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Documentary series · BBC

The Ascent of Man

BBC documentary television series by Jacob Bronowski (1973)

Verification status: Imported automatically from public Wikidata and Wikipedia records; not yet reviewed by an editor. Fields we could not find are marked “Not verified”.

Research date: 2026-11-08

Synopsis

The Ascent of Man is a 13-part British documentary television series produced by the BBC and Time-Life Films first broadcast in 1973. It was written and presented by Polish-British mathematician and historian of science Jacob Bronowski, who also authored a book adaptation. Intended as a series of "personal view" documentaries in the manner of Kenneth Clark's 1969 series Civilisation, the series received acclaim for Bronowski's highly informed but eloquently simple analysis, his long, elegant monologues, and its extensive location shoots.

The programme began broadcasting on BBC2 at 9 pm on Saturday, 5 May 1973 and was released in the US on 7 January 1975. To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the documentary was again broadcast on BBC4 in the Summer of 2023.

Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Key facts

Official title
The Ascent of Man
Alternative titles
Ascent of Man
Original release
1973-01-01 – 1973-01-01
Country of production
United Kingdom
Language
English
Genres
documentary film, documentary television program
Seasons
Not verified
Episodes
13
Directors
Adrian Malone
Producers
Not verified
Production company
Not verified
Official website
Not verified
Official trailer
Not verified

Streaming

Listed service
BBC
Original or licensed
Original — public records list BBC as the original network or distributor (BBC Two).
Available now in UK
Not yet checked
Available now in Ireland
Not yet checked
Available now in US
Not yet checked
Past availability
Not verified

Episodes, events and timeline

Episode titles, summaries, running times, key events and a timeline have not been researched for this series yet. We'll add them only once they can be checked against reliable sources.

Sources