Star-spangled manner
DESPITE facing so much flak, today’s BBC is sticking proudly to its mission – to educate, inform and condescend. Jolly well done. That said, it’s nice that Professor Brian Cox’s new series UNIVERSE (BBC2, 9pm) focuses mostly on the first two of those.
There does come a point, admittedly, when Brian (is it OK just to call him Brian? I’m never quite sure) reveals that all the universe’s two hundred trillion stars, each of which has played its part in the saga of creation, stretching back 13.7 billion years, will burn out.Yep, the lot. He explains that when this happens, the universe will be plunged back into darkness.
But – quite rare now this for a TV science programme – Brian stops short of suggesting this is all the human race’s fault for putting its yogurt pots in the wrong bin and voting for Brexit.
No, apparently this universal burn-out is simply the universe’s destiny. Always has been. It’s written, funnily enough, in the stars.And on the plus side, it’s still a way off. Put it this way: I doubt we’ll need to cancel Christmas. Well, not for that reason.
Yes, once again we have the mighty Brian Cox tackling a topic almost too vast for us mortals to get our heads around, especially if we’ve just watched THE REPAIR SHOP (BBC1, 8pm) and convinced ourselves that the pinnacle of genius is being able to fix a roulette machine.
“Our universe is a place of infinite variety,” Brian tells us. “Two trillion galaxies. Billions and billions of stars.And countless planets. Worlds beyond imagination.”
Indeed. But while many viewers will beg to hear more, Brian accepts that some might feel overwhelmed by the scale of what he’s described there. Keen that they stick around, ideally through all five episodes, of which this story of the stars is merely the first, he makes it clear he understands their anxiety. “The universe is so vast, so incomprehensible, so terrifying,” he acknowledges, “that I think it’s quite natural for us to choose to live out our lives completely oblivious to it.
“Perhaps that’s why there’s a sense of relief that rises with the dawn.The brightening sky hides the stars and the questions they pose.”
Even so, he clearly still thinks that’s a cop-out.
“After all, they’re the biggest questions,” Brian insists.
“How did the universe come to be?Why are we here? How will it all end?
“We have to face those questions if we’re ever to acquire a truly deep understanding of ourselves.”
Elsewhere this evening, they’re shopping for a cake on BEVERLEY AND JORDAN: DESTINATION WEDDING (ITV, 8pm) (not STV, I’m so sorry).