Days That Shook the World was a series of one-hour programmes that showed dramatic movie-like reconstructions of various dates in history. Each programme was split into two half hours that showed reconstructions of two different dates that were connected in some way.
Terror Made in America (Lincoln assasinaton and Oklahoma City bombing)
The Six Day War
Hiroshima
Marconi's first transatlantic radio message and the first flight of Concorde
Kristalnacht and Birth of Israel
Killing of the Czar and Fall of Berlin Wall
Coronation of Queen Elizabeth and Diana's death.
First nuclear reaction and Chernobyl
Season One
The assassination of Martin Luther King & The release of Nelson Mandela - The series on key historical moments covers the contrasting fates of two great activists. On 4 April 1968, escaped convict James Earl Ray killed legendary civil rights campaigner Martin Luther King in Memphis. In 1990, after 27 years in jail, Nelson Mandela was released from prison.
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand & The death of Hitler - This edition remembers the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand on June 28, 1914, which led to the outbreak of the First World War, and the suicide of Adolf Hitler on April 30, 1945, which effectively ended the second great conflict of the century.
The assassination of the Romanovs & The fall of the Berlin Wall - This edition remembers the last days of the Russsian Tsar Nicholas II and his family in July 1917, as Lenin's Bolsheviks seized power in Russia. Over 70 years later, the collapse of the Berlin Wall in Novermber 1989 signified the end of Communist domination of Eastern Europe.
The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II & The death of Princess Diana - This edition remembers Elizabeth II's coronation on 2 June 1953, watched by millions around the world thanks to the miraculous new technology known as television. A dramatic reconstruction of the day in August 1997 when the world's most photographed woman arrived in Paris with her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed. Tabloid interest in Princess Diana was at its peak and the paparazzi were in a frenzy. The intimate dinner date ended in tragedy as Dodi and Diana were driven away from the Ritz Hotel with the media following hot on their tail.
Tutankhamun's Tomb; Deciphering the Rosetta Stone - This edition recalls two days that brought Ancient Egypt dramatically to life, revealing the past glories of this fascinating civilisation. In 1822, Jean Francois Champollion translates the Rosetta Stone and cracks the baffling code of Egyptian hieroglyphs, and 100 years later, Howard Carter makes an amazing discovery after reading the name Tutankhamun in a lost tomb.
Black September and Locberbie - This programme looks at the Black September hijackings of three airliners in September 1970, and the Lockerbie bombing of 1988.
Kristallnacht and The Birth of Israel - Recalling 14 May 1948 when Israel came into being as Arab tanks massed on the borders of Palestine, and the notorious 'Kristallnacht' of November 1938, when Nazi thugs across Germany ransacked Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues, offering a foretaste of the persecution which would soon follow
Chuck Yeager and Donald Campbells Bluebird - Reliving two memorable days in man's quest for speed. On October 14 1947, Chuck Yeager became the first man to fly faster than sound when, strapped to a flying rocket known as the XI, he succeeded at his ninth attempt. 20 years later, Donald Campbell perished in Bluebird in his attempt to break the world water speed record on Coniston Water.
Season Two
The Hindenburg/Challenger Disaster - This edition recalls two disastrous episodes in the story of man's bid to conquer the skies. On May 6, 1937, the giant airship Hindenberg crashed in Lakehurst, New Jersey. On January 28, 1986, the US Space Shuttle Challenger exploded a minute after its launch
Christmas Truce - There are landmarks of our time that, when linked together, provide a distillation of the 20th Century's defining experiences. An account of Christmas Day 1914, when ordinary German and British soldiers instigated a spontaneous truce across the frontline.
Affairs of the Crown: Execution of Anne Boleyn / Abdication of Edward VIII - A look at two scandalous royal affairs that proved to have devastating implications. In 1536, Anne Boleyn stood accused of plotting against her husband, and became the first English queen to be executed. Four hundred years later, in 1936, Edward VIII was forced to choose between his throne and his relationship with American divorcee Wallis Simpson
The Attack on Pearl Harbor - This episode examines the surprise attacks on the US naval base from Japanese fighters, ensuring America's involvement in World War Two.
The Great Train Robbery & The Theft of the Crown Jewels - This episode looks at two historical heists: the Theft of the Crown Jewels, 9th May 1671, and the Great Train Robbery, 8 August 1963.
Assassination Attempts: Day of the Jackal and the Wolf's Lair - This episode discusses the assassination attempts on Hitler and French president Charles de Gaulle.
Reach for the Stars: Galileo's Trial and the First Space Flight - This edition looks at the 1633 trial of Galileo by the Catholic authorities, for the heretical suggestion that the sun and not the earth was the centre of the known universe. Under threat of torture he confessed his heresy and was imprisoned under house arrest for life. This edition looks back at the time when a Russian Cosmonaut became the first man to leave the Earth.
Dinosaurs and Duplicity - Using dramatised reconstructions this programme recalls the first discovery of a dinosaur in 1824, and the 'Piltdown Man' hoax in 1953.
Terror - Made In America - This edition focuses on two outrages committed on American soil. On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in a Washington theatre. 130 years later, Timothy McVeigh, a veteran of the first Gulf War, blew up the Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
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