The Difference

Series 1 Episode 1
First Broadcast:

The first programme in the thee-part series traces the controversial history of genetic research and sets out to explain how, via a process of genetic mutation, we have become what we are today.

The study of human diversity has always had to face up to one major obstacle: in the past, evidence of such differences has been used to justify ideas of superiority. One hundred years ago, the science of race improvement or eugenics saw the formation of the British Eugenics Society. Genetic science became even more associated with racism when it fell into the hands of the Nazis in their quest for a master race.

SERIES:

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