Horizon: 1980
Season 17 Lore Primer
Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.
- Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of Horizon Season 16.
- Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
- Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
- Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
Episode Guide
Season 17 Progress Shield
The Ghost Of The Amoco Cadiz
Jan 14, 1980 · 60 min
Documentary examination of the causes and conditions of the sinking of the Amoco Cadiz oil-tanker, in 1978.
You Are Old, Father William
Jan 21, 1980 · 60 min
Documentary examination on the process of ageing and some things that can be done about the problems of senility in old people.
Cleared for Take-Off
Feb 4, 1980 · 60 min
Documentary which looks at the danger points in flying an airliner on a routine flight from Gatwick to Los Angeles. Danger points are identified and we see research into airtraffic
A Sporting Chance
Feb 11, 1980 · 60 min
Documentary on the ways in which athletes from different countries prepare for the Olympic Games and the artificial methods of improving performance, drugs and physiological method
The Cancer Detectives of Lin Xian
Feb 18, 1980 · 60 min
Documentary film on cancer research in the remote Chinese valley of Lin Xian where the population suffers more than 100 times the incidence of oesophagal cancer than normal.
The Big If...
Feb 25, 1980 · 60 min
About Interferon, a drug made from human blood cells, thought to be capable of controlling viruses and cancer
Cash from Trash
Mar 3, 1980 · 60 min
Explores the potential in recycling rubbish in terms of energy and other resources
Encounter with Jupiter
Mar 10, 1980 · 60 min
Documentary on the space voyages of Nasa robot space craft Voyager 1 & 2 and their photographic records of the planet Jupiter.
Portrait of a Poison
Mar 17, 1980 · 60 min
Documentary report on the mounting evidence of the horrifying effects of the use of dioxin as a defoliant in Vietnam and as a herbicide in domestic use on both humans and all other
Magnet Earth
Mar 24, 1980 · 60 min
Looks at what is known about the earth's magnetic field, how it affects the world's organisms and in particular at recent research in this field.
Goodbye Gutenberg
Sep 1, 1980 · 60 min
Documentary on the "information revolution" the advances made in the methods of electronic storage and display of information, and the effects of these advances on democracy, langu
Invasion of the Virions
Sep 8, 1980 · 60 min
Investigates various virus infections ranging from smallpox and rabies down to influenza and the common cold. The way they function and the reasons the body builds up resistance to
Beyond the Milky Way
Sep 15, 1980 · 60 min
Astronomers are seen at work in the UK, Arizona, Hawaii, New Mexico and Australia, describing their discoveries about the galaxies beyond the Milky Way.
Little Boxes
Sep 22, 1980 · 60 min
Documentary about industrial design and the effect it has on the look of everyday life. Dieter Rams, Tom Woolfe, Etore Sottsass and Raymond Loewy are among the designers talking ab
The Other Kenya
Sep 29, 1980 · 60 min
Looks at the contrasts in Kenya between the tourist image and the hardship caused by development. In particular, considers the lives of three family groups native to the country an
Moving Still
Oct 6, 1980 · 60 min
The new perspectives which can be gained on the natural world through time-lapse and high-speed photography. Includes footage of droplets of water merging in mid-air, a bullet spir
The Way Out
Oct 13, 1980 · 60 min
Documentary about London Transport and the decline in its services over the year s. It receives less subsidy than an comparable transport system in the world, but would more GLC ai
The Dead Sea Lives
Oct 20, 1980 · 60 min
Explains, within a historical context, how Israel and Jordan are trying to make use of the Dead Sea. Its mineral-rich waters are being harnessed by scientists and engineers to prod
Once in a Million Years
Oct 27, 1980 · 60 min
Documentary on nuclear energy and the efforts of scientists to contain and control the high risk factors involved with plutonium and uranium.
Smoker's Luck
Nov 3, 1980 · 60 min
Documentary about smoking and about the secondary effects of it. Britain leads the world in smoking deaths at 200 per day. The film looks at prognosis of deat h and at the chances
Behind the Horoscope
Nov 10, 1980 · 60 min
Documentary looking at the scientific facts about the growing cult of Astrology. In this report, Horizon looks at the way astrology has evolved and examines statistical evidence to
The Mondragon Experiment
Nov 17, 1980 · 60 min
Documentary on the twenty-five year old experimental industrial set-up in the Spanish city of Mondragon where most of the factories and laboratories are co-operativetively owned an
The Spike
Nov 24, 1980 · 60 min
Documentary about epilepsy, showing epileptic fits as they occur and explaining what the onlooker should and should not do. Sufferers describe their experiences of the disease and
The Slatemakers
Dec 1, 1980 · 60 min
Documentary on the slatemaking industry of North Wales, now a dying craft, and the people involved with it.
Anatomy of a Volcano
Dec 15, 1980 · 60 min
Chronicles the efforts of geologists throughout the summer of 1980 to study the recently erupted volcano Mt. Saint Helens in Washington State, USA.