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| Seven Wonders of the Industrial World | |
|---|---|
 BBC DVD cover | |
| Genre | Documentary Docudrama History |
| Written by | |
| Directed by | |
| Starring | |
| Narrated by | Robert Lindsay |
| Composer | Steve Jablonsky |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 7 |
| Production | |
| Producers | |
| Cinematography | |
| Editors | |
| Running time | 50 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Release | 4 September (2003-09-04) – 16 October 2003 (2003-10-16) |
| Related | |
| What the Industrial Revolution Did for Us | |
Seven Wonders of the Industrial World is a 7-part Britishdocudrama televisionminiseries that originally aired from 4 September 2003 (2003-09-04) to 16 October 2003 (2003-10-16) onBBC and was later released on DVD. The programme examines seven engineering feats that occurred since theIndustrial Revolution. The same feats are covered in a companion book of the same name by producerDeborah Cadbury.
The programmes weredramatised versions of actual events: actors played the various figures involved, reciting monologues and dialogue based on their letters and writings. It cost approximately £1 million to create the 7-part documentary. A book of the same name was released byproducerDeborah Cadbury, exploring the same feats.[1][2]
| Wonder | Description | Completed |
|---|---|---|
| SSGreat Eastern | British oceangoing passenger steamship | 1858 |
| Bell Rock Lighthouse | In theNorth Sea off the coast ofAngus, Scotland | 1810 |
| Brooklyn Bridge | InNew York City, New York, United States | 1883 |
| London sewer system | ServingLondon, England | 1870 |
| First transcontinental railroad | 1,912-mile (3,077 km) continuous railroad line connecting existing rail networks inIowa,Nebraska,Wyoming,Utah,Nevada, andCalifornia in the United States | 1869 |
| Panama Canal | 51-mile (82 km) artificial waterway crossing theIsthmus of Panama and connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans | 1914 |
| Hoover Dam | On theColorado River, spanning the border betweenNevada andArizona in theUnited States | 1936 |
This episode focuses on the construction of theSSGreat Eastern, designed byIsambard Kingdom Brunel to be both the first ship entirely made out of iron and the most luxurious vessel of the day. However, while the ship itself was a marvel of shipbuilding, its construction was marred by accidents, scandal and misfortune, including a fire that practically destroyed the shipbuilder's yard, problems with the launch and financial scandals, all of which contributed towards Brunel's deteriorating health and comparatively early demise in 1859 and the popular belief that the ship was jinxed (a rumour leading to the legend of two bodies being found trapped in the hull upon its dismantling).
Focusing on the construction of theBrooklyn Bridge, the episode examines the family that built it—John Augustus Roebling, who designed the bridge; his son,Washington Roebling, who took over construction following his father's death shortly after the project was announced; and Washington's wifeEmily Roebling, who taught herself engineering principles and took on the burden of her husband's work after his health was destroyed by thedecompression sickness he suffered, owing to the length of time he spent working and overseeing matters in the pressured atmosphere of the underwatercaissons used to build the bridge.
This episode tells the story of the construction in the early 19th century of the offshorelighthouse onBell Rock, by the Scottish engineerRobert Stevenson. Bell or Inchcape Rock was underwater except for a couple of hours at low tide each day. It had claimed the lives of sailors and sunk ships for hundreds of years, but its situation caused difficulties in producing a design that would stand up to the storms and waves that ravaged the area while simultaneously housing the builders who worked on it during the few months of fair weather available each year.
Set in London during the 1850s, this episode focusses on the construction of theLondon sewerage system, built to replace the antiquated medieval system that was overworked and inadequate for the needs of the then-largestmetropolis in the world, causingepidemics of disease and a permanent foul stench to fill the air also known as theGreat Stink. The episode follows the efforts and work ofJoseph Bazalgette, the brilliant engineer who designed the influential and modern sewer system that would purify the city, transform the streets above and would result in the end of the epidemics ofcholera andtyphoid that had ravaged the population—although, ironically not for the reasons that he initially thought. (This episode was written byGregory Evans anddirected andproduced by Bazalgette's great-great-grandson,Edward Bazalgette)
This episode presents the French and American efforts to builda canal throughPanama to link theAtlantic Ocean with thePacific Ocean. The first attempt to construct the canal byFerdinand de Lesseps, the builder of theSuez Canal, was abandoned because oftropical diseases (which killed over 22,000 men) and the difficulty of constructing a sea-level canal through the mountains. The resulting financial scandals not only ruined de Lesseps and many investors, it also brought down the French government. The episode then takes up the story seventeen years later when the United States took up the challenge. A concentrated effort succeeded in eradicating the causes of the tropical diseases, but the attempt to build a sea-level canal once again failed. Instead the canal was built withlocks.
The episode follows the construction of theFirst transcontinental railroad, the first transcontinentalrail system, which would unite the eastern and western seaboards of theUnited States. Started inSacramento bya consortium of local shopkeepers with no experience in building a railroad, the episode follows their efforts to build from west to east through the forbiddingSierra Nevada mountains with the help of Chinese labourers whilst simultaneously following the efforts of the workers of theUnion Pacific to build from east to west, and their problems in dealing with the lawless nature of theWild West, attacks byhostile Indians, andfinancial corruption and scandal.
The final episode focuses on the construction of theHoover Dam during theGreat Depression of the 1930s, focusing in particular on the ruthless pace set byFrank Crowe, the builder, whose eagerness to complete the project well before schedule and subsequent exploitation of the workforce (who were desperate for any employment and were forced to accept conditions of extreme hardship in the process) resulted in many deaths and the eventual construction ofa new city to house the workers.
| DVD Region | Release date | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Region 2 | 3 January 2005 | BBC Video[3] |
| Region 4 | 6 February 2008 | BBC Video[4] |
