Tomorrow's World
Encyclopedia
Tomorrow's World was a long-running BBC
television
series, showcasing new developments in the world of science and technology. First aired on 7 July 1965 on BBC1, it ran for 38 years until it was cancelled at the beginning of 2003.
rang him up wanting to know how to bill the programme in their next edition. In its early days the show was edited by Max Morgan-Witts
and hosted by veteran broadcaster and one-time Spitfire
pilot Raymond Baxter
. For some years it had an instrumental theme tune which was composed by John Dankworth
, and became a classic of the genre. During the 1970s, the programme attracted 10 million viewers per week.
The programme was usually broadcast live, and as a result known for the occasional failure of its technology demonstrations to work as expected. For example, during a demonstration of a new kind of car jack that required much less effort to operate, the jack disintegrated when actually trying to lift a car. Pressing on in the face of such adversity became a rite of passage, both for new presenters on the show and for the young assistant producers whose job it was to find the stories and make sure this kind of setback didn't happen.
Sometimes, however, the "liveness" gave an added dimension of immediacy to the technology, such as inventors personally demonstrating flame-proof clothing and bullet-proof vests while the presenters looked on. Sometimes it was the presenter who acted as test dummy.
Tomorrow's World also frequently ran exhibitions, called "Tomorrow's World Live", often based in Earls Court
, London
. These offered the general public the chance to see first hand a variety of brand new, pioneering inventions, as well as a selection from that year's show. The presenters, by this time Peter Snow
and Philippa Forrester
, also ran an hour-long interactive presentation within.
The show was also occasionally parodied, for example by Not The Nine O'Clock News
, which featured TW-style demonstrations of such inventions as a telephone ring notification device for the deaf - powered by a microprocessor
looking suspiciously like a "Shreddie
", and later by the second series of Look Around You
.
Other presenters included:
The idiosyncratic and ever-cheerful Bob Symes
showcased smaller inventions in dramatised vignettes with themes such as Bob Goes Golfing. These often presented challenges for film directors with which he worked when a close-up was required as Bob's own invention-related exploits in the workshop had resulted in him losing parts of several fingers: it was hard to find a finger that didn't look too gruesome to show on screen. Other regular features included Whatever Happened To ..., picking up on the oft-levelled criticism of the show that a significant number of inventions seemingly were never heard of again.
Perhaps the best-remembered item in the programme's history was the introduction of the compact disc
in 1981, when presenter Kieran Prendiville
demonstrated the disc's supposed indestructibility by spreading strawberry
jam on a Bee Gees
CD. The show also gave the first British TV exposure to the group Kraftwerk
, who performed their then-forthcoming single "Autobahn
" as part of an item about the use of technology in musicmaking. Another programme concerning new technology for television and stage lighting featured The Tremeloes
and the Syd Barrett
-led Pink Floyd
.
, Kate Humble
and Roger Black
, attempted to revert back to the original live format of the show, even using a remix of one of the theme tunes used during its more successful years, but ratings continued to fall, and with only three million viewers in the last series the BBC decided to axe the show. At the time they said that they would produce a number of science special editions under the Tomorrow's World "brand" from time to time. The "Tomorrow's World Roadshow" appeared in 2004 with Gareth Jones
(co-host of CITV
's How 2
) and Katie Knapman taking the helm as the last presenters of a show bearing the Tomorrow's World name, before a partial return to television in 2007.
Virtually all the 1970s and early 1980s episodes only survive in their complete form because a viewer recorded many episodes on an early video recorder (a Philips N1500) and made his tapes available for copying during the early 1990s.
For the 1000th episode, a commemorative CD was produced by Nimbus Records. This contained four audio tracks of the various theme tunes from the 60's, 70's, 80's and the 90's. 1000 copies were made and were given away in a competition.
The CD was notable as being the first holographic audio compact disc ever made.
On Monday 14 September 2009 the BBC made some clips and episodes available online.
In the United States
, episodes of the series aired on the cable channel TechTV
between 2001-2003.
This was presumably backed and related by his charity The Prince of Wales Award for Industrial Innovation and Production Trust Fund. In public documents, the aims and objectives are defined as:
"The Promotion of industry and commerce for the benefit of the public by encouraging and assisting the development of new and innovative products and processes and in particular (but without limiting the generality of the foregoing) by the organisation of competitions for small prizes (to be held at such time or times as the trustees shall determine) to be known as the Prince of Wales award for industrial innovation and production and principal objectives of such competition being to identify promising new products or processes and to encourage the production of marketing thereof."
Since the end of Tomorrow's World, the Award has had a decidedly lower profile. The Trust Fund is listed as having no assets.
announced that the Tomorrow's World brand would be used on science and technology news reports across the BBC's TV, radio and internet services, including a blog. The Tomorrow's World name returned to television screens on 8 January 2007 as part of the BBC's news coverage, initially on BBC Breakfast
, hosted by Maggie Philbin
. In August 2007, it was reported that Michael Mosley, director of development at the BBC's science wing, had pitched the concept of resurrecting the format to BBC commissioners.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
series, showcasing new developments in the world of science and technology. First aired on 7 July 1965 on BBC1, it ran for 38 years until it was cancelled at the beginning of 2003.
Content
Tomorrow's World was created by Glyn Jones, who conceived the show's name when the Radio TimesRadio Times
Radio Times is a UK weekly television and radio programme listings magazine, owned by the BBC. It has been published since 1923 by BBC Magazines, which also provides an on-line listings service under the same title...
rang him up wanting to know how to bill the programme in their next edition. In its early days the show was edited by Max Morgan-Witts
Max Morgan-Witts
Max Morgan-Witts is a British producer, director and author of Canadian origin.Morgan-Witts was a Director/Producer at Granada TV. He directed hundreds of popular television shows for Granada, including: 50 episodes of The Army Game, a forerunner of the American show Bilko and at the time Britain's...
and hosted by veteran broadcaster and one-time Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...
pilot Raymond Baxter
Raymond Baxter
Raymond Frederic Baxter, OBE was a British television presenter and writer. He is best known for being the first presenter of Tomorrow's World, continuing for 12 years, from 1965 to 1977...
. For some years it had an instrumental theme tune which was composed by John Dankworth
John Dankworth
Sir John Phillip William Dankworth, CBE , known in his early career as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz composer, saxophonist and clarinetist...
, and became a classic of the genre. During the 1970s, the programme attracted 10 million viewers per week.
The programme was usually broadcast live, and as a result known for the occasional failure of its technology demonstrations to work as expected. For example, during a demonstration of a new kind of car jack that required much less effort to operate, the jack disintegrated when actually trying to lift a car. Pressing on in the face of such adversity became a rite of passage, both for new presenters on the show and for the young assistant producers whose job it was to find the stories and make sure this kind of setback didn't happen.
Sometimes, however, the "liveness" gave an added dimension of immediacy to the technology, such as inventors personally demonstrating flame-proof clothing and bullet-proof vests while the presenters looked on. Sometimes it was the presenter who acted as test dummy.
Tomorrow's World also frequently ran exhibitions, called "Tomorrow's World Live", often based in Earls Court
Earls Court
Earls Court is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It is an inner-city district centred on Earl's Court Road and surrounding streets, located 3.1 miles west south-west of Charing Cross. It borders the sub-districts of South Kensington to the East, West...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. These offered the general public the chance to see first hand a variety of brand new, pioneering inventions, as well as a selection from that year's show. The presenters, by this time Peter Snow
Peter Snow
Peter Snow, CBE is a British television and radio presenter. He is the grandson of First World War general Sir Thomas D'Oyly Snow, and cousin of Jon Snow, the main presenter of Channel 4 News, nephew of schoolmaster and bishop George D'Oyly Snow, and the brother-in-law of historian-writer Margaret...
and Philippa Forrester
Philippa Forrester
Philippa Forrester is an English television and radio presenter, producer and author. Having presented shows such as Tomorrow's World, The Heaven and Earth Show and Robot Wars, she now makes wildlife programmes with her husband, Charlie Hamilton James.-Education:Forrester was educated at Westgate...
, also ran an hour-long interactive presentation within.
The show was also occasionally parodied, for example by Not The Nine O'Clock News
Not the Nine O'Clock News
Not the Nine O'Clock News is a television comedy sketch show which was broadcast on BBC 2 from 1979 to 1982.Originally shown as a comedy "alternative" to the BBC Nine O'Clock News on BBC 1, it featured satirical sketches on current news stories and popular culture, as well as parody songs, comedy...
, which featured TW-style demonstrations of such inventions as a telephone ring notification device for the deaf - powered by a microprocessor
Microprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
looking suspiciously like a "Shreddie
Shreddies
Shreddies is a breakfast cereal sold in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand and Germany produced by Post Cereals and General Mills, consisting of malted squares of inter-woven whole grain wheat.Shreddies has been made in the UK since 1955...
", and later by the second series of Look Around You
Look Around You
Look Around You is a British television comedy series devised and written by Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz, and, in the first series, narrated by Nigel Lambert...
.
Presenters
Raymond Baxter was noted for pointing out features of the inventions with military precision using his faithful Parker pen ("as you will see: here, here and here"). He departed the show after a difference of opinion with new young editor Michael Blakstad, who referred to him in a press interview as "a dinosaur".Other presenters included:
- James BurkeJames Burke (science historian)James Burke is a British broadcaster, science historian, author and television producer known amongst other things for his documentary television series Connections and its more philosophical oriented companion production, The Day the Universe Changed , focusing on the history of science and...
- Michael RoddMichael RoddMichael Rodd is a British television presenter and businessman.-Education:Rodd was educated at the independent school Trinity College, Glenalmond near Perth in Scotland, and at Newcastle University.-Life and career:Rodd became a familiar face to millions of television viewers in Britain as a...
- Anthony Smith
- Lyall WatsonLyall WatsonLyall Watson was a South African botanist, zoologist, biologist, anthropologist, ethologist, and author of many new age books, among the most popular of which is the best seller Supernature. Lyall Watson tried to make sense of natural and supernatural phenomena in biological terms...
- Anna FordAnna FordAnna Ford is a retired English journalist and television presenter, best known as a newsreader....
- William WoollardWilliam WoollardWilliam Woollard is a British television producer and presenter.-Biography:Educated at a state grammar school in London and at the University of Oxford, he trained as a fighter pilot with the RAF. He worked with an oil company in Borneo and Oman...
- Judith HannJudith HannJudith Hann at Littleover, Derby, Derbyshire, England, is a freelance broadcaster and writer specialising in science, food and the environment.-Education:...
(1974-1994 - the longest-serving presenter) - Kieran PrendivilleKieran PrendivilleKieran Prendiville is a television writer, producer and presenter.-Early years:Kieran grew up in England where his father had emigrated to practise medicine...
- Maggie PhilbinMaggie PhilbinMaggie Philbin is an English radio and television presenter whose credits include Tomorrow's World and Multi-Coloured Swap Shop.As a child she became interested in science through wanting to become a vet....
- Anna Walker
- Su Ingle
- Peter MacannPeter MacannPeter Macann is a former British actor, reporter, and television presenter familiar to millions of viewers for his role co-hosting the BBC's popular flagship science show Tomorrow's World in the late 1980s and early 1990s....
(1983–1991) - Howard StablefordHoward StablefordHoward Stableford is a television and radio presenter.Howard grew up in Preston, Lancashire, the son of a business skills lecturer and a shipping agent. He attended Hutton Grammar School...
(1985–1997) - Kate BellinghamKate BellinghamKate Bellingham is a British engineer and television presenter most widely known for her role presenting popular BBC science show Tomorrow's World from 1990-1994...
(1990–1994) - John DiamondJohn Diamond (journalist)John Diamond was a British broadcaster and journalist.- Education and training :Diamond was the son of a biochemist and a fashion designer. He grew up in Upper Clapton and Woodford Green, he then attended the City of London School and trained as an English teacher at Trent Park College of...
(1991) - Carmen Pryce (1991–1994)
- Monty DonMonty DonMontagu Denis Wyatt Don is a British television presenter, writer and speaker on horticulture, best known for presenting the BBC television series Gardeners' World.-Early life:...
(1994–1995) - Shahnaz PakravanShahnaz PakravanShahnaz Pakravan is a radio and television presenter.-Education:Pakravan was educated at Moreton Hall School, a girls' independent boarding school in Oswestry, Shropshire, in England.-Life and career:...
(1994–1997) - Rebecca StephensRebecca Stephens (climber)Rebecca Stephens MBE is a British journalist, mountaineer, and television presenter. She was the first British woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest....
(1994–1996) - Carol VordermanCarol VordermanCarol Jean Vorderman MBE is a British media personality, best known for co-hosting the popular game show Countdown for 26 years from 1982 to 2008. In September 2011 she became a co-anchor of the ITV1 panel show Loose Women....
(1994–1995) - Vivienne ParryVivienne ParryVivienne Mary Hunt Parry, OBE is a science journalist.-Early life:She was educated at St Swithun's School, Winchester, an independent girls' school...
(1994–1996) - Richard MabeyRichard MabeyRichard Mabey is a naturalist and author.He has been called by The Times 'Britain's greatest living nature writer'. Among his acclaimed publications are Food for Free, The Unofficial Countryside and The Common Ground, as well as his study of the nightingale, Whistling in the Dark...
(1995) - Craig DoyleCraig DoyleCraig Doyle is an Irish television and radio presenter. To British viewers he is recognisable as working for the BBC and ITV...
(1996–1999) - Philippa ForresterPhilippa ForresterPhilippa Forrester is an English television and radio presenter, producer and author. Having presented shows such as Tomorrow's World, The Heaven and Earth Show and Robot Wars, she now makes wildlife programmes with her husband, Charlie Hamilton James.-Education:Forrester was educated at Westgate...
(1996–2000) - Jez NelsonJez Nelson-Education:Nelson was educated at Dulwich College , followed by the University of London, during which time he first became a DJ.-Career:...
(1996–2000) - Peter SnowPeter SnowPeter Snow, CBE is a British television and radio presenter. He is the grandson of First World War general Sir Thomas D'Oyly Snow, and cousin of Jon Snow, the main presenter of Channel 4 News, nephew of schoolmaster and bishop George D'Oyly Snow, and the brother-in-law of historian-writer Margaret...
(1997–2000) - Anya Sitaram (1998–2000)
- Nick Baker (1999–2000)
- Lindsey Fallow (1999–2000)
- David BullDavid BullDavid Bull is a British physician, author, and host and commentator on a variety of British television programmes, such as Newsround, Living's Most Haunted Live!, Channel 4's Richard & Judy, the BBC's Watchdog, Watchdog Healthcheck, Tomorrow's World, and Sky's The Breathing Life Awards...
(2002-2003) - Adam Hart-DavisAdam Hart-DavisAdam John Hart-Davis is an English scientist, author, photographer, historian and broadcaster, well-known in the UK for presenting the BBC television series Local Heroes and What the Romans Did for Us, the latter spawning several spin-off series involving the Victorians, the Tudors, the Stuarts,...
(2002–2003) - Katie Knapman (2002)
- Kate HumbleKate HumbleKatherine 'Kate' Humble is an English television presenter, mainly for the BBC, specialising in wildlife and science programmes...
(2003) - Roger BlackRoger BlackRoger Anthony Black MBE is a retired British athlete. During his athletics career, he won individual silver medals in the 400 metres sprint at both the Olympic Games and World Championships, two individual gold medals at the European Championships, and 4x400 metres relay gold medals at both the...
(2003)
The idiosyncratic and ever-cheerful Bob Symes
Bob Symes
Bob Symes is the stage name of inventor Robert Alexander Baron Schutzmann von Schutzmansdorff....
showcased smaller inventions in dramatised vignettes with themes such as Bob Goes Golfing. These often presented challenges for film directors with which he worked when a close-up was required as Bob's own invention-related exploits in the workshop had resulted in him losing parts of several fingers: it was hard to find a finger that didn't look too gruesome to show on screen. Other regular features included Whatever Happened To ..., picking up on the oft-levelled criticism of the show that a significant number of inventions seemingly were never heard of again.
Technologies introduced on programme
In many cases the show offered the British public its first chance to see key technologies that subsequently became commonplace, notably:- The Breathalyser (1967)
- The ATMAutomated teller machineAn automated teller machine or automatic teller machine, also known as a Cashpoint , cash machine or sometimes a hole in the wall in British English, is a computerised telecommunications device that provides the clients of a financial institution with access to financial transactions in a public...
(1969) - The pocket calculator (1971)
- The digital watch (1972)
- TeletextTeletextTeletext is a television information retrieval service developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s. It offers a range of text-based information, typically including national, international and sporting news, weather and TV schedules...
(CeefaxCeefaxCeefax is the BBC's teletext information service transmitted via the analogue signal, started in 1974 and will run until April 2012 for Pages from Ceefax, while the actual interactive service will run until 24 October 2012, in-line with the digital switchover.-History:During the late 60s, engineer...
) (1975) - The personal stereoWalkmanWalkman is a Sony brand tradename originally used for portable audio cassette, and now used to market Sony's portable audio and video players as well as a line of Sony Ericsson mobile phones...
(1980) - The compact discCompact DiscThe Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
and player (1981) - The camcorderCamcorderA camcorder is an electronic device that combines a video camera and a video recorder into one unit. Equipment manufacturers do not seem to have strict guidelines for the term usage...
(1981) - BarcodeBarcodeA barcode is an optical machine-readable representation of data, which shows data about the object to which it attaches. Originally barcodes represented data by varying the widths and spacings of parallel lines, and may be referred to as linear or 1 dimensional . Later they evolved into rectangles,...
reader (1983) - Radio Automation, pioneered on Pirate FM 102 (1992)
- Clockwork radioClockwork radioA windup radio or clockwork radio is a radio that is powered by human muscle power rather than batteries or the electrical grid. In the most common arrangement, an internal electrical generator is run by a mainspring, which is wound by a hand crank on the case. Turning the crank winds the spring...
(1993) - Robotic vacuum cleanerVacuum cleanerA vacuum cleaner, commonly referred to as a "vacuum," is a device that uses an air pump to create a partial vacuum to suck up dust and dirt, usually from floors, and optionally from other surfaces as well. The dirt is collected by either a dustbag or a cyclone for later disposal...
, pioneered on Electrolux TrilobiteElectrolux TrilobiteThe Electrolux Trilobite is a robotic vacuum cleaner manufactured by the Swedish corporation Electrolux. It takes its name from the extinct arthropod, which scoured the ocean's floor. The original prototype cleaner was first seen on the BBC television programme, "Tomorrow's World", in 1996; when it...
prototype (1996)
Perhaps the best-remembered item in the programme's history was the introduction of the compact disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
in 1981, when presenter Kieran Prendiville
Kieran Prendiville
Kieran Prendiville is a television writer, producer and presenter.-Early years:Kieran grew up in England where his father had emigrated to practise medicine...
demonstrated the disc's supposed indestructibility by spreading strawberry
Strawberry
Fragaria is a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, commonly known as strawberries for their edible fruits. Although it is commonly thought that strawberries get their name from straw being used as a mulch in cultivating the plants, the etymology of the word is uncertain. There...
jam on a Bee Gees
Bee Gees
The Bee Gees are a musical group that originally comprised three brothers: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was successful for most of their 40-plus years of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a pop act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as a...
CD. The show also gave the first British TV exposure to the group Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...
, who performed their then-forthcoming single "Autobahn
Autobahn (album)
Autobahn is the fourth studio album by German electronic band Kraftwerk, released in November 1974. The 22-minute title track "Autobahn" was edited to about 3 minutes for single release and reached number 25 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and performed even higher around Europe, including...
" as part of an item about the use of technology in musicmaking. Another programme concerning new technology for television and stage lighting featured The Tremeloes
The Tremeloes
The Tremeloes are an English beat group founded in 1958 in Dagenham, Essex, and still active today.-Career:They formed as Brian Poole and the Tremoloes influenced by Buddy Holly and The Crickets...
and the Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett
Syd Barrett , born Roger Keith Barrett, was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and painter, best remembered as a founding member of the band Pink Floyd. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist and primary songwriter during the band's psychedelic years, providing major musical and stylistic...
-led Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
.
Offbeat aspects of show
Featured inventions that didn't change our lives included a fold-up car that fitted into a suitcase and numerous gadgets such as miracle chopping boards for the kitchen. Members of the public frequently sent in their ideas and the production team sometimes found it difficult writing replies.Final years of programme
By the late 1990s, the live studio demonstrations were dropped in favour of purely pre-recorded items. The final series, presented by Adam Hart-DavisAdam Hart-Davis
Adam John Hart-Davis is an English scientist, author, photographer, historian and broadcaster, well-known in the UK for presenting the BBC television series Local Heroes and What the Romans Did for Us, the latter spawning several spin-off series involving the Victorians, the Tudors, the Stuarts,...
, Kate Humble
Kate Humble
Katherine 'Kate' Humble is an English television presenter, mainly for the BBC, specialising in wildlife and science programmes...
and Roger Black
Roger Black
Roger Anthony Black MBE is a retired British athlete. During his athletics career, he won individual silver medals in the 400 metres sprint at both the Olympic Games and World Championships, two individual gold medals at the European Championships, and 4x400 metres relay gold medals at both the...
, attempted to revert back to the original live format of the show, even using a remix of one of the theme tunes used during its more successful years, but ratings continued to fall, and with only three million viewers in the last series the BBC decided to axe the show. At the time they said that they would produce a number of science special editions under the Tomorrow's World "brand" from time to time. The "Tomorrow's World Roadshow" appeared in 2004 with Gareth Jones
Gareth Jones (presenter)
Gareth Jones is a Welsh television presenter and celebrity. He began his broadcasting career under the name Gaz Top....
(co-host of CITV
CITV
CITV is a British television channel from ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive, as well as commissions and acquisitions. CITV itself is the programming block on the main ITV Network .The CITV channel broadcasts from 06:00 to 18:00...
's How 2
How 2
How 2 was an informative children's programme produced by TVS between 1990 and 1992, and STV Productions from 1993 to 2006....
) and Katie Knapman taking the helm as the last presenters of a show bearing the Tomorrow's World name, before a partial return to television in 2007.
Virtually all the 1970s and early 1980s episodes only survive in their complete form because a viewer recorded many episodes on an early video recorder (a Philips N1500) and made his tapes available for copying during the early 1990s.
For the 1000th episode, a commemorative CD was produced by Nimbus Records. This contained four audio tracks of the various theme tunes from the 60's, 70's, 80's and the 90's. 1000 copies were made and were given away in a competition.
The CD was notable as being the first holographic audio compact disc ever made.
On Monday 14 September 2009 the BBC made some clips and episodes available online.
In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, episodes of the series aired on the cable channel TechTV
TechTV
TechTV was a 24-hour cable and satellite channel based in San Francisco featuring news and shows about computers, technology, and the Internet. In 2004, it merged with the G4 gaming channel which ultimately dissolved TechTV programming...
between 2001-2003.
The prince of wales award for industrial innovation and production
At the end of each series, the Prince of Wales gave an award or awards for superlative inventions.This was presumably backed and related by his charity The Prince of Wales Award for Industrial Innovation and Production Trust Fund. In public documents, the aims and objectives are defined as:
"The Promotion of industry and commerce for the benefit of the public by encouraging and assisting the development of new and innovative products and processes and in particular (but without limiting the generality of the foregoing) by the organisation of competitions for small prizes (to be held at such time or times as the trustees shall determine) to be known as the Prince of Wales award for industrial innovation and production and principal objectives of such competition being to identify promising new products or processes and to encourage the production of marketing thereof."
Since the end of Tomorrow's World, the Award has had a decidedly lower profile. The Trust Fund is listed as having no assets.
Revival of the brand
At the start of 2007 the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
announced that the Tomorrow's World brand would be used on science and technology news reports across the BBC's TV, radio and internet services, including a blog. The Tomorrow's World name returned to television screens on 8 January 2007 as part of the BBC's news coverage, initially on BBC Breakfast
BBC Breakfast
BBC Breakfast is the morning television news programme simulcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel. It is presented live from BBC Television Centre in White City, West London, and contains a mixture of news, sport, weather, business and feature items...
, hosted by Maggie Philbin
Maggie Philbin
Maggie Philbin is an English radio and television presenter whose credits include Tomorrow's World and Multi-Coloured Swap Shop.As a child she became interested in science through wanting to become a vet....
. In August 2007, it was reported that Michael Mosley, director of development at the BBC's science wing, had pitched the concept of resurrecting the format to BBC commissioners.
External links
- BBC archive material with clips and old episodes
- TV Cream on Tomorrow's World
- A view on the demise of Tomorrow's World by Simon SinghSimon SinghSimon Lehna Singh, MBE is a British author who has specialised in writing about mathematical and scientific topics in an accessible manner....
Possibly moved to http://www.simonsingh.net/media/articles/maths-and-science/the-death-of-tomorrow%E2%80%99s-world/