Modern Times — Season 12

Jan 2015

Growing numbers of British women are using donor sperm, with many of them turning to Denmark, the new sperm capital of the world. It has become a huge global business and is now one of Denmark's biggest exports. Each week, straws of frozen Danish sperm are shipped out to over 70 countries. Award-winning film-maker Sue Bourne's film follows four women as they try to make a baby using Danish sperm. For all of them it turns out to be an extraordinary and hugely difficult and moving journey in a world where women no longer need men to create a family.

Feb 2015

Actor Warwick Davis puts his money on the line to set up the Reduced Height Theatre Company, producing classic plays cast entirely with short actors. It's always been Warwick's dream to be taken seriously as a stage actor and to give other short actors opportunities outside panto and creature roles. But will the actors, many of whom are not professionally trained, be up to the task of learning lines and performing in the demanding play See How They Run? As Warwick and the company rehearse for their big night and his wife Sam undergoes major spinal surgery, we learn about the challenges of theatrical production, and the physical and psychological pressures of being a person of short stature in an average height world.

Feb 2015

Documentary tracking City Link management, employees and customers experiences as the company struggles to survive in the summer of 2014. The documentary is updated with events as 2014 comes to a clos

Feb 2015

From the upmarket resident who dresses in Victorian clothing to the cabbie living in social housing, Welcome to Mayfair offers an intimate portrait of the characters who live, work and play in one of London's most famous areas. The most coveted square on the Monopoly board is a meeting place of fairy tales and conspicuous consumerism - more concentrated wealth than anywhere else on the planet, streets teeming with oligarchs and aristocrats, 20 Michelin-starred restaurants, nearly 4,000 five-star hotel rooms and the world's most expensive retail outlets.

May 2015

For Richer for Poorer follows four couples risking it all to start the business of their dreams. The stakes couldn't be higher. They're not just gambling their savings, loans or family nest-eggs, but also putting their relationships on the line. How does life change when a partner becomes a business partner? Who really wears the trousers when love and work collide? There's a fine line between fortune and ruin - and since one in four businesses don't make it past the first year, the pressure to get things right couldn't be greater. In Canterbury, married couple Barry and Vicky have opened up a furniture store and baking school and have just six months to make a profit or shut up shop for good. Husband and wife Andrew and Theresa have been happily together for 25 years, but their different ambitions for their fledgling Jamaican Patty Company are keeping them awake at night.

May 2015

Lucy Cohen's film goes behind the net curtains to discover amateur naturalists all over Britain who have transformed their gardens into intense filming environments in the pursuit of capturing the daily and nightly goings-on amongst the wildlife population. From foxes treated like family to the social lives of hedgehogs, these dogged naturalists will stop at nothing to capture that elusive shot.

May 2015

In Britain today, more than six million of us employ domestic help in the form of cleaners - a job primarily done by the scores of immigrants arriving in the UK looking for work. What do the contents of our homes and our interactions with a workforce paid to clean up after us reveal about us? With access to cleaners and their clients, this documentary lifts the lid on what our cleaners really think about us. It also tells the story of an invisible class struggling to earn a living and make a life in the UK.

Jun 2015

The world of extreme military-style obstacle courses is taking the country by storm. In total, 205,000 people ran obstacle races in Britain in 2013. Globally the industry is estimated to be worth over half a billion dollars. This film follows five men over the length of one of these courses, the Tough Mudder. As they attempt to conquer the 12-mile course they face 12-foot walls, crawling through mud-filled trenches, enduring electrocution, and submerging themselves in giant skips full of ice.

Oct 2015

A duke is the highest rank of the peerage. Dukedoms are created by the monarch to reward people who have made an outstanding contribution to the country. The last dukedom was created by Queen Victoria. If a duke dies without a male heir (the title can be inherited but not passed on by a female heiress) the dukedom will die out. This film looks at titles which are about to become extinct and examines what it means to be a duke in the 21st century - do they still have power and wealth?