BBC Documentaries

Olympic Architecture: After The Circus Leaves Town (2006x15)

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When London won the race to become the host venue for the 2012 Olympic Games, the immediate reaction was ecstatic. But staging the Greatest Show on Earth is always vastly expensive - and usually fraught with difficulties. This film looks back at the architectural statements made by Olympic host cities since the Berlin Olympics of 1936, and finds an alarming tendency for them to bungle the planning, build inappropriate venues, and saddle their populations with mountains of debt.