History Episodes

On Christmas Day 1974, the eye of Cyclone Tracy ripped through Darwin. Over 100 people were killed, 20,000 were left homeless, and 80 percent of the city's buildings were destroyed. It was the worst natural disaster in Australian history.

On Christmas Day 1974, the eye of Cyclone Tracy ripped through Darwin. Over 100 people were killed, 20,000 were left homeless, and 80 percent of the city's buildings were destroyed. It was the worst natural disaster in Australian history.

On Christmas Day 1974, the eye of Cyclone Tracy ripped through Darwin. Over 100 people were killed, 20,000 were left homeless, and 80 percent of the city's buildings were destroyed. It was the worst natural disaster in Australian history.

The true story of a brazen band of Aussie thieves who moved to London in the 60s and ran riot.

The idea of a plane that dropped bombs first emerged in World War 1, and was particularly effective in the Gulf War.

Learn about the history of the tank, starting with its introduction in World War 1.

The Spitfire plane played a pivotal role in World War 2. This program looks at the history and developments of the fighter plane.

The 1855 trial of The Eureka 13 is recreated - the diggers' treason trial would fuel public demand for democracy and lead to major changes in the Victorian constitution.

In Massacre at Myall Creek, we see the trials in 1838 of seven European settlers involved in the killing of about 30 unarmed Aborigines in northern NSW, raising major questions about the settlers' relationships with Aborigines in general.

The helicopter gunship emerged in World War 2 and was further developed through the post-war years.

Witness the 1886 trial of 11 Sydney 'larrikins' charged with a gang rape of a 16 year old orphan, Mary Jane Hicks - a horrific crime at a pivotal point in NSW history.

Most casualties in the 20th Century battlegrounds were caused by artillery and so this program looks at the development of canons, mortars and the like.

The story of Nazi general Reinhard Heydrich, who chaired the infamous Wannsee Conference (which approved the Final Solution). He died in 1942 of injuries from an ambush near Prague.

In June 2005, Dennis Lynn Rader appears in court. He works as an enforcement officer for the local authority, is a boy-scout leader and a prominent member of the Lutheran church. Then he's accused of the brutal murder of 10 people.

Rising NFL star Rae Carruth's girlfriend is shot in a drive-by shooting and implicates him before dying. Rae goes on the run and search is launched.

When a British student is found murdered in Italy, Police turn their attention to her housemate and her boyfriend in a trial that gripped the world.

There's nothing like music to stir the body, the mind, and the soul. But for some women listening to music isn't enough. And as long as there have been musicians, there have been women that will do anything to be with them.

Three women, three wives, three mothers, they were each living out the American dream, until they realized they were living a lie. How some womenhave to keep their secret for fear of breaking their family apart.

A devoted mother Nina Sharanova, disappears in mysterious circumstances in Oakland, California. The last time she's seen alive is just before she drops off her children at the home of her ex-husband, Hans Reiser. Police suspect he may be involved.

Cape Cod, is a place where people go to escape the grind of city life. Few could imagine anything really horrible happening in such an idyllic place. However, on January 26, 2002, perceptions are drastically altered.

The search for Klaus Barbie, aka the Butcher of Lyon, who was responsible for the deaths of some 4000 French men and women. Also: the hunt for a death-camp guard known as Ivan the Terrible.

The finale focuses on SS reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler, who was picked up by a British patrol while attempting to make his way to Bavaria following Germany's defeat. He committed suicide the next day.

Tanya and John run A Foreign Affair, a leading international marriage agency. Tanya says people think that somehow she and her husband are selling women on the internet, but Tanya likes to think of themselves as international matchmakers.

In 1996 a ten year old boy, Zachary Ramsay, disappears on his way to school. The police suspect Nathaniel Bar-Jonah was a known paedophile from Massachusetts but with no hard evidence, they can do nothing.

Australian heiress Janie Shepherd goes missing from a smart area of London. One policeman's intuition leads him to suspect David Lashley, a known rapist, of abducting her, but before he can be questioned, Lashley is convicted of a different attack.

Peter Bergna and his wife Rinette were involved in a terrible accident. Peter drives their car off a mountain road and it plunges 800 feet. Rinette is killed, but miraculously Peter survives leaving police suspicious of his account of what happened.

Sixteen years after Martha Moxley is found dead in an exclusive New York suburb, her neighbour is brought to trial after new evidence is uncovered.

The story of the Jewish vigilantes who, after the WWII, tracked down known Nazis and killed them. They also plotted to poison the water supplies of Munich, Berlin, Nuremburg, Hamburg and Weimar

In 2001 a British couple, Joanne Lees and Peter Falconio, disappear in the wilderness of the Australian outback in their orange VW Kombi on the final leg of their exciting round the world trip.

The case against Hermann Goering, the Luftwaffe commander in chief who founded the Gestapo in 1933 and was named Hitler's successor in 1941.

In September 1987, elderly, reclusive, near blind, eccentric, Simon Dale, is found bludgeoned to death in his home Heath House, Shropshire, England. His ex-wife, Susan Wilberforce, quickly becomes the prime suspect in his murder.

The hunt for SS officer Adolf Eichmann, who organized the transport of Jews to the death camps. He escaped from US custody after the war, was captured in 1960, and was executed in 1962.

In 1993, Colin Ferguson boarded a train and began shooting passengers, killing six people. At his trial, he defended himself, claiming his innocence.

In Paris, France, 1995 a beautiful young nurse, Helene Frinking is found dead in her apartment. She is just one of the victims of the serial killer who becomes known as The Beast of the Bastille.

Danny Rolling tortures his victims and as a calling card, he mutilates and poses their corpses to taunt police. A taskforce is set up which links Danny to the Gainesville murders in Florida, but it's four years before he finally comes to trial.

In July 2000, Sara Payne and her husband hear the news they have been dreading: the body of their 8 year old daughter, Sarah, has been found in a shallow grave.

In 1991 Ray and Faye Copeland become, at the ages of 76 and 69, the oldest couple ever sentenced to death in the USA. They are convicted of killing five drifters on their farm in Missouri as part of bad cheque scam.

The story of Vito Genovese, dubbed the Boss of all Bosses and the most dangerous gangster in American history

In 1994, a mother appeared on TV to appeal for the safe return of her two missing children. But it soon emerged the children were already dead - killed by her own hand.

The search for Joachim Peiper, a Waffen-SS officer whose unit massacred the captured American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion in December 1944.

In 2004, the European trial of the century began. Marc Dutroux was accused of unspeakable crimes in a dirty basement against six young female victims.

Daren pesters Mark to give him control of Graveyard Carz for a week, then prepares for Christmas instead of concentrating on vehicles.

The search for Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, who experimented on Auschwitz inmates.

To some Chaim Rumkowski was a man of immense courage. To others he is simply a traitor; a Jew who worked with the Nazis and assisted them in the Final Solution.

Pierre Laval was a French politician who developed a close relationship with Adolf Hitler and proposed that the two countries should collaborate. He is still one of the most detested men in French history.

Lucky Luciano was the man who put the organised into organised crime.

Roy De Mayo was the ultimate mob hit man, who streamlined the art of assassination in the 1970s, killing as many as 200 people.

Mobster Sam Giancana was a mentally unstable, violent criminal mastermind considered by many as the most powerful organised crime boss in American history.