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The ´óÏó´«Ã½ and Discovery Channel US today announced a major new landmark series in which Andrew Marr embarks on the greatest story ever told – the epic story of human history.

Andrew's narrative history will feature dramatic reconstruction, computer graphics and gripping storytelling to reveal the events, conflicts and characters that have shaped our destiny. He will reveal the major turning points in our shared history, ranging from a military campaign to a love story and a cataclysmic flood.

History Of The World (working title) is an eight-part series produced in partnership with Discovery Channel US, The Open University and ´óÏó´«Ã½ Worldwide. This announcement comes on the heels of a new agreement between the ´óÏó´«Ã½ and Discovery Communications extending their long-term North American co-production partnership by two years until 2014.

Jana Bennett, Director, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Vision, says: "History Of The World will use the most cutting edge production techniques married to Andrew Marr's expertise to tell the ultimate, universal story of humankind. It is an ideal project for our partners globally – it is through working with the likes of Discovery Channel, The Open University and ´óÏó´«Ã½ Worldwide that we can continue to produce projects with the scale and scope of History Of The World, maintaining the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s reputation for the most ambitious and creative landmark factual programming and providing exceptional value for licence fee payers."

Combining dramatic reconstruction with the latest graphic tools to recreate lost worlds, the series will be able to freeze time at decisive moments in history, allowing Andrew to explain the significance of each key moment and how it shaped our world from the very spot where it happened. From Cleopatra's encounter with an asp and Marco Polo's journey along the Silk Road to China to the arrest of Marie Antoinette and the firing of a bullet in Sarajevo in 1914, this will be the definitive account of human civilisation.

Martin Davidson, Commissioning Editor, History and Business, says: "History Of The World is the perfect fit for ´óÏó´«Ã½ One – it's bold, it's visually spectacular and it's truly epic in scale. I'm delighted that Andrew Marr is bringing his formidable skills to bear on the most significant story we can ever hope to tell. This is history at its richest and most revelatory."

The series will be broadcast on ´óÏó´«Ã½ One in 2012. Executive producer for the ´óÏó´«Ã½ is Chris Granlund. Series producer is Kathryn Taylor. Executive producer for Discovery Channel US is Susan Winslow. Executive producer for The Open University is Catherine McCarthy. Jonathan Stamp is consultant for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Worldwide.

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