Cracking the Code

This episode reveals the story of one of history's greatest codebreakers - suburban mother Elizabeth Friedman. Armed with just a pencil and paper, she cracked the codes that brought down the Mob, saved countless lives in the Second World War and prevented a Nazi invasion of America.

How, from bizarre ancient markings to random numbers and letters, codes and ciphers have been used for millennia to send secret messages, hide identities and operate outside the law.

This episode focuses on the Japanese Super Code, revealing the US efforts to crack Japan's unbreakable Second World War code following the horror of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Efforts fell to one Naval officer with a penchant for crosswords.

Decoding a lost civilization reveals the monumental challenge undertaken by some of the academic world's most brilliant minds.

The criminal gangs across the world using highly encrypted phones to stay under the radar. The police were once one step behind, until a team of investigators worked out how to turn the phones against the criminals and catch them red-handed.

A look at America's Cold War codebreakers charged with unravelling a seemingly uncrackable Soviet code and the uncovering of the Manhattan Project.

How an encrypted German telegram offered the key to saving Britain in its darkest hour. A team of geniuses set about decoding the message to help win the Great War.

Step foot on the roller-coaster ride that is cracking humanity's most complex and important code - the Human Genome.