6-part documentary series from arguably the greatest scientific mind in the world, the wheelchair-bound Stephen Hawking, which describes all current thinking on the Big Bang, origins of the universe, dark matter, black holes, etc. Includes interviews with leading astronomers and scientists, some commentary from the great man himself, and computer models of the theories. Written by Cynan Rees <cynanrees@hotmail.com>
Just having seen "What we still don't know", a show that used about the same basic layout at this series, even some of the video footage, but was completely devoid of useful information, I was glad to see an interesting, factual documentary film about the universe.
It's funny, though, how we hear Stephen Hawking talking in the show (since he can't pronounce anything he uses a speech synthesizer), and one has to wonder, did he even bothered to say those things in front of the camera, or did they use the same video footage of himself in the wheelchair and the content was just emailed. That would be terribly productive. Unless, of course, Stephen Hawking does not exist and he is a manufactured persona, like Shakespeare! OK, just kidding.
Back to the show, it uses some of the usual popular science show tricks, but in a decent way. It is basically a history of cosmological science up to today, and filled with interesting information that can actually be used to expand one's horizons, even without using Google at every mention of a person's name or physics theory.
Conclusion: really worth seeing by any science lover, kids and adults alike.