
We are surrounded by types, the words on signs, buses, shops and documents which guide us through our lives. Two types in particular are regarded as the faces of Britain - Johnston and Gill Sans. Their story is told by typeface expert Mark Ovenden.

Himself

We are surrounded by types, the words on signs, buses, shops and documents which guide us through our lives. Two types in particular are regarded as the faces of Britain - Johnston and Gill Sans. Their story is told by typeface expert Mark Ovenden.
2017-07-31
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7.8The full bizarre, tragic but celebratory story of Syd Barrett, the co-founder of Pink Floyd.
10.0Showcasing three short films by American writer James Baldwin, wherein he muses about race, sexuality and civil rights, among other topics, in Istanbul, Paris and Great Britain.
7.2Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which will celebrate its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. The film is an exploration of urban spaces in major cities and the type that inhabits them, and a fluid discussion with renowned designers about their work, the creative process, and the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type.
6.5A strange story from Somerset, England about a filmmaking farmer and the inspiring legacy of his long-lost home movies.
0.0A look at Britain's beloved canal network via a fact-filled cruise along the first superhighways of the Industrial Revolution. In the age before mechanisation, a frenzy of canal-building saw a new army of workers carve out the British landscape, digging out hundreds of miles of waterways using picks, shovels and muscle.
7.8A sociological portrait of the United Kingdom after the historic Brexit vote of 2016. A funny, sometimes terrifying and non-judgemental look at the new populist politics sweeping western democracies.
Commissioned by the Festival of Britain to show the similarities and contrasts between 1851 and 1951, by means of the Great Exhibition and the Festival.
8.6Winston Churchill, one of the most revered men of the twentieth century. Adolf Hitler, one of the most hated leaders in contemporary history. Between 1940 and 1945, these two enormously contradictory personalities faced each other in both politics and war. A clash of giants whose story begins in the trenches of the World War I and ends with the debacle of the World War II.
0.0With access to recently-opened court files, Julie Etchingham reveals some of the Stasi's UK operations and asks why its other secrets are yet to be revealed.
6.5A documentary and propaganda film which shows the British Army's preparations for, and the early stages of, the battle of the Somme.
7.0Helen Castor presents an in depth and insightful series covering England's early Queens, from the High Middle Ages with Eleanor and get daughter-in-law Eleanor of Aquitane, through the Late Middle Ages with Isabella of France and Margaret of Anjou and finishing with Lady Jane Grey, Mary I and Elizabeth I.
6.6David Jones investigates how 1960s council housing came to be built so poorly that thousands later needed to be demolished.
6.0In 1939, driven by a desire for fame and fortune English amateur Tommy Godwin cycled a world record 75,065 miles in one year setting out from home each day through bitter winters and the blackouts of World War Two. He became the fastest person to cycle 100,000 miles in just 500 days. After this epic feat of endurance, Tommy had to learn to walk again and uncurl his hands! The madcap record has only been attempted by a handful of determined souls and Tommy’s record stood for 76 years making it one of the greatest, but also most overlooked sporting achievements. Ultra endurance athlete and round the world cycling record holder Mark Beaumont is on a mission to shine a light on Tommy’s ride. He delves deeper into Tommy’s story and finds out if he has the physical and mental stamina to take on Godwin’s record.
8.5A fascinating insight into the role of the bicycle in the First World War - from reconnaissance to transporting ammunition, historian and cycling enthusiast Jeremy Banning explores stories from the battlefield. Ollie Bridgewood discovers the role cycle scouts played in the Army Cycling Corp and rides the original bikes used in the conflict. Mark Beaumont meets the grandson of a WW1 soldier who rode for the Highland Cyclist Battalion and survived brutal combat on the front line.
0.0Doctor Harold Shipman believed he was God, all-knowing and wise, a supreme being who set out to demonstrate his superiority over others through an ability to murder. His victims were usually elderly, vulnerable and trusting. Some needed help to ease the pain that came with age. Others simply sought re-assurance. All received a death sentence from the man who had taken an oath to save life. From his practice in a Cheshire market town, Shipman achieved infamy as Britain's worst ever serial killer. Officially his victims numbered 15. But he murdered at least 215 times and possibly 1,000. His own greed finally snared Doctor Death, whose evil was exposed through the love of a daughter for her mother, sending him on the path to Hell.
0.0This film is about patient and dedicated teaching, about learning to look and visualize in order to design, about the importance of drawing. It is one designer’s personal experience of issues that face all designers, expressed with sympathy and encouragement, and illustrated with examples of Inge [Druckrey]’s own work and that of grateful generations of her students. There are simple phrases that give insights into complex matters, for example that letterforms are ‘memories of motion.’ Above all, it is characteristic of Inge that in this examination of basic principles the word “beautiful” is used several times.
0.0Professor Alice Roberts discovers which are Britain's most popular fresh foods and uses the latest science to uncover the surprising health benefits of our favourite foods.
6.0GCN's James Lowsley-Williams and GMBN's Blake Samson are trading in their usual bikes for ones with much smaller wheels, as they try their hand at two variations of the incredibly varied sport of bicycle motocross. We'll explore the history of BMX to learn about the rise, fall and rebirth of one of cycling's most explosive forms. From racing on the track to landing tricks in skate bowls, what does it take to make it to the top level of BMX?
A Made-for-TV documentary detailing the criminal investigation and subsequent trial of Harold Shipman, an English general practitioner and one of the most prolific serial killers in recorded history.