Documentaries &
Factual
The DeLorean Story
On 19 October 1982, at the Sheraton Plaza, Los Angeles, grainy footage
showed businessman John DeLorean taking delivery of a mysterious suitcase
before being arrested by the FBI.
Back in Northern Ireland, his devoted workforce, recruited from hard-line
Loyalist and Republican areas, looked on in disbelief.
This film tells the story of the transformation of a muddy field in
Belfast into a state-of-the-art factory. The workforce turned out thousands
of the gullwing-doored wonder-cars.
They didn't really work properly, but they looked great. Even Michael
J Fox thought so.
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ FOUR goes back to the future, to a time when Belfast battled with
Milan and Detroit's finest. (LK)
Malaria Mission
In a remarkable new observational documentary, filmed over three years,
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ FOUR tracks the fight to find a vaccine for the oldest disease known
to man.
Malaria still claims two million victims every year. Most cases appear
in sub-Saharan Africa but the disease is spreading by the day and has
recently reappeared in the southern states of America.
As the malaria parasite develops, its resistance to each new drug
increases and the need for a vaccine becomes ever more urgent.
Malaria Mission follows the life of sufferers in a Kenyan village and
in Florida, as experts in Britain and America fight against the clock
to discover an effective vaccine. (ER)
The Other Side Of… The
Suez Crisis
On 26 July 1956, Gamal Abdul Nasser of Egypt made a strategic move
that caught the Western world by surprise.
He nationalised the Suez Canal Company, precipitating what became known
as the Suez Crisis - one of the biggest political stalemates of the
century.
The Other Side Of... The Suez Crisis reveals, for the first time, the
complexity of this historic story from the Egyptian and Russian perspective.
Unravelling the development of the world-changing political events
step by step, the programme combines interviews with key political players
and exclusive access to Soviet policy-making documents, to assess what
led Nasser to this ultimate test of wills. (CC/EF)
The House Of Saud -
Storyville
The House Of Saud is a fascinating and exclusive look at the al-Sauds,
the ruling family of Saudi Arabia.
Through revealing portraits of the five monarchs, the programme retraces
recent political history and provides a unique insight into this complex
tribal nation.
Since the events of 11 September 2001 and the actions of its most infamous
son, Osama Bin Laden, Saudi Arabia has been propelled into the limelight.
The country's very survival depends on maintaining the precarious balance
between Islam and modernity.
However, as support for Islamic fundamentalism grows and relations
with the USA become increasingly tense, The House Of Saud examines whether
the al-Saud family can weather the turbulent times ahead. (CC/EF)
The World
With a distinctive news agenda, the daily news programme on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ FOUR
has been relaunched, and now features a new set and more in-depth reporting
from around the globe.
Presented by Kirsty Lang, The World reports international
news from a global perspective, exploring intriguing stories and angles.
The World is shown at 8.00pm every weekday on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ FOUR and simultaneously
on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World, which is broadcast to 273 million homes in more than 200
countries and territories worldwide.
The half-hour programme draws on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's newsgathering operation
- the largest of any broadcaster in the world. (PR)
Holidays In The Danger
Zone: America Was Here
From the Vietnam War and the secret war in Laos in the Seventies to
George Bush Senior's invasion of Panama a decade ago, American foreign
policy has had a major effect on a number of countries on most continents.
Holidays In The Axis Of Evil reporter Ben Anderson
returns to take a lively and eventful trip through the countries that
have experienced American intervention - and to feel and see what life
is like today for their inhabitants. (PR)
Selling Greece - Storyville
As Athens - the birthplace of Olympic spirit - prepares to host the
2004 Olympic Games, Storyville investigates just how Athenians really
feel about hosting the greatest show on Earth.
Following the story of the run-up to the Olympics, the film takes vox-pop
opinions from everyday men and women on the street, neatly juxtaposing
their down-to-earth concerns with the high ideals of the Athens Olympic
Committee, senior politicians and local glitterati.
What follows is a fascinating insight into Greek national pride, as
Athenians battle with organisational shortcomings and inbuilt prejudices
to achieve the unachievable. (CC/EF)