The 50 Greatest Documentaries was a Channel 4 television programme which was broadcast on 9 October 2005 and was narrated by British actress, Zoë Wanamaker. The number one position was held by the on-going Up Series.
The list was compiled based on the nominations submitted to Channel 4 by a series of factual filmmakers, amongst who included Paul Watson, Nick Broomfield and Molly Dineen.
1 Up Series 1964 United Kingdom
2 Touching The Void 2003 United Kingdom
3 Bowling For Columbine 2002 United States
4 The World At War 1973 United Kingdom
5 Capturing The Friedmans 2003 United States
6 The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off 2004 United Kingdom
7 Life on Earth: A Natural History by David Attenborough 1979 United Kingdom
8 Fahrenheit 911 2004 United States
9 When We Were Kings 1996 United States
10 Faking It 2000 United Kingdom
11 Hoop Dreams 1994 United States
12 This Week: Death on the Rock 1988 United Kingdom
13 The Leader, His Driver and the Driver's Wife 1991 United Kingdom
14 One Day in September 1999 Switzerland / Germany / United Kingdom
15 Fourteen Days in May 1987 United Kingdom
16 The Family 1974 United Kingdom
17 Night Mail 1936 United Kingdom
18 The Nazis: A Warning from History 1997 United Kingdom
19 Super Size Me 2004 United States
20 The Death of Yugoslavia 1995 United Kingdom
21 Walking With Dinosaurs 1999 United Kingdom
22 Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer 2003 United Kingdom
23 Beyond the Clouds 1994 United Kingdom
24 Omnibus: Cracked Actor 1975 United Kingdom
25 The Secret Policeman 2003 United Kingdom
26 QED: John's Not Mad 1989 United Kingdom
27 Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days 1989 United Kingdom
28 The Thin Blue Line 1988 United States
29 Wife Swap 2003 United Kingdom
30 A History Of Britain 2000 United Kingdom
31 The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear 2004 United Kingdom
32 Spellbound 2002 United States
33 The War Game 1965 United Kingdom
34 Signs of the Times 1992 United Kingdom
35 An Impossible Job: Graham Taylor 1993 United Kingdom
36 Woodstock 1970 United States
37 People's Century 1995 United Kingdom
38 Beneath the Veil 2001 United Kingdom
39 Feltham Sings 2002 United Kingdom
40 The Human Body 1998 United Kingdom
41 World in Action: In the Interests of Justice 1985 United Kingdom
42 Driving School 1997 United Kingdom
43 Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse 1991 United States
44 Nanook of the North 1922 United States / France
45 Home From the Hill 1987 United Kingdom
46 Civilisation: A Personal View by Kenneth Clark 1969 United Kingdom
47 Fred Dibnah: Steeplejack 1979 United Kingdom
48 Malcolm & Barbara: A Love Story 1999 United Kingdom
49 The Fog of War 2003 United States
50 Louis Theroux: When Louis Met Jimmy 2000 United Kingdom