Tim Walker

Star of Bethlehem

BBC Two

BBC Two is a TV channel that started broadcasting on the 20th April 1964.

24/12/2008

BBC Two - Star of Bethlehem

Scientists try to find out if the star of Bethlehem was a real astronomical event.

Scientists look back into the skies of the ancient world to find out if the three wise men could have witnessed a real astronomical event.

In one of the most magical stories ever told, a bright star led the wise men from the east to the new Messiah. Now scientists are looking back into the skies of the ancient world to find out if the magi could have witnessed a real astronomical event. 

Could the star of Bethlehem have been a comet, an alignment of planets or even a supernova? Who were the wise men, and why were they watching the night skies? Could evidence from a clay tablet from Babylon, an ancient manuscript from China, a fresco in the Catacombs of Rome and biblical texts help to finally unravel the greatest astronomical story in history?

Woolly Mammoth: Secrets from the Ice

04/04/2012

BBC Two - Woolly Mammoth: Secrets from the IceSearch BBC

Professor Alice Roberts reveals the natural history of the woolly mammoth.

Professor Alice Roberts on the natural history of the woolly mammoth, revealing adaptations that helped the species evolve from their origins in the tropics to surviving in Siberia

Professor Alice Roberts reveals the natural history of the most famous of ice age animals - the woolly mammoth. Mammoths have transfixed humans since the depths of the last ice age, when their herds roamed across what is now Europe and Asia. Although these curious members of the elephant family have been extinct for thousands of years, scientists can now paint an incredibly detailed picture of their lives thanks to whole carcasses that have been beautifully preserved in the Siberian permafrost. 

Alice meets the scientists who are using the latest genetic, chemical and molecular tests to reveal the adaptations that allowed mammoths to evolve from their origins in the tropics to surviving the extremes of Siberia. And in a dramatic end to the film, she helps unveil a brand new woolly mammoth carcass that may shed new light on our own ancestors' role in their extinction.

Ice Age Giants

Ice Age Giants: Episode 2: Land of the Cave-Bear

Episode 2

Episode 2: Land of the Cave-Bear

Land of the Cave-Bear

BBC Two - Ice Age Giants, Land of the Cave-Bear

Professor Alice Roberts ventures to the areas hit hardest by the cold of the Ice Age.

Professor Alice Roberts goes on the trail of the great beasts of the Ice Age. This time she visits Europe and Siberia, which were hit hardest by the cold.

Professor Alice Roberts journeys 40,000 years back in time on the trail of the great beasts of the Ice Age. Drawing on the latest scientific detective work and a dash of graphic wizardry, Alice brings the Ice Age giants back to life.

In this episode, Alice ventures to the parts of the northern hemisphere hit hardest by the cold - Europe and Siberia.

High in the mountains of Transylvania, a cave sealed for thousands of years reveals grisly evidence for a fight to the death between two starving giants, a cave bear and a cave lion. These animals, which would dwarf their modern-day relatives, were probably driven into conflict by the pressure on food supplies as the Ice Age gathered pace. 

Yet Alice discovers that, for woolly rhinos and woolly mammoths, the Ice Age created a bounty. The Mammoth Steppe, a vast tract of land which went halfway round the world, provided food all year round for those that liked the cold. It was these mammoths that Europe's most dangerous predators - Neanderthals and our own ancestors - hunted for their survival.

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Star of Bethlehem

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Woolly Mammoth: Secrets from the Ice

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Ice Age Giants

Episode 2: Land of the Cave-Bear

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