To the Ends of the Earth

The Carnarvon family has tended to steer clear of Egypt ever since the fifth Earl died within weeks of discovering Tutankhamun's tomb -- cursed, it was said, for disturbing the rest of the pharaohs. But now the Earl's great-grandson Lord Porchester is planning to defy the curse and supervise an excavation in Thebes by the family archaeologist Nigel Struthwick. 1/6.

Oceanographer James Ballard, whose 1985 discovery of the sunken Titanic sparked a feeding frenzy, is now a vociferous opponent of the company which presently controls the wreck and which stages exhibitions of salvaged artifacts. Chris Powell's film tells the story of obsession, exploitation, and lawsuits surrounding the tragic liner's remains.

How one Robert Twigger aims to collect the $50,000 prize, never claimed in 80 years, for bringing the Bronx Zoo a live, healthy snake of over 30 feet.

Anthropologist Tudor Parfitt uses genetic research to determine whether Africa's Lemba tribe are of Jewish descent, as they claim. Can he confirm a legend that would rewrite history? 4/6.

Archaeologists are trying to log the history of the settlement on remote Pitcairn island, where Christian and fellow mutineers from HMS Bounty fled with Polynesian comrades to found a new Eden. Their excavations, and the oral tradition of the settlers' direct descendants, tell how that early community, riven with conflicts over race and property, descended into murderous savagery before finding redemption.

Explorer Robin Hanbury-Tenison revisits the tropical rainforests of Mulu in Borneo some 20 years after his first expedition, to see how the environment has changed in the intervening years. Will there be any sign of his former friend and nomadic tribesman Nyapun?