Original title
The Real Thing
Released
11/1/1983
Origin country
GB
Genre
Documentary
Production companies
BBC Studios
Status
Ended
Number of seasons
1
Number of episodes
6
Asking how you tell what's real and what isn't sounds like an obvious question. But in this series of six programmes, James Burke shows that the more you think about it the harder it is to answer. After all, what have you got, apart from your five senses, to prove those senses are giving you the real thing?
Six-part series.
James Burke employs a detective to illustrate how the senses pick up clues from the outside world, how the brain solves the mystery and decides what is out there. Illustrates how easy it is to fool the best detective and asks: 'What is reality?'
James Burke goes to the top of the Blackpool Tower and turns upside down to discover how the ears talk to the eyes and how we know which way is down
In order to answer the question 'When is reality?' James Burke finds himself in a Salvador Dali-like landscape and examines what motivates man, why light can never stand still and why one man's 'now' can be another man's 'then'
From the stage set of 'The Mousetrap', James Burke examines the memory and asks: does it stay the same, how does it influence everyday actions and is the script for the future already written - from memory?
Looks at the complexity of the brain handling the simplest activity. James Burke's consciousness steps out of his body for a while to demonstrate how it acts as 'Mission Controller' for his own private universe.
James Burke considers whether language is the way in which reality is shared.
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