Tomorrow’s World: a Horizon Special

We miss ‘Tomorrow’s World’. Many of the inventions were bizarre and maybe even a little pointless. But most of the featured boffins were entertainingly eccentric and occasionally, there’d be a shaft of light, a hint of real, visionary creativity. This ‘Horizon’ special sees Liz Bonnin meeting today’s lab-bound dreamers. Most of them are a little more media-trained these days – more Google than Open University.

But, whether they’re creating graphene atoms, trying to get to the moon or looking for cancer cures, the light of inspired lunacy burns in all of them. And a few of the ideas on display are obviously, gobsmackingly brilliant, even to the layperson – for example, Michael Pritchard’s Lifesaver water bottle with its inbuilt filtration system, is a stroke of genius which may well save thousands of lives. Fascinating, cheering stuff.