Science and technology show’s name to be used as umbrella for year-long partnership with institutions such as Royal Society

The BBC is to revive the Tomorrow’s World name for a year-long season of science and technology programmes.

Fondly remembered by TV fans of a certain age, the show ran for almost 40 years on BBC1 from 1965 until it was axed in 2003. Its name is being used as an umbrella for what the BBC director general, Tony Hall, said was the “biggest scientific partnership” the corporation had ever done.

The Tomorrow’s World season will bring together institutions such as the Science Museum and the Royal Society, and broadcast a series of programmes. These include Britain’s Greatest Invention – a live BBC2 show in June in which the public will be asked to vote on which invention has contributed the most to British life.

Other programmes include Stephen Hawking: Expedition New Earth, in which the physicist explores the race for a human colony in space; Horizon: Being Transgender; and BBC4’s Fixing the Future: The Great Village Green War, which will look at renewable energy. Meanwhile, BBC Learning will examine how artificial intelligence can be used to see the science behind the perfect selfie.

The Tomorrow’s World brand will also be used for a digital hub, which will be updated daily and feature content from the BBC’s partners. The hub will provide for the “first time ever a digital space where the best of UK science can come together”, said Hall.

Part of the Science Museum in London will also be branded. Speaking alongside Hall at the museum for the launch, the scientist, musician and presenter Brian Cox said Tomorrow’s World was somewhere where institutions in the country could come together to make Britain a better place to do science” in the face of a “crisis of confidence”.

Although the BBC said it had no plans to bring back the programme, Cox said Tomorrow’s World, as well as Top of the Pops, had inspired him.

Tomorrow’s World presenters Raymond Baxter, Maggie Philbin and Judith Hann became household names, and the show’s mix of technology news and predictions of the future of science made it a hit. There have often been calls for it to be revived.

In 2013 Philbin said it could help educate parents about the technology their children are using, adding: “I really wish I had been given a fiver for the number of people who have said: why isn’t Tomorrow’s World on now?”

Cox said it was right for the BBC to be shining a light on science and tech as it was one of the institutions “charged with being the bridge” between the public and academia.

Other shows to be aired as part of Tomorrow’s World include BBC2’s Toughest Job in the Universe – which follows an astronaut selection process – and a BBC4 study into what can be done to combat the rise of resistance to antibiotics in Fixing the Future: Michael Mosley vs The Superbugs.

There will also be a Tomorrow’s World podcast, Facebook Live question-and-answer sessions with some of Britain’s most eminent scientists and innovations on social media including using technology and data to explore what people’s Instagram accounts and science can reveal about them.

Hall explained: “Whether it’s the rise of robotics or the demise of antibiotics, travelling to Mars or the arrival of 3D printed food. Science is changing the world at an extraordinary pace.

“The campaign will connect audiences with the brightest minds and institutions in science and technology, producing more than 40 hours of television, a range of programmes across our radio networks, a series of podcasts an digital offerings, made in collaboration with partners, including the Science Museum Group, Wellcome, The Open University and the Royal Society.”

