Britain from Above

Last night saw an enjoyable new programme on BBC One from Andrew Marr. The programme Britain from Above uses the fairly simple concept showing how the UK works from the air, but it isn’t just aerial photography but also uses satellite imagery, GPS traces showing the movement of taxis in London, trains across the country and many other techniques to show how the country knits together.

For me though the highlight of this particular programme was seeing how the controllers of the National Grid deal with surges in demand using a big electronic map of the grid on computer screens in front of them. It’s worth watching the programme to see how such a specialist operation as keeping enough electricity in the grid is controlled by one man sat in a control room watching EastEnders to check when it ends so he can get enough electricity flowing to cope with the switching on of kettle (something that is apparently unique in the world). Fascinating and also a truly bizarre way for the world to work.

A brilliant programme well worth seeing.