All about the BBC mini-series on Charles Darwin:

Many visitors to AboutDarwin.com have asked me about a video put out by the BBC in the 1970's on the life of Charles Darwin. Being curious to find out if it was still available, I wrote to the BBC and received a reply from them and have learned the following -

The television program was called: "The Voyage of Charles Darwin". It was first aired in the UK by BBC/Time-Life Television on October 31, 1978, then in Belgium on February 16, 1979, and finally in the United States (via PBS) on January 27, 1980. There was a second showing in the UK in December of 1995. The mini-series was in seven episodes of sixty minutes each.

"The Voyage of Charles Darwin" was produced by Christopher Ralling and starred Malcolm Stoddard. The ISN number is 0467-58660, and the Library of Congress catalog number is 68991532 (they have one copy of the video in their collection).

There was a companion book also titled "The Voyage of Charles Darwin" which was edited by Christopher Ralling, and published by Parkwest Publishers. The ASIN number is 0881864269. The book is out of print, but I am told it is possible to find used copies of this in bookshops.

According to the BBC, "The Voyage of Charles Darwin" video is not commercially available and for copyright and contractual reasons, they are unable to supply copies.