Taboo

One man's meat is another's taboo. In season 8 of Taboo some of the most confronting behaviours, rituals and beliefs from around the world come under sharp focus. With stories ranging from secret identities to illicit love, bizarre remedies to gruesome death rituals, and from the grittiness of street fighting to the grim realities of alcohol abuse, Taboo offers a front row seat to some of the most bizarre and controversial aspects of human behaviour. Shot in HD, Taboo travels to Australia, Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas to uncover the truth behind the taboos. Be amazed!

Every culture has its rituals and codes of living. We delve into the bizarre or confronting practices of cultures around the world.

What drives someone to insert stainless steel fishing hooks into another person’s back so they can hang from the ceiling by their flesh? How is the practice of thrusting hands into gloves filled with stinging giant bullet ants — and enduring the pain over and over — acceptable within a culture? In some societies around the world, practices like these reflect deeply held traditional beliefs or deliberate lifestyle choices. But to others outside the culture, they may seem grotesque, dangerous or.. Taboo.

We take you beyond your comfort zone and across cultural borders to explore rituals and customs that are acceptable in some cultures but forbidden, illegal or reviled in others. Crossing the boundary between modern practices and ancient beliefs, this series showcases a mosaic of human lifestyles and values.

Each episode will examine one issue from a variety of perspectives, often venturing into rarely seen societies. We journey to six continents and 19 countries, featuring 25 indigenous cultures. Hear from some of the world’s most renowned and respected anthropologists and sociologists, who examine a diverse range of cultures. Explore rites of passage, unique lifestyle choices, body modification, gender decisions, nudity and spiritual quests that test the limits of the human body.

Great Migrations

National Geographic Channel's Great Migrations is a seven-part global television event that takes viewers around the world on the arduous journeys millions of animals undertake to ensure the survival of their species. Shot from land and air, in trees and cliff-blinds, on ice floes and underwater, Great Migrations tells the formidable, powerful stories of many of the planet's species and their movements, while revealing new scientific discoveries with breathtaking high-definition clarity.

Banged Up Abroad

From kidnapping to drug smuggling, this series tells stories of people who have been locked up abroad.

From kidnap and torture to foolish plans to smuggle drugs, this nail-biting series tells the harrowing stories of people who set out hoping for adventure or easy money, only to end up in situations beyond their worst nightmares. In these brand new episodes, follow the stories of more people who have found themselves in situations beyond their most terrible fears. From a run-down South London estate to a Barbados prison, Busted and Pregnant is Zara Whittaker’s tale about poverty, heartbreak, and international drug smuggling. Zara knew exactly what she was doing when she agreed to smuggle cocaine into Britain. But at that stage she didn’t know she was pregnant, would get caught, give birth behind bars and have to give her baby up. This is her story. As US forces attacked insurgents in the Iraqi town of Tall 'Afar in 2004, journalists Scott Taylor and Zeynep Tugrul were there to report from the front line. However, they soon became the story themselves, as they were kidnapped by insurgents and accused of spying for America. Descending into a hellish world of torture and threats of execution, could the pair survive being Kidnapped in Iraq? When Zoe McGarry met a man on holiday in Nigeria, she thought she had made a new friend. However, when he called her a few months later begging her to come to Ecuador to help him, he proved to be anything but trustworthy. In Master of Deception police find Zoe’s rucksack packed with cocaine from her friend. She ends up with an eight year sentence for drug smuggling, while the man simply disappeared. Missed an episode or want to know when the next one is showing? Click here to access the episode guide for this series.

Inside Google

A behind the scenes look at Google today. From Google’s offices in China and Russia to the Googleplex (its Silicon Valley headquarters), uncover why this company’s corporate philosophy and attitude is so unique among major companies today.

Secrets Of The Cross

This series investigates the suppressed and fascinating secrets at the heart of the Christian tradition.

'Secrets of the Cross' uncovers the tantalising mysteries at the heart of the Christian tradition. Stories that have shaped Western culture are critically re-examined by world renowned scholars and scrutinised in the light of compelling new evidence. Familiar tales and characters are re-cast in a new light as new truths are uncovered and 2000 year old mysteries solved. The series strips back layers of history to reveal surprising and provocative truths. Archaeological and historical evidence explode the myths embedded in the traditional tales and expert witnesses detail the conspiracies and cover-ups that have obscured the truth at each story's heart. Controversial and compelling, this series pushes aside centuries of tradition to investigate the suppressed and fascinating secrets at the heart of the Christian story.

World's Deadliest Animals

Find out which species are among the deadliest twelve animals in: Costa Rica, the Amazon, Asia and the Asia Pacific.

The world is home to an array of creatures that have evolved to survive harsh environments and brutal competition. Find out which species are among the deadliest twelve animals in: Costa Rica, the Amazon, Asia and the Asia Pacific.

- Costa Rica
- Amazon
- Asia
- Asia Pacific

Breaking Up The Biggest 4

Hard hats on and wrecking balls at the ready for the smashing premiere of Breaking Up the Biggest, Wednesdays at 9pm from 1st December. These new episodes bring you some of the most dramatic demolition jobs in history. From fighter jets to diesel trains, no job is too big for these salvage experts - backed up by an awesome array of concrete-crunching, steel-snapping, iron-mangling machinery.

Maximum security
It may have been built with tight security in mind, but with redevelopment planned for the area, Riverfront State Prison in Camden, New Jersey has itself become a dead man walking. Salvage crews are called to the emptied jail to execute an 18-acre [a 7-hectare] breakdown operation where they have to remove a potentially deadly substance.

Phantom Jet
Safety is paramount in every wrecking job especially when the job at hand is on an F-4 Phantom which comes equipped with a Vulcan cannon, live rockets and twin turbojet engines. With flammable jet fuel also part of the package, the salvage experts face one of their most delicate operations yet.

Yankee Stadium
Home to the New York Yankees for more than eight decades, host to 37 World Series and a Mecca for baseball fans worldwide: they don't come much more iconic than Yankee Stadium. Taking care to preserve as much valuable memorabilia as possible, the salvage crews set about dismantling the Bronx-based baseball shrine piece by piece.

Locomotive
After 50 long years riding the rails, it's finally the end of the track for one trusty old GP9 locomotive. Working to a tight eight-week schedule, can the breakdown crews manage to tear this old engine apart and salvage an ultra-modern, low-emission National Railway N-ViroMotive from the wreckage?

Danger Bridge
Irreparably damaged by floods in 2009, the Piacenza Bridge across the Po River needs taking down and fast. Faced with rising water levels, fierce currents and a tough 90% recycling mandate, Italian deconstruction experts Despe Demolizioni Speciali attempt to bring it down without even setting foot on its increasingly unstable structure.