Catch up TV
2020: 1. Chris Packham: 7.7 Billion People and Counting
According to the UN, it is predicted that the human population could reach ten billion people by the year 2050. For broadcaster and naturalist Chris Packham, who has dedicated his life to championing the natural world, the subject of our growing population and the impact it is having on our planet is one of the most vital – and often overlooked – topics of discussion in an era of increasing environmental awareness.\n\nChris is worried that a world of ten billion may simply be too many people for the earth to sustain, given the impact 7.7 billion humans are already having. Travelling around the globe in search of answers to difficult and sometimes controversial questions, Chris investigates why our population is growing so rapidly, what impact it is having on the natural world, and whether there is anything that can be done.\n\nChris travels to Brazil to discover a megacity on the verge of running out of water and an industry expanding to feed our growing numbers – with dire consequences for biodiversity. In Nigeria, a country set to become the third most populous nation on earth by 2050, overtaking the United States, Chris visits an extraordinary community surviving against the odds and a school that might hold the answer to a future fall in the birth rate. Back home in Britain, Chris interviews Sir David Attenborough – like Chris, he is a patron of the charity Population Matters. Chris also examines the role of falling birth rates around the world, the impact of an aging population, and meets a couple who are struggling to get pregnant through IVF.\n\nWith interviews from several population experts, Chris’s focus ultimately turns to the impact our levels of consumption are already having, and asks whether the world can rebalance to accommodate the needs of over two billion more people.
Source: BBC 2
Most recent episodes of Horizon
Horizon
The Great British Drought
Documentary from 1976 that explores the drought crisis of that year, going behind the scenes to discover its impact on farming, the landscape and industrial and domestic consumers.
13-06-2026
BBC 2
Horizon
2020: Pluto: Back From The Dead
The incredible story of how Pluto has been propelled from an unremarkable ball of ice on the edge of the solar system to a world of unimaginable complexity - where some form of ...
13-04-2026
BBC 2
Horizon
1997-1998: Mir Mortals
First transmitted in 1998, this is the story of four men who orbited Earth on board the ill-fated Mir space station, which NASA declared unsafe in 1991. Although Mir had been li ...
10-02-2026
BBC 2
Horizon
2022: How To Sleep Well With Michael Mosley
A third of the population regularly struggle with our sleep, which rose to one in two during the pandemic - the highest it’s ever been. However, as more and more people se ...
07-01-2026
BBC 2
Most popular episodes of Horizon
Horizon
2018: 4. Spina Bifida & Me
One in every 1,000 pregnancies in Britain has a spine or brain defect like spina bifida. Thirty years ago, actress Ruth Madeley was one of them. Despite having spina bifida hers ...
26-07-2018
BBC 2
Horizon
2014-2015 - Inside The Dark Web
Series exploring topical scientific issues. With many concerned about internet surveillance, Horizon meets the hackers and scientists whose technology is fighting back.
03-09-2014
BBC 2
Horizon
Life Story: A Horizon Special
It's 1951. There's a race on, and two of the brightest and brashest young men in Cambridge are determined to win it. The prize is glittering. Eternal fame, glory and almost cert ...
11-12-2024
BBC 2
Horizon
2020: What's The Matter With Tony Slattery?
Tony Slattery was one of the most gifted TV comedians of the late 80s and early 90s. One of the Cambridge Footlight set that included Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie and Emma Thompson, ...
10-02-2025
BBC 2
Horizon
2018: 10. Avalanche: Making A Deadly Snowstorm
In March 2018 an international team of scientists gathered in a remote valley in the Canadian Rockies to conduct a unique experiment - to attempt to see into the heart of a mass ...
03-10-2023
BBC 2
Horizon
2005-2006: The Woman Who Thinks Like A Cow
Dr Temple Grandin can talk to the animals; she has a legendary ability to read the animal mind and understand animal behaviour when no-one else can. But this is no feat of telep ...
21-06-2018
BBC 2