Pandora's Box

"A fable from the age of science"

Pandora's Box is a six-part 1992 BBC documentary television series which examines the consequences of political and technocratic rationalism. The episodes deal, in order, with communism in The Soviet Union, systems analysis and game theory during the Cold War, economy in the United Kingdom during the 1970s, the insecticide DDT, Kwame Nkrumah's leadership in Ghana during the 1950s and 1960s and the history of nuclear power.

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Created By

Adam Curtis

Status

Ended

Original Name

Pandora's Box

First Air Date

June 11, 1992

Last Air Date

July 16, 1992

Seasons

Episodes

Language

English

Production Companies

Networks

BBC Two

S01E06

A is For Atom

An insight into the history of nuclear power. In the 1950s scientists and politicians thought they could create a different world with a limitless source of nuclear energy. But things began to go wrong. Scientists in America and the Soviet Union were duped into building dozens of potentially dangerous plants. Then came the disasters of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl which changed views on the safety of this new technology. This episode was named after a 1953 General Electric propaganda film explaining nuclear power and features artfully chosen footage from this film.

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