Television series
James May's Cars of the People
- Light-hearted
James May's affectionate three-part history of the car examines how ordinary people came to own vehicles, and what that meant. It's thoughtful and digressive, more interested in the human story than the mechanics, with May as a genuinely curious guide rather than a performer. For anyone who likes design history, social change, or simply watching someone who knows his subject talk about it properly.
If you liked this
Connections1978
James Burke traces how inventions reshape society in unexpected ways. Shares May's gift for treating history as stories about people, not just timelines, with the same infectious curiosity and genuine revelations.
But Thirty years older and stylistically of its era; the pacing and production feel dated, and Burke covers vastly more ground, so nothing gets the breathing room May gives his subjects.
How It's Made2001
Calm, methodical examination of how everyday objects are manufactured. Same meditative pace and respect for the craft, though without May's historical or cultural analysis.
But Deliberately lightweight and surface-level—no narrative arc or deeper investigation, just process. If you watched May for the thinking, this will feel shallow.
Made in Britain1983
Mark Miodownik explores British manufacturing, from ceramics to steel. Combines personal history with industrial processes, showing how objects connect to national identity and social change.
But More scattered in focus than May's concentrated dive into cars; sometimes feels like separate essays rather than a cohesive argument.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from James May's Cars of the People
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Halt and Catch Fire2014
Both examine how ordinary technology reshapes society and ask what makes an invention successful: superior design, timing, or sheer accident? Both treat engineers and designers as complex humans, not just names in a history book.
Four-season drama about personal computers in the 1980s and 90s, structured exactly like a technology history. Character-driven rather than documentary, but obsessed with the same question: how does brilliant design get made, and by whom?
But Very different tone—it's a proper drama with high stakes and emotional weight. If you want May's detachment and humour, watching people's lives fall apart over microchips may feel grim.
More like this (2)
Civilisations2018
Simon Schama's sweeping revisionist art history has May's same refusal to separate aesthetics from the lives that produced them. Intelligent, generous, and genuinely moving.
But Vast in scale and visual in focus—nothing mechanical, and far more literary in approach. Will feel completely different even though the underlying philosophy aligns.
Marwencol2010
Both treat objects—whether cars or dolls—as ways to understand human desire, memory, and what it means to belong. Both are about the stories we tell through the things we make.
A documentary about a man rebuilding his life after trauma by photographing miniature dioramas he's made. Obsessive, moving, and entirely about the relationship between craft and meaning. Unexpected tenderness.
But Psychologically intense and melancholy beneath its surface. Has nothing to do with cars or history—it's about one man's interior world. If you want factual information rather than emotional mystery, you'll be lost.
