| Zero Hour | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Documentary, docudrama |
| Country of origin | Canada United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 16 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 45–50 minutes |
| Production company | Cineflix Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | History Television (Canada) BBC (United Kingdom) 7mate (Australia) The History Channel (United States) |
| Release | 2004 – 2006 |
Zero Hour is a documentary-style television series. It aired on History Television in Canada, on the BBC in the United Kingdom, and on The History Channel in the United States. Zero Hour has also aired on Channel Seven in Australia (third series aired on Network Ten from 1 May 2010 and now plays on 7mate); on Discovery Channel in Africa, Asia, New Zealand, Brazil, and the Netherlands. The program focuses on retelling the details of tragic man-made disasters which each unfolded in less than an hour.
Three narrators were used over the three seasons, David Morrissey, Paul McGann and Sean Pertwee.
Certain episodes have been partially censored for particular broadcasts. One example is the Columbine High School massacre episode, which had some scenes cut (for intense violence, profanity, and racist slurs) when broadcast on Discovery Channel.
From 1 September 2014 to 1 March 2016, all episodes were available for streaming on Netflix. They can still be viewed on Amazon Video.
In 2008, a DVD box set containing 10 episodes was released by Discovery Channel and Go Entertain. The DVDs were also released separately. The episodes included were: "Disaster at Chernobyl", "Massacre at Columbine High" (cut version), "Terror in Tokyo & The Bali Bombing", "The Capture of Saddam Hussein", "The King of Cocaine", "The Sinking of the Estonia", "The Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster", "A Royal Massacre", and "SAS Mission Impossible". "The Last Hour of Flight 11" was released on a separate DVD. All other episodes have not been released on DVD.
| # | Title | Disaster | Hour | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Disaster at Chernobyl" | Chernobyl disaster | 26 April 1986 00:23 – 01:23 | |
| On 26 April 1986, a power plant in Chernobyl exploded with devastating consequences. It is estimated that there were a total of 4,000 deaths worldwide. [1] This episode was filmed on location in Chernobyl at the surviving areas of the power plant. | ||||
| 2 | "The Last Hour of Flight 11" | American Airlines Flight 11 | 11 September 2001 07:46 – 08:46 | |
| On the morning of 11 September 2001, five Islamist extremists led by Mohamed Atta hijack the Los Angeles-bound American Airlines Flight 11 and deliberately fly it into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City, as part of the September 11 attacks, taking thousands of lives in the name of religion. | ||||
| 3 | "Massacre at Columbine High" | Columbine High School massacre | 20 April 1999 11:08 – 12:08 | |
On 20 April 1999, two teenage senior students from Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado embarked on a massacre, killing 12 students and one teacher, as well as injuring 24 other students (21 by direct gunfire), before committing suicide. Two versions of the episode exist. The censored version (with a few scenes cut) is aired on television as well as the "explicit cut", which is also available to be streamed on Amazon Video. | ||||
| 4 | "Terror in Tokyo" | Tokyo subway sarin attack | 20 March 1995 07:46 – 08:46 | |
| On 20 March 1995, the Tokyo Metro was attacked with the highly dangerous chemical weapon sarin, which was planted by 5 members of a terrorist group called Aum Shinrikyo. A total of 13 people were killed and around 1,050 others were non-fatally affected. | ||||
| # | Title | Disaster | Hour | Air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Bali Bombing" | 2002 Bali bombings | 12 October 2002 22:10 – 23:10 | 12 October 2005 | |
| On 12 October 2002, terrorists planted two bombs in two nightclubs in Bali, Indonesia. There were 202 deaths and 209 people were injured, some of them seriously. [2] | |||||
| 2 | "One of America's Own" | Oklahoma City bombing | 19 April 1995 08:02 – 09:02 | 23 January 2006 | |
| On 19 April 1995, 168 were killed when Timothy McVeigh bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. [3] | |||||
| 3 | "The Sinking of the Estonia" | MS Estonia sinking | 28 September 1994 00:48 – 01:48 | 2006 | |
| On 28 September 1994, the ship MS Estonia, already listing from poor cargo management, loses its bow visor while sailing through a storm on the Baltic Sea en route to Stockholm, rapidly flooding and sinking. 852 people were killed. [4] | |||||
| 4 | "The King of Cocaine" | Death of Pablo Escobar | 2 December 1993 13:59 – 14:59 | 2006 | |
On 2 December 1993, Colombian drug lord and terrorist Pablo Escobar and his assistant were captured and killed. NOTE: Also released on online streaming as "Killing the Cocaine King" | |||||
| 5 | "Capturing Saddam" | Operation Red Dawn | 13 December 2003 19:26 – 20:26 | 14 February 2006 | |
| On 13 December 2003, Saddam Hussein, the 5th president of Iraq, was captured by U.S. special forces. In December 2006 he was hanged. [5] | |||||
| 6 | "The Plot to Kill The Pope" | Pope John Paul II assassination attempt | 13 May 1981 16:17 – 17:17 | 2006 | |
| On 13 May 1981, Turkish nationalist Mehmet Ali Ağca nearly assassinated Pope John Paul II. The Pope survived, losing 3 litres of blood. | |||||
| # | Title | Disaster | Hour | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "SAS Mission Impossible" | Operation Barras | 10 September 2000 06:00 – 07:00 | |
| On 10 September 2000, the West Side Boys held members of the Royal Irish Regiment hostage. In the following rescue attempt, an estimated 56 people were killed, 12 wounded, and 18 WSBs captured. [6] | ||||
| 2 | "Falling Star – Columbia" | Space Shuttle Columbia disaster | 1 February 2003 08:00 – 09:00 | |
| On 1 February 2003, the U.S. Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, resulting in the death of all seven crew members. [7] | ||||
| 3 | "A Royal Massacre – Nepal" | Nepalese royal massacre | 1 June 2001 19:57 – 20:57 | |
| On 1 June 2001, Crown Prince Dipendra Bir Bikram Shah killed 9 people and injured 5 others at a house in the grounds of the Narayanhity Royal Palace, before shooting himself and dying three days later on 4 June 2001. [8] | ||||
| 4 | "Hostage Rescue in Lima" | Japanese embassy hostage crisis | 22 April 1997 14:25 – 15:25 | |
| On 22 April 1997, hundreds of high-level diplomats, government and military officials and business executives were freed from the grasp of 14 members of the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) during a raid on the Japanese embassy in Lima by Peruvian Armed Forces commandos, during which one hostage, two commandos, and all the MRTA militants died. [9] | ||||
| 5 | "The North Hollywood Shootout" | North Hollywood shootout | 28 February 1997 08:58 – 09:58 | |
| On 28 February 1997, two heavily armed bank robbers, Larry Eugene Phillips, Jr. and Emil Decebal Mătăsăreanu, engaged over 300 LAPD officers in a shootout in North Hollywood, Los Angeles. Both robbers were killed, eleven police officers and seven civilians were injured, and numerous vehicles and other property were damaged or destroyed by the nearly 2,000 rounds of ammunition fired by the robbers and the police. | ||||
| 6 | "Shoot-Out in Marseilles" | Air France Flight 8969 | 26 December 1994 16:20 – 17:20 | |
| On 26 December 1994, members of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) hijacked Air France Flight 8969 in Algiers, in an attempt to destroy the Eiffel Tower. When the aircraft reached Marseille, the GIGN, an intervention group of the French Gendarmerie, stormed the plane and killed all four hijackers. 3 passengers had been killed by the hijackers in Algiers, and 25 others were wounded during the rescue. | ||||
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