1980 Oppenheimer series on BBC iPlayer
August 2, 2023
By Nik Roseveare
Classic BBC series Oppenheimer, which stars Sam Waterston as atomic bomb creator J. Robert Oppenheimer, is now available to watch on iPlayer.
With Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster epic of the same name proving a hit in cinemas at the moment, viewers can watch the BBC’s take on this brilliant, conflicted physicist.
The seven-part series originally aired on the BBC in 1980. Waterson plays the titular scientist as he leads the weapons laboratory of the Manhattan Project, all the while under constant surveillance by the FBI because of his left wing politics and association with communists. It follows his role in developing the world’s first nuclear weapons, his rivalry with Edward Teller, through to being stripped of his security clearance by the US Atomic Energy Commission in the 1950s.
All episodes are available to watch now on iPlayer, and the series will air weekly on BBC Four on Saturday nights from August 12th. BBC iPlayer also recently added the classic 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, which is featured in current box office hit film Barbie.