³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

Bridges can symbolize man's desire to span the world, to bring people closer together and to access further territories.

This series looks at the significance of bridges as icons, as a means of connecting communities - or delineating separateness.

Part Four - London Bridge

London Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down.
London Bridge is falling down
My fair lady.

As the children's nursery rhyme above shows, London Bridge - which crosses the river Thames - is famous for being built and rebuilt.

The river Thames - which the bridge crosses - separates two very different parts of London. To the north is the city of London, while Southwark - where Shakespeare's Globe theatre can be found - is to the south.

It has served as a crossing, a shopping district, a housing settlement and a platform for the grotesque display of criminal's heads.

It has also - surprisingly - ended up in a desert of Arizona.

First broadcast 30 July 2010