It introduced the nation to the cashpoint and the compact disc. Now, almost five years after it was axed, the BBC is considering bringing back Tomorrow’s World.

With issues such as climate change and stem cell research riding high up the social agenda and new gadgets such as the Apple iPhone frequently springing up, executives at the corporation believe there may be sufficient appetite for a weekly flagship science and technology show.

Michael Mosley, director of development at BBC science, has pitched the idea of resurrecting the Tomorrow’s World format to commissioners. “I think it would be enormous fun to bring it back,” he said. “There’s a lot of nostalgia out there for it.”

A comeback would be greeted with delight by Britain’s scientific community which claims there is a dearth of inspiring and accessible science programming on television.

“It is appalling that there is no weekly programme about science because so much is happening in the world at the moment,” said Judith Hann, who presented Tomorrow’s World for 20 years. “I now work with the Royal Society alongside emerging scientists and what they all say is ‘One of the reasons why I got inspired was by watching a programme like Tomorrow’s World’.”

The show was first broadcast in 1965 and was fronted by Raymond Baxter, a former Spitfire pilot who famously pointed out features of new inventions with military precision using his trusted Parker pen.

During its heyday in the 1970s, Tomorrow’s World regularly pulled in audiences of more than 10m. Usually broadcast live, it was memorable not only for its demonstrations of new technology but the occasional malfunction of equipment.

In one show, for example, a new type of car jack disintegrated in front of the cameras as it was lifting a car. In a later programme, a CD was smeared with strawberry jam to test its supposed indestructibility.

Other presenters included Anna Ford, Maggie Philbin, Howard Stableford and, briefly, Carol Vorderman.

Hann believes the show’s demise was partly caused by BBC management shunting it around the schedules, triggering a fall in ratings. Mosley, however, believes the format had become stale. “It’s like Doctor Who when the thing is so creaky that you just have to kill it — and then you have to wait until someone comes along to reinvent it,” he said.

Philbin, who introduced viewers to the first supermarket barcode reader, has been presenting ad hoc science items for BBC television’s Breakfast and News 24 under the Tomorrow’s World banner since the beginning of the year.

“When I started doing these little science pieces for Breakfast we got hundreds of e-mails and blogs from people saying ‘We want the programme back’.

“I get people coming up to me and saying ‘The reason why I’m now a doctor is because of Tomorrow’s World’. Now, ironically, kids are obsessed with technology, but there are a falling number who are interested in studying science at school or university.”

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Brave old world

Tomorrow’s World gave the public its first glimpse of many technologies

Breathalyser, 1967 Tested by Raymond Baxter before introduction by police

Cashpoints, 1969 Viewers were surprised to be told they would no longer have to queue at the counter for cash

Personal stereo, 1980 Sony’s Walkman arrived in Britain a year after going on sale in Japan

Compact disc and player, 1981 A CD was smeared with jam to test its supposed durability

Barcode reader, 1983 Maggie Philbin demonstrated the device that would revolutionise supermarket shopping

Not all inventions caught on. Who remembers the fold-up car designed to fit into a suitcase?

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