Original version

BBC Two England

BBC Two is a TV channel that started broadcasting on the 20th April 1964.

BBC Two

BBC 2

BBC2

BBC Two (England)

England

BBC HD

BBC One

BBC One is a TV channel that started broadcasting on the 20th April 1964. It replaced BBC Television.

BBC Two Scotland

BBC Two Northern Ireland

Until 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales (analogue) was known simply as BBC Two Wales. BBC Two Wales (digital) was BBC 2W. From 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales schedules on both analogue and digital became identical

BBC Two Wales

Simulcast of network BBC One in high definition. From 03/11/2010

BBC One HD

The BBC West region started on 1st September 1957 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One West.

BBC One West

The BBC South West region started on 20th April 1961 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One South West.

BBC One South West

The BBC South region started on 5th January 1961 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One South.

BBC One South

BBC One London

London

BBC One West Midlands

BBC One region covering Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.

BBC One East Midlands

The BBC East region started on 1st May 1959 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One East.

BBC One East

BBC One North West

The BBC North East & Cumbria region started in 1959 (tbc) as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One North East & Cumbria.

BBC One North East & Cumbria

BBC One Yorkshire

BBC One Oxfordshire

Formerly part of a wider BBC One South East region that included London and part of the South region. Separated from BBC One London 2001-09-03 following reorganisation of the South East region.

BBC One South East

BBC One Cambridgeshire

BBC One Channel Islands

BBC One Yorks & Lincs

BBC One Scotland

Scotland

BBC Northern Ireland region started on 19th April 1955 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One Northern Ireland.

BBC One Northern Ireland

BBC One Wales

Wales

Fry's Planet Word

Stephen Fry

Simon Ffrench

Adam Toy

Tim Hodge

Sean O'Neil

Debbie Wiseman

Andy Hopkins

Lucy Tate

Cassian Harrison

Gina Carter

Helen Williamson

John-Paul Davidson

Fry's Planet Word: Episode 4: Spreading the Word

Documentaries

Factual

Spreading the Word

Episode 4

Episode 4: Spreading the Word

BBC Two - Fry's Planet Word, Spreading the WordClose menu

Stephen looks at the written word, from the earliest writing to blogging and twittering.

Stephen Fry looks at the written word, starting with the earliest form of writing - cuneiform, and ending with the modern inventions of blogging and twittering.

In this programme, Stephen Fry explores 'the written word'. Writing is a great invention - making it possible to communicate across space and time. Without writing we would have no history and very little technology.

Stephen discovers the earliest writing - cuneiform - at the British Museum, and learns how our alphabet came from the Phoenicians. As part of his exploration of the diversity of scripts, Stephen visits 106-year-old Mr Zhou, the inventor of the Chinese phonetic writing system called Pinyin, who relates how literacy increased four-fold after its introduction under Mao.

After the written word came the printed word, and Stephen looks at how this has shaped our relationship with writing, giving us libraries, dictionaries and encyclopaedias. From the Bodleian to Diderot's favourite café to the cutting-edge research at MIT, Stephen explores how the written word evolved into printing, then libraries, encyclopaedias and computer code. Blogging and twittering is just the tip of a brave new future which no one dares predict.

BBC Two is a lively channel of depth and substance, carrying a range of knowledge-building programming complemented by great drama, comedy and arts.

A five-part series in which Stephen Fry explores language

A five-part series in which Stephen Fry explores language, coming to understand how we learn it, write it and sometimes lose it, and why it defines us

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Fry's Planet Word

Episode 4: Spreading the Word

Contributors

Genres

Formats

Series

BBC Two England

About BBC Two