Stop. Rewind

Planes, trains, fast cars, high-tech homes, space exploration – Stop. Rewind is a television journey that plots the most innovative 25 years in human history. From the giant leap forward in technology from the mid-1980s to the beginning of the 21st century, Stop. Rewind explores those ideas, discoveries, breakthroughs, dead-ends and eureka moments that shaped the latter part of the 20th century and laid the groundwork for the 21st. Stop. Rewind reflects on what the 80s and 90s generations thought the future would deliver and considers what we’ve ended up with. Twenty-five years ago the world was a very different place – no digital, no dot-com, no cell phones, no blogs, tweets, nor many of the tech innovations that we now take for granted. Using images shot over the past quarter century Stop. Rewind showcases the hilarious and often hapless ideas that fell by the wayside and those innovations that really were a preview into the future. Each themed episode shows the development of a tech industry, documenting how each latched onto new technology, materials, and designs to eventually become the common gadgets, goods and services we know today. In tonight’s opening episode Stop. Rewind looks at robots – they promised so much – but sadly it’s still a work in progress. Since the 50s we’ve been told a bold new world of robots was supposed to be around the corner – performing all those tasks no human would ever dirty themselves with. But it’s not been through lack of trying – robots have revolutionised industry and they’ve even created robotic pets – but the ultimate aim – to create an independent, thinking, humanoid robot – is still coming…

As we hurtle headlong into the digital age, Stop. Rewind pauses to ponder how far we have come. The 80s generation had no dot.coms and digital – a future they imagined has been transformed by a technology revolution. Welcome to Stop. Rewind – a short history of the modern world – charting the good and bad of a quarter century of innovation. From the giant leap forward in technology from the mid-1980s to the beginning of the 21st century, Stop. Rewind explores those ideas, discoveries, breakthroughs, dead-ends and eureka moments that shaped the latter part of the 20th century and laid the groundwork for the 21st. Each themed episode shows the development of a tech industry, documenting how each latched onto new technology, materials, and designs to eventually become the common gadgets, goods and services we know today. Tonight Stop. Rewind takes a specific look at high tech homes. The 21st century home promised every labor-saving device you could think of – instant buildings, instant meals, instant clean! We had sensors tracking our every move, opening doors, turning on lights, and dimming the sound. Our best friend, the computer, assured us the weather was good and announced our mail … and the house was teeming with robots to do all the dirty work. Even the garden had its own robot! The reality? All we want is a roof over our heads ... and a widescreen TV! However, great innovations have been made with advanced building materials, urban sprawl, and alternative architecture.

Every year tens of billions of dollars is appropriated to develop advanced weapon systems. Since the end of the Cold War military researchers have turned their attention from weapons of mass destruction to a far more precise challenge of finding, tracking and killing individuals. Welcome to Stop. Rewind and a short history of modern weaponry. For more than a few millennia the best weaponry available depended on what size rock you picked up. Now humans can kill anyone from anywhere on the planet. Military technology has spearheaded many so-called advancements that are now taken for granted – from the internet and hypersonic planes, to spy satellites and intercontinental ballistic missiles. Stop. Rewind tonight explores breakthrough technologies that moved from the laboratory to the battlefield during the giant leap forward in technology from the mid-1980s to the beginning of the 21st century. The program reflects on what the 80s and 90s generations thought future weaponry would deliver and considers what we’ve ended up with. Using images shot over the past quarter century Stop. Rewind also showcases some of the more hilarious and often hapless ideas that fell by the wayside. Each weekly themed episode of Stop. Rewind shows the development of a tech industry, documenting how each latched onto new technology, materials, and designs to eventually become the common gadgets, goods and services we know today. After looking at Robots and High Tech Homes in the first two episodes, Stop. Rewind tonight looks at innovations that really were a preview into the weapons of the future.

We explore the technology that gets mankind into space and how it has generated an industry in itself.

We can dive deeper, travel faster, and even live on and in the water. Turns out, boat technology only has two lines of thought - make them faster, and make them safer. Unfortunately the two rarely go hand in hand!

What the Wright Brothers started has come a long way - but no more so than the in the Modern Age. The military can take the credit for just about every innovation in aircraft, but some of their ideas are truly jaw dropping.

Where would the world be without computers? From humble beginnings, they've grown into the 'must have' item in just about every walk of life.

Explores the ideas, discoveries, breakthroughs, dead-ends and eureka moments that shaped the latter part of the 20th century and laid the groundwork for the 21st.

Over the past 25 years we've created new, tech based, extreme sports, as well as livened up the old sports (like running, kicking and jumping) with tech innovations.

Over the past few decades all kinds of power supplies have been tried and tested - from atoms to chicken poo! This whole quest for cheap, clean, power isn't some tree-hugging trip. It's born of necessity - we're running out!

In a single generation, digital has made redundant every gadget invented since 1950. Where will it end?

We all love the movies - and the movies have loved us. We've embraced just about every innovation they've tried - with the exception of Smellovision! Now we just can't wait to get 3D. If only someone would get it right!

Cancer's busted, diseases cured, lives saved. Another huge revolution in the past 30 years has been medical tech. Treatments and operations we take for granted today were the medical breakthroughs of yesterday.