The world's fastest train; a rocket - the Ariane - to rival the US Space Shuttle; a highly efficient nuclear power industry that sells electricity to Britain; and the world's most advanced digital telephone system. What connects them? They're all French.

In the last 25 years France has changed dramatically from a rural, almost peasant, land into a wealthy modern economy and a world leader in high technology. With the French elections looming, "Horizon" tells the story of how this remarkable transformation has taken place, and asks if there's anything that the British can learn from the French.