S01E01 The Great Ship
This episode focuses on the construction of the SS Great Eastern, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel to be both the first ship entirely made out of iron and the most luxurious vessel of the day....
Seven Wonders of the Industrial World
S01E05: The Panama Canal
Both the French and the American efforts build a sea-level canal through Panama linking the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean are presented in this episode; firstly, the ill-fated effort by Ferdinand de Lesseps, the builder of the Suez Canal, to construct the canal, which - derailed by the ravages of tropical diseases (which decimated the workforce to the tune of over 22,000 men) and the impossibilities of constructing a sea-level canal through the mountains - saw financial scandals that ruined his reputation and brought down the French government. The episode then takes up the story seventeen years later, after the United States took up the challenge and, after leading a concentrated effort to eradicate the causes of the tropical diseases and switching from a sea-level to a lock-system canal, triumphantly saw the linking of the Pacific and the Atlantic.
Overview
Seven Wonders of the Industrial World is a 7-part British documentary/docudrama television miniseries that originally aired from 4 September 2003 to 16 October 2003 on BBC. The programme examines seven engineering feats that occurred during the Industrial Revolution.
Episodes
S01E02 The Brooklyn Bridge
Focusing on the construction of the Brooklyn 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...
S01E03 The Bell Rock Lighthouse
This episode tells the story of the construction in the early nineteenth century of the offshore lighthouse on Bell Rock, by the Scottish engineer Robert Stevenson. Bell or Inchcape Rock was a place which had...
S01E04 The Sewer King
Set in London during the 1850s, this episode focuses on the construction of the London sewerage system, built to replace the antiquated medieval system that was overworked and inadequate for the needs of the-then largest...
S01E05 The Panama Canal
Both the French and the American efforts build a sea-level canal through Panama linking the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean are presented in this episode; firstly, the ill-fated effort by Ferdinand de Lesseps, the...
S01E06 Transcontinental Railway
The episode follows the construction of the Pacific Railroad, the first transcontinental rail system, which would unite the eastern and western seaboards of the United States. Started in Sacramento by a consortium of local shopkeepers...
S01E07 The Hoover Dam
The final episode focuses on the construction of the Hoover Dam during the Great Depression of the 1930s, focussing in particular on the ruthless pace set by Frank Crowe, the builder, whose eagerness to complete...
Cast
Robert Lindsay
Self - Narrator
