With this is mind, I was intrigued to learn that in 1993, the American TV channel, The Learning Channel (now known as TLC) launched a documentary and biography series called Great Books. Premiering on the 8th of September to coincide with International Literacy Day, each episode in the series focused in depth at some of literature's greatest fiction and nonfiction books, along with the authors who created them. Most of the narration was provided by Donald Sutherland, though later episodes were narrated by other well-known celebrities including Uma Thurman, Gary Oldman and Jeff Goldblum.

All of these episodes feature insights from historians, scholars, novelists, artists, writers, and filmmakers who were directly influenced by the books, such as Richard Dawkins on Origin of Species; Leonard Nimoy on War of the Worlds and Arthur C. Clarke on his novel, 2001: A Space Odyssey. 

Sadly, these documentaries are no longer being aired, nor are they available to watch on any outlet I've found (unless you have access to a VHS player and are prepared to shell out a lot of money for a box set). I sincerely hope that these valuable episodes can be remastered for digital distribution at some point. Luckily, though, some wonderful YouTubers have uploaded all of the episodes for us to watch and enjoy online. 

Here is a list, complete to the best of my knowledge, of all episodes of the Great Books TV series, in date order, with links to watch the episodes on YouTube and (where possible) links to download the text in digital formats. 

Available in two volumes from Project Gutenberg (Volume 1 | Volume 2)