Q.E.D(1982–1999)

Old Wives' Tales

Does thunder make the milk go sour? Do frogs and cows really know when it's going to rain? Are bee stings good for rheumatism? And why should a dog worry about getting too close to a walnut tree? PROFESSOR DILLY enthusiastically travels the Cotswolds on the track of the old wives. He takes a light-hearted look at some of the tales our grandmothers told us. Do these time-tested rules of rural life work? Well. he tries to answer that too.

Bend! Bend! Bend!

Whatever happened to Uri Geller ? He's the man who in 1973 first amazed television audiences and hard-nosed scientists with his mysterious spoon-bending. Well, he's still at it, alongside many new metal-benders who have popped up all over the world. This film takes a cool look at the phenomenon and asks whether the scientists, after ten years of research, are any nearer solving the mystery? With the help of conjurors and metallurgists, Q.E.D. puts the benders to the test. Are Un Geller and the others tricksters, or do they possess genuine para-normal powers?

Acts of God

The 100-foot-high wave, the little stream that suddenly becomes a raging torrent, the gale that topples trees, lorries and people. And the deadly power of the thunderbolt. Q.E.D. looks at the violence of freak weather. And, to explore our chances of surviving, John Lees, the 'Q.E.D. Test-Man', takes on the power of nature. To simulate a flash-flood, he stands below a 200-million-gallon reservoir as the sluices are progressively opened. He battles against a man-made hurricane until he blows away. And shows how to be within an inch of a direct lightning-strike - and survive.

The Long Night of the Lion

There have been many films about lions but never one like this. Previously you have only seen the lion during the day. But lions are nocturnal animals and daytime hunts are the exception rather than the rule. Now, from Savuti in the Chobe National Park in Botswana, comes a remarkable study of the secret life of the lion. For three-and-a-half years a team of researchers has followed lions throughout the night by the light of powerful searchlights. Using low-level film lights and extra-sensitive film and lenses, their researches have been recorded. Almost incredibly, the lions became quite used to the noise of the trucks and the lights. This has made possible a unique new view of the cruel and restless life of the lion at night.

Bugging in Six Easy Lessons

Chris Serle sets out to investigate the bugging game. In a top-floor office of a skyscraper two men are having a secret conversation. From the skyscraper across the street a snooper directs a special laser on to the office window, picking up the tiny movements in the glass every time one of them speaks. Futuristic equipment turns these movements into minute electric signals. Eventually it is decoded back into sound. Fact or fantasy? Don't ask the people in the bugging business. They've become so confused between real life and Hollywood they no longer know which is which.

Simon's War

Documentary which follows the life of Simon Weston, a former soldier in the Welsh Guards who sustained 46% burns when the RFA Sir Galahad was bombed by the Argentines during the Falklands War, showing how he had to learn to cope with disfiguring facial injuries and psychological scars.

Claws: A New Kind of Dinosaur

Q: What's the link between a Plumber and a dinosaur? A: Baryonyx, a giant feat-eating dinosaur, was discovered near Dorking one Weekend in 1983 by a plumber called BILL WALKER , when he dug up its massive fossilised claw. Q : What's the dinosaur's side f the story? A : Watch Q.E.D. tonight.

The Magic of Memory

Do you think you've got a bad memory? Forget people's names? Would you like to able to remember things better? Tonight master magician Paul Daniels will help you out - not with any magic tricks, but with some fascinating memory-improving techniques. Paul's been using them for years, and recently they have even helped him to learn a foreign language - at the rate of over 700 words a week! Paul says anyone can improve their memory, so join him as he demonstrates (with the help of Dr Mike Gruneberg, Debbie McGee, the Man in the Moon, Father Christmas, and Donald Duck) the magical power of your memory.

The Science of Sexual Attraction

Poets have written about it, songwriters sung about it, but what do scientists say about the intimate process of boy meets girl? Q.E.D. looks at the ways they have been investigating the first magic moments of attraction between the sexes. What's the primary thing we look for in the opposite sex? Are men and women attracted differently? How far do personality differences affect our choices? Why are men and women's bodies so unalike? What's the best opening gambit? And might we be turned on by people's smell? All this and more in a dispassionate appraisal of our more passionate feelings.

Breathless

This week an investigation into a controversial new drug-free treatment for asthma. The Russian professor who devised the theory, called Buteyko, claims many asthma symptoms are caused by hyperventilation, and therapists usingthe method encourage patients to slow down their breathing

Prisoners of the Forgotten Plague

The first of five new documentaries looks at a mysterious disease, known as sleepy sickness, which left thousands of people motionless and speechless in the 1920s. Now "virus hunter" Professor John Oxford fears there could be another outbreak

Deadly Secrets

Every year at least 20 women in Britain kill their babies on the day they give birth. The actual figure may be higher because many of these women manage to hide their pregnancies from everyone around them. Here, two women describe what led them to commit neonaticide, and psychiatrists try to explain why mothers do it.

The Quest for the Quagga

This week's film reports on how scientists in South Africa are trying to resurrect an animal extinct for more than a century-the half-horse, half-zebra quagga - in a project that inspired the film Jurassic Park.

Spontaneous Human Combustion

The last programme in the current series investigates a number of extraordinary cases of people bursting into flames. Scientists and fire experts try to explain the phenomenon, and there's an experiment aimed at showing how it could happen.

Hope for Helen

Bubble Babies

The science series returns with the first of five new documentaries. This programme tells the stories of children with severe combined immuno-deficiency, or SCID, a genetic disease that prevents babies from fighting infections. Two years ago, a revolutionary operation proved for the first time that this fatal disease could be cured.

Betsy and the Bongo

Call of the Deep

Free diving is a form of competitive swimming that involves staying deep underwater for long periods onjust one breath. Although free divers train themselves to overridethe desire to surface, it is possible that their stamina may be due to "dive reflex", the same instinct that enables babies to breath underwater automatically. Tonight's programme follows the British free diving team as they are tested to verify this theory.

Secrets of the Cloud People

The discovery in the Amazon jungle of a cliff tomb containing 200 mummies has given new credence to legends about a lost civilisation -the Cloud People. The tomb is nearto an ancient jungle city, found and filmed by explorer Gene Savoy, which includes a massive fortress. Savoy, a real-life Indiana Jones, reveals startling evidence that links these mummies to the ancient civilisations of the Middle East.

The Bionic Woman

Eight years ago Julie Hill was paralysed from the waist down in a car crash, but subsequently she was chosen to be the first patient in the world to receive electronic implants that might help herto walk again. Like a character from a science-fiction film, she has become a "bionic woman". This film follows her remarkable progress as a team of British doctors and scientists re-writes the anatomy text books and pushes back the limits of technology in an attempt to achieve her dream of walking.

Joella's Journey

How to Pick Up Girls, Win Arguments and Influence People

How to Pick Up Girls, Win Arguments and Influence People with Arnold has one wish: he wants to be successful.- At everything. In. tonight's film all his wishes are granted. Among those offering to help are Dale Carnegie , Machiavelli, Bob Sharpe and Michael Korda Will Arnold find his dream girl? Will he rule the world? Will true happiness be his?

Light Creatures of the Night

In the jungles of South-East Asia entire bushes light up like Christmas trees, and in the Caribbean the seas glow with a luminous light. It's called bioluminescence - a term used to describe the many extraordinary creatures that turn themselves on in the dark. Watch fireflies in their hundreds' pulsing messages in the dark scuba dive in search of fish that-blink and flash, and swim among clouds of luminous plankton: And discover why the US Navy so very interested.

The Proof of the Pudding

Judith Hann cordially invites you to join her at dinner with Professor Nicholas Kuru , the world's premier gastrophysicist, and friends, including Michel Roux , Master Chef. On the menu will be some familiar dishes cooked in a most unfamiliar way; and, never before seen on TV the reverse baked alaska, with the hot bit inside.

Spy in the Sky

Every hour of every day dozens of spy-in-the-sky satellites are peering down at us from space. What are they looking for and what can they see? Apart from the weather satellites, other spacecraft are busy sending back spectacular pictures of the earth's surface, particularly for oil and mining companies. But the real super spies are the military satellites used by Russia and the USA. What they can see of each other from space is top secret, but there's enough evidence to show they can see an awful lot more than you think.

Beyond the Six Second Mile

Unique, designer-built, jet-powered car. Code name Project Thrust. All metal wheels, £8,000 each, low mileage, fuel consumption 50 gallons a minute, 0-300 mph in 12 seconds, estimated top speed 650 mph. Brainchild of driver Richard Noble. Highly suitable for attempt to win back for Britain the world land speed record.

Music, Music, Music

'If music be the food of love, play on '. But what kind of music should one play for which girl? And does it change from country to country? In the West there is almost total agreement over what romantic music should sound like. Indeed there is music to go with every kind of mood and occasion, from weddings to cowboy films. we hear it and we simply know its right for a particular emotion. By why should music convey emotions? Are musical notes themselves actually sad or happy? And if so, why then do Indian love songs sound completely different from our own?

Riding on Air

Why is a Tornado like a gannet? The first is an RAF combat aircraft, while a gannet is a bird that dives vertically for.fish. The answer? Well, both are designed to kill-and both use variable-geometry wings. Birds and aeroplanes ride the air by the same rules, but how far do the similarities go? Aircraft sometimes stall dangerously - but do birds? Why do some birds fly in ' V' formations? And how have birds' wings made flying safer for everybody?

A Guide to Armageddon

A Guide to Armageddon is a 30 minute documentary about a nuclear missile detonating in London, and the effects it would have on things like buildings, cars and people. Directed by Mick Jackson, and narrated by Ludovic Kennedy.

Before the Massacre

Farlv September 1982. In the Sabra and Chatila district of West Beirut, the civilian population was settling down to rebuilding lives and homes broken by three months of bombing, shelling and shooting. They were doing what they have been doing for the past eight years - trying to make the best of it. At Gaza Hospital, British doctors and nurses were among the foreign volunteers who were trying to cope with the human debris of modern siege and bombardment.

The Invisible World

A bullet slices a playing card in two. An orange takes two weeks to rot. Much of the world around us moves too quickly-or too slowly - for us to see. Tiny mushrooms grow on the roots of our own hair; and heat rises invisibly from our heads; too small or too transparent to see. For The Invisible World an impressive array of equipment was gathered to photograph things our eyes cannot see. The result is a fascinating collection of images, some startling, many very beautiful.

Shroud of Jesus: Fact or Fake?

Locked away from sight in Turin Cathedral lies a 14ft long piece of linen. Scorched, patched and yellowed with age, it bears the faint image of a crucified man. Is it the work ot^a 14th-century artist, or is it the miracle of miracles - a true image of Jesus of Nazareth? To help answer that question, the Holy Shroud of Turin has been tested by the most advanced science known to man. Tonight Q.E.D reports on the investigation, and reveals the surprising result of its own unique experiment.

The Riddle of Sleep

Do you have trouble getting to sleep at night? Spare a thought for Leslie Gamble. He claims he has not slept for 11 years. On the other hand Joyce Hannon always feels incredibly tired. Many times a day she simply falls asleep whatever she happens to be doing. Joyce has narcolepsy -a quarter of a million Americans have it-but the odds are you won't have heard of it, because the world of sleep is shrouded in ignorance. Yet it's a world in which we spend a third of our lives.

Why Things Go Wrong

There are some days when mechanical things can just drive you crazy - like the car that refuses to start when you're already half-an-hour late or the phone that only gets wrong numbers or the key that sticks in the lock or the tap that won't stop dripping.... What can we do about them? Tim Hunkin , ex-engineer, inventor and Observer cartoonist, has his own ideas. In this programme, with the help of a mechanical barman, a flying sheep, some gunpowder and a DC10, Tim looks at machines and suggests, with his own animated cartoons, ways of making them more reliable.

The Horse That Doped Itself

On 17 October 1981 the New-market Champion Stakes was won by the Aga Khan 's Vayrann. Routine tests showed traces of anabolic steroids and horse and trainer faced disqualification for doping. But eventually the horse was declared by the Jockey Club to have produced his own anabolic steroids. How can this happen? And is dope testing accurate? Reporter KIERAN prendiville talks to Dick Francis , Vayrann's trainer Francois Mathet and others as he pieces together what actually happened behind the scenes in a scientific whodunit where the chemical detectives turn out to provide some false clues.

Testing, Testing

Q.E.D. looks at how ordinary things are put through extraordinary tests. It's a world of crashes, bangs-and worse. Tests like 'dropping the lift', 'blowing up the pop bottle', 'turning over the petrol tanker' and 'exploding the custard powder'. Virtually everything made by man is tested. To check that it does what it's supposed to do. To see what happens if it breaks and above all to make sure that it doesn't kill you.

Handful of Light

Making the blind see for 14 has to be a bargain. And an artificial leg for a one-legged cyclist costing not much more must be good value too. It happened in Rajasthan in northern India when Q.E.D. went to film a mobile hospital. Five operating tables in a schoolroom. Boy scouts leading in the patients. Sparrows flying in and out through the 'theatre' windows. An Indian version of M.A.S.H. But Jumna walks once more - and Fatima can see again.

In at the Deep End

In a hyperbaric chamber at Comex in Marseille: an experiment to see how ultra-deep divers function at depths where 'hydrox' - an atmosphere of hydrogen and oxygen is substituted for the nitrogen/oxygen mix that can no longer be used.

The Quest for Mastermind's Brain

Magnus Magnusson stumps International Mastermind Chris Hughes by asking him what his brain looks like, split down the middle. Not one to take 'Pass' for an answer, Mastermind sets off on a quest that takes him from computerised brain-waves to the discovery of Pluto and a spell inside the most extraordinary brain-camera in the world.

The War of Words Down Under

The War of Words Down Under with Anthony Clare BUGA UP is the provocative name of an organisation in Australia that is devoted to defacing adverts, organising street happenings and infuriating the tobacco companies. They're not anti-smoker, just anti-cigarette sponsorship and ads. If we oppose drug pushing, they argue, then we should oppose cigarette promotion too. Australia is producing a movement of angry men and women - led by doctors who are prepared to break the law.

Ray of Hope

'It's a PanGalactic Federation Star-ship, Captain!!' 'Activate force wall. Fire Z-Ray 3!!' The laser's popular image has always been as a death ray. But so far, in the real world, it has never achieved that fictional promise. Since it was invented 25 years ago, it has been just almost everything else - a bloodless scalpel, a precision welder, a source for ultra-fast light communication. But now, at last, fiction may become reality as the superpowers square up to set the laser on the warpath....

A Walk on the Wild Side

Alley cats. Footloose and fancy-free. Streetwise moggies playing to the rules of evolution. Competing in the game of the survival of the fittest. Enter the Council Cat Catcher - playing to different rules. London's wild cats face new control measures: life doing porridge; a neutralising snip of the castrator's scissors; death in the gas chamber. Fair do's? Well take a walk on the wild side with Q.E.D. before making your mind up.

The Battle of the Sexes

If you thought that women's liberation had ended the arguments, forget it. Ever since anyone can remember, men and women have been at each other's throats. But are the sexes basically the same underneath; or are there really fundamental differences between us? With the men led by Stuart Hall and the women under Faith Brown's guidance, Q.E.D. decided to find out - by making the sexes fight it out in a series of special games, designed to test all kinds of abilities. The psychologists reckon they know who will win what; but will they be proved right? If you want to find out if yours is the superior sex - join the fun and the heat of the battle; and see how comfortably you can accept the revealing results.

The Man Who Believes in Body Transplants

At the Cleveland Metropolitan Hospital, Dr Robert White is the popular genius whose brain surgery saves countless lives. But to the anti-vivisectionists who bombard him with obscene letters and phone calls, he is the infamous research scientist who once transplanted one monkey's body on to another monkey's head. The hybrid creature survived for over a week. Dr White now believes that the next 50 years will see the first human body transplants. David Filkin went to America to find out more about Dr White and his extraordinary ideas.

Racing with the Sun

Forget the turbochargers; leave the normally aspirated cars at home. For this race, you couldn't even use petrol. To get from Darwin to Adelaide, across the sun-baked interior of Australia, the rules said you had to rely on whatever energy was freely available. The hippies from Hawaii expected wind as well as sun, while the most sophisticated car had an armadillo's coat of gallium arsenide. The competition was fierce but friendly, the journey full of unexpected trials and tribulations. But everyone enjoyed racing with the sun.

An Everday Miracle 1: A Completely Bad Luck Situation

First of two programmes A Completely Bad Luck Situation Desperately sick babies are given a last chance to live by the doctors and nurses at London's Brompton Hospital. When newborn Dale Bruin was rushed into their care last summer, his parents learned that the baby's only hope was a new and risky operation which might fail. This extraordinary film follows their story as the Brompton fought for the life of baby Dale.

An Everday Miracle 2: Back to the Menders

An Everyday Miracle 2: Back to the Menders After their newborn baby's open heart surgery, Mandy and Jeff Bruin watch anxiously as the specialist nurses of Brompton Hospital s Paediatric intensive care unit work around the clock to Preserve the tiny life swinging in the balance. In these critical hours, no one knows what the outcome will be.

The Mystery of Tears

Why do we feel better after a good weep? What makes us cry for joy, or grief, or triumph? What use are tears? If we knew why we cry, perhaps we could find new ways to treat dry-eye disease or handle stress. Dr Bill Frey is looking for the causes of crying at his Dry Eye and Tear Research Centre in Minnesota. But before he starts work, he faces a major problem - how can he get people to weep when he wants?

John's Not Mad

John Davidson, calls his mother a slut, he swears at policemen, and he spits habitually. When 16-year-old John walks down the high street of his home town, Galashiels, local people turn away or cross the road to avoid him. John has Tourette syndrome, a rare nervous disorder whose symptoms are what 'normal' people regard as abusive and antisocial behaviour. As John turns from boy to man, how will he cope with a disease that isolates him so distinctively from the rest of society? This intimate portrait follows John and his family through their daily struggle with an illness that makes everyday social contact a battleground.

The Riddle of the Turin Shroud

A programme from the BBC's factual series Q.E.D. which looked at the background to the famous Shroud of Turin. The programme interviewed doctors and scientists who both supported and were opposed to claims that the Shroud was the burial cloth of Christ. The programme followed up an earlier 1982 programme by examining the results of Carbon 14 testing of the Shroud and other tests that had been made on it to verify that it was a medieval forgery. It was narrated by Professor Anthony Clare.

The Morgan Treatment

Weightlifter David Morgan , Commonwealth Champion and record holder, was as keen as anyone for his brother Tony to try to follow in his footsteps; not just for the fame and glory, but because he had a hunch it might help cure a problem. Tony suffered from epilepsy. Weightlifting has changed Tony's life. His athletic career took off and he became the youngest British champion ever. And at the same time the number of epileptic fits decreased steadily. Tony has now not had any since 1985. Q.E.D. sought specialist help to try to discover whether weightlifting could really be responsible for keeping his epilepsy under control.

Simon's Triumph

Q.E.D.'s latest look at the life of a Falklands soldier. Simon Weston 's war was over when the Argentinian bombs struck the Sir Galahad. He had been burnt over 46 per cent of his body. He was terribly scarred but his own personal war against his injuries had only just begun. Simon's initial struggle was charted in two award-winning Q.E.D. films, Simon's War and Simon 's Peace. Now, filmed over the last three years, Simon's Triumph marks the emergence of a very different character, who no longer looks back. 'I am no war hero,' he says. 'I'm just Simon Weston , scars and all.'

The Write Stuff

You can pick a good astronaut, they say, by knowing 'the right stuff when you see it. But can you pick a top executive just as surely by merely studying his writing? More and more British firms are using graphology secretly to help them select their managers; yet many scientists would say that this art of interpreting handwriting is about as sensible as reading tea leaves. Q.E.D. ran a special series of tests to find out the truth. Should your future career depend on how you dot the 'i's and cross the 't's?

Keyhole Surgery

'You can imagine you're an underwater explorer wandering through reefs of red seaweed.' But you're not - you're an orthopaedic surgeon repairing a torn cartilage. Surgery has changed direction. With the help of the magical telescope, x-rays and ultrasound, 'keyhole surgery' are no longer dirty words but a highly desirable goal.

The Battle of the Bottle Snatchers

Plastic bottles, cans and milk cartons fly about as enthusiastic young engineers from Europe, USA and Japan are challenged to design and build robotic rubbish collectors from a box of bits and pieces. This hilarious international competition has a serious purpose. The young designers face the same problems, frustrations and failures as they will do in the real engineering world - it is a battle with time, materials, language and unrelenting competitors. The machines are remarkably varied. Ingenious problem-solving leads to cunning contraptions of wheels, belts and spinning limbs, in the shapes of cows, sharks and fierce toasters. The programme demonstrates the possibility of international co-operation between engineers and gives an insight into how design engineers think.

When to Change Faces

In her infancy, 16-year-old Laura had an operation to correct her cleft palate. Now, she has a misshapen face. To test whether early surgery was the cause of such growth problems, Michael Mars of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital visited Sri Lanka in 1984 to examine untreated adults. He discovered that, although they had normal growth, they suffered almost unintelligible speech. The nature and timing of the surgery need to be established to minimise both these problems, and Mars has since returned to Sri Lanka with a surgical team of volunteers to search for a compromise.

Gripping Stuff

How do flies crawl up smooth surfaces and why do bats not fall from their perches when sleeping? Finding out how animals perform their amazing gripping feats has occupied Dr Graham Walker for 20 years. By contrast, Professor Tony Kinloch has devoted his life to developing glues for human use. In this lighthearted comparison between animal and human gripping technologies, these experts find out if man can beat nature when it comes to holding on.

Supertots

Can training children in sports from an early age produce super-athletes? A Californian coach, Marv Marinovich, believes it does. He has developed a highly successful training technique which he perfected by using his own children as guinea pigs. It has turned his 21-year-old son Todd into one of the hottest properties in American football with a career that could make him a millionaire. Although his eldest daughter dropped out of the intensive training regime when she was 14, Marv has started again on his younger son, [text removed], aged 3. A former professional footballer, Marv says: "As far as I am concerned, performance is not about winning or losing but about the quality of the outcome." Producer Christopher Tau, himself the father of a young family, commends the loving and caring relationship Marv has with his children but says, "I am an athlete too, but I would never do that to my child."

When It Happens to You

Chris Brotherton is 46 when he is told he only has a few months to live. For Chris, his wife Annette, and their 10-year-old son [text removed], the following weeks are full of emotion as they cope with his illness and the strains it produces. A brain tumour affects his speech and family roles change as communication becomes difficult. But Chris fights back and they go on a last holiday. Acceptance of death is an issue we all have to face. Chris and his family made this film in the hope that it would help others in a similiar position.

Miracle Man

Could there be a miracle cure-all wonder drug? In a kitchen at the back of a trailer in the Arizona desert a Swiss bio-chemist has developed a herbal "cure-all" medicine, using traditional native American plants. He claims his miracle elixir has successfully treated diverse conditions from cancer and chronic fatigue to ulcers and baldness. And he says that he has the patients to prove it. When documentary film-maker Henry Murray had a lump in his neck diagnosed as being a potentially malignant tumour, he decided to try alternative medicine rather than risk a dangerous six-hour operation. He spent a month in the desert trying the medicine for himself, helping in its manufacture and meeting people who believed they had been cured.

Little Monsters

"He's like a Jekyll and Hyde, an angel one moment and a monster the next," says the distraught mother of a 7-year-old. Most children can be little monsters at times but there are some who seem to be permanently uncontrollable whatever their parents do. Hyperactivity is one of the most controversial conditions in child psychiatry. In older children it can lead to vandalism and serious crime. Is it due to food additives, brain damage or just bad parenting? Tonight's programme reports on new research which has produced surprising answers, bringing hope for at least some of the little monsters.

Simon's Return

For veterans of any war, going back to the battle fields is always a moving experience. For Simon Weston , whose body was 45 per cent burned on the Sir Galahad when it was bombed, going back was an attempt to conquer his recurrent nightmares. Tonight's programme follows Weston and two other British veterans, John Meredith and Gary Tytler , on a remarkable journey. They travel first to the Falklands where they revisit the battle sites and memorials and then to Argentina where they meet some of the men against whom they had fought. In Buenos Aires, Simon Weston meets the pilot who bombed the Sir Galahad "I want to look into his eyes and see what's there," says Weston "to find out if there is a human being inside."

Propping Up Pisa

Why does the famous tower lean? Why is the lean accelerating? And can anything be done to stop it? QED examines one theory - that the tilt is caused by the sun; as it rises it warms the marble which expands causing the tower to move in the opposite direction to the sun. But whatever the reason, a solution doesn't seem to be any closer. Every year hundreds of remedies are put forward but so far bureaucratic delays have prevented any of them being put into practice. Time is running out. The rate of tilt has doubled in the last 50 years and just this winter it moved more in four months than in the whole of the previous year. Two years ago it was closed to the public. Now some predict its collapse may be imminent.

Is Love Enough?

As part of the BBC season marking the Year of the Family, QED returns to the Webbers, subject of last year's "A Family Game". Amanda and Clive Webber 's lives were dominated by the constant temper tantrums of their 5-year-old son, and the film followed the family through a pioneering course of therapy at the Maudsley Psychiatric Hospital in London. Psychological disturbances in Amanda's own life were discovered, and so one concern of this follow-up programme is to discover whether she has come to terms with her past, as well as to report on the progress of the Maudsley experiment. The film also considers the implications for families who may well be less capable than the Webbers of taking steps to tackle the problem of overbearingly disruptive children.

Trauma

New methods designed to help accident victims make quick and full recoveries from their injuries are being pioneered in Stoke-on-Trent. The Staffordshire Royal Infirmary is conducting a unique experiment by running a trauma unit in the casualty department. This means that when an injured patient is admitted, at whatever time of day or night, a specialist consultant is on hand to assess the damage and immediately decide on a course of action. This expertise, when combined with facilities one would normally expect to find in other hospital departments, has proved effective in saving lives and shortening in-patient time. QED returns with an extended edition following the work of the trauma unit. Says Tony Redmond , one of the trauma team leaders: "We're saving more lives and the quality of the ones we save is improved."

Craig's Boot

Although the football boot has evolved over the years, becoming lighter and more streamlined, the first radical re-think had to wait for former Liverpool player Craig Johnston and a rainy day in his native Australia. It has always been accepted that a football boot is made of leather, but is this the best material to provide control of the ball? Many experiments and prototypes later, Johnston's moulded rubber boot is undergoing trials and is arousing huge interest throughout the football-playing world. Leeds veteran Gordon Strachan says: "You've never seen anything like it - it's got a sweet spot like a golf club." And after testing the boot Liverpool and England under-21 player Jamie Redknapp confessed: "I could not hit those shots with my normal boot." Although Johnston has no training in technology he has always been an 'ideas man', and this film traces the story of what could prove to be his most lucrative idea to date.

Fishman of Saughton Jail

Alex Torbet is Britain's equivalent of the Birdman of Alcatraz. After a distinguished RAF career he murdered his wife and father-in-law in an uncontrollable fit of anger, and in 1979 was sentenced to life imprisonment. In Saughton Prison, Edinburgh, Torbet became interested in the fish in the prison's aquaculture unit, attached to Stirling University, and was soon saving the university a huge amount of money thanks to his skill in breeding both fish and shellfish for their experiments. He was particularly drawn to a species called tilapia, whose ability to provide high-protein food from a diet of rubbish gave it great potential as a source of food for poor countries. He developed a golden strain, attractive as well as nutritious, which is now helping to feed the Third World.

Lifeline Express

At the age of 12 Sir John Wilson was blinded in a school laboratory accident, and has dedicated his working life to the prevention and treatment of disability. Thirty years ago the Prime Minister of India, Pandit Nehru , told him that India's greatest asset was its railway system, and many years later Sir John has persuaded the Indian government to provide a train fitted out as a mobile hospital, travelling from village to village throughout India. Bismilia is 7. Since contracting polio as a baby she has never been able to stand, gettingaround her village by crawling in the dirt. Then her mother heard about the " magic train", the Lifeline Express. QED follows the train into Bismilla's village to treat those suffering from polio, blindness and deafness. The film also covers Sir John's first visit to the train, and the first steps Bismilla takes after her operation.

Plastic Fantastic

Maurice Ward is a Hartlepool hairdresser. He is also the inventor of a substance that can withstand any amount of heat, while remaining cool. The implications for science and industry are limitless. Ward, his wife and his daughter know the formula, and he is well aware of the value of his invention, which has been christened Starlite. This means that he is also extremely cagey about revealing anything that might compromise his control over it. In turn, this makes it impossible for Starlite to be independently tested, patented or exploited. QED follows Ward on a trip to talk to scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the USA, who realise the implications of Starlite for space travel. Ward is willing to wait for the right deal - how many millions should tempt him to sign away the secret?

Cot Death

In the first of the series, QED presents an extended edition for Science Week that reveals the very latest developments in the search for the causes of cot death.

Curse of the Killer Bug

"Killer bug ate my face!" "Dither and you die!" screamed the tabloid headlines in May this year. For one week the nation was terrorised by an outbreak of flesh-eating bacteria stories. The "epidemic" of streptococcal infections started in Gloucestershire, but within days claimed victims across the country. Then suddenly there were no more reported cases and the panic was over. Curse of the Killer Bug goes behind the headlines to examine how the superbug scare happened. Staff at Stroud and Gloucester hospitals assess the way they handled the scare, journalists describe how the story broke and the people of Stroud talk about being the focus of a world news story. But this first programme in a new series of QED also reveals that while the headlines concentrated on these lurid cases, another deadly strain of bacteria has killed 60 people in the Midlands alone this year.

A Song for Annie

Three years ago, Annie Reid was told she had cancer. She decided to fight the disease as long as possible and leave her young family a legacy including poems, songs, and a book for the children. In this moving film portrait, Annie faces her greatest challenge so far - a huge operation which could save her life. QED cameras follow her as she waits to hear the results of vital tests and prepares for what may lie ahead.

Revolting Dogs

"We've come a long way from Barbara Woodhouse ; nowadays it's the owners who get told to sit," says Michael Houldey , producer of this insight into a new British breed - the dog psychologist. Once thought of as a faddy indulgence on the part of Americans with more money than sense, the canine counselling business is booming and vets and owners are taking it seriously. For the Robotham's, man's best friend has become their worst nightmare - Blue the alsatian can only be walked at night. Oscartheterrier'sfamily are virtual prisoners in their own home. And Stanley, a doberman, has been ordered by a court to be destroyed. Will eminent dog psychologist Roger Mugford 's "character testimony" save him?

Live Luggage

It's a normal day at the green customs channel at Heathrow airport. A random check on a jumpy passenger carrying a camcorder case reveals a deadly cargo.... six live rattlesnakes. Producer Will Aslett , who made this film about the animal quarantine stations near Heathrow's Terminal 4, witnessed the incident - and several more like it. Finches from Senegal, stuffed 150 to a cage the size of a briefcase, and a suspiciously cold bag packed with the thawing carcasses of a hunter's booty, from armadillos to silver foxes, bound for an Italian taxidermist. Last year alone, 12,853 animals, mostly endangered species, were seized. All the animals that arrive at Heathrow, whether smuggled or legally imported, have to go through the quarantine station, Europe's first line of defence against disease. But it's an uphill struggle: five new diseases have entered the UK in the past 18 months and the relaxing of European laws on quarantine is makingtheir work even harder.

Food Fights

"If you eat your dinner, you can have pudding." How many people remember that bribe as a child? And how many repeat it to their own offspring? Yet an apparently innocent remark like that can be the start of a vicious circle of feeding difficulties in children. Food Fights looks at parents' attitude towards children's eating habits by focusing on one family, the Marklews. Their 3-year-old son [text removed] has eaten very little for the last year and his parents are particularly anxious because he has had a heart operation. This documentary picks up the Marklews' story with their first visit to psychologist Gill Harris, whose advice seems to contradict fundamental beliefs.

The Bike

Chris Boardman 's race to Olympic gold in Barcelona on the extraordinary Lotus superbike is now legendary. For the bike's inventor Mike Burrows , Boardman's victory marked the end of a ten-year battle to win recognition for his revolutionary design and another step in his lifelong quest to make man the fastest animal on earth. For the makers, Lotus Engineering, it was the beginning of a struggle to turn a world famous prototype into a road-going commercial success. QED charts the story from drawing board to factory floor.

Misha

The victim of a hit-and-run accident, 15-year-old Misha arrived at St Thomas's Hospital in a deep coma. Her parents were told that her chances of recovery were almost zero. This moving film follows Misha's efforts to pull herself back into the world she knew. She could neither walk, talk, nor feed herself, but her family was determined never to give up. This is the uplifting story of her recovery.

Dark Side of the Sun

The incidence of skin cancer is rising dramatically, and the cause of this late-20th-century epidemic is simple - sunshine. QED investigates the part played by the thinning of the ozone layer which protects the earth from harmful ultraviolet rays, and follows the work of Professor Rona MacKie , the country's leading expert, who treats hundreds of people each month who are worried by unusual moles. Although one of the deadliest forms of cancer, the disease is easily treated if caught early. QED explains what to look for and how to protect your skin against the dark side of the sun.

Walking Back to Happiness

Australian surgeons Reg and Catherine Hamlin arrived in Ethiopia intending to stay for only three years. Thirty years later they are still there tackling the huge medical problem of Fistula - a condition caused by childbirth injuries - which blights the lives of hundreds of thousands of women in the Third World. The Hamlins built a hospital with charity funds and began treating patients. So far they have transformed the lives of 14,000 young women who were living as outcasts, rejected by their husbands, families and villages. Anne Diamond narrates their story and follows one of the most recent arrivals at their hospital, 17-year-old Wubit Abune.

Knights of the Shining Piddock

The Pholas dactylus, or common piddock, is a shellfish with a simple lifestyle - it glows in the dark, breeds and dies. Its enemies are pollution and the Mediterranean gourmets who eat it as an hors d'oeuvre. Although on the verge of extinction, it also looks set to revolutionise the treatment of diabetes, arthritis and heart disease and make a fortune for two scientists. Fifteen years ago Jan and Robert Knight discovered a mutual enthusiasm for the marine mollusc. Working from their dining room, they extracted its luminescent juice and discovered that it has a wide range of applications in medical diagnosis. Now the chemical they called Pholasin has aroused enormous interest among research organisations as well as a Kent oyster farmer who has started a piddock farm for them. Griff Rhys Jones narrates the remarkable story of the piddock, the couple who have devoted their lives to it, and the prototype of the medical kit that could make them millionaires.

Tokyo Earthquake

Seventy years ago, the city of Tokyo was hit by an earthquake. It destroyed half a million buildings, provoked national economic collapse and left 140,000 people dead or dying. Another earthquake of the same size could strike at any time. When it does it will obliterate one third of the earth's richest city and plunge the entire world into unprecedented economic crisis. QED shows, in graphic and disturbing detail, the effects the earthquake will have on 14 million people who live in Tokyo and on the fabric of the modern city; it also spells out the impact it will have on life in the rest of the world.

Art and Chips

A work of art, specially commissioned by Q E D, is being given away by the programme tonight. Created by the "father of pop art" Richard Hamilton , it offers an amusing but disturbing view of today's world. He made his name in the 1950s when, using scissors and glue, he produced a collage depicting life in that period. That work is now worth several hundred thousand pounds. For his 1990s version, he uses the latest computer technology to combine feature film, television programmes, magazines and photographs. Although the original exists only in his computer, he has produced 5,000 hand signed laser prints which will be given away to viewers. Joanna Lumley tells the story of a unique collaboration between art and television.

A Chinese Cure for Eczema?

Six days a week, in a small basement room in London's Soho, a Chinese herbalist called Dr Luo treats the first 50 patients who scrawl their names on a list taped to her door. They come from all over the world and most of them come with eczema. Amazed by her success, a specialist from Great Ormond Street Hospital embarked upon a unique project to bring the benefits of Dr Luo's medicine to his own patients. The story of this courageous collaboration reveals the problems that arise when western medicine tries to adopt an eastern remedy.

The Family Game

At just 5 years old, Andrew has already left two schools because of his disruptive behaviour. His parents are at their wits' end. For the past six weeks the whole family has been visiting the Maudsley Hospital in London, where specialists believe they can discover the cause of Andrew's problems. The "parent-child game" which is being pioneered at the hospital teaches parents to believe that - at a time when anti-social behaviour is increasing - all families should be taught these skills. This moving account of a family in trouble and a revolutionary treatment has lessons for parents and children everywhere.

Flying Horses

How do you fly 63 thoroughbred horses, not to mention an elephant and a couple of giraffes, from one side of the world to the other? What happens when they get 'shipping fever' or if a stallion tries to jump out at 35,000ft? Irish veterinary surgeon Desmond Leadon travels with the flying horses; if these valuable passengers are to get from London to Sydney unscathed, it will need all his skill and foresight.

Homoeopathy: Medicine or Magic?

Taking two tablets with a glass of water is one thing, but diluting two drops of a drug in a bath full of water hardly sounds like potent medicine. Yet homoeopathic doctors prescribe medicines diluted in more than a million, million, million parts of water. Doctors and vets claim spectacular achievements with such remedies, and scientific trials are producing results which are not easy to explain.

A Slim Chance of Sight

Thirteen-year-old Alejandra lives in poverty in a remote corner of Nicaragua and is almost totally blind. She and her grandmother pray daily for a miracle and at last their prayers could be answered. A 'flying hospital' is on its way to Managua: an old DC8 which is aeroplane, operating theatre and teaching hospital rolled into one. Alejandra decides to travel 250 miles in the hope of a cure but in Managua she finds there are over 500 others seeking a personal miracle and only 25 are going to make it.

Murphy's Law

Murphy's Law says, 'Anything that can go wrong, will.' Nearly all of us feel this is true. But is it? Does bread really fall butter-side downwards? The other queue move faster? Do people with seats in the centre arrive last? QED puts Murphy's Law to the scientific test. Presented by Professor Ian Fells.

Panic Attack

A film director, a young mother and a student have one thing in common. They suffer from panic attacks - feelings of intense anxiety which strike without warning, and for no logical reason. This is the story of how three people have struggled to control the panic before it totally controls them.

Why Planes Fly - and Other Things

Most of us are prepared to trust our bodies to tons of metal hurtling into the sky - without knowing why planes don't fall back to earth. Which is why a retired taxi driver, a barmaid and a housewife find themselves challenged to learn how planes fly in only a week - with the help of a Second World War fighter, a bottle of champagne and a lawnmower.

The Boy Who Draws Buildings

Stephen Wiltshire is autistic, but at the age of 6, he could draw buildings in perspective. At 12, when he was first seen by eight million viewers on QED, Sir Hugh Casson called him 'probably the best child artist in Britain'. Four years later, Stephen is now a successful artist, with his own commerical agent and three books of drawings to his name. But what has his success done for him and his handicap?

Whatever Happened to the Leisure Age?

En-route to the airport, a time-pressured business executive listens to a Nick Ross-hosted radio discussion show, asking why we're not living in the age of leisure that we were promised in the 1960s.

Your Child's Diet on Trial: The Verdict

Chemists sold out of vitamin pills overnight after QED first reported the sensational results of two scientific trials: vitamin and mineral supplements apparently reduced anti-social behaviour and raised the IQ of children with less than adequate diets. This scandalised some national newspapers and expert nutritionists; but the programme also prompted new trials. Today QED reveals the findings of the latest and largest of those trials - including some surprising new discoveries and the final verdict.

The Power of Sound

When Dr John Pond's not in his milkshed, he's in the laboratory at the back of his farmhouse. As a child he was fascinated by sound and played music to the cows to see if it would improve the milk yield. Now he studies the amazing power of ultra sound which can mix mayonnaise and weld heels to shoes. Introduced by Anthony Clare.

Smoking

Back in the 50s, a cigarette with a pint, or during your lunch break, was the obvious way to relax - but no one knew then what it would lead to. For many smoking has now become a pernicious habit, with potentially fatal consequences. On No Smoking Day 1991, QED talks to life-long smokers, and with extraordinary film taken inside a smoker's body, takes a compelling look at how a moment's pleasure leaves its mark on human flesh.

On His Own Two Feet

Last year QED told the story of 12-year-old Emmett, and how an American surgeon used computers to analyse his walking disability caused by cerebral palsy. Then in a massive operation they broke his leg bones to straighten them, repositioned his muscles and tendons and when it was all over he was inches taller. But he still had a long way to go. Now a teenager, Emmett faces all the usual challenges of growing up and gaining independence. For a year QED cameras have followed his progress and this new film tells how he is discovering what it really means to stand on your own two feet - in every sense.

Granny's Greatest Thrill

Granny Muriel Santilli , 79, answered an advertisement in her local paper and found herself entering an extraordinary world where her wildest dreams came true. She was actually inside the brain of a computerised simulator where impossible things happen all the time. Soon millions will be able to follow Granny into strange simulated worlds. Scientists have invented a home simulator that anyone can use; it will be in the shops next year. They say it will be even more popular than television! Narrated by Anthony Clare.

Superspecs

Following the travels of a British inventor around Ghana with a pair of glasses that he was convinced could save the sight of millions.

The Steroid Myth

Ben Johnson believed in anabolic steroids; so did other banned athletes. But now there is evidence that these drugs' only real effect could be all in the mind. Backed up by the personal experiences of international athletes David Jenkins and AI Oerter, the results of scientific trials point to a startling possibility: despite positive drug tests, athletes may win titles entirely due to talent.

Sweet F.A.

Alun's brother died of it at 34; so did his sister; Alun is past his 34th birthday and as he says, living on borrowed time. FA is Friedreich's Ataxia; sweet says Alun Jones , because of the diabetes he suffers along with it. Sweet FA is the title of his autobiography; but it could be his comment on government spending on research into this progressively crippling, inherited disease. Not that Alun or his family complain. They do all they can to raise money to support the research project trying to discover the faulty gene which causes this cruel disease and find a cure. But should this kind of research be made to depend on the fund-raising efforts of sufferers and their families?

My Best Friend's a Computer

Charles is 13. Until two months ago he was hooked on his home computer, playing mindless games for up to 30 hours a week. He's typical of an increasing number of children with a new problem - computer dependency. Like most parents, Charles's mum and dad thought a computer would help him educationally and at first they encouraged him to become computer 'literate'. Now, alarming research indicates that some children, particularly boys, become so entranced with the machine that their psychological and emotional development is affected. They learn to prefer computers to people.

A Rainforest Remedy

Everyone knows rain forests ought to be saved. But does anyone really know how? One idea comes from a scientist in Scotland: find a plant, growing only in a particular forest, which could be turned into a valuable medicine. The money the drug earned could help the local people so that they would not have to destroy the forest to survive. Professor Peter Waterman 's quest for a cancer-fighting chemical takes him into the heart of Cameroon in Africa to see if he really can help to find a rain forest remedy.

The House That Bob Built

Isn't it crazy that you have to turn off your water supply just to change a tap washer? That installing a simple electric cable involves cutting channels in the wall and then redecorating the room? That we live in the worst insulated houses in northern Europe? Bob Symes is fed up with UK home design, which he believes is hopelessly irrational and out-of-date. He has his own house built, specially for Q.E.D., to prove his point.

Welcome to Fat Camp

Josiah wants to be an actor; Marissa just has to make it as a cheer leader; and as for Scott - well, he just wants to have a happier time. Because, like Josiah and Marissa, he has one obsessive problem - a body that's far too flabby and fat. Camp Shane is where American parents think that they can buy the answer to a problem their kids bought along with too much junk food. But Josiah, Marissa and Scott discover there's more to being thin than buying an instant solution - and Fat Camp, as they call it, may help in ways it never intended.

Once Upon a Time

Every day Charles Tempus catches the 8.10 train to work; regular as clockwork. One morning a boy approaches him on the station platform and asks him the time. That innocent question takes Mr Tempus on a fascinating journey through time - back down the centuries in the days before clocks, and forward into the future via a black hole. On the way Mr Tempus meets young Albert Einstein who introduces him to the mysteries of relativity

The Love Laboratory

As Valentine's Day roses fade and die, take stock of your love-life. Look across the room at your husband, wife or lover and ask, will we be together in two years' time? Dr John Gottman , an American psychologist, claims he can tell you the answer right now. All he needs is a weekend of your time under the scrutiny of the cameras and his tireless staff in the love laboratory.

The Long Underarm of the Law

Wherever we go we leave something unique behind - a faint trace of our own special smell. And that lingering odour is beginning to excite the interest of policemen, who think that smell evidence could help catch criminals. Q.E.D. follows the trail of British scientists working on an electronic nose which detectives could use over here; and discovers that in Holland, your personal BO can already land you behind bars!

Back to the Drawing Board

Emmett has never been able to walk as well as other children. He has cerebral palsy. When doctors predicted he might soon need a wheelchair, the future looked grim. An American surgeon learned of his plight and offered to help. Within days, 12-year-old Emmett had flown to the United States where they used a special computerised system to pinpoint precisely what had gone wrong. The doctors decided massive surgery might help to put things right. But there were no guarantees. So it was back to the drawing board for Emmett and he was scared. Yet it was his big chance to live like other people - on his own two feet.

A Man Who Writes Birdsong

Director of music David Hindley has given up the comforts of academic life for the prickly hedges and fields around Cambridge. Why? Because that's where he finds the best composers! Birds live in the fast lane and what sounds like chirrup and tweet to us only reveals its amazing secrets when you slow it all down. David has done just that and transcribed birdsong for the piano. The result is not only new music; it raises deep questions.

What's So Funny About That?

A serious look at humour by Jonathan Miller. While helpless with laughter, have you ever wondered why you're in the grip of this strange respiratory convulsion, and what exactly triggered it? There have been many theories about the science of humour, but tonight Dr Miller suggests a few of his own. As doctor, theatre director, philosopher and comedian rolled into one, he has some intriguing and amusing insights into something we all take for granted. But is he right? See if you think he really manages to explain something that's baffled philosophers and psychologists for centuries.

The Last Resort

Sheila has to take the decision whether or not to have a brain operation for her depression. She knows there are no guarantees it will work - but it might. More than 20 years ago she was eagerly expecting the birth of a child. The birth was normal but Sheila suffered a severe postnatal depression which eventually progressed to a seemingly incurable deep depression. After many years of enduring every form of treatment, none of which worked, Sheila was offered the last resort - surgery on her brain.

Round Britain Whizz

Jump in an RAF Hawk and see the entire coast of England, Scotland and Wales in half an hour flat. An apparent flying speed five times that of Concorde! David Bellamy in the Wash solves the mystery of King John's baggage. Clay Jones in Cardigan Bay delves into an ancient kingdom engulfed by the sea. And Patrick Moore reveals what's buried beneath Beachy Head. While we whizz around our extraordinary coastline, 21 regional accents explain every twist and turn, in a first non-stop view of our proud and ever-changing shores.

Sight for Sara

It seemed like a perfectly normal birth: Mary and Gordon [text removed] never suspected anything was wrong with their first baby, Sara. The frequent rolling of her eyes was put down to wind; so it was three and a half months before they learned that Sara was blind, with cataracts in both eyes. Q.E.D.'s cameras followed the Bryces for four tense months as doctors and family struggled to rescue Sara from her world of darkness.

Robots: Taking the Biscuit

Understanding Rape

Rape is one of the world's most serious and fast-growing crimes. A recent London survey found that one in six women had been raped at least once. In America it's one in four: that's one rape every 17 minutes. Tonight's Q.E.D. presents film of an experiment carried out at an American psychiatric hospital near Seattle. Four women victims were brought face to face with four convicted rapists. Psychiatrists at the Western State Hospital believe that rape is learned behaviour, which can be changed. They saw this face-to-face confrontation as one possible way of doing this. Q.E.D. took the film to Grendon Psychiatric Prison in Buckinghamshire to find out whether such an experiment could be of any value here ...

The Most Swirling, Swinging, Sliding, Spinning, Up-and-Down Ride of Your Life

Q.E.D. looks at the science behind the thrill machines. Discover the best seat on a roller-coaster, the fun of becoming five times heavier in as many seconds, the speed of a fall that's so fast there's no time to scream. Hold tight and prepare yourself: you'll be spinning upside-down, looping the loop while standing up and dropping so fast that you've no idea where your stomach is.

New Lives for Old

Swimming, motorcycling, basketball, tennis, sex; it's all available in Sun City, Arizona: as long as you're old enough! A chorus line of show-girls from 60-81 dances for retired judges and ex-industrial tycoons. Hell's Angels on a pension thunder past silverhaired policemen. Join in the laughter, the banter and the sheer zest for living as people deemed too old to work enthuse about running their very own city. Then wonder at the profligacy of a society that too often throws such a national resource on the scrap-heap.

The Man Who Walks on Fire

One Saturday night last summer in London, scores of men and women paid M each to walk on fire. It was 15 feet long and an incredible 400 degrees centigrade. Hugh Bromiley , a master firewalker and British martial artist, claims anyone can learn to walk on fire. Q.E.D, accompanied by a team of prominent scientists, observed the mass firewalk. Could the whole dramatic event simply be a dangerous delusion? Or does everybody possess untapped powers of mind over matter

The Eleven-Minute Mile

Some doctors thought he might never even walk. Now he runs a mile every day and over the past year, 7-year-old Doran Scotson has been aiming for a time of 11 minutes. Not beyond many boys of his age: but Doran is different. Severe jaundice at birth damaged his brain leaving him horribly handicapped. Doran and his mother Linda have one singular ambition; by extraordinary effort to achieve ordinary progress. But there is nothing ordinary about one of the year's most moving stories of love, determination and courage.

The Meaning of Dreams

By the age of 75, each one us will have spent ten years in another world - seeing bizarre images, experiencing strange sensations and strong emotions. For everyone, whether they remember them or not, will have spent at least two hours a night dreaming. But do these dreams have any meaning? Bill Oddie agreed to submit himself to the scrutiny of psychoanalysts and the experiments of sleep researchers to find out just how much light science can shed on some of the commonest dream images.

A Wolf in Dog's Clothing

About once a month in America, pet dogs will kill - usually either a child or an old person. What makes man's best friend unleash the behaviour of his pack-hunting ancestors? Animal psychologists are trying to pin down what releases canine aggression. And now they even offer psychotherapy to cure the bad dog's hang-ups.

Mark, His Sister and the Scientists

Mark is anchored to a wheelchair by a crippling inherited disease, Duchenne's muscular dystrophy. His sister, Tracey, is not affected, but she could be a carrier - in danger of passing the disease on to any male babies she may have. The scientists, led by Kay Davies , are struggling to develop a test that will tell Tracey whether she is a carrier or whether she is lucky and can forget her fears.

The Body Out of the Bog: Second Report

The murder victim's distorted remains reveal that he was first banged on the head, then garrotted, and finally his throat was cut. Lindow Man, alias Pete Marsh, created a national sensation when his body was dug out of a Cheshire peat bog. In this second report, Q.E.D.'s cameras continue eavesdropping on the detective team led by Dr Ian Stead as it pursues its enquiries into the death. Why was Lindow Man killed? Has the team got the date of his murder totally wrong? And can it reconstruct from his wizened corpse what he looked like when he lived and breathed?

Brave Heart

Eighteen months ago Brazilian surgeon Dr Randas Batista pioneered a controversial new technique for heart surgery. Tonight's QED is allowed into the operating theatre to witness the first operation of its kind in Britain.

How to Win Grand Prix

In the highly competitive world of Grand Prix racing, how much does success depend on the skill of the driver and how much relies on the ingenuity of the engineers? Tonight's QED goes behind the scenes of 1995's winning Benetton Formula 1 racing team, as they prepare for this year's Grand Prix season.

You Only Live Once

A study in aging. Miller knows he is closer to death because he has lived a long life, but for Danny he is only in his early 20s but has all the symptoms of old age. Can science solve the problem of aging, both usual and unusual?

The Outcasts

A return visit to report on the continuing work of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia. This small, charitable institution was founded by two Australian gynaecologists to help young women who are rejected by their family and friends after suffering painful and embarrassing injuries sustained during childbirth.

Baby in a Frame

William was born with a club foot. At six months, he is about to have an operation that has never before been performed on such a young child.

Sunshine and Scattered Showers

The story of Piers Corbyn, ready to bet a fortune on his weather predictions a year in advance by examining the sun's activity. The meteorologists, however, remain sceptical.

The Secret Life of Seahorses

Diving with marine biologist, Dr Amanda Vincent, QED explores the underwater world of the seahorse. Dr Vincent has devoted thousands of hours to studying these endangered creatures. Narrated by David Attenborough.

How to Be Happy

In the first in a new series of documentaries, three volunteers in search of happiness take part in QED's eight-week course on how to be happy.

Return of the Bloodsuckers

Despite its unpleasant image, the leech has made a remarkable comeback to the modern operating theatres of hospitals around the world. Moreover, Dr Roy Sawyer , who runs the world 's first leech farm in Wales, believes that these bloodsuckers' saliva could hold the key to the treatment of heart attack and stroke victims.

Life on Ice

Every year in Britain, some 11,000 people are permanently brain damaged following head injuries. Doctors in a Texas hospital believe they can reduce such horrifying statistics by cooling the bodies of accident victims to a state of hypothermia. QED spent two weeks in their hectic emergency department as doctors battled to rescue people in a coma.

Pride and Prejudice

Susan Duncan's appearance attracts a lot of attention; her face is disfigured. Susan is determined to help others in a similar predicament cope with a world that places so much importance on looks.

Big Brother's Little Test

The ' polygraph' lie-detector has arrived in Britain. It measures tiny changes in your breathing, perspiration, and heartbeat, as they ask you questions. Someone's hurt - did you do it? Did you steal money from the till? Did you lie when applying for your job? Q.E.D. observes the polygraph in action in America, sees a British ex-policeman in training in Atlanta, and meets a man found guilty of murder after a polygraph test. In Britain, we may soon rely on it for our national security. But is that wise? How does the polygraph work? How effective is it? Can you beat it? And who's next for the little test - could it be you?