Evolution is a documentary series produced by PBS. It it is accompanied by an interactive website with resources for students and teachers and Carl Zimmer's book '.
The series spokespeople were Jane Goodall (overall spokesperson), Kenneth R. Miller and Stephen Jay Gould (science spokespeople), Eugenie C. Scott (education spokesperson), Arthur Peacocke and Arnold Thomas (religious spokespeople). It was narrated by Liam Neeson.
The first episode, "Darwin's Dangerous Idea", dramatizes the life of Charles Darwin (Chris Larkin), his brother Erasmus (Mark Tandy) and wife Emma (Jane Cunliffe). The cast includes the Captain of the HMS Beagle, Robert FitzRoy (Ian Shaw), DarwinâÂÂs mentor Charles Lyell (Roger Brierley) and champion Thomas Huxley (Andy Henderson). It introduces themes that recur throughout the series. Philosophers, scientists and everyday people discuss the impact of DarwinâÂÂs theory. The title is from the philosopher Daniel Dennett, who calls DarwinâÂÂs theory âÂÂthe best idea anyone ever had.â The last episode, âÂÂWhat About God?âÂÂ, explores conflicts between science and religion and how they may be resolved.
Julie Salamon writes that Evolution âÂÂis bustling with ideas. A powerful sense of drama, discovery and intellectual enthusiasm runs through this rich eight-hour series... The series covers an enormous amount of ground but doesn't leave you feeling swamped. It's also soothing, approaching its sometimes fiery subject with a comforting sense of humanism."
The last episode, "What About God?" focused on religion, and "through personal stories of students and teachers, it offers the view that they are compatible". Reverend Phina Borgeson, Faith Network Director of the National Center for Science Education, provided a Congregational Study Guide for Evolution.
Twenty years after itàaired, Kenneth R. Miller wrote, "The polish and professionalism of the series were without equal, and its boldness in presenting even the most complex material in terms that were easy to understand was extraordinary. Even today, when some of its science is a bit outdated, the series stands alone in its ambitious attempt to gather so many scientific strands together under the banner of evolution. In so doing, Evolution makes it clear that evolution is truly the unifying principle of the life sciences â literally nothing in biology makes sense without it."