In July 2022, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) unveiled its first breathtaking images, offering an unprecedented level of detail of stars, galaxies, and planets. But for scientists, these images were just the start of an exciting journey to uncover the universe's secrets. This documentary follows Chris Lintott as he embarks on a road trip to meet the researchers who have been eagerly analyzing JWST's data, revealing groundbreaking discoveries about exoplanet atmospheres, the outer planets of our solar system, and the earliest galaxies in the cosmos.
To mark the second anniversary of JWST's first images, Chris, along with presenters Maggie Aderin-Pocock and George Dransfield, revisits these scientists to explore the telescope's successes and challenges. From new jet streams on Jupiter to quirks on Uranus and Neptune, and insights into the ancient universe, the documentary showcases the remarkable findings made possible by JWST. Additionally, resident astronomer Pete Lawrence guides viewers on how to observe the night sky's wonders, aligning their stargazing with the telescope's targets. This captivating journey into space science promises to inspire and intrigue.

Space exploration as we’ve never seen it before, taking us behind the scenes of how NASA creates and sends the James Webb Space Telescope into space. Follows a team of engineers and scientists in an ambitious mission to launch the telescope and take the next giant leap in the understanding of the universe.

The film explores the science of black holes and delves into the incredible techniques used to uncover their secrets. Researchers reveal the fundamental role of black holes in the evolution of our universe and galaxies, with new findings from James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), and analogue experiments. The documentary also features experiments on Earth that mimic black hole physics, offering insights into their behaviors. Although we may never directly observe the inside of a black hole, these experiments allow us to test theoretical physics and gain a deeper understanding of these enigmatic cosmic phenomena.

As NASA releases the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope, this film tells the inside story of the telescope's construction and the astronomers taking its first picture of distant stars and galaxies. Will it be the deepest image of our universe ever taken? The successor to Hubble, and 100 times more powerful, the James Webb is the most technically advanced telescope ever built. It will look further back in time than Hubble to an era around 200 million years after the Big Bang, when the first stars and galaxies appeared. Webb's primary mission is to capture the faint light from these objects on the edge of our visible universe so that scientists can learn how they formed, but its instruments are so sensitive it could also be the first telescope to detect signs of life on a distant planet.
The James Webb Telescope is an £8 billion gamble on the skills of its engineering team. It’s the first telescope designed to unfold in space – a complicated two-week operation in which 178 release devices must all work - 107 of them on the telescope's sun shield alone. If just one fails, the expensive telescope could become a giant piece of space junk.
From its conception in the late 1980s, the construction of Webb has posed a huge technical challenge. The team must build a mirror six times larger than Hubble’s and construct a vast sun shield the size of a tennis court, fold them up so they fit into an Ariane 5 rocket, then find a way to unfold them in space. This film tells the inside story of the James Webb Space Telescope in the words of the engineers who built it and the astronomers who will use it.

Time i s a concept which is so familiar, and yet recent discoveries have revealed it to be far stranger than we could have possibly imagined. In the final programme in the series, Brian explores the enigma of time - a phenomenon we take for granted but which is one of the biggest mysteries in the universe. He recalls highlights from his TV series that touch upon this conundrum.

The film brings viewers all the amazing news-breaking advances in science in technology from 2021, unfolding around the globe. Shattering barriers and questioning assumptions and turning ideas on their head. Stories that take a leap into the future or follow footprints to the past.
Startling discoveries from a prehistoric nursery to a magic bullet that could contain the pandemic. Accomplishments like harnessing a star in a bottle or mapping invisible parts of the universe. Join us for an exclusive hyper-tour from earth to space.