Engineering Connections

With hands-on experiments and intrepid investigative work, Richard Hammond reveals the secrets behind modern-day superstructures.

Genre: Documentary

Cast:Richard Hammond , Stephen Ralphs , Hugh Hunt , Jon Hargreaves , Craig Dawson , Ken Mashkie , Alan Carvalho , Andy Bushby , C.P. Wang , Chris Hill , Craig Nance , Tom Bach , Brenda Marsh , Gareth Hughes , Bob Freeman , Toby Ferenczi , Jan Hauge , Derek Lea

1Season 1

S1.E1 ∙ Airbus A380

Mon, Sep 8, 2008

Richard Hammond uncovers the story behind the creation of the world's biggest passenger jet. Elements include technologies from the wing of a bird, a crossbow, glass fibres, rocketry, and hydraulics.

2Season 1

S1.E2 ∙ Taipei Tower

Mon, Sep 15, 2008

Richard explores the science behind the Taipei 101 tower. Built next to a seismic fault line in a typhoon hot spot, it is designed to be able to withstand extreme natural events. Elements include compression, flexibility, stability and pressure.

3Season 1

S1.E3 ∙ Deep Space Observer

Mon, Sep 22, 2008

Richard Hammond uncovers the engineering connections behind the Keck Observatory. Technologies used in its design are borrowed and adapted from the Archimedes Death Ray, an industrial sandblaster, a cold war spy plane, electric field sensors, and refrigeration.

4Season 1

S1.E4 ∙ Super Rig

Mon, Sep 29, 2008

Richard Hammond investigates the incredible design of the Troll A gas platform. Elements include reinforcing, slip forming, resonance, buoyancy, pressure and vacuum.

1Season 2

S2.E1 ∙ Wembley Stadium

Mon, Sep 7, 2009

Richard Hammond explores the record-breaking arch at the new Wembley, a key part of the designers' quest to retain the stadium's iconic status.

2Season 2

S2.E2 ∙ Sydney Opera House

Mon, Sep 14, 2009

Richard Hammond climbs to the top of Sydney's iconic Opera House to unlock the Engineering Connections behind one of the most instantly recognizable buildings in the world. He reveals how an architect's sketch, rejected by the design competition jury, was transformed into concrete and glass through trail-blazing building techniques inspired by a First World War gas mask, a set of false teeth, a collapsible puppet toy, an Ancient Pharaoh's chest and a 19th century sailing ship.

3Season 2

S2.E3 ∙ HMS Illustrious

Mon, Sep 21, 2009

Richard Hammond unpicks the engineering DNA of the mighty aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious. A potent force with a powerful punch, this aircraft carrier can deliver a strike force anywhere on the globe at any time. It's a floating airport, city and battleship all rolled into one. But what connects this indomitable vessel with a boomerang, a hearing aid, an 18th century seed drill, Tower Bridge and the space race?

4Season 2

S2.E4 ∙ Guggenheim Bilbao

Mon, Sep 28, 2009

Richard Hammond visits a building described as the 'greatest of our time' - the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain - to find out which Engineering Connections made this iconic building possible. A visionary architect transformed a decaying city into a vibrant tourist hub with his futuristic building. But it would not have been possible without a volcano, an egg, Sir Walter Raleigh, a surveyor's trundle wheel and a Cold War Russian submarine.

5Season 2

S2.E5 ∙ Millau Bridge

Mon, Oct 5, 2009

Richard Hammond reveals the engineering inspirations behind the tallest road bridge in the world - the Millau Viaduct, in France. He fires three quarters of a million volts from his finger tips to see how the power of lightning cut the steel structure quickly and accurately. The huge piers - 340 metres high, and which would look down on the Eiffel Tower - were positioned to millimetre accuracy with the system that located lost nuclear submarines. The longest road-deck in the world was launched along the top of the piers - and required the slipperiest substance known to man - Teflon; not even a gecko can stick to it. Steel cables hold the bridge in shape - born of a series of mining accidents. And to allow the bridge to expand a metre and a half in the summer sun the engineers turned to an ancient Celtic boat-building technique which can make concrete as bendy as wood.

6Season 2

S2.E6 ∙ Hong Kong Airport

Tue, Dec 22, 2009

Richard Hammond reveals the startling engineering connections behind Hong Kong's Ocean Airport, one of the busiest and biggest in the world, sited on a specially constructed island. The world's largest construction project drew inspiration from a 13th Century Arab irrigation machine, a WWII bomber, car suspension, a bizarre Cold War spy device and a brass band, all resulting in the new gateway to Asia.

1Season 3

S3.E1 ∙ Burj Al Arab

Sun, May 8, 2011

The presenter explores the design secrets of the world's tallest hotel, Burj Al Arab, which is located on a custom-built island off the shore of Dubai. He discovers how engineers tackled the challenges of building a steel structure in the desert heat and protecting the island from wave damage, and learns how a component from a camera flash helps prevent fires in the hotel's rooms.

2Season 3

S3.E2 ∙ Formula 1

Sun, May 15, 2011

Richard Hammond reveals the surprising engineering connections behind the Formula 1 car. The stars of the most glamorous, and expensive sport on earth wouldn't even cross the starting line without inspiration drawn from a revolutionary 19th-century cannon, ancient sailing boats, jet engine fan blades, body armour and a technique practised by blacksmiths for thousands of years.

3Season 3

S3.E3 ∙ Super Tanker

Sun, May 22, 2011

How Hard Can It Be - to pilot a remotely operated vehicle 12,000 foot down onto the ocean floor? This is literally an underwater voyage of discovery.

4Season 3

S3.E4 ∙ The Earthquake-Proof Bridge

Sun, May 29, 2011

Richard Hammond reveals how engineers made one of the longest bridges in the world earthquake-proof. Defying disaster called for solutions inspired by fragrant Indian incense, the ring-pull in a soda can, a toboggan, a hammock, and some shiny steel chimneys.

5Season 3

S3.E5 ∙ Space Shuttle

Sun, Jun 5, 2011

Richard Hammond reveals the engineering connections in NASA's Space Shuttle - the world's first re-usable space craft. He goes backstage at Kennedy Space Centre, in Florida, to discover how an organ pump, tram tracks, a WWII anti-sonar device, a camera iris and a cannonball all helped create the most technologically advanced machine ever engineered by man.

6Season 3

S3.E6 ∙ Bullet Train

Sun, Jun 12, 2011

Richard Hammond reveals the surprising engineering connections in Japan's Bullet Train, the world's first high speed train. It could not run without ancient charioteers, a crowbar, a medieval clock, the electric telegraph, and a 19th century luxury racing car.