00.00 – 01.04
What is the link between humans and other animals? Why are humans different from chimpanzees? The beginnings of Charles Darwin’s ‘Theory of Evolution’ and ‘The Origin of Species’.

01.05 – 03.22
The Natural History Museum and the links between humans and chimpanzees. The idea of ‘common ancestry’ is explored.

03.23 – 05.57
Charles Darwin’s background; ideas about the origins of life. The importance of the church and God as the divine creator of human life: all living things were, by definition, perfect, so would never need to change. It was this assertion that living things never need to change that was challenged by the new ideas on evolution.

05.58 – 07.48
Geologists observed that rock formations had taken millions of years to create and the discovery of fossils – especially near Lyme Regis in Dorset – demonstrated that creatures had lived and died out, ie become extinct. These observations ran counter to the divine argument about the perfect world in which nothing needs to change.

07.49 – 09.35
Why did species die out and how did other species develop and change? Evolutionary theories before Darwin, eg those of Lamarck, a French biologist. Darwin’s opportunity to pursue his keen interest in natural history.

09.36 – 15.28
Darwin was given the chance to join HMS Beagle, a Royal Navy survey ship that was about to set off to chart the coast of South America. He joined the crew as the ship’s naturalist; the trip lasted five years and it took Darwin around the world. In the Galapagos Islands off Equador, Darwin found species that were unique to the islands – these were to play an important part in the development of his ideas and encouraged him to change his views about the biblical story of creation. Specimens in the Natural History Museum, especially ‘Darwin’s Finches’ – these became critical to the development of his theory ‘On the Origin of Species’. The two major components of this theory are common ancestry and natural selection – ie competition for survival among species.

15.29 – 17.02
Darwin was forced to publish his ideas because he received a letter from Alfred Russell Wallace, a young naturalist, who presented, almost word for word, the very thoughts that he was developing. He was motivated to begin writing ‘On the Origins of Species by means of Natural Selection’. However, his major problem lay in providing evidence that human beings had evolved from apes.

17.03 – end
By the time Darwin wrote his next book ‘The Descent of Man’, he was confident that the missing evidence would eventually be discovered – this was very controversial at the time and it still arouses controversy today. The theory survives because it fitted the facts better than any other explanation of how species develop and change. It took another 100 years before people found out how genetic characteristics are passed on from one generation to another.