The Engine that Powers the World: Timeshift

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Documentary series which ranges widely over Britain's social and cultural history.

Documentary series which ranges widely over Britain's social and cultural history, its narrative-led storytelling offering a richly immersive and varied window onto the past.

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The Engine that Powers the World

Mark Evans

Steve O'Hagan

Michael Poole

Timeshift: Series 15: Episode 3: The Engine that Powers the World

The Engine That Powers the World

Episode 3

Episode 3: The Engine that Powers the World

Series 15

BBC Four - Timeshift, Series 15, The Engine that Powers the World

The story of the hidden powerhouse behind the globalised world, the diesel engine.

Mark Evans tells the surprising story of the hidden powerhouse behind the globalised world, the diesel engine, a 19th-century invention that has become indispensable to the 21st.

The surprising story of the hidden powerhouse behind the globalised world, the diesel engine, a 19th-century invention that has become indispensable to the 21st century. It's a tortoise-versus-hare tale in which the diesel engine races the petrol engine in a competition to replace ageing steam technology, a race eventually won hands down by diesel.  

Splendidly, car enthusiast presenter Mark Evans gets excitedly hands-on with some of the many applications of Mr Diesel's - yes, there was one - original creation, from vintage submarines and tractors to locomotive trains and container ships. You'll never feel the same about that humble old diesel family car again.

Timeshift: Series 15

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Episode 3: The Engine that Powers the World

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