ABSTRACT
Television science documentaries have the following characteristics. They have beginnings, middles and endings. They contain a selection of material – interviews, demonstrations, illustrative and dramatic sequences, graphics, commentary, music – ordered in such a way that the programme as a whole will entertain and inform its audience. The facts which they present are carefully chosen, the result of detailed research, and are in general accurate. The specialists selected to speak, to argue a particular position in a controversy or explain a technical aspect of their work, also have been carefully chosen, on the basis of their representativeness, their distinction and their ability to communicate.
