Colour: The Spectrum of Science (3 x 60′) – The world is ablaze with colour. In the otherwise dowdy solar system, Earth stands out from the blackness of space as a multi-coloured jewel. But how did a drab grey rock become filled with colour?  How did colour help life colonise the planet, and what secrets can we learn from the colours that we can’t see?

Dr Helen Czerski embarks on a fascinating journey to unlock the secrets of colour, and reveal the 15 colours that tell the story of the Earth, life and scientific discovery. She explores the chemistry of colours that tell us the story of how our planet came into existence. She investigates their biology, to understand how nature has evolved to use the power of specific colours. And she delves into the physics of colour to discover how our future will be shaped by the colours the human eye can’t see.

She visits Big Bear Observatory, the largest solar telescope in the world, to probe the source of all light and how it creates every colour we perceive. She goes panning for gold in America, to discover how this most precious of colours reveals one of the most violent events that shaped our planet. And she ventures deep underground to seek out how red ochre – a pigment that has been used by humans since the dawn of time – can reveal how the young Earth transformed from a hostile planet to a living world.