Secret History

In Roman times, way before watching a bunch of selfconsciously rebellious dullards in a made-fortelevision house passed for entertainment, the masses got their kicks watching animals fighting animals and men fighting animals in huge arenas.

This doco, populated by the usual historians and actors pretending to be Roman types, looks at how much these games cost, how said animals were captured and transported to Rome, and where they lived when they got there.

Alas, what the cheering crowds did not realise was that hunting creatures for display decimated entire species of wildlife.