Rocket men | 11 July 2019

As the title suggests, 8 Days: To the Moon and Back (BBC2, Wednesday) comprehensively disproved the always questionable idea put forward by Elton John’s ‘Rocket Man’: that being an astronaut is ‘just [a] job five days a week’. More importantly perhaps, by concentrating purely on how Apollo 11’s lunar voyage unfolded over the eight days in question, without any pesky hindsight or analysis, it stirringly reminded us how uncomplicatedly thrilling the first moon landing was at the time. And also, you couldn’t help noticing, how madly risky. A key piece of equipment throughout the mission appears to have been the seat of the pants. The lunar module itself looked like an oversized version of something made on Blue Peter — presumably accompanied by a warning that children should check with their parents before raiding the family’s tinfoil.

In keeping with current documentary trends, 8 Days didn’t have a narrator. Instead, any background information we needed came from a few minimalist captions whose matter-of-fact tone served only to emphasise how astonishing the facts of the matter were.