You probably would have liked Rough Science, a PBS TV show in which several scientists were placed on an island, and made to construct assorted devices out of (mostly) whatever they could find on the island. They were allowed _some_ basic tools, including wire, so it's not quite as from the ground up as you are thinking of. Nonetheless, cool stuff.
I liked it immensely. What was the greatest fun was second-guessing the people on the island and listing the reasons why their this or that solution will not work -- and being right. The steam turbine, for instance, should have been obviously impossible to the engineers there.
It sounds like I'd enjoy it. I hadn't heard of it before. It doesn't seem to be on the PBS station I can tune in, but I'll try to remember to keep an eye out in case it shows up. (If anyone's got a VHS tape or DVD I could borrow, I'd be interested in seeing it.)
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Rough Science