BBC Darwin Season
Encyclopedia
The BBC Darwin Season is a series of television and radio programmes commissioned by the BBC
to celebrate the bicentenary
of the great naturalist Charles Darwin
(1809-1882) and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his revolutionary book, On the Origin of Species in November, 1859. In partnership with the Open University
, the BBC produced a special documentary, Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life
, narrated by David Attenborough
, and three major series. Other presenters involved are Andrew Marr
, Melvyn Bragg
and Jimmy Doherty
. The overall commissioning editor for the season is Martin Davidson, the BBC's commissioning editor for specialist factual (in-house). Contributing units of the BBC are BBC Science, the Natural History Unit
, the Religion and Ethics department and the children's channel, CBBC
.
and its arts and culture channel, Radio 3
.
Darwin is also the subject of special editions of the programmes Night Waves and Words and Music.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
to celebrate the bicentenary
Anniversary
An anniversary is a day that commemorates or celebrates a past event that occurred on the same day of the year as the initial event. For example, the first event is the initial occurrence or, if planned, the inaugural of the event. One year later would be the first anniversary of that event...
of the great naturalist Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
(1809-1882) and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his revolutionary book, On the Origin of Species in November, 1859. In partnership with the Open University
Open University
The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
, the BBC produced a special documentary, Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life
Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life
Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life is a 2009 television documentary about Charles Darwin and his revolutionary theory of evolution through natural selection, produced by the BBC to mark the bicentenary of Darwin's birth. It is part of the BBC Darwin Season...
, narrated by David Attenborough
David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...
, and three major series. Other presenters involved are Andrew Marr
Andrew Marr
Andrew William Stevenson Marr is a Scottish journalist and political commentator. He edited The Independent for two years until May 1998, and was political editor of BBC News from 2000 until 2005....
, Melvyn Bragg
Melvyn Bragg
Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg FRSL FRTS FBA, FRS FRSA is an English broadcaster and author best known for his work with the BBC and for presenting the The South Bank Show...
and Jimmy Doherty
Jimmy Doherty (farmer)
Jimmy Doherty is a Suffolk based farmer and television presenter for the BBC, famous for the show Jimmy's Farm, based around his and his partner Michaela Furney's Essex Pig Company.-Biography:...
. The overall commissioning editor for the season is Martin Davidson, the BBC's commissioning editor for specialist factual (in-house). Contributing units of the BBC are BBC Science, the Natural History Unit
BBC Natural History Unit
The BBC Natural History Unit is a department of the BBC dedicated to making television and radio programmes with a natural history or wildlife theme, especially nature documentaries...
, the Religion and Ethics department and the children's channel, CBBC
CBBC
CBBC is one of two brand names used for the BBC's children's television strands. Between 1985 and 2002, CBBC was the name given to all the BBC's programmes on TV for children aged under 14...
.
Radio
Events in the Darwin season are broadcast on the broadcaster's flagship voice programming channel, Radio 4BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
and its arts and culture channel, Radio 3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
.
- Radio 4
- Melvyn BraggMelvyn BraggMelvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg FRSL FRTS FBA, FRS FRSA is an English broadcaster and author best known for his work with the BBC and for presenting the The South Bank Show...
presents Darwin: In Our Time, a four-part documentary series examining "Darwin's writing remains such a profound influence on our understanding of the natural world." - In Dear Darwin, five eminent contemporary thinkers present spoken letters to Charles Darwin "expressing their thoughts on his legacy.
- Craig VenterCraig VenterJohn Craig Venter is an American biologist and entrepreneur, most famous for his role in being one of the first to sequence the human genome and for his role in creating the first cell with a synthetic genome in 2010. Venter founded Celera Genomics, The Institute for Genomic Research and the J...
, founder of The Institute for Genomic ResearchThe Institute for Genomic ResearchThe Institute for Genomic Research was a non-profit genomics research institute founded in 1992 by Craig Venter in Rockville, Maryland, United States. It is now a part of the J. Craig Venter Institute.-History:... - Jonathan MillerJonathan MillerSir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE is a British theatre and opera director, author, physician, television presenter, humorist and sculptor. Trained as a physician in the late 1950s, he first came to prominence in the 1960s with his role in the comedy revue Beyond the Fringe with fellow writers and...
, theatre director, author and broadcaster - Jerry CoyneJerry Coyne-Online articles:* , The New Republic* , The New Republic* , The New Republic* ", The New Republic * -Online articles:* , The New Republic* , The New Republic* , The New Republic* ", The New Republic (Review of Michael Behe's The Edge of Evolution)* -Online articles:* , The New Republic* , The...
, University of ChicagoUniversity of ChicagoThe University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
professor of biology, writer - Peter BentleyPeter J. BentleyDr Peter John Bentley is a British author and computer scientist based at University College London.Peter J. Bentley is an Honorary Reader and College Fellow at UCL and a Collaborating Professor at KAIST. He is also a popular science author and consultant...
, researcher in evolutionary computationEvolutionary computationIn computer science, evolutionary computation is a subfield of artificial intelligence that involves combinatorial optimization problems....
and biologically inspired computing - Baruch BlumbergBaruch Samuel BlumbergBaruch Samuel "Barry" Blumberg was an American doctor and co-recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine , and the President of the American Philosophical Society from 2005 until his death.Blumberg received the Nobel Prize for "discoveries concerning new mechanisms for the origin...
, recipient of the 1976 Nobel Prize in MedicineNobel Prize in Physiology or MedicineThe Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine administered by the Nobel Foundation, is awarded once a year for outstanding discoveries in the field of life science and medicine. It is one of five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, in his will...
. Blumberg identified the Hepatitis B virusVirusA virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
, and later developed the diagnostic test and vaccineVaccineA vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...
for it.
- Craig Venter
- Maritime historian Robert PrescottRobert PrescottGeneral Robert Prescott was a British soldier and colonial administrator. He enlisted in the British Army in 1745 and served during the Seven Years' War...
seeks the final resting place of Darwin's ship in Hunting The Beagle - Poet and journalist Ruth PadelRuth PadelRuth Sophia Padel is a British poet, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Zoological Society of London. She also writes non-fiction and more recently fiction, broadcasts on wildlife, poetry and literature for BBC Radio 3 and 4, and is Writer in Residence at The Environment Institute,...
, a descendant of Charles Darwin, "[explores] the ideas and emotions which shaped Darwin" in a four-part series, Darwin: My Ancestor
- Melvyn Bragg
- Radio 3
- In The Origins Of The Origin, Andrew Cunningham explores the intellectual context in which Darwin presented his work, particularly the precursors who presented earlier evolutionary theories.
- Rev Angela Tilby discusses Darwin's religious views in Darwin's Conundrum
- The Essay: Darwin's Children is a series of essays in which representatives of five professions examine the impact of evolutionary theory on their field.
- Jonathan Gottschall, literary darwinistDarwinian literary studiesDarwinian Literary Studies is a branch of literary criticism that studies literature in the context of evolution by means of natural selection, including gene-culture coevolution...
: literary interpretation - Judith DonathJudith DonathJudith Donath is a fellow at Harvard's Berkman Center and was the founder of the at the MIT Media Lab. She has written papers on various aspects of the Internet and its social impact, such as Internet society and community, interfaces, virtual identity issues , and other forms of collaboration...
of MIT Media LabMIT Media LabThe MIT Media Lab is a laboratory of MIT School of Architecture and Planning. Devoted to research projects at the convergence of design, multimedia and technology, the Media Lab has been widely popularized since the 1990s by business and technology publications such as Wired and Red Herring for a...
: online social networks such as Facebook - Douglas DaviesDouglas DaviesDouglas James Davies is Professor in the Study of Religion in the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Durham. He is an authority in the history, theology and sociology of death. His fields of expertise also include anthropology, the study of religion, the rituals and beliefs...
, theologianTheologyTheology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
, anthropologist: anthropologyAnthropologyAnthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German... - Diana Donald, art historianArt historyArt history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...
: art and aesthetic theory - James K GalbraithJames K. GalbraithJames Kenneth Galbraith is an American economist who writes frequently for mainstream and liberal publications on economic topics. He is currently a professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and at the Department of Government, University of Texas at Austin. He is also a Senior...
: economics
- Jonathan Gottschall, literary darwinist
Darwin is also the subject of special editions of the programmes Night Waves and Words and Music.
Television
- On BBC OneBBC OneBBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
:- "Charles Darwin and the Tree of LifeCharles Darwin and the Tree of LifeCharles Darwin and the Tree of Life is a 2009 television documentary about Charles Darwin and his revolutionary theory of evolution through natural selection, produced by the BBC to mark the bicentenary of Darwin's birth. It is part of the BBC Darwin Season...
", an introduction to Darwin's life and his theory of evolution, presented by David AttenboroughDavid AttenboroughSir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...
. - Life, a ten-part nature documentaryNature documentaryA natural history film or wildlife film is a documentary film about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures, usually concentrating on film taken in their natural habitat...
series produced by the BBC Natural History UnitBBC Natural History UnitThe BBC Natural History Unit is a department of the BBC dedicated to making television and radio programmes with a natural history or wildlife theme, especially nature documentaries...
and narrated by Attenborough.
- "Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life
- On BBC TwoBBC TwoBBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
:- Darwin's Dangerous Idea a three-part series presented by Andrew MarrAndrew MarrAndrew William Stevenson Marr is a Scottish journalist and political commentator. He edited The Independent for two years until May 1998, and was political editor of BBC News from 2000 until 2005....
showing how the theory of evolution has influenced politics and society in the last 150 years. - Jimmy Doherty in Darwin's Garden, a three-part series based in which the presenter recreates some of Darwin's experiments at Down HouseDown HouseDown House is the former home of the English naturalist Charles Darwin and his family. It was in this house and garden that Darwin worked on his theories of evolution by natural selection which he had conceived in London before moving to Downe....
. - Did Darwin Kill God?, in which philosopher and theologian Conor Cunningham of Nottingham UniversityUniversity of NottinghamThe University of Nottingham is a public research university based in Nottingham, United Kingdom, with further campuses in Ningbo, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...
discusses the history of Christian attitudes to Biblical literalismBiblical literalismBiblical literalism is the interpretation or translation of the explicit and primary sense of words in the Bible. A literal Biblical interpretation is associated with the fundamentalist and evangelical hermeneutical approach to Scripture, and is used almost exclusively by conservative Christians...
, arguing that it is legitimate to accept Darwin's theory of evolution and believe in God.
- Darwin's Dangerous Idea a three-part series presented by Andrew Marr
- On BBC FourBBC FourBBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
:- What Darwin Didn't KnowWhat Darwin Didn't KnowWhat Darwin Didn't Know is a documentary show on BBC Four presented by Armand Marie Leroi which charts the progress in the field of Evolutionary Theory since the original publication of 'On the Origin of Species' in 1859....
, a 90-minute examination of what we have learned since Darwin, presented by Armand Leroi. - Darwin's Struggle: The Evolution Of The Origin Of Species, a 60-minute documentary featuring biographers and scientists examining, through Darwin's own private writings, the internal struggle which Darwin went through during the twenty years he took to develop his ideas into a revolutionary book.
- What Darwin Didn't Know