The End of the World? A Horizon Guide to Armageddon, BBC Four

“Some say it will end in fire, others say there will be a flood…” So began Horizon’s sobering look at past Armageddon-themed episodes. But why not both? As I was writing this review from a preview DVD, ahead of its original scheduled broadcast on 17 March, news came through that the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan had been upgraded to a level-six crisis, on a scale of seven. Two thoughts simultaneously occurred to me: firstly, that doing the review was tempting fate. And secondly, that such superstitious, solipsistic thinking was symptomatic of the human race’s primitive ongoing preoccupation with its own destruction.

But obviously it was sensitivity rather than superstition that caused the BBC to pull the programme at the last minute. It was finally broadcast last night, presumably because the powers that be had decreed that sufficient time had passed for the viewing public to be strong enough to face up to the horrors of some second-rate CGI devastation and destruction, without immediately connecting what they saw on screen with the tragic death of thousands of real people on the other side of the world, thus causing them either to be thrown into despair - or even worse, affected outrage - at Auntie Beeb’s insensitivity.

Humankind has always delighted in predicting its own destruction. But although wrathful gods may have once provided End of Days scenarios that kept us on our toes, now we laugh in the face of biblical prophesies and ruddy-faced nutters with “The end is nigh” placards. We've had to turn to scientists to put the wind up us and keep that frisson of fear simmering. Our men in white coats authoritatively (and sometimes absurdly; see the "Millennium Bug") predict one catastrophe or another, before knuckling down to see if they can work out how to save us from it.

Dallas Campbell came across as incongruously cheery as our guide through four decades of Horizon, thus softening the blow of many of his words. But the familiar monochrome footage of Oppenheimer intoning, “Now I have become death, the destroyer of worlds,” still retained its power to chill the blood, however lacking in credibility some of the older CGI visions of destruction were. But there was optimism here too, such as the symbolic significance of the Moon landing viewed live by 500 million people back in 1969, finding a cure for smallpox which had plagued us for many thousands of years, and our awareness and growing political activism in relation to ecological concerns.

But nevertheless, explosion after hurricane after plague after killer volcanoes filled the screen, not to mention less TV-friendly fan-directed shit such as flu pandemics and the good old "Greenhouse Effect". In one scenario worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster, a 2003 edition focused on a giant asteroid with our name on it. We were told that even our most powerful missiles would simply shatter it, spreading rather than dispelling the devastation. Boffins were stuck for a solution until some bright spark (presumably an ex-Boy Scout) came up with the idea of building a giant magnifying glass to focus the sun’s rays on the thing, thus deflecting its course. But should you still be concerned, it’s not expected in our neck of the woods until 2880. But there’s still plenty of other stuff to worry about.

The supervolcano under Yellowstone National Park shoots its load once every 6000 years, and it’s already over 6000 years since the last time: cue footage of a little girl in pink walking in the park, followed by a CGI multiple orgasm of humungous explosions as Campbell’s voiceover gleefully informed us that mankind would be pushed to “the brink of extinction”. Only the brink? Surely it’s just wishful thinking that there’d be just enough of us left to keep the dysfunctional and self-destructive human race going?

From one predicted apocalyptic climax to one of the greatest global anti-climaxes. As we ticked over into the 21st century, the world issued a collective sigh of relief when hundreds of airplanes didn’t tumble out of the sky. However, less than two years later, the world issuing a collective gasp of horror as two other airplanes brought the Twin Towers down and in doing so put Armageddon – with all of its prophetic connotations - back on the agenda again.

Perhaps it’s not Horizon’s job to explore the whys and wherefores of human nature (although it has taken sideways steps into more philosophical/psychological areas), but this programme would have had more resonance if it had at least touched on our murky deity-driven preoccupations with Armageddon and the fact that, post 9/11, we have been plunged back into having to address it head-on. There’s now a very real possibility we could be wiped out by the clash of incompatible human superstitions rather than a natural disaster. 9/11 was a stark reminder that religious faiths seduce the individual into believing the present, corporeal moment is valueless when compared to the promised, glorious afterlife.

Which brings us back to Japan. Not long after the earthquake and tsunami hit, some evangelical Christians were feverishly proclaiming that it was the work of God, just as they had done after the flooding of New Orleans. This is exactly the kind of thing that makes a scientific perspective on the religious impulse an urgent need. Frustratingly, the fact that we could all die as infidels, deserving of annihilation for our Godless (or different God) ways, was sadly avoided by last night’s Horizon, which ended with the jovially fatalistic R.E.M. song “It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)”.

• Watch The End of the World? A Horizon Guide to Armageddon on BBC iPlayer