Your starter for 10: do University Challenge boffins ever have fun?
WHEN Thelma and Louise went on a road trip in the 1991 film, they kidnapped a cop, swigged whisky and robbed petrol stations.
In Monkman And Seagull’s Genius Guide To Britain (BBC2), the nerdy duo packed biscuits and had lively discussions about the various noises frogs make around the world.
eric Monkman and Bobby Seagull developed a cult following after appearing on opposite teams on university Challenge last year.
Following on from a Radio 4 series, the two Cambridge graduates took to the road for their own TV programme and visited places that celebrate Britain’s ingenuity.
First stop was Blackpool, home to the world’s oldest fairground ride — The Captive Flying Machine — built in 1904. While most thrill seekers hold their hands in the air and scream on a ride, Monkman and Seagull shouted about the laws of centrifugal force.
The ‘fun’ didn’t stop there. next up was the British Lawnmower Museum in Southport, where the highlight was looking at a mower once owned by Queen’s Brian May.
at the emley Moor transmitting station in Huddersfield they used two different types of calculations — trigonometry and physics — to try to work out the height of the tower. of course, they could have just asked their guide, who was able to tell them it was 1,084ft high. But what’s to like about that?
Monkman and Seagull are affable, lovable geeks, although narrator Simon Callow’s insistence that they are ‘ icons’ is a little far-fetched.
When the two boffins were discussing science, invention and exploration, they were enthusiastic and engaging, even if the obvious dumbing down for the masses felt a little patronising at times.
The problem was the in-car banter felt stilted and awkward and didn’t provide the material needed to balance out the brainy stuff.
equally taxing on the brain was Strangers ( ITV) which, after a promising opening episode, started to collapse around our ears in a muddle of baffling multistranded developments.
after listening to the final message from his wife Megan (Dervla Kirwan), Jonah Mulray (John Simm) became convinced she had not died in a road accident as the authorities were claiming.
She sounded terrified, she appeared to be giving him clues to follow and a gunshot could clearly be heard. He took the voicemail message to the police, who promptly doctored the recording to remove the gunshot. and dozy Jonah hadn’t made a copy.
The police said her body had no gunshot wounds, but when David Chen (anthony Wong), who had also been involved with Megan, asked to view her remains, they had vanished.
elsewhere, British consul Sally (emilia Fox) learned her fiance Ben (Christian Contreras) had stolen confidential files and tried to blackmail a local politician. next thing we knew, Ben was dead in the bath after, apparently, killing himself. across town, Jonah had discovered Megan’s secret apartment, where she was holding fake u.S. passports.
Honestly, how many secrets can one middle-aged woman have? a secret husband, a secret child and a secret flat above a cafe.
at some point over the next six episodes all these strands must come together to reveal what Megan was mixed up with.
I doubt many people will stick with it until then. With the nation scratching its head over Bodyguard, I suspect most viewers only have room in their life for one brain-frying TV thriller. CHRISTOPHER STEVENS is away.