Science of Secrecy wins Vega Award

According to the organisers, "The Vega Awards were designed to showcase those producing the very best in scientific broadcasting, with an emphasis on scientific content  "

The judges commeting on The Science of Secrecy said: "A lucid and well thought through explanation of a potentially dry subject made not only highly entertaining but also educational. This programme has won the Vega Main Prize partly because basic mathematical concepts involved in modern approaches to safeguarding information were well explained wherever possible. Another reason is the fact that the key personalities involved were creatively interviewed and their story told within a fascinating subplot in which the efforts of the British mathematicians, who found the solution, were veiled in secrecy whereas the US mathematicians who solved it 5 years later have gone on to found a multi-billion dollar company to exploit its value on the Internet."

When accepting the award, I said, “Everyone that worked on The Science of Secrecy is very proud of the series. The science of cryptography is fascinating, and there are heroic stories that surround the making and breaking of codes. What was particularly pleasing was the fact that Channel 4 encouraged us to explain the science in detail. There was no pressure to skip the mathematics. I am a big fan of telling stories, but the stories should support the science, rather than replace it, which is what we tried to do.”