The Infinite Monkey Cage
| Genre | Comedy |
|---|---|
| Running time | approx. 30 minutes |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | BBC Radio 4 |
| Starring | Brian Cox Robin Ince |
| Produced by | Alexandra Feachem |
| Executive producer(s) | Deborah Cohen |
| Recording studio | Radio Theatre, Broadcasting House, London |
| Original release | 30 Nov 2009 |
| No. of series | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 30[1] |
| Website | The Infinite Monkey Cage website |
| Podcast | xml feed |
The Infinite Monkey Cage is a BBC Radio 4 comedy series. Starring physicist Brian Cox and comedian Robin Ince,[2] The Independent described it as a "witty and irreverent look at the world according to science".[3][4] The show is into its sixth series.
The programme won a Gold Award in the Best Speech Programme category at the 2011 Sony Radio Awards.[5][6]
Series six began on Monday, 18 June 2012 at 16:30.[7]
Each show has some topic up for discussion (previous topics have included the apocalypse and space travel). Brian Cox and Robin Ince present the show and are always present. There are normally three guests; two of these are scientists with an interest in the topic of discussion. They offer their expert opinion and give information on the subject. The other is often a comedian, who takes a less serious view of the subject, often making scientific inaccuracies. Often Robin Ince and the guest comedian act to make the show more accessible by asking the 'stupid' and often obvious questions that the scientists have overlooked or assumed knowledge of. A feature which appeared in series 3 was the introduction of Matt Parker, the stand up mathematician. Parker gives a short set about the topic of discussion from a mathematical standpoint.
List of episodes
The following is an episode list of the BBC radio series The Infinite Monkey Cage. As of 23 July 2012, there have been 30 episodes spanning 6 series. [8]
Series One
| Total | No. | Title | Guest(s) | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Series 1, Episode 1" | TBA | 30 November 2009 |
| 2 | 2 | "Series 1, Episode 2" | Jon Ronson and Seth Shostak | 7 December 2009 |
| 3 | 3 | "Series 1, Episode 3" | Ben Miller | 14 December 2009 |
| 4 | 4 | "Series 1, Episode 4" | Victor Stock and Adam Rutherford | 21 December 2009 |
Series Two
| Total | No. | Title | Guest(s) | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 1 | "Series 2, Episode 1, Cheltenham Science Festival" | Ben Miller and Robert Winston | 14 June 2010 |
| 6 | 2 | "Trust Me I'm a Scientist" | Ben Goldacre and Dave Gorman | 21 June 2010 |
| 7 | 3 | "Science Fact and Science Fiction" | Jonathan Ross, Alan Moore and Dr Brian Greene | 28 June 2010 |
| 8 | 4 | "Things Can Only Get Better" | Colin Blakemore and Mark Steele | 5 July 2010 |
Series Three
| Total | No. | Title | Guest(s) | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 1 | "Apocalypse" | Adam Rutherford and Dr Lucie Green | 15 November 2010 |
| 10 | 2 | "Modern World" | Paul Foot, Aleks Krotoski and Professor Tony Ryan | 22 November 2010 |
| 11 | 3 | "Randomness, Probability and Chance" | Tim Minchin, Alex Bellos, Matt Parker | 29 November 2010 |
| 12 | 4 | "Is Philosophy Dead?" | Alexei Sayle, Julian Baggini and Professor Raymond Tallis | 6 December 2010 |
Series Four
| Total | No. | Title | Guest(s) | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 1 | "What Don't We Know?" | Paul Foot, Marcus Chown and Professor Steve Jones | 30 May 2011 |
| 14 | 2 | "Six Degrees of Separation?" | Stephen Fry, Simon Singh and Aleks Krotoski | 6 June 2011 |
| 15 | 3 | "So you want to be an astronaut?" | Chris Riley, Dr Kevin Fong and Helen Keen | 13 June 2011 |
| 16 | 4 | "Is Cosmology really a science?" | Alan Moore, Dallas Campbell and Professor Ed Copeland | 20 June 2011 |
| 17 | 5 | "Glastonbury Special" | Billy Bragg, Graham Coxon, Shappi Khorsandi and Professor Tony Ryan | 27 June 2011 |
| 18 | 6 | "Science and the supernatural" | Andy Nyman, Richard Wiseman and Bruce Hood | 5 July 2011 |
Series Five
| Total | No. | Title | Guest(s) | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | 1 | "What's the North Ever Done for Us?" | Jon Culshaw, Jeff Foreshaw and Matthew Cobb | 28 November 2011 |
| 20 | 2 | "A Balanced Programme on Balance" | Sir Paul Nurse, Katy Brand, Simon Mayo, and Professor Steve Jones | 5 December 2011 |
| 21 | 3 | "The Origins of Life" | Tim Minchin, Dr Nick Lane and Adam Rutherford | 12 December 2011 |
| 22 | 4 | "The Science of Sound" | Tom Wrigglesworth, Professor Trevor Cox and Professor Chris Plack | 19 December 2011 |
| 23 | 5 | "I'm a Chemist Get Me Out of Here" | Dara O Briain, Professor Tony Ryan and Andrea Sella | 26 December 2011 |
| 24 | 6 | "The Science of Christmas" | Professor Richard Dawkins, Mark Gatiss and Roger Highfield | 1 January 2012 |
Series Six
| Total | No. | Title | Guest(s) | Original airdate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | 1 | "Oceans: The Last Great Unexplored Frontier?" | Dave Gorman, Lloyd Peck and Bramley Murton | 18 June 2012 |
| 26 | 2 | "Science Mavericks" | Marcus Brigstocke, Professor Barry Marshall, Kevin Fong, and Aoife McLysaght | 25 June 2012 |
| 27 | 3 | "Does Size Matter?" | Andy Hamilton, Mark Miodownik and Eleanor Stride | 2 July 2012 |
| 28 | 4 | "The Science of Symmetry" | Marcus Du Sautoy, Adam Rutherford and Alan Moore | 9 July 2012 |
| 29 | 5 | "Parallel Universes" | Professor Sir Martin Rees, Dr Lucie Green and John Lloyd | 16 July 2012 |
| 30 | 6 | "Science v Art" | Al Murray, Sara Pascoe, Andrew Pontzen and Jon Butterworth. | 23 July 2012 |
Series Seven
The first episode of series seven of the infinite monkey cage will air on Monday 19th November 2012 at 4:30pm.[9]
References
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00snr0w/series
- ^ Ince, Robin (27 August 2010). "A cat in a wheelie bin can help us ponder how the universe works". The Telegraph.
- ^ Maume, Chris (21 November 2010). "The Infinite Monkey Cage, Radio 4, Monday; Take one boffin. Mix with comedy writers, and hear them gently fizz". The Independent.
- ^ "Radio GaGa: Infinite Monkey Cage, Moyles & Bacon!". Tim Minchin.com. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
{{cite web}}:|first=missing|last=(help) - ^ "Frank Skinner and Jason Byrne win at Sony Awards 2011". The British Comedy Guide. 9 May 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
- ^ "TV scientist scoops top radio award". Express & Star. 9 May 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00snr0w
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00snr0w/episodes
- ^ http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/sy77t/the-infinite-monkey-cage--episode-1
External links
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