victoria’s reign.

For the first time Asprey shows cameras inside and beyond its immaculate shop floor, revealing just what it takes to attract the richest people on the planet. The programme follows the fortunes of the staff, the store and its customers as Asprey strives to keep a traditional business alive in the modern world.

Two of Britain's worst drivers face the consequences of their dangerous habits in a crash test experiment - but will the shocking experience help them change their ways for good?

Documentary taking a behind-the-scenes look at the unique world of Hatton Garden, the main jewellery quarter of London, and following some of the area's distinctive characters.

Documentary focusing on some of America's youngest and most dangerous criminals housed at Indiana's Wabash Correctional Facility.

Documentary featuring Bomber Command veteran Harry Kartz, retired schoolteacher Mary and Ken and Edna Medlock, who are still in love and drive to the seaside for a date.

This new documentary for ITV marks 50 years since the last two men to be hanged in Britain were executed simultaneously and retells the stories of those put to death by the state.

From the innocent Timothy Evans to the guilty Ruth Ellis, who killed in a crime of passion, Executed hears from the relatives who survived them and those who witnessed the final days of capital punishment.

Visiting prisons where death sentences were carried out up to its abolition - and explaining that after being sentenced to death prisoners lived for only three more weeks before being taken to the gallows - Executed also takes a close look at how the condemned would have spent their final days and the procedures and techniques employed by the executioners.

Together these stories provide a vivid insight into the executions carried out in living memory in the UK - cases that would shock the nation and help bring about the end of capital punishment.

The Bennett family run Britain’s number one retail jewellery business - without having a single shop. Their customers buy jewels having seen them on cable TV. They have a close relationship with the owners, because Steve and Sarah Bennett – their son, aunties, in-laws and cousins – are frequently on screen.

The Bennetts broadcast to Europe and North America 24 hours a day, every day of the year, helped by a team of presenters who talk minerology for four hours at a time, and mix their sales patter with jokes and high jinks that have viewers dialing in at a furious rate - up to three thousand calls an hour, and everyone who gets through to the call centre wants to buy, making up to a quarter of a million pounds worth of business in just four hours.

Part of the Bennett’s success lies in their business method. Purchasing direct from the mines and keeping costs low means viewers can buy a little, at bargain prices. Steve says: “If you go direct to the mine, you’re always going to get better value for your customers because you cut out all the middle men.”

The other integral aspect of Steve’s business is the product – along with the usual diamonds, emeralds and rubies, the company sells a host of lesser-known gemstones, surrounding each with an alluring backstory.

Steve says: “When we buy something we don’t actually need, what is it that we’re buying? Well, we’re buying something we get emotionally attached to - it’s the story. It’s understanding its place in history, which King and Queen wore that gemstone, how rare is it? What pulls at the heartstrings and makes us want to wear that gemstone?”

Turnover is very healthy – around £100 million a year, but there’s a problem on the horizon. The Bennetts’ business is based on two natural resources, the first being minerals. The number one best-selling stone is a blue African gem called Tanzanite. It comes from just one outcrop in Tanzania, and the lode is running

Now Britain's most desirable status symbol, hot tubs have become big business. This documentary follows Dennis Holmes, his son Dan Holmes and son-in-law Ross Phillipson, who are the proud owners of the country's biggest hot-tub superstore, which has an annual turnover of more than £10million. Cameras follow the men and their staff throughout the company's busiest period of the year, but as the business grows, so too does the tension among the workforce. Plus, hot tubbers up and down the country reveal why they love the bubbles so much

Documentary which looks back at the 1986 Tour de France when reigning champion Bernard Hinault 'promised' to help teammate Greg Lemond win the world's greatest cycle race.

In the first programme, Ray is in Dartmoor in search of Britain's largest ground beetle and the elusive wood warbler.

The First World War's impact was vast and far-reaching, and has been examined in great detail already in countless documentaries during its centenary year. Even so, this new documentary turns up a few surprises. It explains how the Great War affected the people of Blenheim Palace, the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough. For centuries it existed as a miniature kingdom, until the conflict tore apart the stately homes family and wreaked havoc on the lives of the people who relied on the estate. Julian Fellowes, the creator of Downton Abbey, seems the perfect person to present this dramatic tale of heroism and tragedy both above and below stairs in one of Britains grandest old houses.

Blenheim Palace is one of the grandest of all Britain's great houses. Intended originally for John Churchill first Duke of Marlborough as a tribute from a grateful nation for his victories during the War of the Spanish Succession, it was completed between 1705 and 1722 and designed by Sir John Vanbrugh. For centuries it was a miniature kingdom, but the First World War ripped apart the lives of everyone at Blenheim, the family and those that relied upon them for employment. In this documentary, Julian Fellowes, the author and creator of Downton Abbey, tells the stories of the real men and women of the estate whose lives were changed forever by the Great War. Below stairs he discovers tales of heroism and tragedy, and above stairs the accounts of those who seized their chance to change the course of history. Finally he examines how the First World War was the making of Blenheim's most famous son, Winston Churchill, born here in 1874.

I Married The Waiter: Love In The Sun tells the stories of British women of all ages and backgrounds, who went on a holiday in the sun, only to fall in love with a foreign man.

Hotel In The Clouds goes behind the scenes at the capital's newest and highest five star hotel, Shangri-La Hotel, At The Shard, London, in the build up to opening and across its first few months of business. The programme meets the staff and takes in the breathtaking views and follows the day-to-day running of this £90m flagship hotel. Covering 19 floors of The Shard, the hotel is the highest in Europe. It has numerous lifts, suites costing up to £19,000 a night with £1,000 toilets, and boasts a cocktail sky bar on the 52nd floor. Cameras follow the new members of staff, many of whom have been recruited locally (the recruitment policy favours personality over experience) as they are interviewed for positions and then undergo training for their roles. Their training includes lessons in Asian hospitality as the hotel is one of the first to specifically cater for the rapidly growing Asian market and staff must learn to work the Shangri-La Hotel, At The Shard, London way.

On Boxing Day 2004, a tsunami swept across eleven countries in the Indian Ocean and, within 24 hours, killed nearly 250,000 people from fifty-five countries. For the survivors and the bereaved, it was a disaster that has changed their lives forever. A decade on our contributors share their painful experiences of destruction and loss, but in every story there is something inspirational that shows us that, even in the face of unimaginable tragedy, humans somehow manage to carry on.

In a unique journey across Britain by helicopter, Christine Bleakley and historian Dr Michael Scott tell the story of what life was like for Romans and Britons 2000 years ago.

The famous luxury health spa evokes images of clientele in white cotton robes being massaged and pampered. But below this serene, calm exterior, the cameras capture owner Stephen Purdew and his staff’s efforts to bring Champneys up to scratch as a five star destination in line with competition from other high-end health farms.

Think you know your baby? Think again. This beautifully shot, heart-warming and scientifically revealing film, narrated by Martin Clunes, brings you babies as you've never seen them before.

The first two years of our lives are the most critical of all. We grow more, learn more, move more and even fight more than at any other time in our life. We have to master the complex skills of walking, talking and relating to the world around us. But we are not yet built like an adult. We have more bones in our body at birth than an adult does, yet we don't have kneecaps. We laugh 300 times a day as a baby, but in the first few months we can't produce tears when we're upset. Secret Life of Babies reveals all these facts and more, telling incredible stories of babies' resilience and survival skills to boot.

This film will surprise, move, amaze and delight all those who have ever come into contact with a baby, whilst taking you from the moment of birth, through to the point where language begins, memories start to kick in, and a new phase of their lives takes over. This is the Secret Life of Babies.

The Betrayers tells the stories of people who have suffered the ultimate betrayal at the hands of someone they love and trust. From false identities to fake terminal illnesses we find out how intelligent and sensible victims can fall for a seemingly incredible web of lies and discover whether serial fraudsters are driven by criminal greed or psychological flaws.

David Checkley, labelled ‘the man with the golden tongue’ swindled over 30 women out of hundreds of thousands of pounds to fund a luxury lifestyle.

Public school-educated unemployed ex-convict Alistair Stewart posed as a millionaire banker and lavishly romanced a Harvard educated property broker whilst conning her out of her million dollar savings.

The family of a dying man were targeted by friend Beth Hood who faked cancer for her own gain and Paul Dable, defrauded his own parents before setting light to the family home with everyone inside.

We all like to think we can spot a liar and that it would be impossible for people to fool us but the gripping direct testimony in The Betrayers tells a different story…

Welcome to Norland College, the quintessentially British 120-year-old childcare training college in Bath which turns its students into elite 21st Century Mary Poppins-style nannies.

Norland Nannies have been sought after by the rich and famous for over a century and most recently the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge hired a Norlander as nanny to Prince George. Founded in 1892 by Emily Ward the college is renowned for its rigorous rules, traditional uniform, perfect buns and clean white gloves.

In this documentary, we follow the second-years of Set 36, and get an insight in to how contemporary Norland students embrace and champion the college’s tradition and training. If they can successfully finish the £13,000 per-year course, a lifetime of employment and travel prospects could be theirs for the taking.

Martin Clunes hosted a one-off ITV documentary called Martin Clunes & A Lion Called Mugie, following the work of conservationists in Kenya as well as tracking the progress of a lion called Mugie. The documentary was filmed over a period of three years.

Martin Clunes hosted a one-off ITV documentary called Martin Clunes & A Lion Called Mugie, following the work of conservationists in Kenya as well as tracking the progress of a lion called Mugie. The documentary was filmed over a period of three years.