As I mentioned when Raymond Baxter died, Tomorrow’s World was a TV show I always watched when I was a kid. Over the years, presenters changed, and audiences fell. The last time I saw it, it was being presented by Peter Snow, a man who showed absolutely no sign of understanding any of the science and technology he was talking about, and I pretty much gave up on it. I may have caught one or two of the last series which featured the enthusiastic Adam Hart-Davis, but the damage was done, and the series was cancelled.

This was a shame, as there was nothing quite like it for actually demonstrating advances in science and technology and for making a reasonable attempt to explain things. The science-based programmes that remain tend to be superficial to the point of, errr, complete pointlessness.

But now the BBC is bringing Tomorrow’s World back!

Oh, wait. They’re not bringing back an intelligent magazine programme devoted to science and technology and showing it on a major channel at a sensible time. Oh no. Nothing so tediously old-fashioned.[1] They’re bringing it back as a “brand”. News reports will be labelled as “Tomorrow’s World” for reasons that probably make sense to somebody in the BBC. Various website bits and pieces will also get the label, including a blog about the Consumer Electronics Show.

I was quite amused to see that a post there entitled Why Tomorrow’s World?, which attempts to explain the rationale behind all this silliness has gathered a lot of comments, most of which are suggestions that what the BBC should really do is bring the TV programme back, preferably in a more intelligent form than its last incarnation. Can’t say I’m surprised….

[1] Or “sensible” or “useful” as I tend to think of it

BBC NEWS | Tomorrow’s World