Map Men

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Map Men
The logo for map men, made by combining a capital M with a compass, with 'AP' and 'EN' on its right on two levels.
Logo
GenreGeography
Created byJay Foreman & Mark Cooper-Jones
Written byJay Foreman & Mark Cooper-Jones
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons4
No. of episodes26[1]
Original release
Release4 May 2016 –
present[1]

Map Men is a edutainment mini-series[2][3] currently in its fourth season, which is created, written, and presented by Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones.[2][3][4] A mix of comedy and geography,[4] its videos regularly attract 1-5 million views on YouTube.[1][2][3]

Premise[edit]

The series is created, written, and presented by Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones.[2][3][4] The pair have become to be known the Map Men themselves.[2][3] Mark Cooper-Jones is a former geography teacher,[3][4] and the pair met at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where both were performing that year.[4][when?]

The series started in 2016,[4] and is currently in its fourth season. The episodes are a mix of comedy and geography,[4] with each episode answering a short geographical question, often involving maps.[4] The style has been compared to Horrible Histories[2][3] and the pair cite their inspiration as Monty Python.[4] The videos feature deadpan, split-second visual gags, and comic sketches.[3][5]

The pair have claimed the show's success to be due to the growing redundancy of maps as an everyday item, leaving them to be 'geeky'.[4] They also cite the mix of comedy and geography as the unique element behind the series, leading to its success compared to other more education-based alternatives.[5] In 2021, the series was nominated under the 'learning and education' category for the 11th Streamy Awards, losing to Veritasium.[6]

Episodes[edit]

SeasonEpisodesOriginally airedAverage viewership (in millions)
First airedLast aired
15May 4, 2016 (2016-05-04)August 4, 2016 (2016-08-04)3.78
26August 7, 2016 (2016-08-07)September 2, 2019 (2019-09-02)3.52
311November 16, 2020 (2020-11-16)September 13, 2021 (2021-09-13)3.18
44 so farJuly 10, 2023 (2023-07-10)OngoingTBD

Season 1[edit]

No.
overall
No. in
series
Title [1]Directed by [1]Written by [1]Original air date [1] Viewers
(millions) [1]
11"Bir Tawil - the land that nobody wants"Paul KendlerJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones4 May 2016 (2016-05-04)3.9
22"Mappa Mundi - the worst world map?"Paul KendlerJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones25 May 2016 (2016-05-25)2.6
33"Where is the north/south divide?"Paul KendlerJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones10 June 2016 (2016-06-10)4.8
44"India/Bangladesh - The world's worst border"Paul KendlerJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones8 July 2016 (2016-07-08)4.5
55"Berlin Wall - Maps With Gaps[a]"Paul KendlerJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones4 August 2016 (2016-08-04)3.1

Season 2[edit]

No.
overall
No. in
series
Title [1]Directed by [1]Written by [1]Original air date [1] Viewers
(millions)
16"Who Owns the South China Sea?"Paul KendlerJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones7 August 2016 (2016-08-07)2.5
27"The world's oldest border?"Paul KendlerJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones15 April 2019 (2019-04-15)3.6
38"Can you spot a map trap?[b]"UnknownJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones14 May 2019 (2019-05-14)3.1
49"Why every world map is wrong"UnknownJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones20 June 2019 (2019-06-20)4
510"How did triangles shrink France?"UnknownJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones7 August 2019 (2019-08-07)3.5
611"The world's silliest time zones"UnknownJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones2 September 2019 (2019-09-02)4.4

Season 3[edit]

No.
overall
No. in
series
Title [1]Directed by [1]Written by [1]Original air date [1] Viewers
(millions) [1]
112"The map that saved the most lives"UnknownJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones15 November 2020 (2020-11-15)2.0
213"Why are British place names so hard to pronounce?"UnknownJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones14 December 2020 (2020-12-14)5.0
314"Why does Russia have the best maps of Britain?"UnknownJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones11 January 2021 (2021-01-11)3.2
415"What will the world look like in 250 million years?"UnknownJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones15 February 2021 (2021-02-15)3.3
516"Who Owns Antarctica?"UnknownJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones15 March 2021 (2021-03-15)2.6
617"The mystery of the squarest country"UnknownJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones12 April 2021 (2021-04-12)3.8
718"Where is America?"UnknownJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones26 April 2021 (2021-04-26)2.5
819"How do you start a new country?"UnknownJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones31 May 2021 (2021-05-31)2.9
920"How many continents are there?"UnknownJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones28 June 2021 (2021-06-28)3.1
1021"How to read a map with a clock[c]"UnknownJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones15 November 2020 (2020-11-15)2.1
1122"English counties explained"UnknownJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones13 September 2021 (2021-09-13)4.5

Season 4[edit]

No.
overall
No. in
series
Title [1]Directed by [1]Written by [1]Original air date [1] Viewers
(millions) [1]
123"Why is North up?"Jade NagiJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones10 July 2023 (2023-07-10)2.1
224"Why British cities make no sense"UnknownJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones28 August 2023 (2023-08-28)2.4
325"Internet Vs Ocean: the essential wires we never think about"UnknownJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones29 September 2023 (2023-09-29)1.6
426"You'll never guess the most popular internet country code"Jade NagiJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones6 December 2023 (2023-12-06)1.3

Awards and nominations[edit]

Year Award Category Result Ref.
2021 11th Streamy Awards Learning and Education Nominated [6]

See also[edit]


Footnotes[edit]

  1. ^ Renamed to "Why is there a BLANK space in this map of East Berlin?" after airing.
  2. ^ Renamed to "Why do maps show places that don't exist?" after airing.
  3. ^ Renamed to "The longitude problem: history's deadliest riddle" after airing.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v "MAP MEN - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2024-04-08.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Khomami, Nadia (31 October 2023). "Britons go map-crazy, with geographical games and books becoming bestsellers". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 6 April 2024. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Keogh, Glen (6 April 2024). "'Horrible Geography' jokers the Map Men chart out a path to fame". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 1 April 2024. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Burton, Katie (22 November 2023). "Map Men: where comedy meets geography". Geographical. Archived from the original on 6 April 2024. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
  5. ^ a b Fitch, Chris (9 August 2016). "Map Men: teaching geography through comedy". Geographical Magazine. Archived from the original on 16 May 2022. Retrieved 6 April 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. ^ a b "11th Annual Streamy Nominees". The Streamy Awards. Retrieved 2024-04-06.