Secret History - Season 17

This documentary follows the UK's most ambitious and cutting-edge ancient DNA project to date. For the first time, a team of top scientists at the Natural History Museum and University College London have analysed the DNA of Britain's oldest complete skeleton. Known as Cheddar Man, this human male fossil was originally unearthed over 100 years ago in Gough's Cave in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset. Building on the advanced genetic testing of his 10,000-year-old bones, two of the most acclaimed palaeontological model makers in the world, Dutch identical twins Adrie and Alfons Kennis, have recreated Cheddar Man's entire head to give his extraordinary skeleton a real identity for the first time.

The story of Carthaginian general Hannibal crossing the Alps with an army of 40,000 men, 9000 cavalry and 37 elephants is one of history's greatest legends. But the details of the journey - what route he took and how he and his entourage managed to conquer the treacherous mountain terrain - were a mystery, until now. For the first time, an international team of scientists is searching for clues hidden deep beneath the Alps' rocky soil, and their extraordinary discoveries are shedding new light on Hannibal's almost-impossible journey. The scientists are joined by paleobiologist Dr Tori Herridge and historian Dr Eve MacDonald, who follow in Hannibal's footsteps to experience what it must have been like as this ancient army battled raging rivers, hostile tribes and mighty mountains.

The traditional story of the birth of Christianity is dominated by men, but were female disciples actually crucial to Jesus' mission? And why has the role those women played disappeared from history?