Britain's Greatest Machines with Chris Barrie is a documentary television series from National Geographic Channel. It is showing the technological progress of the 19th and 20th centuries from a British point of view. Chris Barrie is the host and is testing various means of transportation.
Host Chris Barrie kicks off proceedings with the 1910s - the decade that industrialised the First World War. Chris looks at pre-war inventions, from a three-wheeled Morgan runabout to massive moving bridges, before charting the new weapons, trucks, planes and ships of World War I. Find out how technology changed warfare forever, before seeing Chris climb into the cockpit for an exhilarating flight on the first aircraft to fly across the Atlantic.
After the horrors of World War I, the 1920s boom-and-bust years were about speed, glamour, and power. But the modern world didn't just exist, it had to be invented. Chris explores the motorbikes, articulated lorries, petrol pumps and planes that came off the drawing board to redefine an exciting new world. See Chris recreate the decade's new obsession with motor racing, and explore the massive building where Britain produced the biggest flying machine the world had ever seen - the R101 airship.
Roaring into the 1940s Chris finds out there's nothing like a war to create technological change. He mans a fire pump to tackle a Blitz-style blaze and steps into an RAF control centre to discover how radar helped win the Battle of Britain. From spy planes to powerboats, jet engines to shrapnel-proof fire engines, Chris shows how new innovations helped defeat Hitler. But then we needed brand new tractor and car designs to help build the peace that followed...
Grab your anoraks and climb onboard the 1820s, one of the most revolutionary decades in history. In just ten years transportation evolved from foot and horse to the first passenger railway, forever changing British society. Chris follows this breakthrough, heading down a mine to witness rail's beginnings and taking a spin on the Trevithick Puffing Devil - the world's first high-pressure steam engine. Finally, our intrepid presenter climbs on to the footplate of some of the earliest and most famous trains in the world. TV icon and vintage machine enthusiast, Chris Barrie, serves up a big dose of nostalgia in this exclusive series celebrating British design.
