Schedule

The Mikoyan Mig-31 fighter jet is the world’s only plane able to reach the edge of space, travelling at three times the speed of sound, or 3,000 km/h. Combat Approved visits Khotilovo air base for an inside look at a stratospheric flight aboard this mighty aircraft.

As Peru’s president in the 1990s, Alberto Fujimori introduced a surgical contraception programme to fight poverty – purportedly on a strictly voluntary basis. However, thousands of indigenous women from Peru’s poorest villages are now coming forward with horror stories describing forced sterilisations. 

Anton and Alevtina are Russian farmers who film and publish their daily lives online. They're always filming to make videos about rural life to cultivate likes and subscribers. Follow the couple as they develop their video blog hoping to make enough money to buy their own farmhouse.

Welcome to the Mobile Mini Circus for Children in Afghanistan! It’s an oasis of joy and creativity amid poverty and never-ending war. Here, Afghan children have the opportunity not just to learn acrobatics or juggling, but to develop trust and communication skills. Discover another Afghanistan with RTD, as we follow the troupe and hear from kids about their unusual hobby and hopes for the future.

Dubbed the Philippines' last ecological frontier, Palawan Island is in danger from massive deforestation. Stretches of virgin rainforest are being razed to make way for industries taking over Palawan's natural resources. To save the island and its forest-based indigenous tribes, ecological activists take the fight into their own hands, capturing loggers and their equipment, demolishing unsanctioned logging sites and exposing corrupt officials.

Greater Chongqing is China’s largest municipality and, according to some estimates, the world. Its total area equates to the whole of Austria and it has a population of around 32 million. Why then does the world know so little about this megacity? RTD explores the phenomenon of a rapidly growing metropolis. Discover Chongqing’s three main tourist attractions: its cuisine, magnificent nocturnal skyline, and impressive urban rail system.

Endemic poverty in the West African country of Togo is putting crushing pressure on families. Children as young as five toil long hours breaking stones, picking coffee beans, and other manual labour. Their parents are aware of the hard and often dangerous conditions but must send them to work to help the family survive. Many children seek more promising opportunities abroad but end up falling into slavery and prostitution.

These ladies put on bright bouffant skirts and arrange their long hair in neat plaits. Then they go into the ring and beat the hell out of each other! Meet the Bolivian fighting cholitas, the female wrestlers of lucha libre, a free fight that marries a choreographed show with a full-on punching match.

On their final day aboard a corvette, Anna and Pavel are entrusted with navigation. They discover there is more than one way of steering the missile-bearing ship. After brushing up on their naval lingo, they undergo an initiation ritual to be fully accepted as crew members. Before they disembark, Anna and Pavel are graded on their training by the captain.

In this episode, Pavel and Anna travel to Tajikistan, a former Soviet Republic. There, they join Russian soldiers who have been posted to the once-secret space surveillance station “Okno”. Built for the detection and analysis of objects in outer space, the station consists of several so-called “astrotowers” – domes containing powerful telescopes. 

Anna and Pavel continue their posting at the military space surveillance station “Okno” in Tajikistan. They combine work with pleasure: stargazing while monitoring the movements of foreign satellites with giant telescopes. It’s all good fun, until the hot climate and altitude start to take a toll on their health.

Having completed their posting at the space surveillance station “Okno”, Anna and Pavel join Russia’s 201^st division in Tajikistan. Both are ready to test some more myths about army life. In doing so, Anna learns to fire a tank, while Pavel finds out who the army calls “gods of war”.

In this episode, Pavel discovers whether a bullet follows a different trajectory in the mountains than over flatland. The accuracy of Russian snipers at long range is also put to the test with the help of a small coin. First, however, there is much for him to learn, including the art of lying still. Anna, meanwhile, is fitted with a 20kg bulletproof vest in preparation for mountain training. It’s not long before she ends up in a hospital, however.

Anna and Pavel explore the BM-21 a.k.a. “Grad” – a truck-mounted multiple rocket launcher system. They are eager to find out about how “Grads” make use of drones, and whether it is possible to survive a “Grad” attack. 

They're the most beautiful big buttercups on God's green Earth, according to their choreographer. Meet a troupe of fat dancers who entertain dancers while challenging traditional notions about Russian beauty. 

Some call it, “The Mine”, to others, it’s “the beast”, an infamous rubbish dump in Guatemala City, Central America’s biggest capital. For thousands of poor people it provides a livelihood. Raw sewage flows through the massive landfill and twice a year, floods cause deadly landslides.

When 20 years ago a computer beat a human at chess, it marked the dawn of Artificial
Intelligence, as we know it. These days, neural networks, deep learning and all possible types of sensors allow AI to be used in healthcare, to operate self-driving cars and to tweak our photos on Instagram. But in the future the ability to learn, to emulate creative process and to self-organize may give rise to previously unimagined opportunities… and unprecedented threats.

In ice speedway, motorcyclists race without brakes on frozen circuits. RTD goes to the European Individual Ice Speedway Championship Finals in Vyatskie Polyana, Russia with veteran Finnish amateur, Tomi Kirilov and daredevil vice-champion, Eduard Krysov from Russia. So, whose combination of grit, guts and tactics will prove the winning formula?

The Akanksha Infertility Clinic in Gujarat, India, offers surrogacy services to childless couples desperate for their own baby.  While making money from surrogacy remains controversial, doctors such as Nayna Patel stay convinced of the benefits for all concerned.

Colombia has been in a state of civil war for over half a century. The biggest and most influential of the rebel groups that oppose the government is the FARC-EP. Since 2012, it’s been in peace talks with the government. We met with the rebels (almost half of whom are women) to find out why they joined the fight and what their hopes are for the long-awaited peace. 

The Mars One mission is a one-way ticket to the Red Planet. It’s scheduled for 2023, when the first group of 4 men and women will land on Mars to prepare it for human colonisation. Anastasia has made it to this daring project’s short-list. What draws her towards the fourth planet from the Sun and away from Earth?

When Valery Malkov fell off a train in -40 wearing nothing but slippers and joggers, he could only survive if he ran for miles, as fast as he could, to the nearest station. A minute's delay and he could freeze to death. In this documentary we follow his story and look into how our body adapts to extreme temperatures.

The Mikoyan Mig-31 fighter jet is the world’s only plane able to reach the edge of space, travelling at three times the speed of sound, or 3,000 km/h. Combat Approved visits Khotilovo air base for an inside look at a stratospheric flight aboard this mighty aircraft.

Although most people think of the Sahara as a vast, open expanse, it offers many surprises to those intrepid enough to visit. 

As Peru’s president in the 1990s, Alberto Fujimori introduced a surgical contraception programme to fight poverty – purportedly on a strictly voluntary basis. However, thousands of indigenous women from Peru’s poorest villages are now coming forward with horror stories describing forced sterilisations. 

Anton and Alevtina are Russian farmers who film and publish their daily lives online. They're always filming to make videos about rural life to cultivate likes and subscribers. Follow the couple as they develop their video blog hoping to make enough money to buy their own farmhouse.

What if you were stuck in Russia's vast, remote north, and had to get far closer to that nature than you'd ever thought possible?  Join James Brown for a weekend he'll never forget.

A cathedral founded on pure faith and its creator who’s dedicated more than 50 years of his life to building it. 91-year-old Don Justo, of the small Spanish town of Mejorada del Campo, is a former monk. On a whim and a dream he decided to build a monumental house of God and since 1961, he’s been doing just that using scrap, recycled building materials and as much good will as he can find.

When 20 years ago a computer beat a human at chess, it marked the dawn of Artificial
Intelligence, as we know it. These days, neural networks, deep learning and all possible types of sensors allow AI to be used in healthcare, to operate self-driving cars and to tweak our photos on Instagram. But in the future the ability to learn, to emulate creative process and to self-organize may give rise to previously unimagined opportunities… and unprecedented threats.

Welcome to the Mobile Mini Circus for Children in Afghanistan! It’s an oasis of joy and creativity amid poverty and never-ending war. Here, Afghan children have the opportunity not just to learn acrobatics or juggling, but to develop trust and communication skills. Discover another Afghanistan with RTD, as we follow the troupe and hear from kids about their unusual hobby and hopes for the future.

In Russia and the CIS, World War II is known by a different name, the Great Patriotic War. In that conflict more Soviet people died than from any other nation. There were hardly any families in the USSR that had not lost loved ones. Today, the stories of the many who gave their lives in defence of their motherland are retold, using their own letters from the front. They don’t just talk of love, bravery and sacrifice but shed light on the scale of human tragedy suffered during WWII.

Dubbed the Philippines' last ecological frontier, Palawan Island is in danger from massive deforestation. Stretches of virgin rainforest are being razed to make way for industries taking over Palawan's natural resources. To save the island and its forest-based indigenous tribes, ecological activists take the fight into their own hands, capturing loggers and their equipment, demolishing unsanctioned logging sites and exposing corrupt officials.

The ancient Greek island of Lesbos is where hundreds of thousands of people fleeing Africa and the Middle East first reach Europe. “Clowns without Borders” is an organisation that sends volunteers to entertain children in the refugee camps and offer a little comic relief.

Greater Chongqing is China’s largest municipality and, according to some estimates, the world. Its total area equates to the whole of Austria and it has a population of around 32 million. Why then does the world know so little about this megacity? RTD explores the phenomenon of a rapidly growing metropolis. Discover Chongqing’s three main tourist attractions: its cuisine, magnificent nocturnal skyline, and impressive urban rail system.

Endemic poverty in the West African country of Togo is putting crushing pressure on families. Children as young as five toil long hours breaking stones, picking coffee beans, and other manual labour. Their parents are aware of the hard and often dangerous conditions but must send them to work to help the family survive. Many children seek more promising opportunities abroad but end up falling into slavery and prostitution.

These ladies put on bright bouffant skirts and arrange their long hair in neat plaits. Then they go into the ring and beat the hell out of each other! Meet the Bolivian fighting cholitas, the female wrestlers of lucha libre, a free fight that marries a choreographed show with a full-on punching match.

Some call it, “The Mine”, to others, it’s “the beast”, an infamous rubbish dump in Guatemala City, Central America’s biggest capital. For thousands of poor people it provides a livelihood. Raw sewage flows through the massive landfill and twice a year, floods cause deadly landslides.

In ice speedway, motorcyclists race without brakes on frozen circuits. RTD goes to the European Individual Ice Speedway Championship Finals in Vyatskie Polyana, Russia with veteran Finnish amateur, Tomi Kirilov and daredevil vice-champion, Eduard Krysov from Russia. So, whose combination of grit, guts and tactics will prove the winning formula?

They joined the army driven by a desire to serve their country and its people. However, the wars they were sent to made them re-evaluate everything they believed in. Now, US veterans are trying to come to terms with their past and learn how to live among civilians again.  It turns out, they’ve no one to rely on but each other.

Darima is looking forward to giving birth but as it will be her first time, she is blissfully unaware of how hard it can be. Nevertheless, she still thinks she’d like some support in the delivery room and asks her mother to be with her for the birth. Reluctantly, the mother agrees and proves an invaluable helper.

Lana, is 35 and having her first baby, a boy who she hopes, will look just like his father. The love of Lana’s life was the first man she’d ever met with whom she really felt that she wanted to have a child. But this is no storybook romance, he is already married with a family of his own. 

As Elena awaits her second child she is worried about consenting to a c-section. After talking with the doctors and husband Aleksandr, her fears are allayed, just in time before she needs an emergency procedure. Different concerns for another Elena who’s worried about a long labour, her first child took twelve hours, and she wants the second to be quicker and less painful.

Dildora and Vladimir were childhood sweethearts. Vladimir says his wife changed his life, and now both their lives will be changed as they’re about to become parents. Unfortunately, there is a risk of premature birth, so doctors have given Dildora injections to speed up her baby’s development.

Oksana is expecting her first child with her husband Maksim. They’ve been together since their late teens. Sudden complications left her doctors with no choice but to prepare an urgent C-section. In the operating theatre every second counts as Oksana’s condition could kill both her and the baby.

Elena is a doctor and with her husband, Anton, is expecting a second daughter. She obeyed the rules all through her pregnancy and has a textbook C-section. Her name-sake though drank and smoked in early pregnancy and now has complications. Issues with her blood mean the second Elena is transferred to a specialist unit where she suffers intense labour pains before giving birth to a boy.