Timewatch Season 17

Timewatch Season 17 has built a real following among viewers who want documentaries that actually inform. The 1-season run is exactly the right length for what it is doing. A 7/10 rating says what the writing already makes obvious: this one works. The access secured here is hard to overstate. Put it on tonight and see for yourself.

Whatever else is competing for your attention this week, Timewatch Season 17 is worth clearing space for. Timewatch Season 17 approaches its subject with the rigour that makes documentary storytelling worth taking seriously. Season 17 of Timewatch includes 13 episodes. It aired from April 1998 to November 1998. Episodes include "Hitler and the Invasion of Britain", "Grammar School Boys", "The Oklahoma Outlaw". It was aired in 1998. Timewatch Season 17 lets its subjects speak for themselves rather than shaping them into a predetermined narrative. There is real craft here, even in the moments that do not fully land.

Anyone after documentary work that genuinely informs rather than confirms will value Timewatch Season 17. It has built its own audience without needing a direct comparison. Best experienced as a single, sustained watch if your schedule allows. Rigorous in a way documentary work does not always commit to. Not background viewing — it rewards your full attention.

🎬 Timewatch Season 17 — Episode Guide

Hitler and the Invasion of Britain

1998-04-07

Examines why Hitler abandoned plans to invade Britain in 1940 and prepared, instead, to attack the Soviet Union. NEW SEASON 1/6.

Grammar School Boys

1998-04-14

Nine grammar school boys recall their schooldays and reflect on how that system affected their lives. With former Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke, film director David Puttnam, author Barry Hines, and biologist Steve Jones. 2/6.

The Oklahoma Outlaw

1998-04-21

In 1976 the chance discovery of a mummified body inside a ghost ride in Long Beach, California, unearthed a chain of events leading all the way back to 1911 Oklahoma territory and a bungled train robbery by small-time burglar Elmer McCurdy. 3/6.

The Roman Way of War

1998-04-28

Roman Emperor Trajan led two great wars against the people of Dacia. No written documentation of this campaign survives, but its story is depicted in stone on Trajan's Column, a monument that has towered above Rome for almost 2,000 years. Starting here, the film retraces the steps of Trajan's army a...

Las Vegas and the Mormons

1998-05-05

Las Vegas, the world's gambling capital: Over 30 million people visit each year, most of them unaware that clean-living Mormons played a major part in creating "sin city". 5/6.

Aborigine: A Collision of Conscience

1998-05-12

As the Aborigine people fight for their land rights, Australia's historians extract revelations from the archives. Letters and diaries from the Australian frontier help unravel the true story of Australia's land war as white settlers' attempt to maintain racial purity. 6/6.

Sex and War

1998-09-29

An estimated quarter-million homosexuals fought for Britain during the Second World War. At the time homosexuality was still a criminal offence, but the authorities mostly turned a blind eye during the national crisis. Tonight's programme tells the story of these forgotten fighters, revealing the ex...

Lloyd George's War

1998-10-06

Eighty years ago the end of the First World War was celebrated as a triumph for democracy, yet some would later dismiss it as futile. The most surprising change of heart was that of wartime prime minister David Lloyd George, who led his nation to victory but condemned the sacrifice in his 1936 memoi...

The Pilgrim Obsession

1998-10-13

It is accepted in American history that the Pilgrim Fathers were a group of religious separatists who founded the first permanent colony at Plymouth, Massachusetts, after sailing to the New World to avoid oppression. As tonight's programme reveals, not only were the Pilgrims not the first European i...

E10

Banking with Hitler

1998-10-20

Swiss banks stand accused of collaborating with the Nazis before and during the Second World War. But 60 years ago, when US Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau began investigating this collaboration, he found the Swiss were not alone. Tonight's film looks at Allied bankers - including British...

E11

The British in India

1998-10-27

Tonight's programme follows historian Andrew Roberts across the Indian subcontinent as he argues that Britain should take pride in its imperial past. His opinions are then forcefully challenged in a discussion chaired by Kirsty Wark. 5/6.

E12

An American Firefight

1998-11-03

In October 1993 elite units of the US army were pinned down on the streets of Mogadishu in Somalia by forces of Mohammed Farah Aidid, whom they were trying to capture. The ensuing battle left 18 American soldiers dead and 75 wounded. Timewatch explores this peace-keeping mission gone wrong. 6/6.

E13

Operation Sealion

1998-11-10

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