BBC Confirms Commission Of BBC Four Goes Nuclear

The BBC has confirmed the commission of BBC Four Goes Nuclear; a season of programmes looking at the 70th anniversary of Hiroshima.

The season includes a one-off documentary, Britain's Nuclear Secrets: Inside Sellafield, which will provide audiences with unprecedented access to one of Britain's most famous nuclear facilities.

The programmes include:

Storyville: Atomic - Living in Dread and Promise
The 1 x 70 documentary by Mark Cousins looks at death in the atomic age, but life too. Using only archive film and a musical score by the band Mogwai, Atomic reveals a kaleidoscope of our nuclear times: protest marches, Cold War sabre rattling, Chernobyl and Fukishima, but it will also look at the beauty of the atomic world, and how X-Rays and MRI scans have improved human lives.

Britain's Nuclear Secrets: Inside Sellafield
The one-off hour-long documentary will provide unprecedented access to one of Britain's most secret buildings, revealing the experiments, technology, and science behind the country's attempts to harness the power of the atom.

Nuclear physicist Jim Al-Khalili uncovers the story of Sellafield: from the rush to develop nuclear weapons and power to accidents, like the Windscale fire and leaks of radioactive material into the sea; as well as public opposition to the latest reprocessing techniques.

War Book
Tom Harper's film War Book (1 x 95), is written by Jack Thorne and stars Shaun Evans, Sophie Okonedo, Ben Chaplin, Kerry Fox and Anthony Sher. It tells the story of a war game between a group of government officials which exposes the fragility of everyday life and those who govern it.

War Book takes place over three days as nine civil servants gather to take part in a policy-shaping scenario. They are there to take decisions on Britain's reaction to an international nuclear attack. At the beginning, the participants are casual and play out the scenario against a backdrop of their own squabbles and personal ambitions. However, two of the participants know that Britain is facing a real nuclear threat – and that their theoretical responses may become reality sooner than they realise.

The situation escalates and the group realises they are deciding the future of their country, and when personal politics become involved, each individual is forced to look at what they believe, and how much their decisions are actually worth.

The Race for the World's First Atomic Bomb: A Thousand Days of Fear
This 1 x 60 provides an insight into the men and women who worked on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos. Through first-hand accounts, never-before-seen interviews, and Los Alamos lore, the documentary looks at these atomic insiders' hearts and minds, their triumphs and failures.

Cassian Harrison, Channel Editor for BBC Four, said: "BBC Four Goes Nuclear will give our audiences a chance to contemplate the history and the extraordinary potential of our nuclear age. We have unique access to Britain's most renowned nuclear facility with the documentary Britain's Nuclear Secrets: Inside Sellafield, alongside other captivating new and archive programmes for the channel. BBC Four Goes Nuclear will consider the nuclear age from all sides – its groundbreaking opportunities as well as its terrifying dangers. With BBC Four Goes Slow, Goes Pop and now Goes Nuclear - BBC Four is the destination for brave and surprising seasons."

Jim Al-Khalili, who presents Britain's Nuclear Secrets: Inside Sellafield, added: "As a nuclear physicist, I found gaining such amazing access to somewhere as huge and important as Sellafield a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Little is known about Britain's nuclear industry so it's no wonder that the general public have tended to be so suspicious of it, sometimes with good reason. So telling the story of Britain's nuclear history, both the past failures and the recent successes, is vital."

Image: Jim Al-Khalili. Courtesy of BBC Media Centre.

www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre

(JP)