Monkman & Seagull’s Genius Guide to Britain
BBC TWO, 8.00PM
In the age of microcelebrity anyone with half a brain can be king, so why shouldn’t Bobby Seagull and Eric Monkman, who both possess very large brains, rule? That seems to be the thinking behind this enjoyable new series which sees the two former University Challenge contestants head off on a journey around Britain armed only with their natural curiosity and wide general knowledge. Put down on paper it all sounds incredibly forced but thankfully Monkman and Seagull are not the types to hide their intellectual attributes under a passing bushel.
Thus Genius Guide to Britain works because of the easy rapport between its two presenters and because the gloriously intense Monkman in particular is simply a fiend for facts. On what other programme will you learn that frogs have a different accent depending on where they come from, how centrifugal force works and what really happens at the Jodrell Bank Observatory near Macclesfield? And as Seagull waxes poetic about lawnmowers, Monkman reveals himself to be something of a lawnmower-sceptic (who knew such a thing existed). An eccentric delight. Sarah Hughes