Look Around You

Look Around You
Look Around You Series 1 logo
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Robert Popper Peter Serafinowicz
Written by	Robert Popper Peter Serafinowicz
Directed by	Tim Kirkby
Starring	Robert Popper Peter Serafinowicz Olivia Colman (Series 2) Josie D'Arby (Series 2)
Narrated by	Nigel Lambert (series 1)
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	15
Production
Running time	10 minutes (series 1) 30 minutes (series 2)
Production company(s)	Mivvin Colour/ Talkback Productions
Distributor	Fremantle Media
Release
Original network	BBC Two
Original release	10 October 2002 – 7 March 2005
Website

Look Around You is a British television comedy series devised and written by Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz, and narrated in the first series by Nigel Lambert. The first series of eight 10-minute shorts was shown in 2002, and the second series of six 30-minute episodes in 2005, both on BBC Two. The first series of Look Around You was nominated for a BAFTA award in 2003.

In the first series, the episodes ("modules") satirise and pay homage to late 1970s and early 1980s educational films and school programmes such as ITV's "Experiment" series and BBC's "For Schools and Colleges", which were re-run for many years after they were made. A different scientific subject is covered in each episode.

The modules were, in order of transmission:

The humour is derived from a combination of patent nonsense and faithful references and homages. For instance, fictional items that have a passing resemblance to everyday objects are shown and discussed. Such items include the "boîte diabolique", a box at the top of a piano scale which housed the "forbidden notes"; and "Garry gum", a performance-enhancing chewing gum which has the unfortunate side-effect of inducing diarrhoea, necessitating the consumption of "anti-Garry gum". Each episode begins with a "countdown clock", similar to the one used on ITV Schools programmes from 1979 to 1987. The music that accompanies the countdown is in the same spirit as the original, but is played on a solo guitar, and at the beginning of the "Brain" module, the guitarist can be heard tuning.

The module subjects are distorted beyond recognition; for instance, germs are described as coming from Germany, and whisky is said to be made by combining water with nitrogen. The maths module features a distorted and inaccurate version of the ancient 'seven cats' puzzle by Ahmes. Additionally, subjects are mixed: for example, a chemistry experiment about eggs (In the episode Water) turns into a French language lesson. Each episode follows a general format, beginning with an introduction to the subject, followed by a series of silly experiments performed by the hapless (and normally mute) scientists, played by Popper, Serafinowicz and Edgar Wright, among others.

...
Wikipedia