Seconds from Disaster (2004)

Name: Seconds from Disaster
Genre: Documentary
Rating: 8.1
Cast: Ashton Smith

Documentary

Seconds from Disaster is a US/UK-produced documentary television programme that investigates historically relevant man-made and natural disasters of the 20th century. Each episode aims to explain a single incidental by analyzing the causes and circumstances that ultimately effected the disaster. The program uses re-enactments, interviews, testimonies, and CGI to analyze the sequence of events second-by-second for the audience. Narrators for the show are Ashton Smith, Richard Vaughan and Peter Guinness.

IMDb rating: 8.1 (1,269 votes)
Seasons: 6
Language: EN
Type: TV series

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Ratings refreshed Aug 19, 2026 · 6 seasons indexed

Cast

Ashton Smith Narrator

Seasons

Season 1 (2004)

7.32 avg 13 episodes 7.8 → 6.8 47 min avg

Season 1 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Crash of the Concorde	7.8	84
2	Tunnel Inferno	7.5	71
3	Oklahoma City	6.8	60
4	Fire on the Star	7.3	51
5	Derailment at Eschede	7.8	52
6	Wreck of the Sunset Limited	7.0	49
7	Meltdown in Chernobyl	7.0	115
8	Inferno in Guadalajara	7.2	50
9	Fire on the Ski Slope	7.5	49
10	Explosion in the North Sea	6.9	50
11	Flood at Stava Dam	7.2	40
12	Collision on the Runway	8.4	76
13	Pentagon 9/11	6.8	56

Season 2 (2005)

7.40 avg 20 episodes 8.0 → 7.6 48 min avg

Rollercoaster

Season 2 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Columbia's Last Flight	8.0	61
2	Alpine Tsunami	7.0	40
3	Motorway Plane Crash	7.5	47
4	Mount St Helen's Eruption	7.4	41
5	Zeebrugge Ferry Disaster	7.4	48
6	Kobe Earthquake	6.9	44
7	Crash Landing at Sioux City	8.2	56
8	The Bali Bombing	6.8	40
9	Hotel Collapse Singapore	6.9	43
10	TWA Flight 800	7.8	57
11	Paris Runaway Train	7.7	50
12	Hindenburg Air Ship	7.3	51
13	Puerto Rico Gas Explosion	7.1	42
14	Skywalk Collapse	7.2	46
15	Amsterdam Air Crash	7.4	49
16	Russia's Nuclear Sub Nightmare	7.8	42
17	King's Cross Fire	7.3	50
18	American Embassy Bombing	7.0	30
19	Florida Swamp Air Crash	7.8	49
20	Collision Course	7.6	86

Season 3 (2006)

7.39 avg 13 episodes 7.8 → 6.5 48 min avg

Bad finale

Season 3 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Titanic	7.8	67
2	Aircraft Carrier Explosion	7.3	38
3	New York Air Crash	7.8	50
4	Munich Olympic Massacre	7.5	58
5	Superstore Collapse	7.8	52
6	Washington Air Crash	7.6	47
7	Asian Tsunami	7.6	40
8	Comet Air Crash	7.8	56
9	Chicago Plane Crash	7.6	52
10	Texas Oil Refinery Disaster	6.7	46
11	Tornado Outbreak	7.0	36
12	Space Shuttle Challenger	7.1	59
13	Montserrat Volcano	6.5	35

Season 4 (2011)

7.80 avg 6 episodes 7.8 → 8.2

Season 4 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	9/11	7.8	52
2	Pearl Harbor	7.6	36
3	Paddington Rail Disaster	7.6	44
4	Death in Mid-Air	8.2	52
5	Cable Car Collision	7.4	38
6	Bhopal	8.2	46

Season 5 (2012)

7.50 avg 6 episodes 7.8 → 7.6 45 min avg

Season 5 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Fukushima	7.8	46
2	The Bismarck	7.6	42
3	Mountain Tsunami	7.5	45
4	Waco Cult	7.0	33
5	The Deepwater Horizon	7.5	40
6	Mumbai Massacre	7.6	37

Season 6 (2012)

7.57 avg 10 episodes 7.9 → 7.1 60 min avg

Season 6 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Norway Massacre: I Was There	7.9	46
2	Jonestown Cult Suicide	7.5	44
3	Fire in the Cockpit	7.9	47
4	Black Hawk Down	7.4	39
5	Into the Death Zone	7.4	41
6	Terrified Over Tokyo	7.9	45
7	Runaway Train	7.9	107
8	Nagasaki: The Forgotten Bomb	7.4	37
9	Sinking the Coventry	7.3	35
10	Chinook Helicopter Crash	7.1	27