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BBC Documentaries - Inside Porton Down: Britain's Secret Weapons Research Facility

Seizoen: 2016 - Aflevering: 176 / 3218 - Eerst uitgezonden: 28 juni 2016 - Episode ID: 1375357

With unprecedented access, BBC Four brings audiences into the laboratories at one of Britain’s most secretive military and scientific research bases, to examine its controversial history and reveal the hazardous work being done by scientists in response to the threat of chemical and biological weapons. Following on from the success of Inside Sellafield, where BBC Four took audiences into a nuclear reactor, Inside Porton Down goes behind the scenes and under the microscope to learn more about some of the most hazardous chemical and biological agents of our age. It was at Porton Down that the research scientists confirmed sarin as the nerve agent used on the Syrian population in 2013, triggering a worldwide response. Presenter Dr Michael Mosley considers the repercussions of its use. One of the world's first weapons of mass destruction - an anthrax bomb - also falls under Michael's investigative eye as he explores the Scottish island of Gruinard, and simulates the secret vapourising experiments that took place decades ago. Only in recent years has Gruinard been declared as safe. Michael also examines the truth behind one of the most controversial events in MOD research history - the death of a young airman called Ronald Maddison in the 1950s. Michael is given access to watch the distillation of one of the most dangerous chemical agents today, VX, which is made at Porton Down to test British military protective equipment. Inside Porton Down will also take viewers inside some of the site’s most secure biological research labs, where scientists have been tasked to find out how ebola - potentially one of the biggest public threats facing us today - has the power to spread.