Maddie Moate unscrews, cracks open and x-rays the mundane: vending machines, umbrellas, even the humble toilet flush. Each fifteen-minute film pairs her handheld camera with micro-CT scanners and animated blueprints so children can watch cogs turn, springs compress and infrared signals hop. The programme began in 2016 as Do You Know?; the presenter’s name was bolted on from series three.
Seven Wonder has delivered five runs totalling 98 segments, shot mostly in Bristol workshops and living rooms. A single episode might cut from Moate riding a baggage truck at an airport to macro-lens footage of an inkjet cartridge firing cyan droplets the width of a human hair. The pace is brisk, the palette primary, the soundtrack peppered with glitchy bleeps that mimic the machinery on screen.
The format never wanders: question asked, object stripped, principle demonstrated, recap jingle. That tight loop has kept the show on the CBeebies playlist since 2016, with episodes lingering on iPlayer for over a year and library sales travelling as far as Australia. Commissioning editors keep ordering more; the last batch dropped in December 2020 and talks for a sixth run remain open.
Production Details
CBeebies / 5 Seasons / 98 Episodes / 2016 - Present
Main Cast
Maddie Moate as Herself - Presenter
