''Beyond Tomorrow'' is an Australian television series produced by

Beyond Television Productions Beyond International Limited is an international television and film production company with operations in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States. Listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (), the company is involved i ...

. It began airing in 1981 as ''Towards 2000'', then in 1985 was renamed ''Beyond 2000'', a name the show kept until its cancellation in 1999. It then started airing again in 2005 with the name ''Beyond Tomorrow''.

''Towards 2000'' and ''Beyond 2000''

''Towards 2000'' debuted on the ABC in 1981 as a half-hour show dedicated to showcasing developments and inventions in science and technology. Original presenters were Jeffrey Watson, Sonia Humphrey and David Flatman. There were four series of the program (1981, 82, 83 and 84) and it was a popular and high rating success on the national broadcaster. After production finished on the 4th series, the ABC decided not to continue with ''Towards 2000'', and instead started up a new science program, named Quantum, under the newly appointed Dick Gilling from BBCTV. The ''Towards 2000'' reporters then spoke with Ted Thomas, General Manager of ATN 7, who agreed that his network could start a new hour long production and name it ''Beyond 2000'', airing until 1993 when it was picked up by

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

, airing until 1999. ''Beyond 2000'' was also broadcast internationally, airing on the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...

in the United States and Canada, on

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while ...

in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

, and on the satellite channel Sky News in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

and on TV One in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

. An American-produced version of the show also aired on the Discovery Channel in 1992, with an American presenter (Henry Tenenbaum, presently an anchor/reporter for television station

KRON KRON-TV (channel 4) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, KRON-TV maintains studios on Front Street in the c ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

) used for the studio segments. An American version entitled ''Beyond Tomorrow'' was hosted by newsman Dave Marash and aired in the early years of the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

television network. Fourteen series of ''Towards/Beyond 2000'' were produced, with the last being made in 1999 as a one-off, after a production break of about four years. At this point, the rising cost of producing the series, coupled with increased competition from other science and technology shows forced the closure of the program. A ''Beyond 2000'' website was published by the same company between 1999 and 2003. This provided science and technology news, as well as video clips from the old TV shows. The website was eliminated in a round of company-wide budget cuts that reflected a general downturn in the Australian media industry at the time.

Presenters

* Sonia Humphrey *

Iain Finlay Iain Finlay (born 21 October 1935) is an Australian author, journalist, television host, and humanitarian. He is known for his work as a foreign correspondent for ABC News. Early life Finlay was born in Canberra in 1935. Career One of Fi ...

* Jeff Watson * David Flatman * Carmel Travers * Chris Ardill-Guinness * Simon Reeve *

Amanda Keller Amanda Rose Keller (born 25 February 1962) is an Australian television and radio presenter, comedian, writer, actress, journalist and media personality, best known as the hostess of the popular Australian lifestyle program '' The Living Room'' ...

* Andrew Carroll * Maxine Gray * Anthony Griffis * Dr Caroline West * Dr John D'Arcy * Simon Nasht * Sharon Nash * Bryan Smith *

Tracey Curro Tracey Ilana Curro (born 27 November 1963 in Ingham, Queensland) is an Australian journalist. Curro has previously been a news presenter on GMV-6, QTQ-9 and ATV-10 and a reporter on the Seven Network's ''Beyond 2000'', a science-technology sh ...

* Andrew Waterworth * American versions were presented by Henry Tenenbaum, Dave Marash and Susan Hunt.

''Beyond Tomorrow''

In 2005, ''Beyond 2000'' returned to the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australi ...

under the new name of ''Beyond Tomorrow'', with the first episode airing on 1 June 2005. Picking up where its predecessor left off, ''Beyond Tomorrow'' delved even deeper into the world of technological innovations and scientific breakthroughs in all areas of life including the environment, medicine, sport, computers, space, agriculture, transport, architecture, leisure and adventure. Topics ranged from how probes planted in the brain could be used to battle

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

and

obsessive compulsive disorder Obsession may refer to: Psychology * Celebrity worship syndrome, obsessive addictive disorder to a celebrity's personal and professional life * Fixation (psychology), a persistent attachment to an object or idea * Idée fixe (psychology), a pre ...

, to how the grumpiness of

North Sea oil North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid petroleum and natural gas, produced from petroleum reservoirs beneath the North Sea. In the petroleum industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian Sea an ...

workers had led to a cure being found for

snoring Snoring is the vibration of respiratory structures and the resulting sound due to obstructed air movement during breathing while sleeping. The sound may be soft or loud and unpleasant. Snoring during sleep may be a sign, or first alarm, of obs ...

. Segments from ''

MythBusters ''MythBusters'' is a science entertainment television program, developed by Peter Rees and produced by Australia's Beyond Television Productions. The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23, 2003. It was broadcast internation ...

'', another Beyond Television production, also aired as part of the program, which was criticised by Australian viewers because Beyond Productions had also sold ''Mythbusters'' to SBS. Both shows aired at almost at the same time, with the ''Beyond Tomorrow'' version redubbing the American narrator with an Australian narrator and calling them "Beyond Tomorrow's Mythbusters", leaving some viewers feeling the company was insulting their intelligence by doing this double dip into the Australian market. The series had also been criticised by some fans of the earlier ''Beyond 2000'' for featuring "futuristic" technologies that were obsolete or have been in common use for several years at the time. The theme music was also criticised for not being on par with ''Beyond 2000s, with some calling it lazy, generic and bland. ''Beyond Tomorrow'' also aired in the US on

The Science Channel Science Channel (often simply branded as Science; abbreviated to SCI) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel features programming focusing on science related to wilderness survival, engineering, ...

and on

Discovery Channel Canada Discovery Channel (often referred to as simply Discovery) is a Canadian specialty television channel owned by CTV Speciality Television Inc. (a joint venture between Bell Media/ ESPN Inc. (80%) and Warner Bros. Discovery (which owns the remaini ...

. Production of the show ended in 2007 after 50 episodes, however reruns still continue to air on

Presenters

Matt Shirvington Matt Shirvington (born 25 October 1978) is an Australian athlete and television presenter who held the Australian 100m national sprint title from 1998 to 2002. Shirvington is the third fastest Australian sprinter of all time. He qualified for ...

* Graham Phillips *

Hayden Turner Hayden Turner born 16 February 1966 in Sydney, Australia, is an Australian zookeeper and wildlife television presenter. Life Hayden Turner is a wildlife television presenter, now a global household name through his work for the National Geogr ...

* Anna Choy * Dr Caroline West * Sara Groen *

Grant Denyer Grant Craig Denyer (born 12 September 1977) is an Australian television and radio presenter and motor racing driver, who has worked for several television networks, including Seven Network and Network 10, mostly serving as a presenter. In 2018 ...

* Kim Watkins (February 2006 - July 2006)

International

* In the United States, episodes of the series aired on the

network, under the ''Beyond Tomorrow'' name, from 1988 until 1990. The show was produced by Beyond International Group. From 1992 until its cancellation, the

aired ''Beyond 2000'' with all of the episodes and segment introductions (along with new material) hosted by

KRON-TV KRON-TV (channel 4) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, KRON-TV maintains studios on Front Street in the c ...

news anchor Henry Tenenbaum. * In Sweden, a version called ''Bortom 2000'' was hosted by nature photographer Bo Landin on TV4 in the early 1990s. (The series was short lived, however.) * In Malaysia, ''Beyond 2000'' previously aired in the late 1980s through the early 1990s on RTM 1 (Later RTM TV1). ''Beyond Tomorrow'' would not be aired on the channel, but was eventually aired on the

Discovery Channel (Southeast Asia) Discovery Channel Southeast Asia (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, often referred to as simply Discovery) is the Southeast Asian version of Discovery Channel operated by Warner Bros. Discovery Asia-Pacific, a division of Warner ...

in the mid-2000s. * In Indonesia, ''Beyond 2000'' was aired on

RCTI RCTI (''Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia'') is a West Jakarta-based Indonesian free-to-air television network. It is best known for its soap operas, celebrity bulletins, news, and sports programmes. It was first launched in 1989, originall ...

every Saturday morning in the early 1990s. * In South Africa, ''Beyond 2000'' was screened on

M-Net M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...

and Bop TV. * In the Republic of Ireland, ''Beyond 2000'' aired on

being shown on both networks One and

Two 2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many culture ...

. * In Saudi Arabia, ''Beyond 2000'' was shown on the English speaking television network

Saudi 2 Saudi TV Channel 2 (KSA 2), or as of 2014 known as Saudi 2 was the English news and entertainment TV channel of Saudi Arabia. Established in 1983, the channel produces programmes focusing on cultural, political, and economic issues aimed at ...

. * In New Zealand, ''Beyond 2000'' was aired on TV One. * In Jordan, ''Beyond 2000'' was broadcast on the English, Arabic and French language television channel Channel 2 in English. * In Kuwait, ''Beyond 2000'' has been shown on KTV2, the country's governmental television channel dedicated for the English-speaking public. * In Namibia, ''Beyond 2000'' began airing on SWABC (when the country was originally known as South West Africa at the time) in 1989 and then on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

in March 1990 (several days after the country had changed its name to Namibia).

External links

Beyond Tomorrow
at Science Channel * *
Beyond 2000 - Towards 2000 at the National Film and Sound Archive

References

{{Reflist Australian non-fiction television series Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming Documentary television series about technology Seven Network original programming Network 10 original programming Science Channel original programming Science education television series 1981 Australian television series debuts 1995 Australian television series endings 2005 Australian television series debuts 2006 Australian television series endings Television series by Beyond Television Productions MythBusters