Adam Curtis created the BBC documentary series Pandora’s Box, first broadcast in 1992. The six-part series examines how political and economic ideas shaped modern society.
Curtis uses archival footage, interviews, news reports, and historical narration to explore subjects including technocracy, economics, psychology, and political power. The title refers to the consequences of opening up powerful systems and ideas rather than retelling the ancient Greek story directly.
The series is an early example of Curtis’s distinctive essay-documentary style. It connects events across countries and decades, encouraging viewers to examine how theories and institutions produce unintended results.
Pandora’s Box is sometimes confused with later documentary projects by Curtis, such as The Century of the Self and All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace. Those are separate series. Pandora’s Box is specifically the six-part BBC production first shown in 1992.