James May parks the cars and picks up a whiteboard for this brisk BBC Two primer that squeezes evolution, Einstein, engineering and chemistry into nine half-hour slots across two series. Each episode tackles a single big-ticket question—what keeps the universe ticking, why clouds float, how the human body is put together—then answers it with household props, archive clips and the same affable pedantry that made him the slow one among screaming tyre smoke. The first three-part run landed in June 2011; a six-part follow-up arrived a year later, stretching the format without diluting the tone. Production duties split between 360 Production and Canadian outfit Yap Films, with James Gray and Emma Parkins directing and May front-of-camera in the same checked shirts he wore to lecture on combustion engines. No DVD release exists for series one, leaving iPlayer rips and off-air recordings as the only post-broadcast life. The show quietly ended in September 2012, freeing May to return to cars, toys and drunken pub quizzes about the Luftwaffe.
Production Details
BBC Two / 2 Seasons / 9 Episodes / 2011
Main Cast
James May as Himself - Presenter
