Russia: A Journey with Jonathan Dimbleby - National Treasures

Jonathan Dimbleby continues his Russian odyssey. Siberia is Russia's treasure chest. Jonathan visits an emerald mine and then makes his way down to the great city of Ekaterinburg, built to protect and exploit reserves of iron ore found in the mountains. Alcoholism is a huge problem in Russia, often because of home-made poison liquor sold on the estates in cities like Ekaterinburg. Jonathan goes on a raid with a crime-busting group founded by an ex-alcoholic. Ekaterinburg is also the place where the last tsar and his family were murdered by the Bolsheviks. In woods near the city Jonathan comes across an archaeologist who has just unearthed what he thinks are the bones of two of the imperial children, thus solving the puzzle of what had become of them. The modern treasure on which Russia prospers is oil. Jonathan takes the train north towards the Arctic Circle to Nizhnevartovsk where BP are co-owners of a huge oilfield. Most people just come for the wages - there is not much to do besides drill for oil. The team then takes a river boat to the beautiful old city of Tomsk. They set out for the logging camps in the taiga north of town in a tank-like tracked carrier. Out in the forest Jonathan meets a climate change scientist who warns that vast quantities of methane gas are starting to seep out of the melting bogs - potentially lethal to the world's atmosphere. Next stop is Akademgorodok, a purpose-built city for some of the brainiest people in Russia. Jonathan finds himself trying to master the controls of a computer game designed by scientists whose day job is to design the guidance systems for spacecraft. Finally, he heads into the Altai mountains to find the reindeer herdsmen who sell antlers to be ground up as aphrodisiacs.