577 Q.E.D.

First  viewed :  Uncertain

I  might  have  dipped  into  this  series  earlier  but  I'm  pretty  sure  I  saw  the  episode  broadcast  on  3.11.82  which  dealt  with  the  Shroud  of  Turin.

Q.E.D.  was  a  popular  science  series  beginning  in  1982  as  a   shorter,  more  accessible  alternative  to  BBC2's  long-running  Horizon. The  episode  about  the  Shroud  was  the  second  of  the  second  season. The  documentary  was  made  six  years  before  the  radiocarbon  testing  of  the  Shroud  which  pointed  to  a  fourteenth  century  origin  for  the  relic. This  has  been  generally  if  not  universally  accepted  although  debate  continues  on  how  the  forgery  was  achieved.

The  Q.E.D. branding  was  discarded  in  1999. As  with  other  long-running  documentary  strands , I  will  add  to  this  post  as  we  go.

The  Horse  That  Doped  Itself   ( 24.11.1982 )  Kieran  Prendiville  looked  into  the  science  behind  a  racing  scandal  from  the  previous  year  where  one  of  the  horses  owned  by  the  Aga  Khan  failed  a  drugs  test  but  was  later  declared  by  The  Jockey  Club  to  have  internally  manufactured  the  steroid  itself.  I  can't  remember  what  the  conclusion  ( if  there  was  one  )  was.

Round  Britain Whizz  ( 19.02.1986 )   This  one  used  sped  up  aerial  photography  to  make   a  flight  around  Britain's  coastline  fit  the  programme's  half  hour  slot. It  was  technically  impressive  but  not  all  that  easy  to  watch.