What Darwin didn't know.

Professor Armand Marie Leroi from Imperial College London charts the influences and developments arising from Darwin's groundbreaking theory of evolution. Part one - The struggle for existence: This part provides an outline to the basis of Darwin's theory of evolution and contextualises his research historically. We also hear about the gaps in his understanding of the process of natural selection and his critical opponents. Part 2 - Darwin resurgent: Contains accounts of how Darwin's theory of natural selection was brought back to life and some of its gaps filled. Outlines are given of the important theories of Weismann, Mendel and Fisher (who supported a theory of genetics). Archival footage of zoologist Bernard Kettlewell describing his research into the evolution of the peppered moth is shown as is the discovery of the fabulous mutations of the African sicklets fish. The emergence of the theory of Neo-Darwinian Synthesis is described. Bill Hamilton's research into social insects provided a theory of altruism co-existing as part of the theory of natural selection - this came to be known as sociobiology. Part 3 - Tree of life: The focus here moves to Ernst Haeckel's research into embryonic development which sought to bypass fossil-based evidence in determining evolution. He wrote the first entirely encompassing family trees of life based on patterns of embryonic development and included, at the beginning of life, an imagined beast, the Gastraeaden. The discovery of DNA brought new light to the theory of evolution and genomic sequences allow for more accurated methods of dating the history of every living thing than Darwin could have imagined. Increasingly complex fossil records can also show us how the development of previously mysterious creatures such as whales came about - whales are now known to be close ancestors to the hippopotamus. DNA research to sequence human evolutionary history is discussed. Part 4 - Endless forms: This part focuses on evolutionary developmental biology. We look at the realm of genetically inherited diseases - in particular an unusual genetic eye condition, aniridia, which provides a perfect example of how such conditions can be linked to animals which share our genetic inheritance. Part 5 - The evolution of evolution: Here focus is towards the future. Darwin's theories are compared to more predictive theories such as those of Newton and the programme leaves us with the question: can we make a predictive theory of evolution?