I did watch bits of Peter Serafinowicz and Robert Popper's cult series when it first aired but having seen it mentioned as being on the iPlayer, I decided to give it a proper go. Whilst I think it had its moments, this first season wasn't quite as funny as I was hoping it would be.
A series of ten-minute episodes, affectionately mocking the educational television shows produced for schools in the 1980's. Each episode is themed on a particular subject and contains "facts" about that subject and a series of experiments around it. The episode encourages students to make notes on certain sections and to hand in their workbooks at the end.
So, there's lots about the episode that I did like. It's very authentic to the period it's aping - so much so I wonder exactly how much is stock footage from the time and how much is new. Serefinowicz and Popper appear in the episode as the scientists undertaking the experiments and various disasters befall them, depending on what the experiment is about. Those and the occasionally nonsense fact put forward can be funny - but what I was hoping for was more playing with the form as the series ran on. It doesn't unfortunately, and the standard elements of each episode remain the same throughout. There are occasional cameos from Edgar Wright as another scientist.
I will go on to the second run of the show, when the format changes quite a bit. Hopefully that will turn the show from an influential curio to a genuine comedy.
A series of ten-minute episodes, affectionately mocking the educational television shows produced for schools in the 1980's. Each episode is themed on a particular subject and contains "facts" about that subject and a series of experiments around it. The episode encourages students to make notes on certain sections and to hand in their workbooks at the end.
So, there's lots about the episode that I did like. It's very authentic to the period it's aping - so much so I wonder exactly how much is stock footage from the time and how much is new. Serefinowicz and Popper appear in the episode as the scientists undertaking the experiments and various disasters befall them, depending on what the experiment is about. Those and the occasionally nonsense fact put forward can be funny - but what I was hoping for was more playing with the form as the series ran on. It doesn't unfortunately, and the standard elements of each episode remain the same throughout. There are occasional cameos from Edgar Wright as another scientist.
I will go on to the second run of the show, when the format changes quite a bit. Hopefully that will turn the show from an influential curio to a genuine comedy.
