I spent ~2hrs this weekend watching the entire show online. It is brilliantly produced. Starts from the root of the word credit and Sumerian clay tablets which are the first known instance of "pay the bearer" documents; moves to the Medici family - the first true bankers and ends in the middle of 2008. It takes us through the beginnings of the stock market, the bond market, the futures market, the options market, the Myron Shultz model and along the way includes interviews with some of the key players.
As one of the commentators pointed, if there is a bone to be picked, it is the fact that this piece criticizes the private market but takes no stance on policy decision made by governments which led to disruptions of comparable magnitude.
Quotable:
"In 2006 the world's total economical output was worth around 47 Trillion dollars (12 zeros). The total value of the stock and bond markets was 119 Trillion dollars and the amount outstanding of the strange new financial life form known as derivatives was 473 Trillion dollars. By the summer of 2007, it seemed as if earth had turned into planet finance".
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