The Miracle of Life

The Miracle of Life is a documentary film about the human reproductive process. The film won multiple awards including a Peabody and an Emmy when it was broadcast as part of the American TV series Nova.^[1] Photographed by Lennart Nilsson, the program originally aired in Sweden on November 26, 1982 under the title of "The Saga of Life."^[2] The BBC acquired the episode for the documentary series Horizon and aired it that same month.^[3] Many scenes were edited and the intro in both the Horizon and Nova versions are different, as well as the ending scene where the baby was born.

The Nova version of the film was broadcast on PBS on February 15, 1983. It was written and produced by Bebe Nixon and narrated by Anita Sangiolo.^[4]

A sequel called "Life's Greatest Miracle" aired on November 20, 2001 on PBS using microimagery taken by Lennart Nilsson with narration by John Lithgow.^[5]

Awards

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The episode won the following awards:^[1]

1984

1983

References

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External links

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The Miracle of Life is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
Life's Greatest Miracle Video on PBS

v t e International Emmy Award for Best Documentary
1960s	Big Deal at Gothenburg (1967) La Section Anderson (1968) The Last Campaign of Robert Kennedy (1969)
1970s	No Awards (1970–1978) Secret Hospital (1979)
1980s	Fighting Back (1980) Charter pour l'enfer (1981) Is There One Who Understands Me?: The World of James Joyce (1982) The Miracle of Life (1983) Heart of the Dragon (1984) 28 Up (1985) Chasing a Rainbow: The Life of Josephine Baker (1986) The Sword of Islam (1987) The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank (1988) Four Hours in My Lai (1989)
1990s	J'ai Douze Ans et Je Fais la Guerre (1990) Cambodia: The Betrayal (1991) To Sell a War (1992) Disappearing World: We Are All Neighbours / Monika and Jonas – the Face of the Informer State (1993) Life in the Freezer: The Big Freeze (1994) Anne Frank Remembered / Contre L'Oubli (1995) The Pelican of Ramzan the Red / People's Century / The Saga of Life: The Unknown World (1996) Gerrie & Louise (1997) Exile in Sarajevo (1998) 14 Up Born in the USSR / Just Like Anyone Else (1999)
2000s	Kapo (2000) Welcome to North Korea (2001) The Power of Good: Nicholas Winton (2002) Das Leben geht weiter (2003) The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off (2004) Das Drama von Dresden (2005) Hiroshima: BBC History of World War II (2006) Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive (2007) The Beckoning Silence (2008) The Ascent of Money (2009)
2010s	Mom and the Red Bean Cake (2010) Life with Murder (2011) Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die (2012) 5 Broken Cameras (2013) No Burqas Behind Bars (2014) Miners Shot Down (2015) Krieg der Lügen (2016) Exodus: Our Journey to Europe (2017) Goodbye Aleppo (2018) Bellingcat: Truth in a Post-Truth World (2019)
2020s	For Sama (2020) Hope Frozen: A Quest to Live Twice (2021) Iraq's Lost Generation (2022) Mariupol: The People’s Story (2023) Otto Baxter: Not a Fing Horror Story (2024) Hell Jumper (2025)

v t e PBS
Documentaries	Independent Lens (episodes) (since August 9, 1999) PBS Short Film Festival (since 2012) POV (episodes) (since July 5, 1988)
Drama	Masterpiece (since January 10, 1971)
Music and fine arts	American Masters (episodes) (since June 22, 1986) Art:21 (since 2001) Austin City Limits (performers) (since January 3, 1976) Bluegrass Underground (since 2011) Craft in America (since 2007) Great Performances (episodes) (since November 4, 1972) Next at the Kennedy Center (since 2023)
History	American Experience (episodes) (since October 4, 1988) Antiques Roadshow (since January 9, 1997) Finding Your Roots (episodes) (since March 25, 2012) Secrets of the Dead (since May 15, 2000)
News and public affairs	Amanpour & Company (since September 10, 2018) BBC World News America (since June 3, 2019 from American Public Television) Firing Line (episodes) (April 4, 1966 – December 26, 1999; since June 22, 2018) Frontline (episodes) (since January 17, 1983) PBS News Hour (since October 20, 1975) To the Contrary with Bonnie Erbé (since April 3, 1992) Washington Week (since February 23, 1967)
Personalities	Samantha Brown Ken Burns Ric Burns Henry Louis Gates Jr. Amy Holmes Bill Moyers Hari Sreenivasan Judy Woodruff
How-to and special interest	MotorWeek (since October 15, 1981) This Old House (episodes) (since January 1, 1979)
Science and nature	Nature (episodes) (since October 10, 1982) Nova (episodes) (since March 3, 1974)
Networks	Create PBS PBS America (UK) PBS Digital Studios PBS Kids PBS YOU¹ World Channel PBS Retro³
Major stations	Boston WGBH-TV WGBX-TV Chicago WTTW Dallas KERA-TV Houston KUHT Los Angeles KCET KLCS KOCE-TV Maryland MPT Miami–Ft. Lauderdale–West Palm Beach WLRN-TV WPBT WXEL-TV New Jersey NJ PBS New York WLIW WNET Philadelphia–Wilmington–Lehigh Valley WHYY-TV WLVT-TV Pittsburgh WQED San Francisco/Watsonville/San Jose KQED/KQET KQEH Tampa–St. Petersburg WEDQ WEDU Washington, D.C. WETA-TV WHUT-TV
Former	BBC OS (January 1, 2020 – March 30, 2023) A Chef's Life (September 7, 2013 – October 22, 2018) Need to Know (May 7, 2010 – June 28, 2013) We'll Meet Again with Ann Curry (January 23, 2018 – January 8, 2019)
Related	Public broadcasting in the United States Corporation for Public Broadcasting America's Public Television Stations List of PBS member stations List of programs broadcast by PBS PBS Distribution PBS Satellite Service Executive Order 14290
¹Defunct network ²Distributed by American Public Television (APT) ³Thomas & Friends only contained the PBS Kids section

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The Miracle of Life

Awards

References

External links

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