Educational documentaries / films for GCSE / A Level students

[AintNobodyHereButUsKittens]

In order to mix entertainment with a bit of education and broadening of horizons, what could we watch as a family that would improve the DCs’ general knowledge?

Things like Life on Earth or Chemistry: a Volatile History or David Starkey’s Tudor docs, or a fact-based film like The Big Short or even a historical drama with a broad scope like War and Peace, that’s available on iPlayer, All4 or Netflix.

The headline documentaries on iPlayer all seem to be startlingly depressing stories of campus rape, life on death row or the rise of the alt right, which is not really what I fancy at the moment, and also is the sort of stuff they already know about from the online media channels they consume.

Any ideas?

I'm just sitting down to Secrets of the Museum (BBC2). It's the V&A, not my usual genre of museums, but I do love a museum!

There's loads of Horizon episodes on Sky, I think.

If you liked The Big Short, try Laundromat. Similar thing with Meryl Streep.

Hidden treasure. It’s a film about Katherine Johnson and other women influential in the space programme. Historic and joyfil

Hidden Figures is the film about Katherine Johnson etc. (Sorry to correct, I LOVE that film!)

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was on sky a while back too. Might still be there.

@Photosymphysis yes you’re right. Sorry. The film is brilliant, I loved it too. I also tried reading the book and didn’t like it nearly as much as the author had quite a heavy style

Man on wire
Blackfish
Free solo

Possibly won't help with GCSE's per se, but as our HT never stops saying... Every day's a learning day.

For some drama, the National Theatre are releasing a play from their archives on YouTube each Thursday from next week. National Theatre Home.

Thanks all

Look for documentaries by a young reporter called Benjamin Zand. He's done some thought-provoking work but would be very appealing to teenagers, I would think - he has a very accessible style.

He did a series called The World's Most Dangerous Cities.

Assuming the children are not too young , how about anything from Simon Reeve , they are always full of interesting stuff . And what about the recent WW2 drama about the Windermere children it was one of the best things I've seen in recent times and fact based .

Chernobyl
Schindlers List
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
The Book Thief

I think those are way outside my emotional range at the moment Gin. I’m unsure whether I can cope with The Mirror and the Light, let alone anything Holocaust related.

They are a bit grim aren't they.
What about Horrible Histories then?

Mark Kermode's Cinema series on BBC iplayer. There are six episodes, each on a different genre.

Rsc and nt are putting sone productions online

And Bbc - An Inspector Calls, Romeo and Juliet etc

Try it have a look in the Arts, History and Science & Nature sections on iPlayer, as well as the From the Archives section. Some really fab stuff in here, more uplifting than some of the 'headline' stuff on the main page.

I think the Royal Shakespeare Company are due to broadcast their 'live at' performances (possibly on iPlayer) soon.

On Netflix maybe try:
Forks over Knives - fascinating documentary about the benefits of plant based diets, but made years before they became the rage. These guys were onto something years ago...
Brene Brown - a call to courage. Long TED talk about finding the courage to step out of one's comfort zone.
The Notorious RBG - documentary about Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who sits on the US Supreme Court. She's a very feisty 80 something year old.

If I think of anything more I will post again.

For sama - my teens cried