Kim Jong Il Part 1: Birth of North Korea

Kim Jong-il built a volatile rogue state with nuclear missiles trained on its enemies – all while living a life of the utmost luxury. In the first episode of Real Dictators, we piece together the early life of this tyrant and that of the country he came to rule.

Kim Jong-il is born during World War Two. His father, Kim Il-sung, fights the Japanese and helps found the state of North Korea. After the War, son and nation grow up together, as Kim Jong-il begins his own rise to power. Historians trace Kim’s early years, while defectors from North Korea reflect on the propaganda they grew up with.

Kim Jong Il Part 2: Time to Make a Movie…

Kim Jong-il has risen to become head of North Korean propaganda, under the rule of his strongman father. Now, he hatches an audacious plan to turn North Korea into a filmmaking powerhouse.

South Korea’s finest actress and leading director are kidnapped and find themselves on boats bound for the North. Elsewhere, Kim launches a charm offensive at the armed forces, readying the ground for his coronation. And his father dies, leaving the path to power seemingly clear.

Kim Jong-il Part 3: Nuclear Armed

Installed as dictator, Kim Jong-il builds an all-powerful state that rules the lives and minds of its people without mercy. North Korea is wracked by famine. The people adapt to survive – we hear from one man who flouted the rules on trade and commerce and paid a horrific price. With the country starving, lurid rumours emerge about how the ‘Dear Leader’ spends his leisure time. And Kim Jong-il begins work on an arsenal of nuclear weapons that will spook the world and pave the way for his own son’s ascent to power.

Joseph Stalin Part 1: The Young Bank Robber

Joseph Stalin – the “man of steel” – was the party secretary who plotted a route to absolute power, becoming head of the Eastern Bloc and, in time, chief nemesis of the United States. But how did a man from the Georgian frontier of the Russian Empire do it? In 1917, the 300-year-old Romanov Dynasty collapses. The communist Bolsheviks storm the Winter Palace and seize power. From this band of revolutionaries, a future bloody dictator – a man with an extraordinary backstory – begins to emerge.

Joseph Stalin Part 2: The secretary becomes dictator

With the First World War underway, Stalin’s journey to becoming a brutal dictator begins to grind into gear. After the War, Russian society is turned upside down. Stalin thrives in the chaos, masterminding a string of elaborate takedowns of his rivals. Rising to party leader, Stalin visits a ruthless purge on his enemies. After the ‘Great Purge’ comes the ‘Great Terror’, as the dreaded secret police cleanse the country of so-called traitors. Rural society collapses under this onslaught. But Stalin’s brutality does not go unchallenged. A showdown with his own wife at a dinner party has tragic consequences.