The Brits Who Built the Modern World

The Brits Who Built the Modern World is a British factual television series that was first broadcast on BBC Four from 13 to 27 February 2014. The three-part series tells the story of British architects Richard Rogers, Norman Foster, Nicholas Grimshaw, Michael Hopkins and Terry Farrell.^[1]

The Brits Who Built the Modern World
Genre	Factual
Written by	Peter Sweasey
Directed by	Peter Sweasey
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	3 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Nicholas Kent
Producer	Peter Sweasey
Original release
Network	BBC Four BBC Four HD
Release	13 February (2014-02-13) – 27 February 2014 (2014-02-27)

Production

The series was produced with the Open University and a Royal Institute of British Architects exhibition^[2][3][4][5] (which also included Lady Patty Hopkins).^[1] The exhibition was open between 13 February and 27 May 2014.^[6]

Episode list

#	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	"The Freedom of the Future"	Peter Sweasey	Peter Sweasey	13 February 2014 (2014-02-13)
2	"The Power of the Past"	Peter Sweasey	Peter Sweasey	20 February 2014 (2014-02-20)
3	"The Politics of Power"	Peter Sweasey	Peter Sweasey	27 February 2014 (2014-02-27)

Controversy

The series was the subject of controversy when the BBC were accused of removing Patty Hopkins from a photograph of the architects, used to illustrate the third programme of the series. Patty Hopkins had been a full partner in the Hopkins company from the outset. The BBC were accused of ignoring women architects, though the BBC responded by saying that at the start of making the series, the director met with both Michael and Patricia Hopkins to discuss their involvement in the series.^[7]

References

1. Merrick, Jay (19 November 2013). "The Brits Who Built the Modern World and 49b - the house built by High Tech designers Michael and Patty Hopkins". The Independent. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
2. Considine, Pippa (4 February 2014). "BBC Four to run season on architecture". Televisual. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
3. "BBC Four celebrates architecture with Nation Builders season". BBC. 3 February 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
4. "BBC highlights the Brits who Build the Modern World". Construction Manager. 6 February 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
5. "OU on the BBC: The Brits Who Built The Modern World". Open University. 3 February 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
6. "The Brits Who Built The Modern World". RIBA. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
7. Richard Waite, Laura Mark (5 March 2014). "BBC slammed for 'bias' after Patty Hopkins is sidelined in TV show". Architects' Journal. Retrieved 23 October 2015. Deborah Saunt co-founder of DSDHA, said: 'The point is that the BBC are publicising the work of these great British architects without including a very important sixth member (being a full partner in Hopkins Architects from the beginning) - a member who was present at the time when the group photo was taken! To knowingly choose to use a metaphorically or literally edited photo without Patty in it, is an outrage.'

External links

• The Brits Who Built the Modern World at IMDb
• The Brits Who Built the Modern World at BBC Online
• Radio Times, The Brits Who Built the Modern World