''Brainiac: Science Abuse'' (often shortened to simply ''Brainiac'') is a British entertainment

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

show that aired on

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

from 13 November 2003 to 30 March 2008. It was created by Executive Producer Stewart Morris and Andy Milligan. During each episode of the show, numerous experiments are carried out to verify whether common conceptions are true (such as whether it is possible to run across a pool of

custard Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on sweetened milk, cheese, or cream cooked with Eggs as food, egg or egg yolk to thicken it, and sometimes also flour, corn starch, or gelatin. Depending on the recipe, custard may vary in con ...

) or simply to create impressive explosions. The experimenters on the show are referred to as "Brainiacs", and each episode usually finishes with the destruction of a

caravan Caravan or caravans may refer to: Transport and travel *Campervan, a type of vehicle also known as a motor caravan *Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together **Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop *Caravan (trail ...

. The original presenters were

Richard Hammond Richard Mark Hammond (born 19 December 1969) is an English journalist, television presenter, and author. He co-hosted the BBC Two motoring programme ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), Top Gear'' from 2002 until 2015 with Jeremy Clarkson and James Ma ...

and

Jon Tickle Jonathan Parmer Tickle (born 8 May 1974) is a British television presenter who initially rose to fame as a contestant on the fourth series of the British television show '' Big Brother''. (He had appeared before this, however, as a contestant ...

, who were joined in the second series by

Charlotte Hudson Charlotte Hudson (born 4 January 1972) is an English actress and television presenter. Hudson was born in Sheffield. Her brother is actor Robert Hudson. Education and early career After attending Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, Hudson started ...

. Hammond and the original production team left after the fourth season, and was replaced by

Vic Reeves James Roderick Moir (born 24 January 1959), commonly known by his stage name Vic Reeves, is an English comedian and artist. He has a double act with Bob Mortimer as Reeves & Mortimer. He is known for his surreal sense of humour. In 2003, Ree ...

and Hudson left after the fifth, and was replaced by

Thaila Zucchi Thaila Lucia Zucchi (; born 19 January 1981) is a British singer and actress of English and Italian descent. She began her career as a member of the British band allSTARS* before transitioning into nude acting, appearing in '' Big Brother 8'' ...

. On 28 July 2008 Sky cancelled the show saying it had been taken as far as it could go.

History

Series 1 (2003)

Series 1 featured a wide variety of experiments including testing to see whether a mobile phone would ignite petrol vapours, walking on custard and testing the effects of electric shocks on various Brainiacs.

Series 2 (2004)

Series 2 saw the start of "Brainiac

Snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...

", in which World Snooker professional

Quinten Hann Quinten Hann (born 4 June 1977) is an Australian former professional pool and snooker player. He was the 1999 WEPF World Eight-ball Champion and the 1994 IBSF World Under-21 Snooker Champion. His highest snooker was a 141 which he made at th ...

would pot the last six balls on a table into pockets connected to fuses which would cause a caravan rigged with a different explosive to explode. This series also included several shorter segments, such as "Pub Science with Dr. Bunhead" in which the recurring character of Dr. Bunhead goes into a local pub and performs a small scale science experiment. Dr. Bunhead also had a second segment in which he did the same as with "Pub Science", but instead around a home. Another segment was added in this show called "Tina Turner and Her Bunsen Burner" in which "Tina Turner" goes to blow up a car using various explosives while lighting specifics with a golden Bunsen burner. This series also gives birth to "I can do science, me", "Things Tickles' body can't do" and "Explosive of the day" in which a group of women (referred to as the Brainiac Babes) ignite a random explosive, each of which is given a score out of ten. The audience could also play along, making this one of the first truly interactive segments of the show. At the end of the final episode, the Brainiac Babes were joined by a random viewer. The second series also introduced

as a third, but minor, host, and saw the introduction of what then became long term character "Professor Myang-Li", played by

Rachel Grant Rachel Louise Grant de Longueuil (born 25 September 1977) is an English people, English actress and TV presenter. Early life Grant was born on the island of Luzon in the Philippines to Michael Grant, 12th Baron de Longueuil, and Isabel Padua; he ...

. Professor Myang-Li hosted a short segment in this series simply called "Sink or Float" in which she drops a piece of fruit into a pool and sees if it sinks or floats (similar to a future segment in Series 6 called "flush or float" where a piece of fruit is dropped into a toilet and the toilet is flushed to see if the fruit flushes down or not).

Series 3 (2005)

Series 3 featured Brainiac Golf (similar to Brainiac Snooker, but exploding caravans filled with different substances that exploded with coloured flames depending on the chemicals used), Lad v. Lass, Thermite, "Does being electrocuted affect your ability at work?" (human statue,

flair bartending Flair bartending is the practice of bartenders entertaining guests, clientele or audiences with the manipulation of bar tools (e.g. cocktail shakers) and liquor bottles in tricky, dazzling ways. Used occasionally in bars, the action requires s ...

, darts player), "Things the instruction manuals don't warn you about", 47 Second Science, Diana Ross and her Chain Reaction, and testing which things break and which things bounce after a ten-foot drop. Dr. John P. Kilcoyne, Associate Dean of the

University of Sunderland The University of Sunderland is a public research university located in Sunderland in the North East of England. Its predecessor, Sunderland Technical College, was established as a municipal training college in 1901. It gained university status ...

had a regular slot where he mixed various chemicals to see whether they "fizz" or "bang".

Series 4 (2006)

Series 4 introduced Brainiac

Darts Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard. Point ...

, during which

Bobby George Robert Francis George (born 16 December 1945) is an English television presenter and former professional darts player. He is widely recognised as one of the game's biggest personalities, known for his flamboyant entrances in which the "King o ...

threw a perfect set, always finishing on the Double Top which triggered the explosion of a caravan, and a new "I Can Do Science Me" which is set around auditions. There is also a feature called "Things What My Body Does", in which a member of the public is filmed doing something extraordinary with their bodies. It also featured "Movie Stars Destroying Cars" and Dr. John P. Kilcoyne with "Glow or Blow". It also introduced a new feature called "Brainiac for a Day", where contestants could bring an item of their choice to blow up. It was set out as a game show with the hosts Dolly Girl (Lisa Marie Bourke) (previously "Jane" in the "Lad v. Lass" segment) and Dolly Boy (Stefan D'Bart).

Series 5 (2007)

Series 5 retained "Brainiac for a Day", "Things What My Body Does", and contains new segments like "Brainiac V Beast", Dr Kilcoyne with "Fizzle or Flash" and Prof. Myang Li (

) with steel balls, attempting to "shatter or shunt" various objects. In addition,

appeared as the Russian scientist Uri Abusikov, along with his assistant Ursula, attempting to destroy things with liquid nitrogen. In this series, Reeves took over as host from

, who had left the show. Hammond's growing commitments to ''

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the ori ...

'' and his contract with the BBC meant that he was finding it increasingly difficult to fulfil his role as presenter of ''Brainiac''. Hammond was also reportedly losing interest in doing ''Brainiac''. Reeves was brought in as replacement host shortly after the end of the fourth series and before Richard Hammond's near fatal crash. The original production team including Executive Producer Stewart Morris, Series Producer Richard Greenwood and Series Director Peter Eyre left the programme at the same time as Hammond.

Series 6 (2008)

Series 6 saw the return of

as host and

as co-host.

replaced Hudson as the third co-host and made her debut on the series in two items: "How Hard is Your Thing?" in which she tests the hardness of different objects using

thermite Thermite () is a pyrotechnic composition of powder metallurgy, metal powder and metal oxide. When ignited by heat or chemical reaction, thermite undergoes an exothermic redox, reduction-oxidation (redox) reaction. Most varieties are not explos ...

and a ton of bricks dropped from a crane, and "Shocking Acts" in which she finds out whether variety acts can still perform while receiving electric shocks. Other new segments included "Gas Bang Wallop" featuring a character called Barry Bernard who destroys things with gas, "Chemistry Deathmatch" in which regular characters Dr Bunhead and Professor John Kilcoyne go head-to-head to produce the best experiments, "Custard Dreams" which follows the adventures of a Brainiac who discovers he can walk on custard, and "Stars in Their Caravans" which sees a variety of UK celebrities trapped in caravans, in a mock game show which results in large explosions. ;Competitors *

Gail Porter Gail Porter (born 23 March 1971) is a Scottish television personality, former model and actress. She started her television career in children's TV, before branching out into modelling and presenting mainstream TV. In 1999, she posed nude for ' ...

Frank Bruno Franklin Roy Bruno (born 16 November 1961) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1982 to 1996. He held the World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight title from 1995 to 1996. At regional level, he held the European heavyweight ...

Paul Daniels Newton Edward Daniels (6 April 1938 – 17 March 2016), known professionally as Paul Daniels, was an English magician and television presenter. He achieved international fame through his television series '' The Paul Daniels Magic Show'', whic ...

Debbie McGee Debra Ann McGee (born 31 October 1958) is an English television, radio and stage performer who is best known as the assistant and widow of magician Paul Daniels. McGee is a former ballet dancer and for three years was artistic director of her ...

Jayne Middlemiss Jayne Middlemiss is an English television and radio presenter. She began presenting music television shows including '' The O Zone'' and ''Top of the Pops'' in the mid-1990s, as well as other television and radio shows, including on BBC Radio 6 ...

* Wozza Thompson (

Antony Worrall Thompson Henry Antony Cardew Worrall Thompson (born 1 May 1951) is an English restaurateur and celebrity chef, television presenter and radio broadcaster. Early life Worrall Thompson was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. His parents, Michael ...

) *

Tony Blackburn Anthony Kenneth Blackburn (born 29 January 1943) is an English disc jockey, singer and television presenter, whose career spans over 60 years. Blackburn first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio Londo ...

WAGs Wag generally refers to tail wagging by dogs. Wag, Wags, WAG or WAGS may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Wag (band), a Japanese rock music group, active 1998–2006 * Wag, a character in ''Kabumpo in Oz'' (1922) * Wags the Dog, a m ...

Danielle Lloyd Danielle Lloyd (formerly O'Hara; born 16 December 1983) is an English TV host, model, businesswoman and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss England 2004 and Miss Great Britain 2006. Lloyd first rose to prominence when she was strippe ...

Abi Titmuss Abigail Evelyn Titmuss (born 8 February 1976) is an English actress, television personality, and poker player. She is also a former glamour model and nurse. Early life and education Born in Newark-on-Trent in Nottinghamshire, Titmuss grew up i ...

Keeley Hazell Keeley Rebecca Hazell (born 18 September 1986) is an English model and actress. A former Page 3 girl, she also worked with magazines such as '' FHM'', '' Loaded'', ''Nuts'' and ''Zoo Weekly''. She has made numerous television appearances and ha ...

Forged results

At least one faked result has surfaced: the alkali metal experiments. The experiment aimed to illustrate

periodic trends In chemistry, periodic trends are specific patterns present in the periodic table that illustrate different aspects of certain Chemical element, elements when grouped by period (periodic table), period and/or Group (periodic table), group. They w ...

in the

alkali metal The alkali metals consist of the chemical elements lithium (Li), sodium (Na), potassium (K),The symbols Na and K for sodium and potassium are derived from their Latin names, ''natrium'' and ''kalium''; these are still the origins of the names ...

series. It showed the violent reactions of metallic

sodium Sodium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Na (from Neo-Latin ) and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 element, group 1 of the peri ...

and

potassium Potassium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol K (from Neo-Latin ) and atomic number19. It is a silvery white metal that is soft enough to easily cut with a knife. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmospheric oxygen to ...

with water, in which the hydrogen produced subsequent explosions, and intended to demonstrate the even greater reactivity of

rubidium Rubidium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Rb and atomic number 37. It is a very soft, whitish-grey solid in the alkali metal group, similar to potassium and caesium. Rubidium is the first alkali metal in the group to have ...

and

caesium Caesium (IUPAC spelling; also spelled cesium in American English) is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cs and atomic number 55. It is a soft, silvery-golden alkali metal with a melting point of , which makes it one of only f ...

by dropping them into a water-filled bathtub. The reaction was not particularly spectacular, and the crew substituted explosives for the alkali metals. A wire connected to an offscreen

detonator A detonator is a device used to make an explosive or explosive device explode. Detonators come in a variety of types, depending on how they are initiated (chemically, mechanically, or electrically) and details of their inner working, which of ...

can be observed on the side of the bathtub filled with water for a brief moment during the caesium experiment. The ''Brainiac'' staff have admitted that the explosions had been faked. According to Tom Pringle, Brainiac's "Dr Bunhead", very little occurred in the real reaction of caesium and water, as the large volume of water over it drowned out the thermal

shock wave In physics, a shock wave (also spelled shockwave), or shock, is a type of propagating disturbance that moves faster than the local speed of sound in the medium. Like an ordinary wave, a shock wave carries energy and can propagate through a me ...

that should have shattered the bathtub. The crew decided to set up a bomb in the tub and used the footage of that explosion. Similar experiments with caesium or rubidium have been repeated; these include ''

Popular Science Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...

'' columnist

Theodore Gray Theodore W. "Theo" Gray is a co-founder of Wolfram Research, science author, and co-founder of app developer Touch Press. Education Theodore Gray was educated at the University of Illinois Laboratory High School. He would later graduate wi ...

's experiments, the "Viewer Special Threequel" episode of ''

MythBusters ''MythBusters'' is a science entertainment television series created by Peter Rees (producer), Peter Rees and produced by Beyond International in Australia. The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23, 2003. It was broadcast in ...

'', and an attempt made as part of the '' Periodic Table of Videos'' series created by

Brady Haran Brady John Haran (born 18 June 1976) is an Australian-British independent filmmaker and video journalist who produces educational videos and documentary films for his YouTube channels, the most notable being ''Computerphile'' and ''Numberph ...

and the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

. In no case were the rubidium and caesium reactions nearly as violent or explosive as depicted on ''Brainiac''. An earlier and more successful attempt was shown on British TV in the 1970s as part of the Open University programmes. Here, rubidium splatters around as soon as it hits the water's surface (with some parts sinking and creating more violent bangs). Caesium, on the other hand, does create an explosion and destroys the apparatus by shattering the glass and blowing a hole in the side of the container. This video is available online at

The Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

Music

''Brainiac: Science Abuse'' plays music in every episode, including hits by

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has sold over 150 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Cultural impact of Brit ...

, C & C Music Factory, and

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

. Some are themes of various recurring segments such as "

There's No One Quite Like Grandma "There's No One Quite Like Grandma" is a song by the Stockport-based primary school choir St Winifred's School Choir, released as a single in November 1980. It was number-one on the UK Singles Chart from 21 December 1980 to 3 January 1981. The ...

" sung by the

St Winifred's School Choir St Winifred's School Choir, from St Winifred's Roman Catholic Primary School in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, was a choir of children whose single entitled "There's No One Quite Like Grandma" in 1980 became that year's British Christma ...

for the Granny Brainiac segments in Series 3. The "I Like Hard Things" segment normally features heavy rock music such as

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Agoura Hills, California, in 1996. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn, bass ...

Limp Bizkit Limp Bizkit is an American nu metal band from Jacksonville, Florida. Its lineup consists of lead vocalist Fred Durst, drummer John Otto (drummer), John Otto, guitarist Wes Borland, turntablist DJ Lethal and bassist Sam Rivers (bassist), Sam ...

. The segment "I Can Do Science, Me" uses the track "

Scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...

" by

The Dandy Warhols The Dandy Warhols are an American psychedelic rock, psychedelic/ band, formed in Portland, Oregon, Portland, Oregon, in 1994 by singer-guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor and guitarist Peter Holmström. They were later joined by keyboardist Zia Mc ...

. Various segments over the course of the show featured music by Andrew W.K. One of the show's recurring skits featured heavy metal band

Twisted Sister Twisted Sister was an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in 1972 in Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, and later based on Long Island, New York (state), New York. Their best-known songs include "We're Not Gonna Take It (Twisted Sister song ...

's song "

You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll ''You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll'' is the second studio album by American heavy metal band Twisted Sister, released in April 1983 in the UK and on June 17, 1983 in the US. The songs "I Am (I'm Me)", "The Kids Are Back" and the album's title trac ...

" in which a stereo playing the song is destroyed in various ways to humorously demonstrate that you can in fact "stop rock 'n' roll" using the shown methods. The title music and many of the incidental tracks used in the show were composed by Grant Buckerfield.JGrantMedia.com
, J. Grant Buckerfield's website Most of the music was changed to generic

production music Production music (also known as stock music or library music) is recorded music that can be music licensing, licensed to customers for use in film, television, radio and other media. Often, the music is produced and owned by production music libra ...

for the DVD release.

Hosting timeline

Transmissions

Series

Specials

References

External links

*
brainiaclive.com
Brainiac Live {{Sky1 2003 British television series debuts 2008 British television series endings Science education television series Sky UK documentaries Television series by ITV Studios Television series produced at Pinewood Studios