Monkman & Seagull's Genius Guide to Britain
Monkman & Seagull's Genius Guide to Britain is a BBC documentary series presented by Eric Monkman and Bobby Seagull, a duo who met as rivals on the quiz programme University Challenge and became friends, coauthors and radio-show co-hosts. The show is a road trip around the United Kingdom and focuses on British scientific and technological ingenuity and has a voiceover supplied by Simon Callow.
Monkman & Seagull's Genius Guide to Britain | |
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Genre | Road trip |
Directed by | Samuel Palmer |
Presented by | Bobby Seagull, Eric Monkman |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 4 |
Production | |
Executive producers | Simon Dickson, Lorraine Charker-Phillips |
Producer | Merle Currie |
Production company | Label1 Television Ltd |
Release | |
Original network | BBC 2 |
Original release | 17 September – 8 October 2018 |
Related | |
The show aired in September and October 2018 and was recommissioned for a second series which became a new series Monkman & Seagull’s Genius Adventures, which was broadcast in three 60 minute episodes in May 2020.[1]
Episodes
No. | Title [2] | Directed by [2] | Original air date [3] | UK viewers (millions) [4] | |
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1 | "England" | Samuel Palmer | 17 September 2018 | 1.81 | |
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2 | "Wales" | Samuel Palmer | 24 September 2018 | 1.58 | |
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3 | "Northern Ireland" | Samuel Palmer | 1 October 2018 | N/A (<1.59)[lower-alpha 1] | |
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4 | "Scotland" | Samuel Palmer | 8 October 2018 | N/A (<1.69)[lower-alpha 1] | |
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Reception
Sarah Hughes in i called the series "entertaining, eccentric, and well-informed" and praised the pair's unforced eccentricity and natural rapport.[5]
Rebecca Nicholson in The Guardian also praised the warmth and appeal of their friendship but said that the show felt a bit "skittish" by not staying at locations for long enough.[6]
In The Evening Standard, Katie Law said there was insufficient chemistry between them and that none of their observations is especially nuanced or perceptive.[7]
Notes
- Not reported in the weekly top 15 programmes for four-screen viewer ratings.
References
- "BBC - BBC Two commissions Monkman & Seagull for second series - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk.
- "BBC Two - Monkman & Seagull's Genius Guide to Britain - Episode guide". BBC. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
- "BBC - Programme Information - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
- "Four Screen Dashboard". BARB. See relevant channel and week(s). Retrieved 14 May 2019.
- Hughes, Sarah (17 September 2018). "Monkman and Seagull's Genius Guide to Britain is entertaining, eccentric, and well-informed". inews.co.uk.
- Nicholson, Rebecca (17 September 2018). "Monkman and Seagull's Genius Guide To Britain review – nice enough, but where's the brainy swagger?". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.
- "Monday's best TV: Monkman and Seagull's Genius Guide to Britain". Evening Standard. 17 September 2018.