A look at the story of Johann Gutenberg, inventor of the world’s first printing press in the 15th century, and an exploration of how and why the machine was invented.
The printing press was the world’s first piece of mass-production technology. Its invention changed the world as dramatically as splitting the atom or sending men into space. It ignited a cultural revolution that shaped the modern age. It changed the way our brains work, replacing a spoken culture with a written one. It is the machine that made us who we are today. Viewers will travel with Stephen Fry on a journey to explore the story of the machine and of the man who created it: Johann Gutenberg. The journey will be shaped by the search for answers to two central questions: how did Gutenberg do it, and why?