Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
TV Show · Documentary · History

Though once thought to be a form of magic, electricity is now essential to modern human society. In this series, professor and host Jim Al-Khalili tells the history of electricity and humans' pursuit to master it. Al-Khalili begins with the early achievements and breakthroughs and finishes with more modern achievements, including such milestones as the first commercial adaptation and the discovery that electricity is linked to magnetism, which allowed people to generate seemingly endless quantities of power.

2011 · 58m
Starring Jim Al-Khalili

Season 1

  • EPISODE 1
    Spark
    Professor Jim Al-Khalili tells the story of our quest to master nature's most mysterious force - electricity. Episode one tells the story of the very first `natural philosophers' who started to unlock the mysteries of electricity. They studied its curious link to life, built strange and powerful instruments to create it and even tamed lightning itself.
    58 min
  • EPISODE 2
    The Age of Invention
    Jim discovers how harnessing the link between magnetism and electricity would completely transform the world, allowing us to generate a seemingly limitless amount of electric power which we could utilise to drive machines, communicate across continents and light our homes. This is the story of how scientists and engineers unlocked the nature of electricity in a century of innovation and invention.
    58 min
  • EPISODE 3
    Revelations and Revolutions
    Electricity is not just something that creates heat and light, it connects the world through networks and broadcasting. After centuries of man's experiments with electricity, the final episode tells the story of how a new age of real understanding dawned - how we discovered electric fields and electromagnetic waves. Today we can hardly imagine life without electricity - it defines our era.
    50 min

Related

Cast & Crew

  • Jim Al-Khalili
    Host

About

Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Documentary

Though once thought to be a form of magic, electricity is now essential to modern human society. In this series, professor and host Jim Al-Khalili tells the history of electricity and humans' pursuit to master it. Al-Khalili begins with the early achievements and breakthroughs and finishes with more modern achievements, including such milestones as the first commercial adaptation and the discovery that electricity is linked to magnetism, which allowed people to generate seemingly endless quantities of power.

Information

Studio
BBC Four
Released
2011
Rated
U
Region of Origin
United Kingdom

Languages

Original Audio
English (United Kingdom), English
Subtitles

English (United States) (CC)

Accessibility

Closed captions refer to subtitles in available languages with the addition of relevant non-dialogue information.
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Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

  • Armenia
  • Azerbaijan
  • Bahrain
  • Botswana
  • Brunei Darussalam
  • Cape Verde
  • Egypt
  • Eswatini
  • Gambia
  • Ghana
  • Guinea-Bissau
  • India
  • Israel
  • Jordan
  • Lebanon
  • Mauritius
  • Mozambique
  • Namibia
  • Niger (English)
  • Oman
  • Qatar
  • Saudi Arabia
  • South Africa
  • Sri Lanka
  • Tajikistan
  • Turkmenistan
  • Uganda
  • United Arab Emirates
  • Zimbabwe

Asia Pacific

  • Australia
  • Cambodia
  • Fiji
  • 香港 (廣東話–繁體)
  • Indonesia (English)
  • 日本
  • Lao People's Democratic Republic
  • 澳門 (廣東話–繁體)
  • Malaysia (English)
  • Micronesia, Federated States of
  • Mongolia
  • New Zealand
  • Philippines
  • Singapore
  • 대한민국
  • 台灣
  • Thailand
  • Turkmenistan
  • Vietnam

Europe

  • Armenia
  • Österreich
  • Belarus
  • Belgium
  • Bulgaria
  • Cyprus
  • Czechia
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France (Français)
  • Deutschland
  • Greece
  • Hungary
  • Ireland
  • Italia
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Luxembourg (English)
  • Malta
  • Moldova, Republic Of
  • Nederland
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal (Português)
  • Россия
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • España
  • Sverige
  • Schweiz
  • Türkiye (English)
  • Ukraine
  • United Kingdom

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Anguilla
  • Antigua and Barbuda
  • Argentina (Español)
  • Bahamas
  • Belize
  • Bermuda
  • Bolivia (Español)
  • Brasil
  • Virgin Islands, British
  • Cayman Islands
  • Chile (Español)
  • Colombia (Español)
  • Costa Rica (Español)
  • Dominica
  • República Dominicana
  • Ecuador (Español)
  • El Salvador (Español)
  • Grenada
  • Guatemala (Español)
  • Honduras (Español)
  • México
  • Nicaragua (Español)
  • Panamá
  • Paraguay (Español)
  • Perú
  • St. Kitts and Nevis
  • Trinidad and Tobago
  • Venezuela (Español)

The United States and Canada

  • Canada (English)
  • Canada (Français)
  • United States
  • Estados Unidos (Español México)