BBC World Service has extended the air windows for The Documentary (weekend): “America Revisited”, so you can air the series across consecutive weeks starting September 17.
This latest offering focuses on the weeks before Barack Obama’s election. The BBC drove a bus across the U.S. and asked people about their hopes and fears for the future. Now, as Obama’s presidency comes to an end, the BBC retraces that route to gauge the present mood. Is the U.S. more divided than ever?
“America Revisited” features four unique, hour-long episodes:
Episode One: The West
BROADCAST WINDOW: September 10-23
Philippa Thomas and Charlotte Pritchard travel from Los Angeles to the glitz and glamour of Vegas, then to Texas on the U.S.-Mexican border. They talk to musicians, gun enthusiasts and cowboys about whether President Obama has delivered all he promised.
Episode Two: The South
BROADCAST WINDOW: September 17-30
Chloe Hadjimatheou retraces a journey she took before Obama’s election. She comes across a gay community under attack, unfettered poverty in trailer parks, the last abortion clinic in Missouri and convicted murderers. Why do liberal and conservative, black and white, religious and secular Americans harbour so much animosity towards one another?
Episode Three: The East
BROADCAST WINDOW: September 24-October 7
Michelle Fleury and Ben Crighton travel from Louisville to New York. Along the way they speak to miners, environmentalists, food bank volunteers, drug addicts and former school students about President Obama’s legacy. Although the economy seems to have recovered from the global financial crisis, they encounter anger and disillusionment, and find that much of the optimism that swept Obama into office in 2008 has been replaced by division.
Episode Four: U.S. Issues
BROADCAST WINDOW: October 8-14
America Revisited brings together six exciting speakers from the road trip – a miner, a gun enthusiast, a former convict, a liberal, a Muslim and a mixed race entrepreneur – to discuss the burning issues in the U.S. today: race, migration, the economy, faith and guns.
These hour-long specials will also air on the BBC World Service schedule in the “Documentary (Weekend)” slot. Find the programs in Content Depot on the “BBC (APM) World Service Documentaries and Specials” page.
Contact your Station Representative with any questions on locating these programs, and for more ways to complete your news day with the BBC World Service. Explore our new BBC World Service web page, and sign up for BBC newsletters.