Q.E.D. was the name of a strand of BBC

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...

 popular science

Science

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

 documentary film

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

s which aired in the United Kingdom from 1982 to 1999.

Format

Running in a half hour peak-time slot on the BBC's primary mass-audience channel BBC1

BBC One

BBC 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...

, the series had a more populist and general interest agenda than the long-running Horizon series which aired on the more specialist channel BBC2

BBC Two

BBC 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...

.

Level of scientific understanding

Horizon often could be difficult for a scientific novice, requiring a modicum of background knowledge beyond the reaches of many viewers, so Q.E.D. was a more approachable way of introducing scientific stories.

Some notable films

• A Guide to Armageddon (1982) – the effects of a one megaton
  TNT equivalent
  TNT equivalent is a method of quantifying the energy released in explosions. The ton of TNT is a unit of energy equal to 4.184 gigajoules, which is approximately the amount of energy released in the detonation of one ton of TNT...
  
   nuclear bomb being exploded over London.
• Simon's War (1983) – the life of Simon Weston
  Simon Weston
  Simon Weston OBE is a former British Army soldier who became well known throughout the United Kingdom for his recovery and charity work after suffering severe burn injuries during the Falklands War.-Early life:...
  
  , who suffered serious burns in the Falklands War
  Falklands War
  The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
  
  .
• Round Britain Whizz
  Round Britain Whizz
  Round Britain Whizz was a 1986 half-hour programme of the BBC science series Q.E.D.. It consisted of a speeded up flight around the coastline of Great Britain with guest appearances from geologists and TV personalities including Patrick Moore, David Bellamy and Clay Jones telling the viewer about...
  
  (1986) - A speeded up flight around the coastline of Britain
• The Foolish Wise Ones (1987) - A look at the talents and worlds of Autistic Savants
  Savant syndrome
  Savant syndrome , sometimes referred to as savantism, is a rare condition in which people with developmental disorders have one or more areas of expertise, ability, or brilliance that are in contrast with the individual's overall limitations...
  
  , such as Stephen Wiltshire
  Stephen Wiltshire
  Stephen Wiltshire MBE, is an architectural artist who has been diagnosed with autism. Wiltshire was born in London, England, to West Indian parents. He is known for his ability to draw a landscape after seeing it just once. He studied Fine Art at City & Guilds Art College.-Early life:Wiltshire was...
  
  
• John's Not Mad
  John's Not Mad
  John's Not Mad is a QED documentary made by the BBC in 1989. It was ranked, in a British public poll, as one of the 50 Greatest Documentaries.-Overview:...
  
  (1989) – following a 15-year-old boy with severe Tourette syndrome
  Tourette syndrome
  Tourette syndrome is an inherited neuropsychiatric disorder with onset in childhood, characterized by multiple physical tics and at least one vocal tic; these tics characteristically wax and wane...
  
  .
• My Best Friend's a Computer (1990) – Exploring the effects of computers on the emotional development of children.
• Nerve Transplant (1997) - exploring the work of a unique nerve transplant surgeon, bringing back movement to the limbs of previously paralysed
  Paralysed
  Paralysed or Paralyzed may refer to:*the state of paralysis, the complete loss of muscle function for one or more muscle groups- In music :*"Paralyzed" *"Paralysed", a song by Gang of Four from their 1981 album Solid Gold...
  
   patients.
• Superspecs (1997) - following the travels of a British inventor around Ghana with a pair of glasses made for just a dollar that he is convinced could save the sight of millions.
• The Burning Question (1998) – on spontaneous human combustion
  Spontaneous human combustion
  Spontaneous human combustion describes reported cases of the burning of a living human body without an apparent external source of ignition...
  
  
• Breathless (1998) - investigating the Buteyko method
  Buteyko method
  The Buteyko method or Buteyko Breathing Technique is a form of complementary or alternative physical therapy that proposes chronic "breathing retraining" as a treatment for asthma as well as other conditions. The method takes its name from the late Ukrainian doctor Konstantin Pavlovich Buteyko ,...
  
   for treating asthma
  Asthma
  Asthma is the common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and bronchospasm. Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath...
  
  .

See also

• Equinox - Channel 4
  Channel 4
  Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
  
   popular science series, last aired in 2001.
• Horizon (BBC TV series) comparable BBC2 strand, on air since 1964.
• Nova (TV series)
  NOVA (TV series)
  Nova is a popular science television series from the U.S. produced by WGBH Boston. It can be seen on the Public Broadcasting Service in the United States, and in more than 100 other countries...
  
   documentary series on PBS
  Public Broadcasting Service
  The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
  
   in the United States, which often bought in and re-voiced Equinox and Horizon films.

External links

• Q.E.D., British Film Institute
  British Film Institute
  The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
  
  . List of films, with dates.