The four best science documentaries of 2025

Human (BBC iPlayer/NOVA)

Ella al-Shamahi is the perfect guide to our ancient ancestors. In Human, she takes us on a whistle-stop tour of our past over a span of 300,000 years, including our turbulent relations with other hominins. The palaeoanthropologist builds a complex story in which we aren’t the only ones with intelligence and creativity.

Highlights include a trip to Indonesia to see the remains of “hobbits” (Homo floresienses, our extinct metre-tall cousin), and some tiny shells ancient humans made into jewellery.

The series includes fascinating analyses of footprints in a dried-out lake, hinting at a mother’s hurried journey, and growth lines in Neanderthal teeth, suggesting longer childhoods than we thought.

Once Upon a Time in Space (BBC iPlayer)

The latest project from James Bleumer is a must-watch series, covering the history of space exploration from the late 1970s to now. It shares many personal anecdotes, such as NASA astronaut Anna Fisher (pictured) revealing the hate hurled at her as the first mother in space, and Michael Foale’s firsthand account of how the crew of the Russian space station Mir survived after a collision that caused the station to depressurise.

We also see Carl McNair watch footage of his father discussing how proud he was of Ronald, his brother and Carl’s uncle – one of the first Black astronauts, who died in the 1986 Challenger disaster. “From slavery to space in four generations,” says Carl, overcome with joy and grief.

Kingdom (BBC iPlayer, airs on PBS from 24 January 2026)

Even before airing, the latest gem from David Attenborough and the BBC Natural History Unit was aptly described as the Game of Thrones of nature documentaries. The series is a blood-soaked, Shakespearean drama that will devastate you within its first episode. It follows four factions – a family of leopards, a wild dog pack, a pride of lions and a hyena clan – in Zambia’s Nsefu, a luscious tract of South Luangwa National Park.

Our story begins with the arrival of wild dog Storm and her crew and a skirmish with the elegant leopard Olimba. Things escalate as the rivals jostle for food and space, and shocking violence ensues.

That said, witnessing these lives is a privilege and you are sure to fall in love with them, especially the various family matriarchs and Flint, a three-legged wild dog who was caught in a poacher’s trap. It’s heart-in-mouth stuff. Have some tissues on hand.

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