DNA the story of life. The secret of life.

This series marks the 60th anniversary of the discovery of the structure of DNA. Scientists engaged in genetic research in the 1950s focused on proteins but at Cambridge University, James Watson and Francis Crick decided to concentrate on DNA. There are film clips and background information on some of the scientists who were then involved in DNA research: James Watson, Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin (photograph), Maurice Wilkins, Linus Pauling, Raymond Gosling (Rosalind Franklin's assistant) and Erwin Chargaff. The film narrates the well-known story of the rivalry between scientists at King's College, London, and Cambridge. James Watson describes the model-building approach adopted by himself and Francis Crick and Peter Pauling talks about the work of his father, Linus Pauling, who also tried to discover DNA's structure by model-building. Raymond Gosling talks about the difficult working relationship between Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin at King's College and Maurice Wilkins shows the equipment used by Rosalind Franklin to obtain the x-ray photograph of DNA which, unknown to her, helped Crick and Watson to make their world famous discovery.