What a view | What you can learn from Netflix and other TV: History 101, who Bruce Lee was, how to be a rock star and so much more
- Streaming puts an encyclopedia at your fingertips. From primers about beauty, factory farming and pandemics to learning to rock with Jack Black, it’s all there
- Watch scientists solve the riddles of existence on The Most Unknown, or learn all you really need to know about Bruce Lee, Genghis Khan, and other figures
Decades ago, condemnation of the television set as a “goggle box” that would give you square eyes always sold short the best programme-makers (and the best programmes).
Talking of comestibles, should your curiosity about the origins of what we eat extend beyond believing it magically appears on supermarket shelves, then sign up for a Food Factory shift with BBC First. How it’s made, processed, bottled, canned, boxed, shrink-wrapped or otherwise readied for sale is revealed here; series five coming soon.
If you wish to educate yourself in matters historical, the digital pantry overflows. History 101 (Netflix) chops into digestible chunks the emergence of China as a superpower, the space race, plastic’s perils and more. But if you want laughs along with your learning, try The Who Was? Show (also Netflix), which takes a riotous approach to everybody’s favourite school subject.