{{Short description|British documentary television series}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}} {{Infobox television | image = Horizon_(BBC_Series)_Title_Card_in_use_since_2015.png | caption = ''Horizon'' title card | genre = Science, technology | creator = | developer = | starring = Various | narrator = [[Paul Vaughan]] (1968–1995), [[Veronika Hyks]], Phillip Tibenham, [[Martin Jarvis (actor)|Martin Jarvis]], [[Ian Holm]], [[Seán Barrett (actor)|Sean Barrett]], [[Richard Baker (broadcaster)|Richard Baker]], [[Ray Brooks (actor)|Ray Brooks]], [[Paul Daneman]], [[William Franklyn]], [[James Hazeldine]], [[Bernard Hill]], Roger Mills, [[Bill Paterson (actor)|Bill Paterson]], [[Ronald Pickup]], [[Tim Pigott-Smith]], [[Michael Wisher]] [[Hugh Quarshie]], [[Andrew Sachs]], [[Bob Symes|Robert Symes-Shutzmann]], Peter France, (1983–1986), Peter Wilson, (c. 1980 – late 1990s), [[William Woollard]], Dilly Barlow (2001) | open_theme = | end_theme = | country = United Kingdom | language = English | num_episodes = >1,250 | list_episodes = List of Horizon (British TV series) episodes | executive_producer = | producer = [[Liz Tucker]]<br />Andrew Thompson<br />Jacqui Smith<br />Andrew Cohen<br />Malcolm Clark<br />Matthew Barrett<br /> Edward Briffa<br />Grenville Williams | camera = | runtime = 59&nbsp;min | company = [[BBC Television]] (1964–2015)<br />[[BBC Studios]] Science Unit (2015–present)<br />Wingspan Productions (2017–present)<br />[[Windfall Films]] (2017–present) [[Science Channel]] | network = [[BBC Two]] | first_aired = {{start date|1964|5|2|df=y}} | last_aired = present | related = [[Nova (American TV program)]] | num_series = 57 | image_alt = | channel = | released = }} '''''Horizon''''' is an ongoing and long-running British [[documentary film|documentary]] television series on [[BBC Two]] that covers [[science]] and [[philosophy]].

==History== The programme was first broadcast on 2 May 1964 with "The World of Buckminster Fuller", which explored the theories and structures of inventor [[Buckminster Fuller|Richard Buckminster Fuller]] and included the ''Horizon'' mission statement: "The aim of ''Horizon'' is to provide a platform from which some of the world's greatest scientists and philosophers can communicate their curiosity, observations and reflections, and infuse into our common knowledge their changing views of the universe".<ref name=40Facts>{{cite web|publisher=BBC Press Office|date=19 August 2004|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2004/08_august/19/horizon_facts.shtml|title=40 facts for Horizon's 40th birthday|access-date=30 April 2020}}</ref> ''Horizon'' continues to be broadcast on [[BBC Two]], and in 2009 added a series of films based on the rich ''Horizon'' archive, called ''Horizon Guides'', on [[BBC Four]].

In December 2016, it was announced that ''Horizon'' would no longer be made exclusively by the BBC's in-house production division, [[BBC Studios]], and the BBC invited independent production companies to pitch to make episodes of the strand.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/horizon-strand-opened-up-to-tender/5112068.article|title=Horizon strand opened up to tender|access-date=30 April 2020|work=Broadcast|date=9 December 2016|publisher=Media Business Insight|first=Peter|last=Wright}} {{registration required}}</ref>

==Episodes== {{Main|List of Horizon (British TV series) episodes{{!}}List of ''Horizon'' episodes}} There have been 57 series and more than 1,200 episodes produced.

==Broad coverage of science topics== ''Horizon'' has investigated an eclectic mix of subjects and controversial topics. It opened the awareness of consumers to the use of [[whale meat]] in pet food in 1972 ("Whales, Dolphins, and Men"), and produced award-winning [[docu-drama|documentary-dramas]] such as ''[[Life Story (1987 film)|Life Story]]'' in 1987, which dramatised the discovery of the structure of [[DNA]]. A [[Now the Chips are Down|1978 programme]] about the [[silicon chip]] documented the decline of the Swiss watch industry.<ref>{{cite web |date=19 August 2004 |title=Horizon 40th birthday facts |website=BBC Press Office |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2004/08_august/19/horizon_facts.shtml |access-date=5 November 2024 }}</ref> In 1993, an [[Emmy]]-winning episode about decreasing male fertility ("Assault on the Male") was given a special screening at the [[White House]].<ref>{{cite web|publisher=BBC Press Office|date=19 August 2004|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2004/08_august/19/horizon.shtml|title=BBC TWO's Horizon celebrates 40th birthday with new series this autumn|access-date=30 April 2020}}</ref>

== Format == The format of the series has varied over the years.

===1960s–1980s=== The first ever ''Horizon'' was "The World of Buckminster Fuller", produced and directed by Ramsay Short, and broadcast on 2 May 1964.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Horizon - an oral history |url=https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/research/horizon-at-60 |access-date=2025-05-31 |website=www.bbc.com |language=en-GB}}</ref> It set the style; running time 50 minutes, no in-vision presenter, interviewees speaking off camera (in practice, almost always to the producer/director whose questions were usually edited out). Until the 1980s ''Horizon'', in common with all BBC documentaries, was shot on 16&nbsp;mm film.<ref name=40Facts/> Only rare programmes had a specialist writer – in most cases the producer/director was also the writer.

The first ''Horizon'' in colour was "Koestler on Creativity", produced by [[Robert Vas]], was shown on 5 December 1967.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

The [[Public Broadcasting Service]]'s (PBS) ''[[Nova (American TV series)|Nova]]'' series was created in 1974, after Michael Ambrosino, who had served a year-long fellowship with the BBC, was inspired to create an [[Television in the United States|American program]] based on the same [[TV format|model]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.current.org/doc/doc808nova.html|title=Ambrosino and Nova: making stories that go 'bang'| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090306090930/http://www.current.org/doc/doc808nova.html|archive-date=6 March 2009|work=Current|date=4 May 1998|publisher=Current Publishing Committee|access-date=30 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,911262,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930070355/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,911262,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=30 September 2007|title=For Curious Grownups|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=29 April 1974}}</ref>

===1990s=== Since the early 1990s, ''Horizon'' has developed a distinctive [[narrative]] form, typically employing an underlying "detective" metaphor, to relate scientific issues and discoveries to the lives of its viewers. Many episodes of ''Horizon'' are structured in a format that starts with a tease or menu laying out what the show has in store, followed by two "acts" with a "plot twist" around 25–35 minutes into the show. The twist frequently propels the story line from a focus on an individual scientist's human and intellectual journey of discovery through to explore the impact of that insight while, at the same time, providing a change of "texture" and filmic pace. Often, episodes of ''Horizon'' end up with a [[Montage sequence|montage]] of "talking heads" as experts and people affected by the implications of the science covered are intercut to create a sense of summary.

===2000s=== Until early 2008, the length was standardised at 50 minutes, which was extended in the latter half of 2008 to 60 minutes. Some episodes are adapted from documentaries by other broadcasters such as PBS's ''Nova'',{{citation needed|date=November 2012}} and episodes of ''Horizon'' are in turn adapted by PBS (to American English) and other broadcasters around the world in their own languages.

No new episodes were broadcast between July 2022 and 2024. In January 2024, a special episode on the [[Artemis program]] in conjunction with the American series ''[[Nova (American TV program)|Nova]]'' and the [[Open University]] was announced.<ref>{{cite web|title=BBC Factual announces ambitious new History and Science titles|work=[[BBC]] Media Centre|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2024/factual-d-day-the-unheard-tapes-human-artemis-horizon|date=30 January 2024|access-date=17 March 2024}}</ref>

==Popularity== ''Horizon'' has enjoyed high viewing figures, even though it covered subjects as complex as [[molecular biology]] and [[particle physics]]. It has shown a change of direction since June 2006, offering a more light-hearted approach, though the subjects it covers remain serious.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} For instance, an episode broadcast in 2019 entitled "We Need To Talk About Death" features [[Kevin Fong]] talking to palliative care clinician [[Mark Taubert]] and some of his patients who are facing terminal illness.<ref>{{Cite web |date=22 January 2019 |title=BBC Horizon - We Need To Talk About Death |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0c10f7h |access-date=8 February 2024 |website=BBC Two}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Hogan |first=Michael |date=23 January 2019 |title=BBC Two Horizon: We Need to Talk About Death, review: Would better palliative care help us to die happier? |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2019/01/23/horizon-need-talk-death-review-would-better-palliative-care/ |access-date=8 February 2024 |work=The Telegraph}}</ref>

==Criticism== The down-side to ''Horizon''{{'}}s recent{{when|date=October 2021}} focus on "Pure Science, Sheer Drama" and the occasionally forced narrative this engenders has led to some accusations of [[dumbing down]] in recent years,<ref>{{cite web|first=Andrew|last=Orlowski|access-date=30 April 2020|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/27/bbc_horizon|title=BBC abandons science|work=The Register|date=27 October 2006|publisher=Situation Publishing}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Andrew|last=Orlowski|access-date=30 April 2020|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/04/bbc_horizon_letters/|title=Null points for BBC Horizon's junk science – Not just Horizon, you say|work=The Register|date=4 November 2006|publisher=Situation Publishing}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Frank|last=Close|url=http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/30679|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011220135/http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/print/30679|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 October 2007|title=Fears over factoids|work=Physics World|date=3 August 2007}}</ref> with one former editor writing a newspaper article about how the programme concentrates too much on human stories, and not enough on the science.<ref>{{cite news |last=Goodchild |first=Peter|date=7 October 2004 |title=Clouds on the Horizon |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2004/oct/07/1 |work=The Guardian|access-date=30 April 2020}}</ref>

One programme "Chimps are people too" was entirely presented by a non-scientist, [[Danny Wallace (humourist)|Danny Wallace]]. Editor Andrew Cohen addressed the reasons why the programme went down this route on the ''Horizon'' web page.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/broadband/broadband_only/fromtheeditor/index.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080415163258/http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/broadband/broadband_only/fromtheeditor/index.shtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 April 2008|title=Horizon – From the editor|publisher=BBC Two|access-date=30 April 2020}}</ref>

In October 2014, a three-part special – "Cat Watch: the New Horizon Experiment" – was broadcast, following up on ''Horizon''{{'}}s 2013 "The Secret Life of the Cat". At the end of the first hour-long broadcast the findings of the experiment so-far were summarised on screen by presenter [[Liz Bonnin]] as: "Our cats can cope with change but you have to introduce them to it gently". ''[[Private Eye]]'' was critical of the scientific value of the programme saying: "By all means, if the BBC wants to, make a series called ''The Secret Life of Cats''; but don't insult the history of television by branding it, however obliquely, as a ''Horizon''".<ref>{{cite news |author=Remote Controller |date=17 October 2014 |title=Eye TV |work=Private Eye |page=12}}</ref>

==Awards== {{unreferenced section|date=April 2020}} In the period of "Pure Science, Sheer Drama", ''Horizon'' won an unprecedented series of the world's top awards, including a [[BAFTA]], an [[Emmy]] for Best Documentary, a [[Royal Television Society]] Award<ref>{{Cite web |title=Programme Awards Winners 2000 {{!}} Royal Television Society |url=https://rts.org.uk/award/programme-awards-winners-2000 |access-date=2026-05-29 |website=rts.org.uk |language=en-gb}}</ref> and a [[Grierson Trust]] Award. Other Emmy winning programmes are: "Chernobyl's Sarcophagus" (1991), "Assault on the Male" (1993) and "The Fall of the World Trade Centre" (2003). In 1988, ''Horizon'' won a BAFTA for Best Drama, "Life Story" (about the elucidation of the structure of [[DNA]]), another in 1996 for Best Documentary, "Fermat's Last Theorem" (which also won a [[Prix Italia]]) and another in 2001 for Best Factual Series or Strand.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Horizon: Awards |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318224/awards/ |access-date=2026-05-29 |website=www.imdb.com}}</ref>

==Home media== Three ''Horizon'' episodes were included on The Wonders Collection Special Edition DVD and Blu-ray. The episodes were "Do You Know What Time It Is?", "Can We Make A Star On Earth?" and "What on Earth is Wrong With Gravity?"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Wonders-Collection-Special-Edition/dp/B005EF777A|title=The Wonders Collection Special Edition DVD|work=Amazon UK|date=7 November 2011 |access-date=30 April 2020}}</ref>

==See also== * ''[[Q.E.D. (British TV series)|Q.E.D.]]'' – 1980s and 1990s documentary series on BBC1, focusing on more populist science topics than ''Horizon'' * ''[[Equinox (TV programme)|Equinox]]'' – [[Channel 4]] science programme, similar to ''Q.E.D''. and last produced in 2001 * [[List of Horizon (British TV series) episodes|List of ''Horizon'' episodes]]

== References == {{Reflist|30em}}

== Further reading == * "The origins and practice of science on British television" in ''The Routledge Companion to British Media History'', pp.&nbsp;470–483

== External links == * {{BBC programme|b006mgxf}} * {{BBC Online|id=science/horizon/archives.shtml|title=''Horizon'' (1996–2008)}} (Archived BBC page) * {{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/n13xtmx8|title=Horizon|publisher=BBC World News}} * {{IMDb title|title=Horizon|id=0318224}} * {{cite web|url=http://www.tv.com/horizon/show/26691/summary.html|work=TV.com|title=Horizon - Show Summary|access-date=19 November 2006|archive-date=3 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903101519/http://www.tv.com/horizon/show/26691/summary.html|url-status=dead}} * {{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090412071853/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/series/453|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/series/453|title=Episode list since 1964|publisher=BFI|archive-date=12 April 2009}} * {{cite web|url=https://subsaga.com/bbc/documentaries/science/horizon/|title=Horizon|work=Subtitles|publisher=SubSaga}} * {{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/research/horizon-at-50-interviews/alec-nisbett|title=Horizon at 50 - Alec Nisbett|author=Simon Campbell-Jones|work=History of the BBC|publisher=BBC Online}}

===Video clips=== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20081221040559/http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/working/5019.shtml "Death of the Working Classes"] BBC Archive – first broadcast February 1988

{{BAFTA TV Award for Best Factual Series or Strand}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Horizon (Bbc Tv Series)}} [[Category:Horizon (British TV series)| ]] [[Category:1964 British television series debuts]] [[Category:1960s British documentary television series]] [[Category:1970s British documentary television series]] [[Category:1980s British documentary television series]] [[Category:1990s British documentary television series]] [[Category:2000s British documentary television series]] [[Category:2010s British documentary television series]] [[Category:2020s British documentary television series]] [[Category:English-language British television shows]] [[Category:Documentary films about philosophy]] [[Category:Television series by BBC Studios]] [[Category:Science Channel original programming]]