The Science of D-Day

The Science of D-Day

Conflict and Warfare | BBC One | 2014 | 28'57''

Engineer Rob Bell explores the new inventions - from giant troop-carrying gliders to tanks that could operate on water - that made the Normandy invasion...

04: HMS Hood | Clydebuilt: The Ships That Made the Commonwealth

04: HMS Hood | Clydebuilt: The Ships That Made the Commonwealth

Conflict and Warfare | BBC Two | 2014 | 59'01''

David Hayman meets some of the men who sailed on HMS Hood. He travels to Scapa Flow to experience what life w...

03: Robert E Lee | Clydebuilt: The Ships That Made the Commonwealth

03: Robert E Lee | Clydebuilt: The Ships That Made the Commonwealth

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC Two | 2014 | 59'09''

During the American Civil War, Glasgow shipbuilders and captains made a fortune running the supplies of w...

02: CS Mackay-Bennett | Clydebuilt: The Ships That Made the Commonwealth

02: CS Mackay-Bennett | Clydebuilt: The Ships That Made the Commonwealth

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC Two | 2014 | 58'41''

David tells the story of CS Mackay-Bennett, a cable repair ship launched on the Clyde in 1884. She k...

01: Cutty Sark | Clydebuilt: The Ships That Made the Commonwealth

01: Cutty Sark | Clydebuilt: The Ships That Made the Commonwealth

Empire, Slavery and Race | BBC Two | 2014 | 59'10''

David Hayman travels to Australia to uncover the links Cutty Sark forged with this Commonwealth country, an...

04: Beaulieu | National Treasures

04: Beaulieu | National Treasures

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC One | 2011 | 29'02''

Dan Snow and Sian Williams visit the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, where they get hands-on with some of the most luxurious and elegant...

Why Planes Crash | Why…?

Why Planes Crash | Why…?

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC One | 2025 | 59'45''

In just six months, four passenger planes have crashed, killing 506 people. Dramatic footage and eyewitness accounts tell the story of a deadl...

Why Bridges Collapse: The Baltimore Disaster | Why…?

Why Bridges Collapse: The Baltimore Disaster | Why…?

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC One | 2024 | 59'00''

MV Dali, a huge container ship, crashes into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, tragically killing six peo...

Why Trains Crash | Why…?

Why Trains Crash | Why…?

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC One | 2024 | 58'00''

On 2 June 2023, a triple train crash killed nearly 300 people and injured more than 800 in India's eastern Odisha state. This film examines wh...

Why Planes Vanish: The Hunt for MH370 | Why…?

Why Planes Vanish: The Hunt for MH370 | Why…?

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC One | 2024 | 59'10''

Ten years after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 and its 239 passengers and crew vanished, can new evidence help locate the...

Why Buildings Collapse | Why…?

Why Buildings Collapse | Why…?

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC One | 2022 | 59'55''

In 2021, Champlain Towers South - an apartment building near Miami - collapsed, killing 98 people. This film forensically examines what ...

Why Ships Crash | Why…?

Why Ships Crash | Why…?

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC One | 2022 | 1'00'05''

When the Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal, it triggered a global crisis. Featuring eyewitnesses speaking for the first time, this documentary ...

Why Bridges Collapse: The Genoa Disaster | Why…?

Why Bridges Collapse: The Genoa Disaster | Why…?

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC One | 2019 | 58'49''

The story of some of the people on the Polcevera Bridge on the day of its collapse, investigating what caused the brid...

S04E04: London | Local Heroes

S04E04: London | Local Heroes

Biology | BBC Two | 1999 | 29'06''

Adam Hart-Davis heads to London to discover how Isambard Kingdom Brunel tunnelled under the Thames and to find out more about the inventor of t...

S05E03: Yorkshire | Local Heroes

S05E03: Yorkshire | Local Heroes

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC Two | 2000 | 29'00''

Adam Hart-Davis stops off in Yorkshire as he continues his celebration of unsung scientists. In Whitby, he lauds whaling scientist William S...

Special: Saviour of the Skies | Local Heroes

Special: Saviour of the Skies | Local Heroes

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC Two | 2000 | 39'04''

This profile of Spitfire designer Reginald J Mitchell reveals how a shy, self-effacing man from Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire ...

S05E06: East Midlands | Local Heroes

S05E06: East Midlands | Local Heroes

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC Two | 2000 | 29'04''

In the final programme, viewers show off their ideas for hovercraft, ice lenses, scientific musical instruments and bar-snack separators...

S05E05: Italy | Local Heroes

S05E05: Italy | Local Heroes

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC Two | 2000 | 29'04''

Adam Hart-Davis sets his sights further afield with a trip to Italy, where he ascends the Leaning Tower of Pisa in a bid to reproduce Galileo's ...

S05E04: Nobel Prize Winners | Local Heroes

S05E04: Nobel Prize Winners | Local Heroes

Atomic Structure | BBC Two | 2000 | 29'10''

In an edition devoted to celebrating Britons who have won the Nobel Prize, Adam Hart-Davis lauds John Cockcroft's work on splittin...

S05E02: South Coast | Local Heroes

S05E02: South Coast | Local Heroes

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC Two | 2000 | 29'09''

Adam Hart-Davis continues his bicycle tour of Britain with a visit to England's south coast, where he celebrates the construction of Brigh...

S05E01: London | Local Heroes

S05E01: London | Local Heroes

Contact and non-contact forces | BBC Two | 2000 | 29'04''

London is the first destination, where he investigates the invention of the lightning conductor, the pressure cooker and the electrocardiogram.

S04E06: Royal Institute Special | Local Heroes

S04E06: Royal Institute Special | Local Heroes

Electromagnetic induction | BBC Two | 1999 | 29'07''

In the last programme of the series, Adam Hart-Davis celebrates the 200th anniversary of the Royal Institution - made famous b...

S04E05: North | Local Heroes

S04E05: North | Local Heroes

Atomic Structure and the Periodic Table | BBC Two | 1999 | 29'05''

Adam Hart-Davis celebrates more pioneers of science, this week in Yorkshire and Lancashire, where he uncovers the steelmaking process that put S...

S04E03: North East | Local Heroes

S04E03: North East | Local Heroes

Energy | BBC Two | 1999 | 29'10''

Adam Hart-Davis's cycling tour of Britain takes him this week to Yorkshire, where he visits Leeds Bridge, site of the first motion picture ...

S04E02: Scotland | Local Heroes

S04E02: Scotland | Local Heroes

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC Two | 1999 | 29'05''

Adam Hart-Davis's cycling tour of Britain takes him to Scotland, where he visits St Andrews to see how backspin helps a golf ball defy gravit...

S04E01: South West | Local Heroes

S04E01: South West | Local Heroes

Current, potential difference and resistance | BBC Two | 1999 | 29'09''

This week he reveals the heroes of Bath, Stroud, Dorset and the New Forest, from the inventor of concrete to a pioneer of static electricit...

S03E16: Glasgow | Local Heroes

S03E16: Glasgow | Local Heroes

Energy | BBC Two | 1998 | 28'57''

Adam Hart-Davis concludes the series by visiting western Scotland. There he learns about John Logie Baird, inventor of the television, Lord Ke...

S03E15: East Midlands | Local Heroes

S03E15: East Midlands | Local Heroes

Biology | BBC Two | 1998 | 29'04''

Adam Hart-Davis cycles to Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire to find out about this week's heroes. They include Frank Whittle, who inven...

S03E14: Local Heroines | Local Heroes

S03E14: Local Heroines | Local Heroes

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC Two | 1998 | 29'08''

Adam visits London, where all his heroines are women.

S03E11: The Netherlands | Local Heroes

S03E11: The Netherlands | Local Heroes

Biology | BBC Two | 1998 | 29'04''

In Delft, Hart-Davis profiles the draper who was the first person to see bacteria through a microscope and the book-keeper whose gravi...

S03E10: Edinburgh | Local Heroes

S03E10: Edinburgh | Local Heroes

Energy | BBC Two | 1998 | 29'04''

This week Hart-Davis makes the journey to Elgin, re-creating the moment when Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, and to the site w...

S03E09: Home Counties | Local Heroes

S03E09: Home Counties | Local Heroes

Atomic Structure and the Periodic Table | BBC Two | 1998 | 28'56''

Hart-Davis begins by exploding balloons of hydrogen and oxygen in London, just as Henry Cavendish did in the late 18th century to prove ...

S03E08: Merseyside | Local Heroes

S03E08: Merseyside | Local Heroes

Coastal processes | BBC Two | 1998 | 28'57''

Adam relives his childhood love of Meccano, invented by Frank Hornby, before moving on to celebrate the work of other scientists and innova...

S03E07: Potteries | Local Heroes

S03E07: Potteries | Local Heroes

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC Two | 1998 | 29'13''

Adam Hart-Davis searches for unsung heroes of science on a trip to the Potteries, Staffordshire. Using a few pipes, a ribbon and an air pump...

S03E06: Ireland | Local Heroes

S03E06: Ireland | Local Heroes

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC Two | 1998 | 28'59''

Adam Hart-Davis cycles around Ireland to rediscover some scientific milestones. He looks at how John Tyndall found the sky was blue, how Charl...

S03E05: South | Local Heroes

S03E05: South | Local Heroes

Biology | BBC Two | 1998 | 28'59''

Adam Hart-Davis continues his search for unsung heroes of science when he cycles around the south of England. On a stop-off in Surrey, he uses a...

S03E03: Egypt | Local Heroes

S03E03: Egypt | Local Heroes

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC Two | 1998 | 29'09''

Adam Hart-Davis travels to Egypt in search of the earliest heroes of science. Using a drinks can and a stove, he recreates Hero of Alexandria's ...

S03E02: London | Local Heroes

S03E02: London | Local Heroes

Computing and IT | BBC Two | 1998 | 28'54''

This week he visits London, where he builds his own submarine to illustrate the achievements of Cornelus Drebbel, who rowed underwater from Wes...

S03E01: Cornwall | Local Heroes

S03E01: Cornwall | Local Heroes

Electrical power and safety | BBC Two | 1998 | 28'55''

Adam visits south-west England, where his subjects include William Murdock, who devised the world's first mechanical vehicle and also came up...

Special: Exploding Heroes | Local Heroes

Special: Exploding Heroes | Local Heroes

Crime and Punishment | BBC Two | 1997 | 29'09''

In anticipation of Guy Fawkes Night, Adam Hart-Davis goes on a whistlestop tour from Cornwall to Scotland, looking at the inspiratio...

Special: Science Special | Local Heroes

Special: Science Special | Local Heroes

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC Two | 1997 | 28'50''

In this one-off special Adam Hart-Davis marks significant anniversaries of great British inventors, including Sir Isaac Newton's death.

Fatal Experiments: The Downfall of a Supersurgeon: Part 3 | Storyville

Fatal Experiments: The Downfall of a Supersurgeon: Part 3 | Storyville

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC Four | 2016 | 58'54''

By 2014, four Karolinska doctors started to question Macchiarini's transplantation of plastic tracheas...

Fatal Experiments: The Downfall of a Supersurgeon: Part 2 | Storyville

Fatal Experiments: The Downfall of a Supersurgeon: Part 2 | Storyville

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC Four | 2016 | 58'25''

In 2012, his work seems at risk when he discovers faults with the new synthetic organs, but he still h...

Fatal Experiments: The Downfall of a Supersurgeon: Part 1 | Storyville

Fatal Experiments: The Downfall of a Supersurgeon: Part 1 | Storyville

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC Four | 2016 | 58'49''

Series looking at pioneering synthetic organ surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, who has been accused of using ...

Episode 6 | Astronauts: Do You Have What It Takes?

Episode 6 | Astronauts: Do You Have What It Takes?

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC Two | 2017 | 58'13''

The finalists head to the Shuttle Landing Facility on Florida's Space Coast for a tough test in weightlessness, and back i...

Episode 5 | Astronauts: Do You Have What It Takes?

Episode 5 | Astronauts: Do You Have What It Takes?

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC Two | 2017 | 58'32''

The astronaut candidates fight for their place in the final. Their leadership skills are assessed in a survival test and t...

Episode 4 | Astronauts: Do You Have What It Takes?

Episode 4 | Astronauts: Do You Have What It Takes?

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC Two | 2017 | 58'18''

The competition becomes more intense as the remaining candidates are deprived of oxygen to see if they can recognise the s...

Episode 3 | Astronauts: Do You Have What It Takes?

Episode 3 | Astronauts: Do You Have What It Takes?

Engineering and Manufacturing | BBC Two | 2017 | 59'00''

Old fears surface when the remaining candidates face some space agency swim tests. Their teamwork and mental agility are s...