BBC Four · Ended

The Secret Life of the Airport

Travel · 2009

Last aired: S1 E3, The Final Approach · 2009-06-29

Series charting the development of Britain's airports and how they have transformed the country, in the process creating both freedom and fear.

Cast

Philip Glenister Narrator

Season 1

E1 Preparing for Take Off 2009-06-15 · 60 min Travel in time from the heady glamour of Britain's first terminal at Croydon to the signs and squiggles that direct pilots, as well as passengers, in today's airports. This series reveals how rivalry, skulduggery and sheer passion for flight gave birth to our airports, turning muddy airfields into the 24-hour mini-cities we know today. In the process, they've transformed Britain - giving us the freedom to travel anywhere we want and inspiring fear about our borders. Rare archive, access to airports' hidden corners and contributors ranging from philosopher and author Alain de Botton to the man charged with scaring birds off Manchester's runways, reveal all.

E2 Joining the Jet Set 2009-06-22 · 60 min Relive the heyday of jet travel, when airports held beauty pageants for air hostesses and information films taught us how to pack for flight. This episode celebrates how 'money, tickets, passport' became the mantra of the moving masses. But while we giddily embarked on our foreign holidays, Britain itself was being shaped by the airport - tourism, business and immigration all felt the impact of these gateways to the globe. Glorious colour archive captures the airport's golden age, while contributions from author Sarfraz Manzoor and airline staff to early immigrants explore how airports changed us.

E3 The Final Approach 2009-06-29 · 60 min Once upon a time you could roam freely across airports, but no longer. This final episode reveals how the easily accessible airport of late Sixties turned into one besieged by present-day security procedures and climate protesters. With rare archive and eyewitness accounts, it relates the events that have shaped our contemporary experience of airports - with their x-rays, pat downs and scanners. But although the airport's sheen may be tarnished, we're using them more than ever. Contributors including architect Lord Foster and author Will Self explore why.

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