Initial release 1983 | Cinematography Lennart Nilsson | |
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Awards British Academy Television Award for Best Foreign Television Programme Similar Exile in Sarajevo, Four Hours in My Lai, No Burqas Behind Bars, War of Lies, The Anderson Platoon | ||
"The Miracle of Life" was an episode produced by Nova about the human reproductive process. The episode won multiple awards including a Peabody and an Emmy. Photographed by Lennart Nilsson, the program was originally aired in Sweden as "The Saga of Life." The BBC acquired the episode for the documentary series Horizon and aired it on October 11, 1982. The original Swedish version was broadcast on November 25, 1982. Many scenes were edited, and the intro in both versions (The BBC and PBS versions), are different, as well as the scene where the baby was born.
The Nova episode was written and produced by Bebe Nixon and narrated by Anita Sangiolo, airing on February 15, 1983. It later re-aired on December 15, 1983 as a part of a special presentation out of NOVA's original timeslot.
A sequel called "Life's Greatest Miracle" aired on November 20, 2001 on PBS using microimagery taken by Lennart Nilsson with narration by John Lithgow.
Awards
The episode won the following awards: