It is estimated that 99 per cent of species have become extinct and there have been times when life's hold on Earth has been so precarious it seems it hangs on by a thread.

In this first episode, Lyse tracks of the first months of the uprising through to the chemical attack in Ghouta that finally revealed the reluctance of the US to intervene in the war, despite the crossing of President Obama's 'red line' on chemical weapons. It starts by telling the story of two characters in Homs - one a protester, the other a government loyalist.

To some he is an evil genius, to others a master strategist. This film examines Dominic Cummings’s place in our politics over the last two decades, from Blair to Brexit and beyond.

Opposition in colonial North America to British policies escalates into violence. But war gives 13 otherwise disunited colonies a common cause.

After Valley Forge and Monmouth, the war moves to other theatres. Armies advance in Indian country and the south

As political revolutions shook France and America, another quieter, yet more profound restructuring was taking place in Britain - the Industrial Revolution.

The Beatles’ decade began in Liverpool in July 1957 when 16 year old John Lennon and 15 year old Paul McCartney met. This chance encounter produced one of the most important musical partnerships of the 20th Century. They listened to American artists and hung out in the Jacaranda coffee bar.

In Liverpool in 1962 the Beatles caused a sensation at the Cavern Club. They had only one single to their name. But a fateful meeting with Brian Epstein was to help them top the charts. Epstein changed their image from the American biker look and soon realised the sixties was the selling decade.

By 1965 the cultural renaissance of Britain was in full swing and the Beatles embodied the feeling of optimism. Having won over the British public the Beatles were ready to take on the world. The new fashion labels like Biba, new faces like Twiggy and hair-dressers like Vidal Sassoon were an important ingredient in the Swinging London explosion.

In April 1967 The Beatles produced the drug fuelled Sgt Peppers, an Album that was to change everything. The Beatles had turned to eastern mysticism and become distant from their mentor, Epstein, who died suddenly.

As the decade came to an end a more chaotic world was to come. Paul and John’s wives, Linda and Yoko, had one thing in common - they were strong, independent women, but with very different personalities. They typified the changing relationship between men and women which was beginning to emerge in the late sixties.

This next instalment is about coral reefs, which are so crowded that they play host to a perpetual battle for space, even among the coral itself. It starts life as a larva that becomes a polyp. Having multiplied, it hardens into a limestone skeleton and grows to form a reef. As the community flourishes, animals develop relationships with one another and such a place can feature a huge variety of ocean life.

This episode explores how the human brain relies on other brains to thrive and survive. Dr Eagleman demonstrates how, from as young as ten months old, babies can discern who is trustworthy and who isn't.

In this episode Dr Eagleman journeys into the future, and asks what's next for the human brain and for our species. Mother nature has evolved a brain that is able to rewire itself according to its environment. We meet Cameron Mott, who had half her brain removed at the age of four, but was able to develop normally as her brain rewired itself to take over the functions of the missing half.

Manchester's International Festival is a collection of world class talent, theatrical premieres, ground breaking musical performances and global stars from the contemporary art scene. Amongst these gems will be Shelley's The Masque of Anarchy, performed by Maxine Peake, one of the most gifted actors of her generation.

A profile of one of England's truly unique and underrated bands, The Fall. One of the most enigmatic, idiosyncratic and chaotic garage bands of the last 30 years, The Fall are led by the belligerent and poetic Mark E Smith and grew out of the fringe of the Manchester punk scene

Black people have lived in Britain for centuries - although their circumstances have varied greatly. Some have been enslaved and exploited, while others have enjoyed privilege and status. Trace their story to discover more about the attitudes and conditions they encountered.

Nothing has shrunk the globe more than our extraordinary ability to talk to one another across the oceans and continents. Episode three of The Genius of Invention reveals the fascinating chain of events that made such every-day miracles possible.

Over your lifetime you undergo an extraordinary change - no other animal on earth goes through such a dramatic metamorphosis. In this programme, Chris and Xand van Tulleken explore the latest understanding of how we all grow.

Hide and Seek follows tigers, harpy eagles, chimpanzees, army ants and other predators as they rise to the challenge of hunting within the forest - a dense, confusing, three-dimensional world, one in which even finding prey is a maddening task. Hq Version

The big players from Washington, London and Baghdad tell the inside story of the war in Iraq, revealing how they wrestled with the big decisions - and with each other.

The big players from Washington, London and Baghdad tell the inside story of the war in Iraq, revealing how they wrestled with the big decisions - and with each other.

Documentary about how a much-derided music actually changed the world. Between 1969 and 1979 disco soundtracked gay liberation, foregrounded female desire in the age of feminism and led to the birth of modern club culture as we know it today.

Documentary telling the story of the easy listening genre from the 50s to the present day.

Do you remember buying your first single? Where you bought it? What it was? The thrill of playing it for the first time? What it sounded like? How it maybe changed your life? Lots of us do. Lots of us still have that single somewhere in a dusty box in the attic, along with other treasured memorabilia.

In the 1960s, a small indie label would conquer American music. With artists like the Doors, Love, Tim Buckley, the Incredible String Band and the Stooges, Elektra Records was consistently on the cutting edge.

Brian Duffy was one of the greatest photographers of his generation. Along with David Bailey and Terence Donovan he defined the image of the 1960s and was as famous as the stars he photographed.

April 5th 1968, the morning after one of the most catastrophic moments in American history - the assassination of Martin Luther King. America's inner cities had begun to implode and in Boston there is a fragile peace.

Including Elton John, David Bowie, Curtis Mayfield, Steppenwolf, the Jam and Blondie.

Jo Brand narrates a profile which celebrates the life and times of the BBC's first flagship live music programme, The Old Grey Whistle Test, which ran from 1971 to 1987.