PBS Videos

An Unsung Hero of the Holocaust | The Last Twins | Full Documentary | PBS - April 13, 2026 - PBS
Learn more: https://www.pbs.org/show/the-last-twins/
Discover the extraordinary story of Erno "Zvi" Spiegel, an unsung hero of the Holocaust who risked everything to protect the most vulnerable in Auschwitz—dozens of young boys, many of them twins, targeted by Dr. Josef Mengele for brutal pseudo-medical experimentation. Through courage, compassion, and ingenuity, Spiegel shielded these children from death and unimaginable harm.
The Last Twins | Full Documentary
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The Last Twins
The never-before-told story of an unsung hero of the Holocaust, Erno “Zvi” Spiegel, who risked everything to save dozens of young twins from almost certain death at Auschwitz. Under the shadow of Dr. Josef Mengele’s horrific experiments, Erno used his courage, compassion, and ingenuity to shield the most vulnerable—the sets of twins targeted for brutal medical experimentation. Mengele put Erno in charge of the young boys, but Erno used his position to protect and comfort the children, all of whom had been torn from their families and subjected to inhumane tests under the constant threat of extermination.
Through first-hand testimony and exclusive archival material, The Last Twins brings to life the voices of those who survived because of Erno’s defiance. It is a testament to resilience, sacrifice, and the power of one person to make a difference.
The documentary is directed and produced by Emmy Award-winning directors Perri Peltz and Matthew O’Neill and is narrated by Tony Award-winning actor Liev Schreiber.
Meet the Wombats Fighting for Survival | Our New World - April 11, 2026 - PBS
Watch more of this series: https://to.pbs.org/4ceIT8W
After Australia's most devastating wildfires, naturalist John Creighton races to save orphaned wombats left with nothing. From rescuing tiny "pinkies" and nursing them back to health, this is a story of survival, resilience, and nature's remarkable comeback.
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More about "Our New World"
What world will we live in tomorrow as climate change reshapes the Earth? Our planet has many surprises in store. This film reveals Nature's astonishing adaptation abilities, and how we humans can become a supporting force.
The Untold Story of Martha Graham’s Final Days - April 10, 2026 - PBS
Watch more: https://to.pbs.org/3PEkC3z
Reflections on Martha Graham's final days. From her last goodbye, her quiet certainty that the end had come, and the profound legacy she left behind. A deeply personal look into an icon's passing and the revolution she sparked in modern dance.
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#dance #dancer #arts
MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY: WE ARE OUR TIME
As the Graham Company nears its landmark 100th anniversary, this two part documentary series offers a rare behind-the-scenes portrait of the company, exploring Graham’s legacy through the dancers who embody her work today. Watch more: https://to.pbs.org/3PEkC3z
The Final Chapter of the American Revolution Begins | PBS - April 9, 2026 - PBS
Official website: https://to.pbs.org/amrevpbs | #AmericanRevolutionPBS
The idea of America, rooted in the American Revolution, is the belief in possibility. Everyone on both sides of the war, even those who were denied ownership of themselves, saw an opportunity worth fighting for. The Revolution will not only mark the beginning of a new nation, but it will have ramifications that will echo across the globe.
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THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION | A Film By Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt
An expansive look at the virtues and contradictions of the war and the birth of the United States of America, the film follows dozens of figures from a wide variety of backgrounds. Through their individual stories, viewers experience the war through the memories of the men and women who experienced it: the rank-and-file Continental soldiers and American militiamen (some of them teenagers), Patriot political and military leaders, British Army officers, American Loyalists, Native soldiers and civilians, enslaved and free African Americans, German soldiers in the British service, French and Spanish allies, and various civilians living in North America, Loyalist as well as Patriot, including many made refugees by the war.
The Revolution began a movement for people around the world to imagine new and better futures for themselves, their nations, and for humanity. It declared American independence with promises that we continue to strive for. The American Revolution opened the door to advance civil liberties and human rights, and it asked questions that we are still trying to answer today.
The film, narrated by Peter Coyote, includes the first-person voices of nearly 200 individual historic figures, read by a cast of actors, including Adam Arkin, Jeremiah Bitsui, Corbin Bleu, Kenneth Branagh, Josh Brolin, Bill Camp, Tantoo Cardinal, Josh Charles, Hugh Dancy, Claire Danes, Jeff Daniels, Keith David, Hope Davis, Marcus Davis-Orrom, Bruce Davison, Leon Dische Becker, Alden Ehrenreich, Craig Ferguson, Morgan Freeman, Christian Friedel, Paul Giamatti, Domhnall Gleeson, Amanda Gorman, Michael Greyeyes, Jonathan Groff, Charlotte Hacke, Tom Hanks, Ethan Hawke, Maya Hawke, Lucas Hedges, Josh Hutcherson, Samuel L. Jackson, Gene Jones, Michael Keaton, Joe Keery, Joel Kinnaman, Tracy Letts, Damian Lewis, Laura Linney, Josh Lucas, Michael Mando, Carolyn McCormick, Lindsay Mendez, Tobias Menzies, Joe Morton, Edward Norton, David Oyelowo, Mandy Patinkin, Wendell Pierce, Jon Proudstar, Matthew Rhys, LaTanya Richardson, Liev Schreiber, Chaske Spencer, Dan Stevens, Meryl Streep, and Yul Vazquez, among others.
Henry David Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" Influences MLK, Malcolm X, & Gandhi | PBS - April 8, 2026 - PBS
Watch the full three-part film: https://to.pbs.org/hdt2026
After refusing to pay four years of poll taxes, Henry David Thoreau is briefly imprisoned. Thoreau is adamantly opposed to supporting a state that is involved in enslavement and wars of aggression. Thoreau begins to write in earnest about society's obligations to freedom and justice culminating in the essay "Civil Disobedience," which influences the later work of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Gandhi.
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For teaching materials to help students understand Thoreau’s ideas about civil disobedience, see this free, curriculum-aligned resource from PBS LearningMedia: https://gopbslearningmedia.org/ThoreauCivilDisobedience
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Henry David Thoreau | A Film by Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers
He has been called the patron saint of the environmental movement and the father of nonviolent resistance. His best-known work, Walden, is considered a masterpiece and figures on every list of essential American books. His essay “Civil Disobedience” has inspired activists and reformers from Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., to Colin Kaepernick and Greta Thunberg. He was a writer, a scientist, a seeker of truth, and a fighter for maintaining our nation’s first principles.
Yet our knowledge of Henry David Thoreau is incomplete, outdated, and often inaccurate.
In this modern historical documentary, the mythical Thoreau – the secluded hermit in the woods at Walden Pond, the outlier, the prophet – will give way to the human Thoreau: social; genial; inquisitive; an exacting scientist and charismatic speaker; an individual with flaws, self-contradictions, and misjudgments that prove his humanity and hold a mirror to our own.
Henry David Thoreau is the first nationally broadcast biography of this American original at a time when his wisdom is sorely needed. The film explores his most far-reaching and forward-thinking ideas: justice for all human beings, the health of our planet and the species it sustains, the quest for a meaningful life, the importance of standing up for one’s beliefs in the public square. Tracing those concepts into the 21st century will demonstrate how ideas – when taken off the page and truly lived – can change the world.
The series explores his thoughts on people marginalized by society—Native peoples, African Americans, and women. His experiences with them, and how he wrote about them, reveal the complexities of race, gender, and the roots of inequality, offering a clearer view of our shared history. Combined with his reflections on the natural world, or “wildness,” his work shows how nature and the fight for justice are deeply connected.
Executive produced by Ken Burns and Don Henley, directed by Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers, produced by Julie Coffman, Susan Shumaker, and co-producer Cauley Powell, and written by David Blistein.
The film draws on a rich collection of archival materials, newly filmed cinematography in Concord and beyond, and interviews with scholars, writers, and environmentalists. Among the people featured in the film are Pico Iyer, Douglas Brinkley, Lois Brown, Kristen Case, Laura Dassow Walls, Clay Jenkinson, Robin Kimmerer, J. Drew Lanham, Bill McKibben, Michael Pollan, Rebecca Solnit, and more.
The series is narrated by George Clooney and voices are provided by Ted Danson (Ralph Waldo Emerson), Tate Donovan (William Ellery Channing), Jeff Goldblum (Henry David Thoreau), and Meryl Streep (Lidian Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Mary Merrick Brooks, and Maria Thoreau).
The British View of the American Revolution | Lucy Worsley Investigates | Full Episode 1 | PBS - April 7, 2026 - PBS
Watch more: https://to.pbs.org/4gY7q1J | #LucyWorsleyPBS
Lucy Worsley investigates the tensions and turning points that led to America’s declaration of independence from Britain in 1776. With access to expert insights and original evidence, Lucy asks whether this explosive split could have been avoided.
At New York’s City Hall Park, where George Washington’s troops heard the Declaration of Independence read aloud — a rallying cry that inspired rebels to destroy a statue of King George III and melt it into musket balls. At the New York Historical, Lucy examines a relic of this defiance and asks whether the rupture was inevitable. She then travels home to England to uncover the British perspective, studying King George’s maps and visiting Benjamin Franklin’s London home. She traces British and American tensions rising from Britain’s punitive taxes and the Stamp Act of 1765. In Boston, Lucy explores how the Boston Massacre and Boston Tea Party were flashpoints that pushed Americans toward war. Finally, Lucy reveals the radical voices — John Wilkes and Thomas Paine — whose words crystallized America’s vision of liberty and independence.
Lucy Worsley Investigates: The American Revolution | Full Episode 1
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More about: Lucy Worsley Investigates
Lucy Worsley re-investigates some of the most dramatic chapters in British history. She uncovers forgotten witnesses, re-examines old evidence and follows new clues. For over two decades, Lucy Worsley OBE served as the Chief Curator at Historic Royal Palaces in the U.K. She's the author of popular books about Jane Austen and Queen Victoria as well as the Sunday Times no. 1 bestselling biography of Agatha Christie. She is the host of dozens of PBS specials and series including LUCY WORSLEY INVESTIGATES, LUCY WORSLEY’S HOLMES VS. DOYLE, AGATHA CHRISTIE: LUCY WORSLEY ON THE MYSTERY QUEEN, LUCY WORSLEY’S ROYAL MYTHS AND SECRETS, and many others.
How Thoreau Told the Stories of the Black Community near Walden | Henry David Thoreau - April 6, 2026 - PBS
Watch the full three-part film: https://to.pbs.org/hdt2026
While slavery is illegal in Massachusetts, Black communities are forced to the margins of society. While living at Walden Pond, Thoreau explores their stories of hardship and resilience, which have been left out of the public record. His experiences pave the way towards his increasing involvement in anti-slavery work.
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Henry David Thoreau | A Film by Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers
He has been called the patron saint of the environmental movement and the father of nonviolent resistance. His best-known work, Walden, is considered a masterpiece and figures on every list of essential American books. His essay “Civil Disobedience” has inspired activists and reformers from Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., to Colin Kaepernick and Greta Thunberg. He was a writer, a scientist, a seeker of truth, and a fighter for maintaining our nation’s first principles.
Yet our knowledge of Henry David Thoreau is incomplete, outdated, and often inaccurate.
In this modern historical documentary, the mythical Thoreau – the secluded hermit in the woods at Walden Pond, the outlier, the prophet – will give way to the human Thoreau: social; genial; inquisitive; an exacting scientist and charismatic speaker; an individual with flaws, self-contradictions, and misjudgments that prove his humanity and hold a mirror to our own.
Henry David Thoreau is the first nationally broadcast biography of this American original at a time when his wisdom is sorely needed. The film explores his most far-reaching and forward-thinking ideas: justice for all human beings, the health of our planet and the species it sustains, the quest for a meaningful life, the importance of standing up for one’s beliefs in the public square. Tracing those concepts into the 21st century will demonstrate how ideas – when taken off the page and truly lived – can change the world.
The series explores his thoughts on people marginalized by society—Native peoples, African Americans, and women. His experiences with them, and how he wrote about them, reveal the complexities of race, gender, and the roots of inequality, offering a clearer view of our shared history. Combined with his reflections on the natural world, or “wildness,” his work shows how nature and the fight for justice are deeply connected.
Executive produced by Ken Burns and Don Henley, directed by Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers, produced by Julie Coffman, Susan Shumaker, and co-producer Cauley Powell, and written by David Blistein.
The film draws on a rich collection of archival materials, newly filmed cinematography in Concord and beyond, and interviews with scholars, writers, and environmentalists. Among the people featured in the film are Pico Iyer, Douglas Brinkley, Lois Brown, Kristen Case, Laura Dassow Walls, Clay Jenkinson, Robin Kimmerer, J. Drew Lanham, Bill McKibben, Michael Pollan, Rebecca Solnit, and more.
The series is narrated by George Clooney and voices are provided by Ted Danson (Ralph Waldo Emerson), Tate Donovan (William Ellery Channing), Jeff Goldblum (Henry David Thoreau), and Meryl Streep (Lidian Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Mary Merrick Brooks, and Maria Thoreau).
Did the U.S. Use Martha Graham as a Political Pawn? - April 3, 2026 - PBS
Watch more: https://to.pbs.org/3PEkC3z
During the Cold War, the U.S. State Department sponsored a world tour for the Martha Graham Dance Company to be cultural ambassadors. Discover how modern dance became a tool of diplomacy, why Graham refused to perform at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and how her integrated company used art to transcend politics.
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#dance #dancer #arts
MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY: WE ARE OUR TIME
As the Graham Company nears its landmark 100th anniversary, this two part documentary series offers a rare behind-the-scenes portrait of the company, exploring Graham’s legacy through the dancers who embody her work today. Watch more: https://to.pbs.org/3PEkC3z
Reclaiming the Banjo's Hidden Black History | In the Making - April 2, 2026 - PBS
Follow Hannah Mayree, musician, banjo maker, and founder of the Black Banjo Reclamation Project, as they organize workshops and performances celebrating the banjo’s Black history.
Hannah Mayree: Songs of Reclamation
Directed by Ebony Marie Bailey
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In the Making
What happens when an artist holds up a mirror to the world? "In the Making" is a documentary shorts series from @americanmasters and @FirelightMediaNYC that follows emerging cultural icons on their journeys to becoming masters of their artistic disciplines. The new season focuses on eight artists across a variety of disciplines whose work explores and influences American culture today.
Antarctica's Mysterious Lifeforms | Full Episode | Life Unearthed with Ariel Waldman | PBS - April 1, 2026 - PBS
Watch more of this series: https://to.pbs.org/4su8iRH
Antarctica, often perceived as barren and lifeless, is in fact a dynamic ecosystem teeming with life. Hosted by explorer Ariel Waldman, the episode follows her solo expedition through Antarctica’s extreme environments as she documents the thriving microscopic wildlife, including tardigrades, hidden beneath the ice.
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LIFE UNEARTHED with Ariel Waldman
A science-driven docu-series revealing Earth’s ecosystems through radical shifts in scale—from microscopic wildlife to the planet’s most iconic animals—and even the possibilities of life beyond Earth. Hosted by explorer Ariel Waldman, the series invites viewers to look closely and think expansively, showing how every ecosystem is part of something bigger.
When Henry David Thoreau Moved to Walden Pond | PBS - April 1, 2026 - PBS
Watch the full three-part film: https://to.pbs.org/hdt2026
On July 4th, 1845, Henry David Thoreau moves into a 10x15-foot house on the northern shore of Walden Pond. He fills his days tending to his garden, walking in the woods, and most of all, writing. He takes detailed notes on the nature that surrounds him and studies Greek, Roman, and Buddhist literature. But, Thoreau also practices doing nothing and seeing the beauty in staying still.
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Henry David Thoreau | A Film by Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers
He has been called the patron saint of the environmental movement and the father of nonviolent resistance. His best-known work, Walden, is considered a masterpiece and figures on every list of essential American books. His essay “Civil Disobedience” has inspired activists and reformers from Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., to Colin Kaepernick and Greta Thunberg. He was a writer, a scientist, a seeker of truth, and a fighter for maintaining our nation’s first principles.
Yet our knowledge of Henry David Thoreau is incomplete, outdated, and often inaccurate.
In this modern historical documentary, the mythical Thoreau – the secluded hermit in the woods at Walden Pond, the outlier, the prophet – will give way to the human Thoreau: social; genial; inquisitive; an exacting scientist and charismatic speaker; an individual with flaws, self-contradictions, and misjudgments that prove his humanity and hold a mirror to our own.
Henry David Thoreau is the first nationally broadcast biography of this American original at a time when his wisdom is sorely needed. The film explores his most far-reaching and forward-thinking ideas: justice for all human beings, the health of our planet and the species it sustains, the quest for a meaningful life, the importance of standing up for one’s beliefs in the public square. Tracing those concepts into the 21st century will demonstrate how ideas – when taken off the page and truly lived – can change the world.
The series explores his thoughts on people marginalized by society—Native peoples, African Americans, and women. His experiences with them, and how he wrote about them, reveal the complexities of race, gender, and the roots of inequality, offering a clearer view of our shared history. Combined with his reflections on the natural world, or “wildness,” his work shows how nature and the fight for justice are deeply connected.
Executive produced by Ken Burns and Don Henley, directed by Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers, produced by Julie Coffman, Susan Shumaker, and co-producer Cauley Powell, and written by David Blistein.
The film draws on a rich collection of archival materials, newly filmed cinematography in Concord and beyond, and interviews with scholars, writers, and environmentalists. Among the people featured in the film are Pico Iyer, Douglas Brinkley, Lois Brown, Kristen Case, Laura Dassow Walls, Clay Jenkinson, Robin Kimmerer, J. Drew Lanham, Bill McKibben, Michael Pollan, Rebecca Solnit, and more.
The series is narrated by George Clooney and voices are provided by Ted Danson (Ralph Waldo Emerson), Tate Donovan (William Ellery Channing), Jeff Goldblum (Henry David Thoreau), and Meryl Streep (Lidian Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Mary Merrick Brooks, and Maria Thoreau).
Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Transcendentalism | PBS - March 31, 2026 - PBS
Watch the full three-part film: https://to.pbs.org/hdt2026
After graduating from Harvard Divinity School, Henry David Thoreau is introduced to an electrifying new social movement through the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: transcendentalism. Transcendentalism is the first youth movement in American history, and it boils down to one simple, but powerful idea: that there is a spark of divinity within everyone, including enslaved people. This idea calls the entirety of American society into question.
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Henry David Thoreau | A Film by Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers
He has been called the patron saint of the environmental movement and the father of nonviolent resistance. His best-known work, Walden, is considered a masterpiece and figures on every list of essential American books. His essay “Civil Disobedience” has inspired activists and reformers from Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., to Colin Kaepernick and Greta Thunberg. He was a writer, a scientist, a seeker of truth, and a fighter for maintaining our nation’s first principles.
Yet our knowledge of Henry David Thoreau is incomplete, outdated, and often inaccurate.
In this 3-part documentary, executive produced by Ken Burns and Don Henley, directed by Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers, the mythical Thoreau gives way to the human Thoreau: social; genial; inquisitive; an exacting scientist and charismatic speaker; an individual with flaws, self-contradictions, and misjudgments that prove his humanity and hold a mirror to our own.
Henry David Thoreau is the first nationally broadcast biography of this American original at a time when his wisdom is sorely needed. The film explores his most far-reaching and forward-thinking ideas: justice for all human beings, the health of our planet and the species it sustains, the quest for a meaningful life, the importance of standing up for one’s beliefs in the public square. Tracing those concepts into the 21st century will demonstrate how ideas – when taken off the page and truly lived – can change the world.
The series explores his thoughts on people marginalized by society—Native peoples, African Americans, and women. His experiences with them, and how he wrote about them, reveal the complexities of race, gender, and the roots of inequality, offering a clearer view of our shared history. Combined with his reflections on the natural world, or “wildness,” his work shows how nature and the fight for justice are deeply connected.
The film draws on a rich collection of archival materials, newly filmed cinematography in Concord and beyond, and interviews with scholars, writers, and environmentalists. Among the people featured in the film are Pico Iyer, Douglas Brinkley, Lois Brown, Kristen Case, Laura Dassow Walls, Clay Jenkinson, Robin Kimmerer, J. Drew Lanham, Bill McKibben, Michael Pollan, Rebecca Solnit, and more.
The series is narrated by George Clooney and voices are provided by Ted Danson (Ralph Waldo Emerson), Tate Donovan (William Ellery Channing), Jeff Goldblum (Henry David Thoreau), and Meryl Streep (Lidian Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Mary Merrick Brooks, and Maria Thoreau).
An Introduction to the Words and Life of Henry David Thoreau | PBS - March 30, 2026 - PBS
Watch the full three-part film: https://to.pbs.org/hdt2026
Henry David Thoreau was a lecturer, philosopher, pencil-maker, surveyor; a teacher, scientist, and an abolitionist. But, above all, he was a prolific writer who spent was obsessed with answering deep questions like how to live a good life and what it means to be a human being on this planet.
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Henry David Thoreau | A Film by Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers
He has been called the patron saint of the environmental movement and the father of nonviolent resistance. His best-known work, Walden, is considered a masterpiece and figures on every list of essential American books. His essay “Civil Disobedience” has inspired activists and reformers from Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., to Colin Kaepernick and Greta Thunberg. He was a writer, a scientist, a seeker of truth, and a fighter for maintaining our nation’s first principles.
Yet our knowledge of Henry David Thoreau is incomplete, outdated, and often inaccurate.
In this modern historical documentary, the mythical Thoreau – the secluded hermit in the woods at Walden Pond, the outlier, the prophet – will give way to the human Thoreau: social; genial; inquisitive; an exacting scientist and charismatic speaker; an individual with flaws, self-contradictions, and misjudgments that prove his humanity and hold a mirror to our own.
Henry David Thoreau is the first nationally broadcast biography of this American original at a time when his wisdom is sorely needed. The film explores his most far-reaching and forward-thinking ideas: justice for all human beings, the health of our planet and the species it sustains, the quest for a meaningful life, the importance of standing up for one’s beliefs in the public square. Tracing those concepts into the 21st century will demonstrate how ideas – when taken off the page and truly lived – can change the world.
The series explores his thoughts on people marginalized by society—Native peoples, African Americans, and women. His experiences with them, and how he wrote about them, reveal the complexities of race, gender, and the roots of inequality, offering a clearer view of our shared history. Combined with his reflections on the natural world, or “wildness,” his work shows how nature and the fight for justice are deeply connected.
Executive produced by Ken Burns and Don Henley, directed by Erik Ewers and Christopher Loren Ewers, produced by Julie Coffman, Susan Shumaker, and co-producer Cauley Powell, and written by David Blistein.
The film draws on a rich collection of archival materials, newly filmed cinematography in Concord and beyond, and interviews with scholars, writers, and environmentalists. Among the people featured in the film are Pico Iyer, Douglas Brinkley, Lois Brown, Kristen Case, Laura Dassow Walls, Clay Jenkinson, Robin Kimmerer, J. Drew Lanham, Bill McKibben, Michael Pollan, Rebecca Solnit, and more.
The series is narrated by George Clooney and voices are provided by Ted Danson (Ralph Waldo Emerson), Tate Donovan (William Ellery Channing), Jeff Goldblum (Henry David Thoreau), and Meryl Streep (Lidian Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Mary Merrick Brooks, and Maria Thoreau).