1960s Documentary TV Shows

Fitil is a popular Soviet/Russian television satirical/comedy short film series which ran for about 500 episodes. Some of the episodes were aimed at children, and were called Фитилёк, Fitilyok, Little Fuse. Each issue contained from the few short segments: documentary, fictional and animated ones. Directed by various artists, including Leonid Gaidai who presented his famous trio of Nikulin, Vitsin and Morgunov into the cast. It was called in USSR as "the anecdotes from the Soviet government".

Horizon tells amazing science stories, unravels mysteries and reveals worlds you've never seen before.

Omnibus was an arts-based BBC television documentary series, broadcast mainly on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. The programme was the successor to the long-running arts-based series 'Monitor'. It ran from 1967 until 2003, usually being transmitted on Sunday evenings. During its 35-year history, the programme won 12 Bafta awards. Among the series' best remembered documentaries are Cracked Actor, a profile of David Bowie, and Rene Magritte, a graduate film by David Wheatley, 'Madonna: Behind the American dream', a film produced by Nadia Hagger, and a profile of the British film director Ridley Scott. For a season in 1982, the series was in a magazine format presented by Barry Norman. The series was replaced by 'Imagine' hosted by Alan Yentob.

Aktenzeichen XY … ungelöst is a German television programme broadcast since October 1967 on ZDF that aims to combat and solve crimes. Until 2003 it was produced in co-operation with the Austrian public service broadcaster ORF and Schweizer Fernsehen, a division of the Swiss public broadcaster SRG SSR idée suisse. It was the basis for the BBC show Crimewatch, the Dutch show Opsporing Verzocht and its US equivalent America's Most Wanted.

World in Action was Granada Television’s flagship ITV current affairs series, running from 7 Jan 1963 to 7 Dec 1998, and built a reputation for film-led investigative reporting and a forceful editorial stance. Its journalism produced major public and political repercussions—including investigations associated with miscarriages of justice such as the Birmingham Six—and it also served as a platform for landmark documentary projects, including the first broadcast of “Seven Up!” as part of the strand in 1964.

Four Corners is Australia's longest-running investigative journalism/current affairs television program. Broadcast on ABC1 in Australia, it premiered on 19 August 1961 and celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2021. Founding producer Robert Raymond and his successor Allan Ashbolt did much to set the ongoing tone of the program. Based on the Panorama concept, the program addresses a single issue in depth each week, showing either a locally produced program or a relevant documentary from overseas. The program has won many awards for investigative journalism, and broken many high-profile stories. A notable early example of this was the show's epoch-making 1962 exposé on the appalling living conditions endured by many Aboriginal Australians living in rural New South Wales.

A 30-minute weekly cultural magazine program. The head of aspekte, Wolgang Herles, describes the program as follows: "For 40 years, "aspekte" has repeatedly set out to enrich television with cultural contrasts. "aspekte" understands culture not as the sum of facts and events, but as the taste, the sound, the rhythms of the times. It has proven itself as a journal of true luxury and fashions as well as an instrument of public education and information."

Tomorrow's World was a long-running BBC television series on new developments in science and technology. First transmitted on 7 July 1965 on BBC1, it ran for 38 years until it was cancelled at the beginning of 2003.

The Nature of Things is a Canadian television series of documentary programs. It debuted on CBC Television on November 6, 1960. Many of the programs document nature and the effect that humans have on it. The program was one of the first to explore environmental issues, such as clear-cut logging. The series is named after an epic poem by Roman philosopher Lucretius: "Dē Rērum Nātūrā" — On the Nature of Things.

A satirical film magazine produced by various film studios in the USSR from 1962 to 1991 and in the CIS from 1992 to 2003. The magazine's issues consisted of various stories: feature films, documentaries (with dubbed characters), and cartoons.

No overview available

ABC Stage 67 is the umbrella title for a series of 26 weekly shows that included dramas, variety shows, documentaries, and original musicals. It premiered on American Broadcasting Company on September 14, 1966 with Murray Schisgal's The Love Song of Barney Kempinksi, directed by Stanley Prager and starring Alan Arkin as a man enjoying the sights and sounds of New York City in his last remaining hours of bachelorhood. Arkin was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance By An Actor in a Leading Role in a Drama and the program was nominated as Outstanding Dramatic Program. Future programs included appearances by Petula Clark, Bobby Darin, Sir Laurence Olivier, Albert Finney, Peter Sellers, David Frost, and Jack Paar. ABC's effort to bring culture to the masses was a noble but unsuccessful experiment. Scheduled first against I Spy on Wednesdays and then The Dean Martin Show on Thursdays, the show consistently received low ratings. Its last production, an adaptation of Jean Cocteau's one-woman play The Human Voice starring Ingrid Bergman, aired on May 4, 1967. "Stage 67" was not actually a part of the primary ABC facilities in Los Angeles. It was produced at the old Monogram Studios backlot that was later sold to KCET.

NFL Films half-hour to one full-hour yearly team highlight videos.

Gardeners' World is a long-running BBC Television programme about gardening, first broadcast in 1968 and still running as of 2013. Its first episode was presented by Ken Burras and came from Oxford Botanical Gardens. The magazine BBC Gardeners' World is a tie-in to the programme. Most of its episodes have been 30 minutes in length, although there are many specials that last longer. The 2008 and 2009 series used a 60-minute format.

Premiering in 1963 broadcast on prime-time from 1968-1971 and airing in syndication until 1988 the Emmy Award-winning Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom was one of the longest-running and most beloved television series of all time. A pioneer of the narrative nature-documentary format the educational series followed venerable host and ecologist Marlin Perkins (later joined by Jim Fowler Peter Gros Stan Brock and Tom Allen) as he trekked to the farthest reaches of the globe to study wild animals in their natural habitats.

Sir Kenneth Clark guides us through the ages exploring the glorious rise of civilisation in western man. Beginning with the bleakness of the dark ages to the present day, we consider civilisation's articulations and expressions in some of man's finest works of art.

No overview available

For decades, the National Geographic Society has presented specials on nature, foreign culture, scientific breakthroughs, and things which fall under the general category of "neat stuff." Each special is self-contained.

A series of documentaries that have followed the lives of fourteen British children since 1964, when they were seven years old.

Classic long-running British nature documentary series featuring different subjects each time.

This long-running ABC News series of special reports/documentaries explores different aspects of life in the United States, featuring the most prominent ABC News correspondents of their times.

The intrepid undersea explorer and author circles the globe on his floating laboratory, Calypso, in this occasional series. A pioneer in marine study, the red-capped Frenchman introduced generations of landlubbers to the creatures and mysteries of the sea.

The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are a series of lectures on a single topic, which have been held at the Royal Institution in London each year since 1825. The lectures present scientific subjects to a general audience, including young people, in an informative and entertaining manner. Michael Faraday initiated the first Christmas Lecture series in 1825. This came at a time when organised education for young people was scarce. Faraday presented a total of nineteen series in all.

Each 30 minute show concentrated on a Hollywood genre, film or legendary star.

A monthly series of highly personal documentary films in which individuals are given a platform to discuss issues close to their heart.

Chronicle is a BBC Television series shown monthly and then fortnightly on BBC Two from 18 June 1966 to its last broadcast in May 1991. Chronicle focused on popular archaeology and related subjects. The best remembered episodes of Chronicle were "The Lost Treasure of Jerusalem...?", "The Priest, the Painter and The Devil" and "The Shadow of The Templars". These were presented by Henry Lincoln who later went on to write Holy Blood Holy Grail with Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh. The BBC have made some editions available online

A six-part documentary film series exhibiting the people and geography of Oceania; particularly, of Fiji and Tonga.

Special for Women (also known as Purex Specials for Women) is a drama/documentary anthology series broadcast on NBC from 1960 to 1965. It dramatized problems faced by everyday women, including menopause, sexual dysfunction and the feminine beauty ideal, followed by a discussion of that episode's topic with a panel of experts.

Since 1965, when it was launched by Octavian Paler on Romanian Television, TeleEncyclopedia has "illuminated" the communist era for many Romanians. It was a magical show, airing every Saturday at 7:00 PM. Today, it still evokes nostalgia in those who grew up watching it. For children, TeleEncyclopedia remains an oasis of education, preserving its original format and role by presenting documentaries on diverse subjects such as nature, technology, art, health, and more.

A series of films from all over the world about our astonishing planet and the creatures that live on it. Combining natural history with an element of adventure, the series featured well-known naturalists such as Jane Goodall and Gerald Durrell, and the oceanographer Jacques Cousteau. Succeeded by The Natural World.

A milestone 26-part history of the First World War, conceived to mark the 50th anniversary of its outbreak.

No overview available

Filmed during Orson Welles’s travels through Spain while preparing his unfinished Don Quixote project, this nine-part travelogue documents the country’s landscapes, cities, and cultural traditions—from Andalusia to Pamplona—through an intimate, observational lens. Shot as a series of personal, narration-free travel films, the material was later broadcast by Italian television (RAI) with added voiceover, making the series both a poetic portrait of Spain and a rare glimpse into Welles’s working life, family, and creative process.

The Witness is an American television show broadcast on the CBS network in the United States within the 1960-61 television season, in which a fictional "Committee" of lawyers cross-examined actors portraying actual people from the recent past of the United States who had been considered criminal or suspicious.

Lee Marvin narrates this series which reenact various crimes that occurred around the United States. Although some were based on well-known events, others were more obscure.

Narrated by Lord Mountbatten himself, this is a positive feast of history and archive material, some of it part of Mountbatten's personal collection. A masterpiece in history.

An investigation into the nature, details and reasons for the collaboration, from 1940 to 1944, during World War II, between the Vichy regime, established in the south of France and headed by Marshal Pétain, and Nazi Germany.

'68 Comeback Special: 50th Anniversary Edition is the definitive chronicle of the now legendary NBC-TV show Elvis. After years of making formulaic movies, Elvis was finally unleashed to perform live again on an intimate stage with his original sidemen, Scotty Moore and D.J. Fontana. Playing "That's All Right," "Heartbreak Hotel," "Lawdy Miss Clawdy," and many of his great hits, the sheer rawness and excitement of the performances attracted unanimous critical acclaim. Greil Marcus in his book Mystery Train said "If ever there was a music that could bleed, this was it." NBC-TV's Elvis is as raw and inspirational today as it was in 1968. This 50th Anniversary Edition includes all the known recordings from RCA's vault and all the videotaped performances are here for the first time on Blu-ray.

Telescope is a Canadian documentary series which aired on CBC Television between 1963 and 1973. The series was hosted by Fletcher Markle, which profiled notable Canadian people from celebrities to the unknown, who made a difference. Starting in September 1966, Telescope was the first regular colour broadcast in Canada. It's producer was Sam Levene. In 2008, CBC offered 10 episodes of Telescope on their Digital Archives website. The episodes are from the 1970-1971 season, and feature new host Ken Kavanagh. Among those profiled were game show host Monty Hall, publisher Mel Hurtig, journalist Pat Carney, actor John Vernon, author Farley Mowat, amusement park impresario Patty Conklin, and underwater explorer Joe MacInnis. A 1970 episode featured actor Donald Sutherland including early footage of his son Kiefer. Mentalist Uri Geller followed a week later by Ray Hyman and Jerry Andrus who explained and duplicated Geller's "paranormal" feats.

Diagnosis: Unknown is an American medical drama that aired on CBS from July 5 to September 20, 1960. Produced by Bob Banner, the series aired as a summer replacement for The Garry Moore Show, a variety program.