Human Universe (2014)

In this spectacular series, Professor Cox offers an original new perspective on human life: the story of a group of apes that evolved to leave their home planet and step out into the universe. Humans are curious creatures. Of all the species on Earth, we alone ask questions. This series tackles the greatest questions we've ever asked. Where are we in the universe? Why are we here? How did the human brain arise and why did we become consciousness? Will our search for alien life be successful or are we all alone? And what is our future? In search of answers, Brian sets off across the globe collecting clues from the people that he encounters and linking them to the latest scientific thinking on each question. Combining beautiful location photography, imaginative CGI and his own magical storytelling Brian presents a new understanding of the ultimate wonder of the universe - us.

Part 1: Apeman - Spaceman
Brian Cox examines how it was that in a universe made of stars, rocks and endless space, a conscious civilisation was born. His latest adventure takes him from a submerged space station in Star City on the outskirts of Moscow, to Ethiopia, high above in the Great Rift Valley, where he encounters the geladas, mankind's distant ancestors. Despite once being Africa's most successful primate, a species who at one time roamed across the entire continent, these days they are found in one just place in the remote Ethiopian Highlands. Cox investigates why these ancestors retreated, yet modern mankind has expanded across the planet.

Part 2: Why are We Here
In episode two, Professor Brian Cox is off to India, where he assesses arguably the first evidence of rational thought in literature, the poetry of the Vedic monks. They pondered mankind's origins, realising there must have been a day with no yesterday - a day of creation - prompting the age-old question of where did the universe come from? Brian marvels that the universe seems to follow a set of rules, the laws of physics, allowing space to be considered on the grandest scale, travelling to the most distant, farthest reaches of the cosmos just by using our minds. Brian also visits Japan, and offers viewers the idea that man lives in just one of an infinite number of universes that are being made all the time.

Part 3: Are We Alone
Is mankind alone, or are there aliens out there, either waiting to be discovered, or on their way to find Earth? Professor Brian Cox spends this episode asking such questions, and what he discovers may raise a few eyebrows. He begins by exploring the human race's efforts to find neighbours in outer space, including the launch of two golden discs containing a greeting from Earth in the 1970s; they are still travelling and are now the most distant man-made objects from the planet. Brian also meets members of the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, who have been monitoring radio signals for 50 years without success, before discussing the ingredients needed to make an intelligent civilisation with astrophysicist Dr Frank Drake.

Part 4: Place in Space and Time
On a trip to the fortified Moroccan village of Ait-Ben-Haddou in the Atlas Mountains, Professor Brian Cox reveals how by watching the stars' motion across the night sky, it is quite natural for man to think he is at the centre of everything. That view was held for many ages, but innate human curiosity has eventually led to an understanding of mankind's true place in space and time, and an appreciation that Earth is not a focal point but a mere particle of rock in a possibly infinite expanse of space, 13.8 billion years from the beginning of the universe.

Part 5: What is our Future
Professor Brian Cox concludes his exploration of humanity's place in the cosmos by examining what the future holds. In Florida, he learns about the latest efforts to protect Earth from potential catastrophic events and joins a team of Nasa astronauts who are in a submerged laboratory that simulates space as they train for a future mission to an asteroid - should one ever be discovered heading to Earth. At the National Ignition Facility in California, the physicist witnesses the world's most successful fusion experiment in action, one which he believes may unlock a way to the stars that will not destroy the planet in the process.