Watch Bettany Hughes documentaries

BBC Select is the place to watch Bettany Hughes documentaries. Join the British historian, author and broadcaster as she explores a range of subjects from modern day geniuses to ancient gods and treasures.

Explore history’s most amazing treasures, go on a Greek odyssey and learn about amazing ancient worlds with Bettany Hughes, all in this collection of epic history documentaries on BBC Select, available to stream in Canada.

What can the ancient world’s vision of the planet, such as the legend of powerful Greek Goddess Gaia, teach us? Acclaimed historian Bettany Hughes explores our relationship with Mother Earth in this fascinating documentary on BBC Select. Now, more than ever, our use and misuse of the planet is under scrutiny. Can the past hold the answers to how we can possibly have a future on the Earth?

In the 18th century, those seeking culture and an artistic education would take a ‘grand tour’, exploring Europe’s rich heritage and cuisine. In this delightful travel documentary series historian Bettany Hughes follows in their footsteps, visiting such wonders as the museums of Paris and Rome, the canals of Venice, the cuisine of Florence and Milan and the glorious vistas of the Amalfi coast.

The 19th century was a time of revolution – in politics and in ideas. Three great thinkers led the way – Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzche and Sigmund Freud – reimagining global economics, questioning our morality and unravelling the workings of the mind. Their quest drove them to extremes – into poverty, into madness. Their ideas would bring the world as we know it kicking and screaming into being.

Award winning historian Bettany Hughes explores the complex attitudes towards women and religion, from 10,000 BC to the present day, in this enthralling BBC Select history documentary. The status of females and faith continues to be a contentious subject. But it wasn’t always this way. In the past, women were often powerful players in the act of worship, from the very birth of organized religion.

It’s the story of one of antiquity’s most potent forces. A story of naked human desire and how that desire transformed who we are and how we behave. Classicist Bettany Hughes embarks on a voyage of discovery, traveling across the globe to reveal the truth about the love, fertility and sex goddess Venus in this BBC history documentary. What relevance does this immortal have in the 21st century?

Bettany investigates the enduring relationship between violence and worship by following the trail, through time, of the ancient god of war: Mars. In this BBC history documentary, Bettany asks if celebrating war is a way of bringing societies together by creating ‘them’ and ‘us’ and how Romans, and later Christian crusaders, justified bloodshed. But can war ever be justified?

Is there more to Bacchus, the celebrated god of wine, debauchery and excess, than merely being a party animal? Bettany Hughes gets under the skin of the ecstasy god in this revealing BBC history documentary. She learns that alcohol was used to bring communities together and that ecstatic worship was vital to the lives of ancient women. But what’s the connection between Bacchus and Jesus?

What happened in the 5th century BC changed your life. This was the time when three trailblazers – the Buddha, Confucius and Socrates – transformed our understanding of human potential, cutting us loose from gods, making us deciders of our own destiny. All survivors of childhood trauma, living thousands of miles apart, what was it about their time that created ideas that still shape our own lives?

Does the ancient world have any bearing on who we are today? Acclaimed classicist Bettany Hughes is taking viewers on an armchair journey around the globe in this fascinating history documentary on BBC Select. Incredible artifacts from the planet’s most prestigious historical sites will be revealed and explored. Can these wonders provide some insight into how we live and think contemporaneously?