The Genius of Charles Darwin
| The Genius of Charles Darwin | |
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| Written by | Richard Dawkins |
| Directed by | Russell Barnes, Dan Hillman |
| Starring | Richard Dawkins |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Russell Barnes, Dan Hillman, IWC Media |
| Editor(s) | Matt Platts-Mills |
| Running time | 138 mins |
| Distributor | Channel 4, Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science |
| Release | |
| Original release | Part 1: 4 August 2008 Part 2: 11 August 2008 Part 3: 18 August 2008 DVD: 1 September 2008 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | The Enemies of Reason |
| Followed by | Faith School Menace? |
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The Genius of Charles Darwin is a three-part television documentary, written and presented by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins.
It was first shown in August 2008 on Channel 4. It won Best TV Documentary Series 2008 at the British Broadcast Awards in January 2009.
In the first episode Richard Dawkins explains the basic mechanisms of natural selection, and tells the story of how Charles Darwin developed his theory.
He teaches a year 11 science class about evolution, which many of the students are reluctant to accept. He then takes them to the Jurassic Coast in Dorset to search for fossils, hoping that the students can see some of the evidence for themselves.
Dawkins also visits the place of his birth, Nairobi, where he interviews a prostitute who seems to have a genetic immunity to HIV, and talks to microbiologist Larry Gelmon. He goes on to predict that genetic immunity is a trait that will become more prevalent in the community over time.
In the second episode Richard Dawkins deals with some of the philosophical and social ramifications of the theory of evolution.
Dawkins starts out in Kenya, speaking with palaeontologist Richard Leakey. He then visits Christ is the Answer Ministries, Kenya's largest Pentecostal church, to interview Bishop Bonifes Adoyo. Adoyo has led the movement to press the National Museums of Kenya to sideline its collection of hominid bones pointing to man's evolution from ape to human. The collection includes the Turkana Boy discovered by Kamoya Kimeu, a member of a team led by Richard Leakey in 1984.
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