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The Experiment
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The Experiment was a documentary series broadcast on BBC television in 2002 produced by Steve Reicher and Alex Haslam in which 15 men are randomly selected to be either "prisoner" or guard, contained in a simulated prison over an eight-day period. “The BBC Prison Study explores the social and psychological consequences of putting people in groups of unequal power. It examines when people accept inequality and when they challenge it”. The documentary presented the findings of what subsequently became known as The BBC Prison Study
Cast
Episodes by season
Season01
- S01E01The Stanford Prison ExperimentMay 11, 2002—The story of the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment, a psychological exercise designed to examine the nature of good and evil. In the summe
- S01E02ConflictMay 14, 2002—The prisoners start to pick off weak guards, the most powerful prisoner is sentenced to solitary confinement, and the guards rumble an attem
- S01E03OrderMay 15, 2002—A new prisoner arrives, a master set of keys is stolen, and the two most forceful prisoners come head-to-head in a showdown for leadership.
- S01E04RebellionMay 21, 2002—The oppressive conditions are wearing down the patience of some of the prisoners, whilst the anxiety of the guards is mounting. A reformed c
- S01E05TyrannyMay 22, 2002—Twelve prisoners and guards join together to form a new and just society but after only a few hours four of them launch a bid for power that
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NetworkBest BBC Two showsMore from the same network, ranked by rating.
GenreBest documentary shows & filmsThe top of the documentary pile, across both mediums.