Secrets of the Dead (2000)

Documentary · History · War

Part detective story, part true-life drama, long-running series explores some of the most iconic moments in history to debunk myths and shed new light on past events. Using the latest investigative techniques, forensic science and historical examination, it shatters accepted wisdom, challenges prevailing ideas, overturns existing hypotheses, spotlights forgotten mysteries, and ultimately rewrites history.

IMDb rating: 8.0 (755 votes)
Episode average: 7.4 -0.6 vs IMDb
Seasons: 21
Status: Still airing
Language: EN
Type: TV series

Rating trend: this show's seasons do not settle into one shape. Rising Shows ranks whole shows by the shape of their rating trend rather than one average score, which is how you find a show that got better rather than a show that started well.

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Ratings refreshed Oct 3, 2026 · 21 seasons indexed

Seasons

Season 1 (2000)

7.40 avg 5 episodes 8.4 → 6.4

Season 1 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Catastrophe! Part 1: The Day the Sun Went Out	8.4	23
2	Catastrophe! Part 2: How the World Changed	8.1	21
3	The Lost Vikings	6.6	37
4	What Happened to the Hindenburg?	7.5	41
5	Cannibalism in the Canyon	6.4	17

Season 2 (2001)

6.77 avg 6 episodes 6.9 → 6.1 54 min avg

Bad finale

Season 2 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Witches Curse	6.9	33
2	Murder at Stonehenge	6.9	23
3	Death at Jamestown	6.9	26
4	Day of the Zulu	7.6	19
5	Tomb of Christ	6.2	22
6	The Syphilis Enigma	6.1	30

Season 3 (2002)

7.28 avg 6 episodes 7.7 → 8.4 57 min avg

Season 3 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Search for the First Human	7.7	21
2	The Mystery of the Black Death	7.4	35
3	Titanic's Ghosts	5.6	16
4	The Great Fire of Rome	7.5	24
5	Tragedy at the Pole	7.1	15
6	Bombing Nazi Dams	8.4	24

Season 4 (2003)

7.50 avg 5 episodes 8.5 → 7.0 70 min avg

Front-loaded

Season 4 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Bridge on the River Kwai	8.5	22
2	Killer Flu	7.9	34
3	Shroud of Christ	6.9	21
4	D-Day	7.2	21
5	Amazon Warrior Women	7.0	31

Season 5 (2005)

7.28 avg 5 episodes 8.2 → 7.1 54 min avg

Season 5 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Hunt for Nazi Scientists	8.2	38
2	Gangland Graveyard	6.0	41
3	Voyage of the Courtesans	7.5	31
4	The Sinking of the Andrea Doria	7.6	29
5	Umbrella Assassin	7.1	34

Season 6 (2006)

7.44 avg 5 episodes 7.0 → 7.1 55 min avg

Mid-peak

Season 6 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Dogfight Over Guadalcanal	7.0	32
2	Battle for the Bible	7.7	33
3	Herculaneum Uncovered	8.1	33
4	Headless Romans	7.3	22
5	Irish Escape	7.1	18

Season 8 (2008)

6.80 avg 4 episodes 6.9 → 6.3 54 min avg

Bad finale

Season 8 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Doping for Gold	6.9	39
2	Sinking Atlantis	7.0	27
3	Executed in Error	7.0	27
4	Blackbeard's Lost Ship	6.3	20

Season 9 (2009)

7.15 avg 4 episodes 7.0 → 7.0 54 min avg

Season 9 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Michelangelo Revealed	7.0	43
2	Airmen and the Headhunters	7.6	29
3	Mumbai Massacre	7.0	30
4	Japanese SuperSub	7.0	32

Season 10 (2010)

7.50 avg 4 episodes 7.9 → 7.2 53 min avg

Declining

Season 10 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Churchill's Deadly Decision	7.9	71
2	Deadliest Battle	7.5	80
3	The Silver Pharaoh	7.4	59
4	Slave Ship Mutiny	7.2	42

Season 11 (2010)

6.93 avg 4 episodes 6.2 → 7.7 54 min avg

Season 11 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Lost Ships of Rome	6.2	62
2	Lost in the Amazon	6.5	72
3	China's Terracotta Warriors	7.3	81
4	The World's Biggest Bomb	7.7	98

Season 12 (2012)

7.52 avg 6 episodes 7.6 → 7.9 63 min avg

Rebound

Season 12 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Man Who Saved the World	7.6	70
2	Bugging Hitler's Soldiers	7.9	89
3	Death on the Railroad	7.1	43
4	Caveman Cold Case	6.6	38
5	Ultimate Tut	8.0	81
6	Bones of the Buddha	7.9	61

Season 13 (2013)

7.10 avg 6 episodes 6.6 → 8.2 59 min avg

Season 13 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	JFK: One PM Central Standard Time	6.6	106
2	The Lost Diary of Dr. Livingstone	6.7	74
3	Carthage's Lost Warriors	6.1	43
4	The Lost Gardens of Babylon	7.6	90
5	The Mona Lisa Mystery	7.4	49
6	Resurrecting Richard III	8.2	57

Season 15 (2015)

7.43 avg 6 episodes 6.7 → 7.4 54 min avg

Season 15 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Vampire Legend	6.7	54
2	Jamestown's Dark Winter	7.9	79
3	The Alcatraz Escape	7.5	48
4	Cleopatra's Lost Tomb	7.7	65
5	Teotihuacan's Lost Kings	7.4	54
6	Graveyard of the Giant Beasts	7.4	40

Season 16 (2016)

7.60 avg 5 episodes 7.4 → 7.9 70 min avg

Rebound

Season 16 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	After Stonehenge	7.4	37
2	Van Gogh's Ear	8.1	43
3	Nero's Sunken City	7.7	66
4	Leonardo: The Man Who Saved Science	6.9	83
6	Secrets of Spanish Florida	7.9	44

Season 17 (2018)

7.33 avg 7 episodes 7.3 → 7.9 64 min avg

Season 17 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Scanning the Pyramids	7.3	91
2	Hannibal in the Alps	7.5	73
3	The Woman in the Iron Coffin	7.5	89
4	The Nero Files	6.2	40
5	King Arthur's Lost Kingdom	7.4	94
6	Egypt's Darkest Hour	7.5	59
7	World War Speed	7.9	63

Season 18 (2019)

7.25 avg 6 episodes 7.7 → 4.7 50 min avg

Season 18 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Galileo's Moon	7.7	29
2	Bombing Auschwitz	7.9	51
3	Building Notre Dame	8.0	47
4	Viking Warrior Queen	8.2	47
5	Abandoning the Titanic	7.0	73
6	Gangster's Gold	4.7	37

Season 19 (2021)

7.45 avg 6 episodes 7.8 → 7.3

Season 19 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Magellan's Crossing	7.8	52
2	Lady Sapiens	7.3	49
3	The First Circle of Stonehenge	7.7	43
4	Hindenburg's Fatal Flaws	7.1	38
5	A Samurai in the Vatican	7.5	37
6	The Caravaggio Heist	7.3	35

Season 20 (2022)

7.59 avg 7 episodes 7.1 → 7.3 56 min avg

Season 20 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Archaeology at Althorp	7.1	46
2	Last Days of Pompeii	8.1	44
3	The End of the Romans	7.9	41
4	Decoding Hieroglyphics	7.7	39
5	Hidden in the Amazon	7.3	40
6	The Sunken Basilica	7.7	41
7	Jurassic Fortunes	7.3	26

Season 21 (2023)

7.77 avg 6 episodes 8.1 → 8.0 55 min avg

Season 21 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Eiffel's Race to the Top	8.1	52
2	Death in Britannia	8.0	51
3	The Princes in the Tower	6.9	55
4	Returning to Babylon	8.0	36
5	Mozart's Sister	7.6	43
6	The Herculaneum Scrolls	8.0	47

Season 22 (2024)

7.86 avg 10 episodes 8.1 → 8.0 91 min avg

Season 22 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Civil War's Lost Massacre	8.1	42
2	Field of Vampires	7.9	47
3	Lost Treasures of Angkor - The Discovery	7.6	33
4	Lost Treasures of Angkor - King's Gold	7.2	29
5	Plunderer: The Life and Times of a Nazi Art Thief (Part One)	8.2	41
6	Plunderer: The Life and Times of a Nazi Art Thief (Part Two)	8.1	37
7	The Rise & Fall of the Colosseum	7.5	31
8	Cleopatra's Last Temple	7.9	32
9	Cracking the Queen's Code	8.1	29
10	Chasing the Plague	8.0	30

Season 23 (2025)

7.40 avg 4 episodes Still airing 7.2 → 7.0 55 min avg

Season 23 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	China's Bronze Kingdom	7.2	13
2	Picturing Shakespeare	7.9	32
3	Queens of Combat	7.5	31
4	The Quest for Camelot	7.0	26