A Drama-documentary series recreating epic moments in the industrial revolution.

The Great Ship (4.09.03): In the 1850s, the world's most brilliant engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, dreamed of creating the largest ship ever seen. The Great Eastern would come to destroy him and all who were associated with it, leading some to believe it was cursed.
The Brooklyn Bridge (11.09.03): In the mid-19th century, a seemingly impossible scheme was devised to unite Manhattan with Brooklyn with the longest suspension bridge ever built. The ambitious dream of engineer John Roebling fast turned into a nightmare dogged by gross political corruption.
The Bell Rock Lighthouse (18.09.03): The deadly Bell Rock Reef, eleven miles off the east coast of Scotland, terrorised seamen for centuries. Robert Stevenson's plans to build a lighthouse on the almost permanently submerged rocks was widely ridiculed, but against all odds, he succeeded, and it continues to save lives.
The Line (Transcontinental Railway) (25.09.03): (6.04.04) In 1862, President Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act authorising the construction of 1800 miles of track. Two corporate giants were pitched against each other in a race to join the East and West coasts of America: to shrink the continent and change the whole world.
The Sewer King (2.10.03): Joseph Bazalgette's ambitious scheme in the mid-19th century to create a network of sewers under a London where outbreaks of disease, caused by dirty water and unsanitary conditions, killed thousands. His vision required extraordinary and novel engineering solutions involving watertight tunnels and vast steam pumping engines.
The Panama Canal (9.10.03): French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps was hailed as a national hero on finishing the Suez Canal in 1869. Thousands raced to invest in his next plan, a canal across Panama that would link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Work started in 1880. It was completed in 1914 after 35 years of struggle, rocked by financial scandal, and the deaths of at least 20,000 men, including its designer 20 years earlier. Theodore Roosevelt and his engineer John Stevens finished the job just before World War One broke out, in which the canal played an important strategic role.
The Hoover Dam (16.10.03): The Colorado River was once one of the world's most dangerous and unpredictable waterways to cross. But in 1902, engineer Arthur Powell-Davis dreamed of creating the largest dam ever and taming the wild river. With electricity and irrigation, the deserts of the West would bloom and the face of America would change forever.

Visit BBC History and the Seven Wonders of the Industrial World
website for more information

Ocean Liners (22.09.03): The opening programme revisits the 1930s, a golden era for ocean liners and a competitive period for British and French shipyards as they built extravagant ships - namely the Queen Mary and the Normandie - with the hope of winning the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing.
Flying Boats (29.09.03): They came to the fore in the 1930s and were a luxurious way to travel - the Empire, for example, was a British classic which could carry 24 passengers. This programme looks at the competition between Pan American and Britain's Imperial Airways to establish the first trans-Atlantic commercial airline service.
Steam Trains (6.10.03): In the 1930s, the east and west coast railway companies in Britain were competing to provide the fastest services from London to Scotland. The Coronation Scot and A4 Pacifics were the fastest trains in the world and the competitive market pushed the machines to new extremes.
The Speed Boat Kings (13.10.03): In the 1920s and 30s Britain and the US would go head-to-head in the Harmsworth Challenge, a kind of America's Cup for the power-boating world. The rivalry was intense with the Brits relying on technical ingenuity to counter the USA's powerful aircraft engine-powered boats.
Breaking the Sound Barrier (20.10.03): The race to break the sound barrier began in World War II when the British uncovered German plans for a 1,000 mph aircraft. When the Messerschmitt 262 was launched, the British responded with the M52 and the DH108 Swallow, and by the end of the war, the Americans entered the race with the Bell X1.
Cutty Sark and the Great Clippers (27.10.03): In the mid-19th century, cargo ships known as clippers dominated world trade routes. Tea was a popular commodity in Victorian times, resulting in competitive races on the 15,000-mile journey from China. The Great Tea Race of 1866 inspired the design of super-fast clippers, including the Cutty Sark.
Bentley v Mercedes (3.11.03): The evolution of high-performancecars during the 1920s and 1930s, focusing on the rivalry between Bentley and Mercedes, and the part played by Hitler in the battle for superiority. Bentley and Mercedes played a key role in the evolution of sports cars and motor racing the 1920s and '30s. Three successive victories at Le Mans ensured Bentley's status, but a new challenger - Mercedes - was about to emerge from Germany
Land Speed Record (10.11.03): The last in the series centres on the battle between Malcolm Campbell and Henry Segrave in the 1920s and 1930s to break the land speed record. For these former fighter pilots, speed was everything - so much so that they each risked their lives to become the fastest man on earth. The final programme explores the battle for the land speed record between Malcolm Campbell, who drove the famed Bluebird into the record books, and Henry Segrave, the man who earned a knighthood for setting a record in 1929 but lost his life while attempting the same feat on water.

Visit Channel 4 Science and the Speed Machines websites for further information