Smoke & Steel - Secrets of the Modern World Season 1, Episode 6: Scaling New Heights

A Leisure Time Game Changer

Examining a cliff in North Yorkshire that offered the public a new ride experience. Plus, the world's oldest operating roller-coaster, an astronomical observatory in California and a mining hoist in Germany.

48 min

War on the Waves

Examining 'The Warrior', an ironclad warship on the south coast of England. Plus, a grand public works facility in Prague and the mint building in San Francisco.

A Subterranean Revolution

The industrial legacy of a tunnel under the Thames, how steam engines reshaped the Netherlands, and a surprising link to our digital world.

56 min

The Birth of the Factory

A mill on the outskirts of Manchester was part of a dawning revolution in the way we work - the factory. A bridge in St. Louis, USA pioneered the use of steel - a construction material that would reshape our world. And a vast hangar in Brazil built to house the airships transformed passenger travel in the 20th century, but those giants of the sky owed a debt to an earlier age.

Global Communications Breakthrough

Examining the legacy of a cable hut in Cornwall, how a mountain railway in New Hampshire inspired its passengers and a lighthouse in France.