Pandemic

One hundred years ago, the Spanish Flu, the most dangerous virus, infected up to a third of the world's population and wiped out 5% of the global population. Often treated as a footnote to the story of the First World War, this major BBC docu-drama will reveal how the pandemic was the most important legacy of the conflict. It also has current relevance as the 1918 super-virus continues to wreak havoc as new variants and mutations, including avian flu, have appeared and the nightmare scenario of a global pandemic has not gone away.

This two-part programme will tell the story of the biggest pandemic in human history – and offers hope that we can protect ourselves from future disaster.