The introduction of Britain's canal system. Plus, how coal transportation was crucial to the Industrial Revolution.
Mark Williams discovers how comfortable cotton fabrics became available to everyone with the introduction of water-powered textile mills
Mark Williams discovers how engineer James Brindley tunnelled through hills in a straight line, and details the emergence of Josiah Wedgwood's pottery business as a global industry
How the Leeds and Liverpool Canal turned two rival counties into hotbeds of activity, bringing wealth to mill owners during the Industrial Revolution
How Thomas Telford and the Darby family used iron to create new transport routes during the Industrial Revolution.
Mark Williams visits Birmingham to experience what life was like during the Industrial Revolution for those employed in the glassworks and jewellery trades
How mass-produced, high-quality steel and the development of structured transport systems in northern England created a world-renowned industry
Mark Williams learns how frantic competition among Welsh rivals drove the development and installation of the world's first steam locomotive
More powerful steam engines solve a variety of problems during the Industrial Revolution.
Why steam engines were developed during the Industrial Revolution to solve a range of engineering and social problems
Comedian Mark Williams explains how 19th-century Britons drank beer as a healthy alternative to water because the fermentation process killed many harmful bacteria
Mark Williams discovers how 19th-century hats were made of rabbit fur that had been shrunk in urine
The use of gas to power the machines and inventions from the Industrial Revolution are explained by Mark Williams
In a look at the history of printing, Mark Williams discovers why early typesetters arranged lower-case letters according to their usage, with the most common being in the middle
Mark Williams visits a pub cellar and bridges across the Tyne, all powered by hydraulics, revealing how the beer pump started a power revolution
Documentary exploring how the massive construction boom triggered by the Industrial Revolution forced the building industry to find new materials to cope with increasing demand.
How the electricity industry was created from scientific experimentation and entrepreneurial enthusiasm - becoming the world's main power source.
The development of the Cornish mining industry, from pebble-picking in streams to the building of a honeycomb of mines below the sea
How silk was instrumental in the invention of the binary code, which went on to inspire the computer revolution.
Mark Williams learns about Joseph Whitworth, the man who standardised the threaded screw. Plus, the total cost of wood required to build HMS Victory
With industrialisation, there were more mouths in towns and cities to feed and fewer men left to work the land. So how did food production keep up?
How did the building trade keep up with the demand for materials during the expansion of the Industrial Revolution, and what do oranges have to do with it?
Cities were traditionally developed around water until the railway age expanded their boundaries. As the population grew, how did they cope?
For centuries craftsmen and women turned natural fibres into clothes. Ronald Topp explores what happened when machines began to replace manual labour.
Eiffel was the world's greatest exponent of the use of iron in construction, creating the his famous Tower in 1889. How did engineering in iron reach such heights?
Ronald Top examines the beginnings of motor cars. Benz and Daimler were early pioneers, but prior to that there were attempts at steam-powered road vehicles.
Flight has always been humanity's dream. Ronald Top discovers that thanks to some paper thrown onto a fire, a duck, a cock and a sheep, it was made possible.
Ronald Topp investigates the new techniques and ways of working that turned local potteries into an international industry.
Ronald Top examines how railways conquered the mountains, with a little help from George Stevenson. He's in the Alps to see how funicular railways work.
Waterways are flourishing in Europe, but how is it that a system designed for 17th-century trade is still viable in the 21st? Ronald Topp finds out.
Rory McGrath explores whether British buildings deserve their iconic status and examines what makes them so recognisable.
Rory takes a closer look at the planes that have achieved iconic status, including the Spitfire, the most famous British plane ever built.
Rory McGrath travels the length and breadth of the country in a bid to find out which bridges are the most innovative for their time.
Britain has designed some of the world's most influential and pioneering trains, cars and buses. Rory McGrath reveals these fantastic machines.
Rory McGrath celebrates Britain's maritime achievements, from the Battle of Trafalgar, through the ingenuity of Brunel, and up to the development of swift shore submarines.
From canals to rail networks and underground systems, Rory McGrath goes behind the scenes of the engineering projects that keep us moving.
