The Engineering That Built the World

The most dangerous railway lines in the world are breathtakingly beautiful, fascinating and lead through extreme landscapes. They touch the sky and for some they go straight to hell afterwards, leading over extreme heights, across oceans or savannahs and braving hurricanes.

An exploration of engineering marvels. This brand new series reveals the extraordinary feats of engineering hidden inside the world's most spectacular man-made constructions. From the world's biggest plane and largest free-spanning dome to the tallest building and the largest space ship, each superstructure is taken apart using state-of-the-art CGI and insight from world class specialists to reveal the startling innovations that turn it from dream to reality.

Michael Portillo takes to the tracks with a copy of George Bradshaw's Victorian Railway Guidebook. Portillo travels the length and breadth of the country to see how the railways changed us, and what of Bradshaw's Britain remains.

Ancient Impossible, the new H2 series, picks up where HISTORY’s long running Ancient Discoveries left off. In this next generation of storytelling, Ancient Impossible reveals how many of today’s technological achievements were actually developed centuries ago. Colossal monuments, impossible feats of engineering and technologies so precise they defy reinvention–the ancient world was far more advanced than we ever imagined. We’ll travel through history to reveal a radically different picture of the past, with innovations so far ahead of their time, they’re still in use today. New science uncovers a lost world more like our own than we ever suspected, and reveals how modern technology has its blueprint in the ancient world.

Les souterrains de Paris, une techno XXL

Exceptional Engineering

Scotland's rail network crosses a landscape voted the best in the world. This series follows the staff and enthusiasts safeguarding these iconic routes.

The true story of the battle to build the world's first supersonic airliner. A tale of genius, Cold War espionage, and an whole new kind of jet plane.

In a "nation of middle-class" the IIT dream involves clearing the world's toughest public exam for guaranteed lifelong success. Life is not an exam though. It's a hustle, one that nobody trains them for. The result? Eternal tumult.

The three-part series tells the story of British architects Richard Rogers, Norman Foster, Nicholas Grimshaw, Michael Hopkins and Terry Farrell.

Series telling the story of the architects, engineers and spin doctors who entered a frantic two year race to make the Royal Opening of St Pancras on time.

Michael Portillo travels on the great train routes of Europe, as he retraces the journeys featured in George Bradshaw's 1913 Continental Railway Guide.

Hinkley Point C, in a remote corner of the Somerset countryside, will be one of the largest nuclear power stations in Europe, and the UK's first new station in a generation. The 22-billion-GBP project requires mammoth foundations for the two reactors, excavation of 3.5km cooling water tunnels under the Bristol Channel, and an airtight inner steel lining to contain any radioactive material in the event of a meltdown.

Power: Engineering Energy and Speed

They are the high-flying pride of the U.S. military, one-of-a-kind warriors that, over the decades, collectively revolutionized aerial warfare. Through rare, archival footage and compelling testimonies, meet the men and women who fly and maintain these Air Warriors and see how they've overcome incredible obstacles to rule the sky.

This is your chance to reach out and touch the past! Just as a forensic anthropologist analyses bones, and a historian deciphers ancient texts, we now have the technology to "read" the buildings, ruins and landscapes where history was made. The series, presented by Dallas Campbell, teams Steve Burrows (pictured), the brains behind the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing, with a team of pioneering laser scanning experts from the Centre for Advanced Spatial Technologies to unlock the secrets of the world’s greatest engineering and cultural achievements. Locations include the Colosseum, Petra, Machu Picchu, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Pyramids and Jerusalem.

Bridging the Expanse

This series looks at the iconic trains that have done the most to change history. Each train is an engineering marvel, each one a leap forward in the history of trains and railways. But more than this, these are the trains that made the modern world. These are the trains that unify nations and open up continents, that miraculously shrink distance and create a global economy, changing how we trade, what we buy and make and sell. They change how we live and even how we think, speeding up our lives and expanding our horizons. These are the machines that made us modern. Each episode features one iconic train and describes its impact on railway history and on history in general, combining archive and expert testimony with actuality and hands-on engineering demonstrations.

The invention of trains transformed everything about how humans lived. From the movement of goods and population, the design of cities, to conquest and warfare, there are few aspects of civilization that were left untouched by these machines.

It is 2014 and the machines have not taken over…yet. The newest, most technologically advanced series from H2™, Rise of the Machines, reveals how the inventions behind the world’s most extreme machines have enabled them to evolve beyond humanity’s wildest imagination. This visually stunning series uses mind-blowing CGI animations to reveal the extraordinary engineering at the heart of the world’s most extreme machines. From the world’s biggest mega truck to the world’s fastest train to a revolutionary heavy lift ship, ground breaking CGI animation explodes the machines apart to reveal the ingenious inventions hidden under their skin that enables the teams who drive, fly and sail them to be at the top of their game. This series takes us inside these machines in close up detail and explores what helps these elite ships, trucks, trains and aircrafts rise above all others.