Programmes

Where is Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370? How did it crash without a trace? And why has modern technology failed to pinpoint the wreckage? CGI reconstruction and unprecedented access to key personnel allows Drain the Oceans to go inside the longest, most expensive search in commercial aviation history and reveal the challenges of locating aircraft that go missing in the deep ocean. 

The China Seas – the site of the largest naval battles in history, a 700-year old mystery and technological wonders, both ancient and modern. State-of-the-art sonar technology is combined with the latest CGI to reveal the biggest battleship ever put to sea, an ancient wonder weapon and the underwater threat that could destroy the World Wide Web in an instant.

The Deadly Pacific – an underwater hotbed of volcanoes, mega-quakes and giant tsunamis. 500 million people live in ever-present danger along its edges. Combining CGI with cutting=edge ocean-mapping technology, we drain the Pacific Ocean to reveal the deadly geological forces behind Earth’s most destructive natural disasters, and uncover catastrophic threats lying just off the coast of major cities like Seattle, Tokyo and Washington.

In World War I, a major war crime led to the sinking of a hospital ship in the Bristol Channel. Explore the historical secrets revealed by this deep-sea wreck.

Exhilarating expeditions to the seabed. Divers fathom how the World War I battleship HMS Audacious, thought to be unsinkable, capsized after a solitary blow

World War II saw the greatest ever loss of ships and lives at sea. As we drain the oceans, each vessel tells its tale: From the Arizona in Pearl Harbour, to Nazi super-ship the Bismarck, flaming merchant ships torpedoed by U-boats off tourist beaches of the US, to the Allies’ costly D-Day beachhead and the troopship Leopoldville sunk with the unexpected loss of 800 American lives.

The Bermuda Triangle: Over the past century it has claimed many ships, planes and people – all mysteriously disappearing without trace within its boundaries.  But what do we really know about this 500,000 square mile expanse of ocean? Does it deserve its ominous reputation? Is there truly something ‘different’ about this mysterious area of water?

Below the surface of the Mediterranean, time has softened the outline of what was once a mighty British warship, HMS Manchester. But time has not stilled the passions roused by its controversial loss: not only was this 11,000 ton ship sunk, but so too was the official reputation of her highly decorated captain, Harold Drew, DSC. Hidden amongst the wreckage are clues to what really happened during the heat of battle. Can Captain Drew’s reputation finally be restored?

Over the last century, advances in technology fuelled a race to build gigantic ships. When they go wrong, they become awe-inspiring wrecks.

The secrets of the survival of the Roman Empire are unearthed from beneath the waves of the Mediterranean and the soil of the Italian Peninsula.