555 Productions (Firm)
1) Tough Trucks
Series
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
Laura Guiauchain travels in a variety of trucks to the four Imperial Cities, seeking the origins of Morocco. Following the ancient trade routes, once the domain of Berber camel trains, but now used by some of the 250,000 HGVs which travel north each year through the port of Tangier. Laura meets truckers and historians to tell the Moroccan story and pinpoint important moments in its history. Along the way she will experience the Moroccan Hollywood,...
2) Tough Trains
Series
Pub. Date
[2015]
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
In this episode of ‘Tough Trains’, Zay Harding takes on an epic journey across one of the world’s biggest railway networks. These railways built during the 19th century by the British to move troops and raw materials across the land, ultimately played a role in the independence of the country a century later. The railway tracks are some of the oldest and longest you’ll find anywhere in the world and train travel doesn’t get any tougher...
3) Tough Boats
Series
Pub. Date
[2016]
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
The Philippines is the world’s second largest Archipelago comprising of 7,107 stunning Islands nestled in the Pacific Ocean’s Coral Triangle. Ever since the first Malaysian and Indonesian settlers arrived nearly 70,000 years ago, boats have played a fundamental role in shaping the country, its people, economy and culture. In our hour-long adventure we explore five of the Philippines most breath-taking Islands. This episode will tell the story...
Series
Pub. Date
[2013]
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
It’s U.S. Independence Day in Philadelphia and host Justine Shapiro, after soaking up some good old fashioned July 4th ambiance, goes beyond the traditional parade route. She embarks on a walking tour that gives her a peek inside the oldest institutions and neighbourhoods that were the pre-revolutionary backdrop to inventing the very concept of the United States.
Pub. Date
[2013]
Language
English
Description
Presenter Julian Davison’s first port of call in this episode is Vienna, where he tours the world famous Ringstrasse and Schonbrunn Palace, discovering the facts behind the staggering wealth and achievements of Emperor Franz Joseph’s Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Series
Empire Builders volume 0
Pub. Date
[2022]
Language
English
Description
The Spanish Conquest laid the ground for 300 years of colonial rule which made Spain the richest country in Europe and divided the country with a class system which still impacts today. After the conquest Mexico became the world’s largest producer of silver which provided eagerly sought exchange for Europe’s trade with Asia. Meantime, conquistadors and friars spread out along so called “royal roads “which linked new with the desert frontiers...
Series
Pub. Date
[2021]
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
This second episode shows off the coastal and hinterland cities that were built by a prosperous Mediterranean trade; one that dates back to Phoenician sailors. The cities of Oran, Tlemcen and Constantine are explored for their history and sites. In Oran, resident Zaki Souffi goes shopping in the jedida market. He visits the home of the city’s most eminent émigré, Yves Saint Laurent, and has a local snack of karantika. He tours the old Bey palace...
Pub. Date
[2021]
Language
English
Description
At the end of the 18th century an English country doctor, Edward Jenner, developed the world’s first vaccine - for smallpox. His breakthrough was the first of several over the next hundred years as scientists, microbiologists, chemists (such as Louis Pasteur), and epidemiologists (such as John Snow) sought answers to and developed cures for diseases such as cholera, rabies and typhoid. The end of World War I saw the return of Pandemics with the...
Series
Empire Builders volume 0
Pub. Date
[2022]
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
This episode explores the period from the birth of the Chinese republic in 1911 to the civil war, bloody Japanese occupation, the coming to power of Mao and the Communist Party, the Cultural Revolution, up to the present day. We visit Tiananmen Square, the booming skyscraper cities of Shanghai and Beijing and President Xi’s Belt and Road. How has the tumultuous last 100 years impacted Communist China’s ambitions as a superpower today and its relations...
Series
Empire Builders volume 0
Pub. Date
[2023]
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
In Episode 2: Pacific Conquests, we look at the history of European colonisation of the Pacific. The Spaniards were the first to explore the region following the establishment of the galleon route between the Philippines and Acapulco in Mexico in the 16th and 17th centuries. Thereafter in the 18th and 19th centuries the British and French sought spheres of influence in the Pacific establishing colonies there and embarking on religious crusades to...
Series
Empire Builders volume 0
Pub. Date
[2021]
Language
English
Description
After successful trading missions to the Spice Islands (Indonesia) the Dutch established the East India Company (VOC) which was to grow into the world’s largest multi-national corporation in the 17th century. The VOC developed a near monopoly of the Asian spice trade and its huge maritime fleet became the world’s most powerful and profitable shipping company. Far from celebrating their so called “Golden Age”, the Dutch today are actively debating...
Pub. Date
[2022]
Language
English
Description
The Jewish diaspora is the world’s oldest. Jews began leaving Israel nearly 3000 years ago with the invasion of Judea by the Assyrian Empire. The destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70AD caused the dispersal of many Jews to other parts of the Middle East and North Africa including Alexandria in Egypt and Algeria.Jewish communities then established themselves in the Iberian Peninsula and in Europe during the Middle Ages. The Spanish Inquisition...
Series
Empire Builders volume 0
Pub. Date
[2022]
Language
English
Description
In this episode of Empire Builders, we explore the great historic sites of the Minoan civilisation on Crete, Mycenae in the Peloponnese and the emerging Greek city states such as Corinth. We also travel to Greek settlements established in the Mediterranean, at places such as Phaestum in southern Italy and Selinunte in Sicily.
Series
Empire Builders volume 0
Pub. Date
[2023]
Language
English
Description
Discover the untold stories of ten famous pillaged treasures and the ongoing debate on their return. Victorious Empires have long benefitted from the fruits of conquest, through territorial expansion, wealth accumulation, and cultural dominance. But they also enriched themselves through the acquisition or cultural appropriation of monuments, objects, and icons. At worst the spoils of war have also involved the pillaging, stealing or destruction of...
Pub. Date
[2022]
Language
English
Description
China is home to one of the oldest continuous civilizations on earth and for much of its history has lived isolated or semi separately from the rest of the world. Home to many exotic goods, it has long been a trading nation and it was only in the 19th century that it needed to send its citizens abroad to work. This migration formed the Chinese Diaspora. While some were free settlers seeking wealth abroad others were indentured workers popular with...
Series
Empire Builders volume 0
Pub. Date
[2018]
Language
English
Description
From the Declaration of Independence at Independence Hall, through to tech solutions of Silicon Valley, America has shaped the world we live in – all the while shaping its own identity through the iconic buildings and structures that chart the nation’s history.
Series
Empire Builders volume 0
Pub. Date
[2023]
Language
English
Description
The Inca were one of the world's largest civilizations of the late Middle Ages until their conquest by the Spanish in 1533 in modern-day Peru and surrounding countries. The center was in Cusco in the Peruvian Highlands, and the Incas expanded into the largest pre-Columbian kingdom in the Americas, spreading across a diverse selection of climates such as the highlands of the Andes, plateaus, and jungles. This became the world's only mountain empire,...