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The Genius of Invention

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The Genius of Invention
GenreFactual
Directed byVictoria Bell
Presented by
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes4 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producerDominic Crossley-Holland
Producers
  • Michael Tuft
  • Victoria Bell
Running time60 minutes
Production companyBBC Productions
Original release
Network
Release24 January (2013-01-24) –
14 February 2013 (2013-02-14)

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

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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

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# 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
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

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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

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

References

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  1. ^ "BBC Two announces raft of new commissions". BBC. 23 August 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  2. ^ 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.
  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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