Britain From Above

Andrew Marr explores why our rail and road networks are teetering on the edge of chaos. How do we move 34 million people through the morning rush hour every day? How does the national grid deal with the power surge needed by 8 million kettles being switched on immediately after EastEnders? From shopping to waste, from money to sewage, this is a nation that can be understood in a whole new way by simply looking at it from above. Also includes 30 minutes of bonus material from the accompanying BBC2 programme, The City.

In this second episode discover how towns grow organically rather than in an orderly fashion and how planners try to control that growth with greenbelts. Andrew Marr also looks down on our National parks to show how we go to extraordinary lengths to preserve them as artificial but beautiful playgrounds and how we use the most rugged landscape as the ultimate flight simulator for testing Britain’s most ferocious military hardware; the Eurofighter. Also includes 30 minutes of bonus material from the accompanying BBC2 programme, The Land.

In this final instalment presenter Andrew Marr microlights and paraglides through the skies, getting a buzzard’s eye view of the nation’s untamed and untameable landscape. He joins geologists, meteorologists, amateur photographers and festival goers to explore Britain’s geology, the impact of the weather on our shores and the riches hidden beneath our feet. Also includes 30 minutes of bonus material from the accompanying BBC2 programme, The Industrial Landscape.