Britain from Above – New TV Series from the BBC

Britain from above is a fantastic new three part series from the BBC presented by Andrew Marr which looks to take a birds-eye view of Britain and the way we live. I saw the first episode on Sunday night and was completely enthralled. The program looked at how the machine of modern Britain works, from the road networks and shipping lanes to fibre-optic internet cables and electricity generation. The program also looked how the little things we each do because so many of us do them have a huge impact (I never realised the chaos that it caused each and every day when Eastenders finishes and millions of households all over the country put the kettle on to make a cup of tea). The numbers that where quoted in the program where mind boggling, but the thing that really made the program (and will not doubt win it lots of awards) where the computer graphics and simulations that where used to show things like taxi routes round London, aircraft flight paths, internet and phone usage, road use at hour and even how busy our shipping lanes are. People always say that they are just one person and as such can have little impact – well this program really showed how all these little impacts really add up and the effect they have. It also gives you an idea of just how close to capacity our country operates. I would well recommend trying to catch the first episode on the BBC I-player and watching the next part on Sunday evening.