It's mega...

Introduction

Behind the buildings, rivers, streets and airspace of every major metropolis is an incredible infrastructure that keeps that city running. Megacities takes a look at some of the big cities of the world, blending computer graphics with live action. Megacities takes viewers down into the beating hearts of each mega city.

This series is not to be confused with Andrew Marr's BBC series of the same name!



The following cities are explored:-

London - focusing on Heathrow Airport, the river Thames and the cameras that keep London's traffic moving and citizens safer.

Mumbai (Bombay in old money) - transport is the key to Mumbai, but with the population set to grow by around 50% by 2020, how can the city cope with moving all of these people around?

Mexico City - located in an earthquake-prone hotspot, next one of the world's most active volcanoes, built on landfill. The world's biggest city needs cutting edge technology to try and keep itself safe.

Paris - delve underground as we journey into the ancient and modern sewers of Paris.



New York - the famed subway system carries 4.5 million people around the city every working day. How do you get that many people around safely?

Hong Kong - the most densely populated urban area on the planet, where East meets West, ancient meets modern and communism meets capitalism. This episode focuses on the money involved in keeping this megacity going.

Las Vegas - how do you sustain a city in the middle of the desert? The playground of fun needs a lot of electricity to allow the bright light city to set your soul on fire. So how do you generate enough electricity to satisfy a demand of around 6,000 megawatts per day?

Extra Features

Sadly nothing else to watch.

Conclusion

A great idea for a documentary, and this should certainly appeal to younger viewers (or parents wanting something educational to show to the kids). Sadly the script and narration are pitched at that level, so it just seems a bit childish at times. Paterson Joseph is a great actor, but his narration doesn't have enough gravitas, and is not helped by that script.



I enjoyed the Las Vegas episode most, as we went there in February, and it is interesting to see how the place is "sustained" - there's much debate about sustainability, and the lack of solar panels in a sunny city in the desert!

So whilst I was a little disappointed with the series, it's still worth watching, just don't expect anything too intellectual. It has a broad appeal, which shouldn't be a bad thing, but it just felt a bit lightweight.