Seconds from Disaster is an American documentary television series that first broadcasted in 2004 on the National Geographic Channel. The program investigates historically relevant man-made and natural disasters. Each episode aims to explain a single incident by analyzing the causes and circumstances that ultimately affected the disaster. The series uses re-enactments, interviews, testimonies, and CGI to analyze the sequence of events second-by-second for the audience.
Seconds from Disaster was broadcast on the National Geographic Channel and originally consisted of 45 episodes over three seasons. Following its original conclusion in 2007, the series was put in hiatus and promptly replaced with Critical Situation. In 2011, National Geographic revived the series, announcing it would air a new season from September 5, 2011. It began with an episode about the September 11 attacks.
Narrators for the show are Ashton Smith (American narrator for seasons 1 to 3), Richard Vaughan (British narrator for seasons 1,2 and first 6 episodes of season 3; narrator from season 4 onwards) and Peter Guinness (British narrator for last 13 episodes of season 3).
Famous quotes containing the words seconds and/or disaster:
“You have known your friend so long and loved him so much, and then all of a sudden you are so mad at him, you say, I could just kill you and you still like each other, because you have always been friends and you know in your mind you are going to be friends in a few seconds anyway.”
—Anonymous Twelve-Year-Old. As quoted in Children’s Friendships by Zick Rubin, ch. 3 (1980)
“When wine is spilled with accident, death and disaster hasten.”
—Joseph O’Donnell. Clifford Sanforth. Ah Ling, Murder by Television, after he accidentally spills wine on Mrs. Houghland (1935)