The 40 Best Industry Documentary Series, Ranked
Voting Rules
Vote up the best documentary series about how things are made that have aired on television.
- 1Mark Tewksbury, Lynne Adams, Brooks Moore
Industry: Manufacturing
How everyday items are made. - 2
Food Factory USA
Industry: Food Production
Food Factory USA (Food Network, 2014) is a Canadian documentary television series that is a reformatted version of the original Food Factory series. As with the original show, the series features the industrial production lines of major food companies but focuses on only US companies instead - as well as being re-cut to accommodate American commercial needs and updated with new text graphics. - 3Lloyd Sherr, Harlan Saperstein, Franklin D. Roosevelt
Industry: Technology
The world's architectural and engineering structures, scientific inventions and social wonders. - 4Mike Rowe
Industry: Overlooked jobs
Dirty Jobs: Rowe'd Trip (Discovery, 2020) is an American reality television series and spin-off of Dirty Jobs starring Mike Rowe. Rowe and the original Dirty Jobs crew set out on a road trip across the country to revisit past jobbers and tell new stories. - 5
Inside the Factory
Gregg Wallace, Cherry Healey, Ruth GoodmanIndustry: Manufacturing
Inside the Factory (BBC, 2015) is a British documentary television series. Each episode explores how a specific product is made inside a factory, from foods such as bread and cereals to Yule logs and toilet paper. - 6Dan Lanigan, Andrew Adamson, Erin Andrews
Industry: Props and filmmaking
Host Dan Lanigan revisits classic Disney titles and looks at them through the lens of their props. - 7Danny Forster
Industry: Engineering
Engineers and builders conceive incredible construction projects. Industry: Machinery, Inventions
The stories behind innovations such as television, phones, airplanes, motorcycles and power tools.- 9
Out Of The Fiery Furnace
Industry: Founderies
Out Of The Fiery Furnace (ABC, 1985) is an Australian documentary television series. The show traces the discovery and use of metals, minerals, and energy resources through time and was shown in over twenty countries. - 10Frank Bruni, Emmy, Kevin Flanery
Industry: Entertainment, Space, Sports
Meiko Amabuki is an accomplished attorney locked in a bitter divorce battle with her husband, as both are fighting for sole custody of their daughter. - 11
Cool Stuff: How It Works
Industry: Mass Production, Manufacturing
Cool Stuff: How It Works is a multi-part documentary television mini-series that premiered in 2007 on the Discovery Channel. The program is based on an existing book about how "Modern Marvels" actually work. The show is hosted by Steve Truitt. It is produced by Sydney-based Beyond Television Productions, the creator of the successful Discovery Channel series MythBusters and Prototype This!. - 12
Gadget Man
Stephen Fry, Richard AyoadeIndustry: Various gadgets and technology
Gadget Man (Discovery Channel, 2012) is a British special interest series. Each episode presents a variety of innovative products related to the episode's theme. - 13Rupert Degas, Robert Llewellyn
Industry: Manufacturing
Ordinary objects that are products of the most scientific engineering processes. - 14
Jimmy's Food Factory
Jimmy DohertyIndustry: Food Production
Jimmy's Food Factory (BBC One, 2009) is a British documentary science television series. Farmer and host Jimmy Doherty shares how typical household foods such as butter, milk, and bread, are made on an industrial scale by using his own equipment. - 15
How Do They Do That?
Industry: Movie Special Effects
How do they do that? is a British television show, produced by Reg Grundy Productions and broadcast on BBC1 from 1994 to 1997. Originally presented by Jenny Hull and Des Lynam, it explored feats of engineering, organization, and special effects. Each season opened with a stunt apparently performed by one of the presenters, such as a skydiver crash-landing into the studio, a car chase, or the entire studio being washed away. After two series, Eamonn Holmes took over as male presenter, and from Series 5 was joined by Esther McVey. At its height, How do they do that? had 12 million viewers watching on Wednesday nights. - 16
How'd That Get On My Plate?
Sunny AndersonIndustry: Food Production
How'd That Get On My Plate? is a television series on the Food Network, which premiered in July 2008. It is hosted by Sunny Anderson. The program investigates how various foods are produced, from their rawest form to their finished state, and features visits to food production factories throughout the United States. - 17Tom Goodman-Hill, Greg Stebner, Jonathan Hart
Industry: Construction
The making of the greatest structures and machines ever created. Industry: Manufacturing
The unexpected stories behind brands and iconic products.Industry: Engineering
Chronicling the stories of the visionaries behind the most epic builds of the past two centuries.- Zooey Deschanel is on a mission to solve everyday food dilemmas by asking the tough questions.
Industry: Food Production
Viewers get a behind-the-scenes look at how many popular snacks are made.- Designers and builders explain exactly how these major engineering endeavors move from the drawing board to the real world.
- 23Tim Allen, Richard Karn, April Wilkerson
Industry: Tools
Celebrating the evolution of iconic tools, from handheld and basic to the industrial and mighty. - 24
Some Assembly Required
Brian UngerIndustry: Manufacturing
Some Assembly Required is a Discovery Channel TV series which premiered in the United States on December 27, 2007 and originally aired in 2007 and 2008. Hosts Brian Unger and physicist Lou Bloomfield explain how various things are manufactured and participate in the manufacturing process. The show is also titled as How Stuff's Made in the UK. Industry: Special effects and filmmaking
Lawrence Kasdan takes viewers on an adventure behind the curtains of Industrial Light & Magic.- 26
The Henry Ford's Innovation Nation
Mo Rocca, Alie Ward, Adam YamaguchiIndustry: Manufacturing
Host Mo Rocca explores the stories behind the world's greatest inventions. Industry: Manufacturing
Changes in the workplace and the long-term impact on workers, employers, educators and communities.- 28Ava DuVernay
Industry: Filmmaking
Ava DuVernay delves into film history as directors deconstruct their most iconic images. - 29
Ultimate Factories
Christopher CookIndustry: Manufacturing
Ultimate Factories also known as Megafactories is an American documentary television series that premiered in 2006 on the National Geographic Channel. The program explores the inner workings of factories worldwide. Each episode profiles the machinery and manpower behind each factory's main product, featuring close-ups, breakdowns, interviews, and side stories to show the sequence of events to produce the product in the factory. Hoff Productions was one of the principal producers of this highly successful series. It also airs in non-US markets as Megafactories. - The story behind how actors were cast in role.
