The Genius of Invention

*The Genius of Invention*
The Genius of Invention
Genre	Factual
Directed by	Victoria Bell
Presented by	Michael Mosley; Mark Miodownik; Cassie Newland;
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	4 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Dominic Crossley-Holland
Producers	Michael Tuft; Victoria Bell;
Running time	60 minutes
Production company	BBC Productions
Original release
Network	BBC Two; BBC HD;
Release	24 January –; 14 February 2013

The Genius of Invention is a British factual television series that was broadcast on BBC Two between 24 January 2013 and 14 February 2013. The series looks over the history of British inventions.

Production[edit]

On 23 August 2013, BBC Two controller Janice Hadlow announced the commissioning of the series.^[1] The main presenters of the series were Mark Miodownik, Cassie Newland and Michael Mosley.^[2]

Episode list[edit]

#	Title	Original air date	UK viewers (millions)^[3]
1	"Power"	24 January 2013 (2013-01-24)	1.60
How Britain uses power through technology.
2	"Speed"	31 January 2013 (2013-01-31)	N/A
How the steam locomotive, internal combustion engine and jet engine were invented.
3	"Communication"	7 February 2013 (2013-02-07)	N/A
The formation of machines that allow communication across the globe.
4	"Visual Image"	14 February 2013 (2013-02-14)	N/A
The inventors who discovered how to reproduce still and moving images.

Reception[edit]

Terry Ramsey of The Daily Telegraph gave the series three out of five stars and said that "despite the jumpy style and occasionally annoying chat, it had a lot of appealing science packed in, all neatly wrapped up so it didn’t even feel like we were learning. And it served as a useful reminder of just how much we rely on electricity."^[4] The Independent's Tom Sutcliffe said "everything from presentational style to the level of the material it contains it's essentially a children's programme. In fact, it calls for a new verb: to Bluepeterise, a shorthand for the increasingly fashionable technique of dividing the content up between three puppyishly eager presenters".^[5] Lucy Mangan, writing for The Guardian called it "terrible".^[2]

DVD release[edit]

The series was released in the original English as a region 2 DVD set by a Dutch company in 2015.

References[edit]

^ "BBC Two announces raft of new commissions". BBC. 23 August 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
^ ^a ^b Mangan, Lucy (24 January 2013). "TV review: The Genius of Invention; Carved with Love; The Good Wife". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
^ "BARB Top 30s".
^ Ramsey, Terry (25 January 2013). "The Genius of Invention, BBC Two, review". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
^ Sutcliffe, Tom (25 January 2013). "Last Night's Viewing: The Genius of Invention, BBC2". The Independent. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2013.

External links[edit]

[1] "BBC Two announces raft of new commissions". BBC. 23 August 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2013.

[Guardian-2] Mangan, Lucy (24 January 2013). "TV review: The Genius of Invention; Carved with Love; The Good Wife". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 October 2013.

[3] "BARB Top 30s".

[4] Ramsey, Terry (25 January 2013). "The Genius of Invention, BBC Two, review". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 13 October 2013.

[5] Sutcliffe, Tom (25 January 2013). "Last Night's Viewing: The Genius of Invention, BBC2". The Independent. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2013.

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