"Based on a True Story": Ideas, Science, Scholars, and Technology
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- StarsAndrew SachsNeji NejahElliot CowanDramatization of the great discoveries of ancient Egypt, from the exploration of tombs in the early 1800s, to the unraveling of the Rosetta Stone to translate the ancient language on the tombs, to the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb.
- DirectorAlan ParkerStarsAnthony HopkinsBridget FondaMatthew BroderickA story about the ins and outs of one unusual health facility in the early twentieth century, run by the eccentric Dr. John Harvey Kellogg.
- DirectorMarjane SatrapiStarsRosamund PikeYvette FeuerMirjam NovakThe incredible true story of Marie Sklodowska-Curie and her Nobel Prize-winning work that changed the world.
- DirectorMatt BrownStarsDev PatelJeremy IronsMalcolm SinclairThe story of the life and academic career of the pioneer Indian mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanujan, and his friendship with his mentor, Professor G.H. Hardy.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsMichael FassbenderKeira KnightleyViggo MortensenA look at how the intense relationship between Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud gives birth to psychoanalysis.
- DirectorJustin HardyStarsBill PatersonMark GatissCharlotte RileyDuring the first few months after the deadly First World War, a virulent, dreadful flu breaks out. Point of perspective from Doctor Niven, the CMO of Manchester, on how he carried out this sickness.
- DirectorPeter HoarStarsDominic WestDenis LawsonOliver DimsdaleA historical drama that tells the story of the development of penicillin in the 1930's/40's, by a group of scientists in Oxford at The Dunn School of Pathology
- DirectorHoward DaviesStarsStephen ReaDaniel CraigFrancesca AnnisA television adaptation of Michael Frayn's celebrated and award-winning stage play about the meeting between physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg in 1941 Copenhagen. At this time the young Heisenberg was leading a faltering German research program into nuclear energy, while the middle-aged and apparently isolated Bohr was in contact with allied agents, and still held a position of great influence in the nuclear physics research community. After the meeting the two men put different interpretations or impressions of why Heisenberg requested the meeting, and what he hoped to gain from it, a theme which mirrors the ambiguity of the "Copenhagen" interpretation widely used in quantum physics. Did Heisenberg go to the avuncular Bohr to seek his blessing for his role in nuclear research? Why did Heisenberg concentrate on the development of a nuclear reactor, and not perform the calculations which would show that a bomb could be made to work via a fast-neutron reaction in Uranium 235? These and other questions feature in the plot, although unsurprisingly there are few certain answers.
- DirectorDenzel WashingtonStarsDenzel WashingtonForest WhitakerKimberly EliseA drama based on the true story of Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at Wiley College Texas. In 1935, he inspired students to form the school's first debate team, which went on to challenge Harvard in the national championship.
- DirectorRon HowardStarsRussell CroweEd HarrisJennifer ConnellyA mathematical genius, John Nash made an astonishing discovery early in his career and stood on the brink of international acclaim. But the handsome and arrogant Nash soon found himself on a harrowing journey of self-discovery.
- DirectorBill CondonStarsLiam NeesonLaura LinneyChris O'DonnellA look at the life of Alfred Kinsey, a pioneer in the area of human sexuality research, whose 1948 publication "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" was one of the first recorded works that saw science address sexual behavior.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsJeff BridgesJoan AllenMartin LandauThe story of Preston Tucker, the maverick car designer and his ill-fated challenge to the auto industry with his revolutionary car concept.
- DirectorRon HowardStarsTom HanksBill PaxtonKevin BaconNASA must devise a strategy to return Apollo 13 to Earth safely after the spacecraft undergoes massive internal damage putting the lives of the three astronauts on board in jeopardy.
- DirectorMike NicholsStarsMeryl StreepKurt RussellCherA worker at a plutonium processing plant is purposefully contaminated, psychologically tortured and possibly murdered to prevent her from exposing worker safety violations at the plant.
- DirectorPatrick ReamsStarsRupert GravesBen MilesDarrell D'SilvaThe year is 1967 and the race is on to make medical history. Dr Christiaan Barnard (Rupert Graves), a brilliant and ambitious South African surgeon and three surgeons in America are attempting the impossible: the world's first human heart transplant. The Americans have trained and prepared together for this day for years, and Dr Barnaard is driven by a fierce determination to succeed. And succeed he does, giving Mr Washkowski an unbelievable extension of life, never before done, never before thought possible. This breakthrough in medical history, paved the way forward and made Dr Barnaard a legend.
- DirectorPhilip MartinStarsBenedict CumberbatchMichael BrandonTom HodgkinsTheoretical physicist/cosmologist Stephen Hawking's life and search for the beginning of time (1963-6).
- DirectorSaul MetzsteinStarsAlexander ArmstrongMartin FreemanEdward Baker-DulyIn 1979 Clive Sinclair, British inventor of the pocket calculator, frustrated by the lack of home investment in his project,the electric car, also opposes former assistant Chris Curry's belief that he can successfully market a micro-chip for a home computer. A parting of the ways sees Curry, in partnership with the Austrian Hermann Hauser and using whizz kid Cambridge students, set up his own, rival firm to Sinclair Radionics, Acorn. Acorn beat Sinclair to a lucrative contract supplying the BBC with machines for a computer series. From here on it is a battle for supremacy to gain the upper hand in the domestic market.
- DirectorJames HawesStarsEve BestBruce GreenwoodWilliam HurtFactual drama exploring the truth behind the space shuttle Challenger's 1986 disintegration.
- DirectorPip BroughtonStarsJason WatkinsVictoria HamiltonAnwyn SheersTrue story of Philip Jones, the world-renowned Professor and Director of Climate Research at the University of East Anglia who was the eye of an international media storm and the victim of cyberterrorism.