Where to Watch BBC Documentaries • Season 1979
18 Episodes
- It's About Time
E1It's About TimeThis programme with Dudley Moore in the role of the layman investigates the physical and philosophical theories of time, including the variability of human estimation of time, the meaninglessness of concept of absolute time, the relativity twin paradox, time travel, the birth in detail and an envisioned death of the universe. Those explaining these concepts to him include Isaac Asimov, and actors in dramatizations, together with graphics and simulations. - Wings Over The World
E2Wings Over The WorldTV special featuring footage filmed throughout Wings' tour of 1975/1976, following the band in England, Australia and America. It contains live concert performances featuring fifteen of Wings' greatest songs and home movies of Paul McCartney and his family, providing a fascinating profile of the McCartneys' life off-stage. The tour itself was a major triumph for Wings - the first time the group had appeared in Australia and America, and Paul's first performance in the States for ten years. Three million people saw the shows and a then-world record attendance for an indoor concert of 67,053 was set at the Kingdome, Seattle. Starting with Paul and Linda in Scotland, the special features the gradual build-up of the band and follows Wings on tour with hit songs such as Jet, Maybe I'm Amazed, Yesterday, Silly Love Songs and Band on the Run. The Wings line-up for the tour was Paul and Linda McCartney, Denny Laine, Jimmy McCulloch and Joe English. - Einstein's Universe
E3Einstein's UniverseThis highly informative and educational two hour BBC program was written and conceived by Nigel Calder, author of several books on science, including Einstein’s Universe, upon which this program is based. It is hosted by Peter Ustinov, who serves both as our guide to understanding Einstein’s theories and speaks Einstein’s words to make his presence felt throughout the program. Ustinov becomes educated in Einstein’s theories by many of the best minds in science, who provide demonstrations to illustrate his teachings. These include experiments to help understand gravity, warped space, how light responds to gravity, the “Doppler effect” and how radio waves, as used in police radar, are an unbeatable way of measuring speed. From these simpler experiments much larger concepts are drawn, such as the discovery of a Binary Pulsar, the nature of black holes and how they are created, and the ultimate theory of how the universe was formed. Other demonstrations measure the speed of light, how time passes more slowly for people traveling in an airplane, the incredible accuracy of the Atomic Clock in Washington, DC and how time itself would appear to stop at the surface of a black hole. The conclusion of the program portrays Einstein as a great humanitarian. Although known as the “father of the Atomic Bomb”, his greatest concern was for the potentially devastating effects splitting the atom could have on the future of mankind. His famous letter to President Franklin Roosevelt warned that although the splitting of the atom to detonate an atomic bomb could be used to end World War II, it could also potentially be used for far more deadly ends. This last thought is the subject of another Nigel Calder book, Nuclear Nightmares, and a second BBC program to explore this subject in more depth. - Project Apollo: The Men Who Walked on the MoonE5
Project Apollo: The Men Who Walked on the MoonJames Burke looks back on the Apollo Moon landings. Now that ten years have passed, the full story of how and why America sent men to the Moon ' for all mankind ' can be told. In this first programme, based on exclusive interviews with seven former Apollo astronauts and illustrated by the beautiful film they shot in space, the dramatic real-life adventure story of the Moon landings is told more frankly than ever before. Among other things, it is revealed that the first landing of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin ten years ago tonight was far closer to disaster than was admitted at the time. - Project Apollo: The Other Side of the MoonE6
Project Apollo: The Other Side of the MoonJames Burke looks back on the Apollo Moon landings, following the astronauts' version of Apollo earlier this evening, this second programme goes right behind the scenes to examine the political imperatives that first fostered, then disowned Project Apollo. Born out of J.F.K Kennedy's frustration at Soviet success killed because of the cost of the Vietnam war, Apollo was a political football - as the top NASA managers reveal in exclusive interviews. Lunar scientists, too, have a story to tell. What, after ten years-analysis of moon rocks, did they get out of the $24-billion adventure? What, come to that, was in it for the rest of us? - The Rainhill Story: Stephenson's Rocket
E7The Rainhill Story: Stephenson's RocketThis programme looks at the Rainhill Locomotive Trials in Rainhill, Lancashire (now Merseyside) in 1829, a competition to find the best passenger steam locomotive in Britain.On the 150th anniversary of the trials, replicas of its famous winner - Stephenson's 'Rocket' - and two of its competitors are rebuilt by modern day designers, and the trials are reconstructed in Hyde Park. - Let's Go NakedE8
Let's Go NakedThere is an explosion in naturist holidays. It is estimated that 15 million people spent their holidays with nothing on last summer - four times as many as ten years ago. One tour operator predicts that naturist holidays will soon be as popular as ski-ing. At Cap d'Agde in the south of France a gigantic naturist town is being built. Already it has accommodation for 20,000. Soon it will be twice the size. And its supermarkets, banks, cafes and restaurants are full of naked people English families explain why they choose to go naked - many preferring the less commercial, back-to-nature resorts; few approving of the Mr and Miss Nude Admerica pageants staged every year by a Californian entrepreneur ' to bring nudism out of the closet and into the public eye '. JOHN PITMAN traces the growth of the naturist movement this century, from its small-time beginnings in a park in north Germany, to the multi-million-pound business it is today - especially for France and Yugoslavia. - Fred Dibnah: Steeplejack
E10Fred Dibnah: SteeplejackUntil 1978, Fred Dibnah was a steeplejack working locally to his own area of Lancashire. Whilst working on the Town Hall in Bolton, the local BBC TV filmed a short news item about him. As a result of this, Fred was approached by a television producer with a view to making 1 half-hour film as part of a series about people with unusual occupations. After several months of filming, the final article was an hour long documentary, screened in his own right. This won two awards for the producer. - Arrows
E12ArrowsIn 1979 filmmaker John Samson went on the road with a 22-year-old Eric Bristow, one of the rising stars of British darts. This film from the archives depicts Bristow between major competitions as he travels around the pubs and working men's clubs of Britain, challenging the local heroes and playing exhibition matches. Bristow takes on all-comers and breezily faces down a belligerent local radio host. (bbc) - The Secret ListenersE14
The Secret ListenersAt the beginning of the war hundreds of British civilians were recruited for an intelligence operation which has remained a closely-guarded secret. They were called VI's and they worked alone in garden-sheds and back-rooms. Their only contact was a mysterious Post Office Box Number. Tonight their story is told by Rene Cutforth. - The 70s Stop Here!E15
The 70s Stop Here!Introduced by Penelope Keith As midnight approaches and brings with it the beginning of the 1980s, the final programme of the 1970s brings back memories of some of the BBC television programmes which achieved popularity, esteem or even notoriety during the decade. Among the well-known faces who have created an impact on our television screens over the past ten years: John Cleese, Michael Parkinson, Rod Hull and Emu, The Goodies, Elton John, Angela Rippon, Penelope Keith, Richard Briers, Felicity Kendall, Paul Eddington, Michael Crawford, David Frost, Larry Grayson, Morecambe and Wise, Esther Rantzen, Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier, Keith Michell, Ian Holm, Tom Conti, Derek Jacobi, John Hurt, Alan Dobie, Alan Bates, Anne Stallybrass, Susan Littler, John Duttine, Joanna David, Jeremy Brett, Anna Massey, Christopher Timothy, Robert Hardy, Clare Francis, John Curry, Olga Korbut, Nadia Comaneci, Mary Peters, Virginia Wade, Monty Python, Alistair Cooke, Dr Jacob Bronowski, Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett, and The Wilkins Family of Reading. - So You Think You Know About Europe?E16
So You Think You Know About Europe?How much do we in Britain know about Europe? Do they pay more tax than us? Do they have fewer strikes? Does an evening out cost more? What's the Duty Free allowance these days? Try this test and see how much, or how little, you know. Cliff Michelmore and Magnus Magnusson ask the questions and give the answers. - The Agony of Gumstool HillE18
The Agony of Gumstool HillGwyn Richards reports from Tetbury in Gloucestershire, where every year on the spring Bank Holiday Monday they hold a Medieval Fair. The fair includes many of the familiar staples of an English village fair - Morris Dancing, fancy dress, a Punch and Judy show, and the like - and some less familiar ones, like the "wench auction." The main attraction, however, is undoubtedly the infamous Tetbury Woolsack races - a gruelling physical challenge that sees teams laden with heavy sacks of wool running up and down the 1 in 4 gradient of Gumstool Hill.
