Oil, Black Blood examines how the global struggle for oil reshaped the modern world before, during, and after World War II. As mechanized warfare expanded on an unprecedented scale, oil emerged as the decisive resource that determined military capability, national survival, and imperial ambition. Nations no longer fought solely over territory or ideology, but over access to fuel that powered tanks, aircraft, ships, and industrial production.

Through rare archival footage, declassified wartime records, and interviews with leading international historians and experts, the episode traces how oil influenced critical wartime strategies and outcomes—from Germany’s drive toward synthetic fuel and the Eastern Front, to Japan’s southern expansion, and the Allied powers’ efforts to secure global supply lines. Oil shortages, embargoes, and strategic bombing campaigns reveal how energy vulnerability shaped the fate of entire nations.

The documentary also explores how the end of the war did not conclude the battle for oil, but instead transformed it. New alliances were forged, geopolitical influence was recalibrated, and the foundations of the postwar global order were laid around energy security. Oil, Black Blood reveals how decisions made in the shadow of war continue to define global politics, conflict, and power in the present day.

Founded in 1940, the Radiosa Orchestra was a constant presence in the radio, television and concert life of Italian-speaking Switzerland right up until 1985. Not only that: the Radiosa was the ensemble that accompanied the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956 in Lugano!

The fascinating history of this orchestra has been turned into a documentary that traces the most significant milestones in the Radiosa’s history: archive interviews, testimonies from musicians who played in the ensemble, and reinterpretations of pieces performed by young jazz musicians bring to life the story of an important musical institution.

The valuable archive material blends with modern footage thanks to our wonderful guest Julie, who literally travels back in time by physically stepping into the archive footage to meet the key figures of the past who made the Radiosa Orchestra a benchmark for what were then known as pop music orchestras.

After 16 years in prison, the prison gates opened for Jack Unterweger on May 23, 1990. He had been sentenced to life imprisonment for murder but was released prematurely following petitions from the Austrian cultural scene. Behind bars, he had become a writer and gained fame as “prison poet”. His “successful rehabilitation” led to his early release.

While Unterweger was a welcome guest at parties in the following months, he murdered at least nine women in Austria, in former Czechoslovakia and in the U.S. – nearly all of them were sex workers. In 1994, one of the most spectacular trials in Austrian criminal history took place. Its outcome remained uncertain until the very end.

The three-part true-crime documentary “Vienna Killing: The Unterweger Story” sheds new light on the life of the Austrian serial killer – primarily from the perspective of his then-18-year-old fiancée, Bianca. The three-part series deconstructs the Unterweger myth and reveals the blind spots of one of Europe’s most spectacular criminal cases. Previously unpublished archival footage and secretly recorded phone calls from prison offer disturbing insights into the killer’s manipulative psyche.
Friends of the victims appear on camera for the first time and, in emotional interviews, provide insight into the Viennese milieu of the 1990s. Instead of portraying Unterweger as a sexy serial killer, the focus shifts to his victims. Biographical vignettes give the murdered women a voice and tell their stories beyond the headlines.

The intention of the Director Kirsten Brandt was to tell the Jack Unterweger case in a radically new way – from a female perspective: “Through this shift in perspective, we see Unterweger through the eyes of the women who came closer to him than anyone else. At the center is Bianca Mrak, who, as an 18-year-old pupil, was the fiancée of the serial killer and fled with him to the U.S. Her journey from Vienna to Miami becomes an emotional road trip navigating seduction, control, and the struggle for self-determination. Today, she speaks more openly than ever before about her relationship and her liberation.”

The three-part-series, a co-production by The Thursday Company and ORF, was broadcast in ORF on Oct 16, 2025.