Blowdown is an American documentary series produced by Parallax Films which follows the Loizeaux family of controlled demolition experts as they travel the world demolishing large structures.
The series premiered on National Geographic in Australia and New Zealand on 1 September, 2008. There are four hour-long episodes in the series.
Blowdown premiered in South Africa on DStv's National Geographic Channel on Wednesday 10 September 2008, at 20h00.
Repeats
Wednesdays: 23h00
Thursdays: 02h00, 08h00, 13h00
Sundays: 17h00
Mondays: 05h00
Synopsis
A family of demolition experts travel the world blowing down structures built to withstand time, gravity and natural disasters. The demo team “reverse engineers” each structure — using its own features to bring it down.
Every job poses unique and complex challenges - nearby multi-million dollar real estate or an active nuclear plant.
Through close relationships with the demo team, every episode is an insider’s view of the process, culminating in an unprecedented examination of the implosion itself.
The series profiles the implosions of four cooling towers on an active nuclear site, the Frontier Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas strip, the Bal Harbor Hotel in Miami - a regular target for Atlantic hurricanes - and Mobile Service Tower 40, used to launch Titan Missiles at Cape Canaveral.
As much an art as a science, each structure requires a new rulebook: no two are ever the same.