Les sept merveilles du monde industriel

... but some episodes in the series also highlight the relationship between workers and bosses. As is still the case in unregulated environments, workers are nothing more than grist and they are of no more value than the bags of cement or rows of machinery. This can lead to horrific results and great resentment.

Yes, these are all great accomplishments, but these are not all great men. For what kind of person send others to death without conscience?

Viva la Revolucion! ;)

Apparently I need ten lines of text before I can submit my comment. So here are the extra lines.

A documentary series that details the building of seven wonders of the last 200 years: the Great Eastern, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Bell Rock Lighthouse, the First Transcontinental Railroad, London's sewer system, the Panama Canal and the Hoover Dam.

Superb. Well-researched, the reasons for the building of the item are discussed, as well as the difficulties faced and the ultimate result.

Good choice for the seven items, as they each had different problems to overcome and served a different purpose. The variety makes the series more intriguing.

The producers don't simply dryly narrate the history of each development but use dramatisations, complete with actors and dialogue, to tell the story. Good use of CGI and the actors contain some well-known faces - this isn't an amateur production...

Very engaging, edifying and interesting.

I can only agree with the previous comment posted by Richard Tunnah (I note that he, like me, is from Birmingham, cradle of the Industrial Revolution) - this is, quite simply, an astonishingly accomplished series. The dramatisation of the seven incredible projects is superb, featuring excellent actors (some unknown, some familiar, and some surprising - an unrecognisable, and suitably restrained, Steven Berkoff as Roebling of the Brooklyn Bridge, for example), and instantly banishes the knee-jerk feelings of trepidation one has upon hearing, or reading, the dread words: 'dramatic reconstruction'. This is opulent costume drama of the highest order, and based in fact! No neurotic young women or old maids, no moustache-twirling cads or callow bores here - these are true heroes of the old school, whether it be the pugnacious cigar-chomping Brunel, the youthful Scot Stevenson, or the mother and son team of the Roeblings.

The techniques of filming the characters in to-camera interviews, following them at times with hand-held cameras as if for a news programme, and other 'faux live' methods, could have been risible if not performed by the consummate professionals who clearly made this series. They make the events covered accessible and relevant, without dumbing down, a difficult trick to pull off but here successful.

The special effects are magnificent and illustrate the stories to perfection. Although not always convincing, they never fail to be beautiful. Who could not be stirred by the sight of the gigantic 'Great Eastern' beached at Millwall, looming over the surrounding landscape as she takes form?

And who could not fail to be moved by the sheer determination of these great engineers?

This is a series which does them justice, and is simply unmissable for anyone with even a vague interest in how the modern world was shaped.

Another winner for the BBC. Writing excellent, production values high, good special effects. Thing that I got from the series was what these Engineers had in bucket loads was ambition. Not necessarily for there own fame and fortune (though if that came then so be it), but for the project. To build a sewage system for London, build the Panama Canal or build a Railway across America needed that ambition and drive. Every episode left me feeling humble; we have technology, which these engineers could have scarcely imagined. But somewhere along the line we have lost that ambition. To see what could be achieved with primitive technology, human toil, imagination and ambition makes me wonder what could be achieved today if we put our mind to it.

I would recommend this to anybody has a passing interest or uses technology. Watch this and you will feel humble.

This is an inspired series. Each episode has a great story to tell about the human and technical problems in realising some of the world's most monumental structures. It should inspire a new generation of civil engineers, though I suppose most big projects these days are less arduous for the participants, because of better technology and better working practices.

The depiction of the projects by reconstruction and by special effects was awesome. Gone are the days when you could see that you were looking at a model; you really could believe that they built another one of each just so they could film it properly this time. Mention should also be made of the part that the music played in stirring the emotions of grandeur and achievement. Another excellent demonstration of why the BBC charges us Brits to own a television. It's worth every penny.