Project Series

The original Computer Literacy Project programmes

The Silicon Factor

1 series, 3 episodes
First broadcast: 19th March 1980

Current affairs presenter Bernard Falk fronts three peak hour programmes about the ‘microelectronics revolution’.

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Managing the Micro

1 series, 5 episodes
First broadcast: 17th May 1981

‘Today’ presenter Brian Redhead asks how small businesses can use the new technology. From knickers to greenhouses.

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The Computer Programme

1 series, 10 episodes
First broadcast: 11th January 1982

Chris Serles and Ian McNaught Davis explore the wide world of computer science and introduce The BBC Micro.

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Making the Most of the Micro

1 series, 10 episodes
First broadcast: 10th January 1983

Ian McNaught Davis, John Coll and others explain the many things computers can do, with plenty of hands on demos.

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MTMOTM Live Special

2 series, 2 episodes
First broadcast: 2nd October 1983

Two special live programmes with audience feedback, new demos, and even on-air hacking.

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Computers in Control

1 series, 5 episodes
First broadcast: 2nd March 1984

Ian Mc Naught Davis (Mac) presents a complete look at the principles of robotics - with ‘how to’ demos of monitoring and control.

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Electronic Office

1 series, 6 episodes
First broadcast: 12th April 1984

A six-part examination of the office technology of today and tomorrow.

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Micro Live

3 series, 46 episodes
First broadcast: 5th October 1984

Three years of regular live programmes about the world of IT - including the latest news and research. Presented by Mac, Lesley Judd, Fred Harris and Freff from the USA.

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The Learning Machine

1 series, 6 episodes
First broadcast: 25th April 1985

A sceptical look at computers and their influence in education.

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With a Little Help from the Chip

1 series, 6 episodes
First broadcast: 30th August 1985

How micro-technology can help people with disability to live more independently.

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Micro File

2 series, 21 episodes
First broadcast: 11th May 1986

Two series with the best of Micro Live and the latest updates.

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Micro Mind Stretchers

1 series, 10 episodes
First broadcast: 9th May 1988

Carol Vorderman sets challenges for schools to make imaginative use of their home computers and looks at the results.

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Electric Avenue

2 series, 15 episodes
First broadcast: 24th October 1988

Two series, 15 programmes about computers in society.

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The Trojan Mouse

1 programme
First broadcast: 5th April 1992

A special programme in 1992 looks back ten years to the 1980s BBC Computer Literacy Project.

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Various BBC programmes providing insight and commentary on computing and technology

Tomorrow's World

1 programme
First broadcast: 5th February 1969

A compilation of Tomorrow's World features looking at how computers were in the sixties and what they might become.

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In Business

1 series, 21 episodes
First broadcast: 6th September 2007

Computing-specific programmes from the In Business archive.

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Visions of the Future

1 programme
First broadcast: 5th November 2007

Michio Kaku shows how artificial intelligence is going to become ubiquitous.

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Timewatch

1 programme
First broadcast: 25th November 2011

Documentary that reveals the secret story of The Codebreakers of Bletchley Park.

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Steve Jobs

1 programme
First broadcast: 14th December 2011

Evan Davis tells the story of Steve Jobs' rise, fall and triumphant rise again.

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Megabits

1 programme
First broadcast: 5th July 2012

Five short-form videos which give students studying Computer Science an insight into how computers actually work.

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Horizon

1 series, 5 episodes
First broadcast: 4th April 2013

Computing-specific programmes from the Horizon archive.

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Desert Island Discs

1 series, 3 episodes
First broadcast: 1st August 2014

Computing-specific guest editions from the Desert Island Discs archive.

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Ways of Thinking

1 programme
First broadcast: 5th April 2015

Naomi Alderman looks at the advantages of thinking algorithmically.

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Radio 4: Codes that Changed the World

1 series, 5 episodes
First broadcast: 6th April 2015

Aleks Krotoski tells the story of the languages that have been used to talk to machines.

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Collectaholics

1 programme
First broadcast: 15th April 2015

Jasmine Harman meets a professor of neural computation with 4 warehouses containing 1,000 obsolete computers.

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Bletchley Park: Code-breaking's Forgotten Genius

1 programme
First broadcast: 7th September 2015

Gordon Welchman was one of the original elite Bletchley Park codebreakers crucial to defeating the Nazis in World War II.

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Radio 4: The Museum Of Curiosity

1 programme
First broadcast: 10th September 2015

A one-off coding special with mathematician Matt Parker, computer pioneer Eben Upton and illustrator and writer Sydney Padua.

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The Letters of Ada Lovelace

1 series, 2 episodes
First broadcast: 14th September 2015

The correspondence of Ada Lovelace, the young Victorian who predicted our digital age.

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Radio 4: Computing Britain

1 series, 10 episodes
First broadcast: 14th September 2015

Hannah Fry looks back at 75 years of computing history to reveal the UK's lead role in developing the technologies we rely on.

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Panorama

1 series, 3 episodes
First broadcast: 14th September 2015

Computing-specific programmes from the Panorama archive.

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Radio 4: Today (Item)

1 series, 26 episodes
First broadcast: 15th September 2015

Computing-specific items from the BBC Radio 4 Today archive.

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Calculating Ada

1 programme
First broadcast: 17th September 2015

Dr Hannah Fry tells the story of computer pioneer Ada Lovelace's remarkable life.

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The Secret Rules of Modern Living: Algorithms

1 programme
First broadcast: 24th September 2015

Mathematician Professor Marcus du Sautoy demystifies the hidden world of algorithms.

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Radio 4: The Long View

1 programme
First broadcast: 22nd December 2015

Jonathan Freedland explores today's concerns about the privacy of our communications, and debates about encryption.

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Archive on 4

1 programme
First broadcast: 27th February 2016

Naomi Alderman explores the history of interactive fiction and video games.

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Newsnight-Part

1 series, 2 episodes
First broadcast: 18th July 2016

Computing-specific items from the Newsnight archive.

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The Joy of Data

1 programme
First broadcast: 20th July 2016

Mathematician Hannah Fry asks, what is data, how is it stored, shared, and made sense of?

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The 80s with Dominic Sandbrook

1 programme
First broadcast: 11th August 2016

Dominic Sandbrook looks at technological change, the microchip and Margaret Thatcher's Nation of Young Programmers of the 1980s.

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Reflections

1 programme
First broadcast: 23rd August 2016

Kenneth Baker, the I.T. man of Margaret Thatcher's government, recalls the BBC Micro, the Computers into Schools initiative, and the Digital Revolution.

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The Rise of the Robots

1 series, 3 episodes
First broadcast: 7th February 2017

Explores questions over what happens when robots learn to think for themselves.

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The Life Scientific

1 series, 2 episodes
First broadcast: 21st February 2017

Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to leading computer scientists about their work in the field.

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50 Things That Made the Modern Economy

1 series, 8 episodes
First broadcast: 4th March 2017

Computing-specific episodes from 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy.

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Hyper Evolution: The Rise of the Robots

1 series, 2 episodes
First broadcast: 26th July 2017

Explores questions over what happens when robots learn to think for themselves.

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Secrets of Silicon Valley

1 series, 2 episodes
First broadcast: 6th August 2017

Jamie Bartlett reveals how Silicon Valley's mission to connect the world is disrupting democracy.

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Aleks in Wonderland: The Story of the Internet

1 series, 3 episodes
First broadcast: 16th August 2017

Aleks Krotoski unravels the complexity of the internet, meeting the people who invented it, looking behind the myths.

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Timeshift

1 programme
First broadcast: 14th November 2017

The internet has given the landline a new lease of life.

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Radio 4: The World at One (Item)

1 programme
First broadcast: 5th January 2018

Computing-specific item from The World at One: The Meltdown and Spectre flaws in chips, that could allow hackers to steal data.

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