The Secret Life of Machines

For the Doldrums album, see Secret Life of Machines (album).

The Secret Life of Machines
Garrod (left) and Hunkin (right) demonstrating how to make "audio tape" from sticky tape and powdered rust
Garrod (left) and Hunkin (right) demonstrating how to make "audio tape" from sticky tape and powdered rust
GenreEducational
Created byTim Hunkin
Developed byTim Hunkin
Written byTim Hunkin
Directed by
  • Andrew Snell (1988)
  • Nigel Maslin (1990)
  • Frank Prendergast (1993)
Presented byTim Hunkin
Starring
Narrated byTim Hunkin
Theme music composerVal Bennett
Opening themeThe Russians are Coming (a cover of Take Five)
Ending themeThe Russians are Coming
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series3
No. of episodes18
Production
ProducerElizabeth Queenan
Production locationsLowestoft, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom
CinematographyMike Coles
EditorPeter Cox
Camera setupMulti-camera
Running time25 minutes
Production companyArtifax
Original release
NetworkChannel 4
Release15 November 1988 (1988-11-15) –
25 March 1993 (1993-03-25)
Related
The Secret Life of Components
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

The Secret Life of Machines is an educational television series presented by Tim Hunkin and Rex Garrod, in which the two explain the inner workings and history of common household and office machinery.[1] According to Hunkin, the show's creator, the programme was developed from his comic strip The Rudiments of Wisdom, which he researched and drew for the Observer newspaper over a period of 14 years. Three separate groupings of the broadcast were produced and originally shown between 1988 and 1993 on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, with the production subsequently broadcast on The Learning Channel and the Discovery Channel in the U.S.[2][3][4][5]

In 2021, Hunkin made "remastered" versions of all episodes available online, on his YouTube channel.[6][7] Each episode has a short reminiscence appended to it.

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  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kansas-City-Star was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Tim hunkin - Secret Life YouTube Playlist". YouTube.
  7. ^ "Tim hunkin - YouTube". YouTube.