Investment in this area by the BBC has been shown to deliver good quality that can be sold around the world, writes DICK AHLSTROM
IT IS ABOUT time we had a Brian Cox or a David Attenborough or a Susan Greenfield of our own, a scientist/television presenter who can make science compelling. Certainly they make science accessible, but more importantly they make it interesting. When was the last time you flipped on a science programme by accident and then couldn’t switch it off? Probably at the end of last month when the BBC ran the last of Brian Cox’s Wonders of the Universe programmes. My office is not overrun with people wanting to discuss the latest scientific breakthroughs or debate theories on black holes or gravity waves, yet many commented on being impressed with the shows and of looking forward to seeing them.
Cox has proven highly successful as a presenter of complex science that – once transmogrified through exciting video, graphics and presentation skills – becomes understandable, or at the very least entertaining. Gravity keeps your bum on a seat because it is a force of nature but explaining what it is, how it works and what we don’t understand about it hardly seems like something to keep you stuck to a television screen. And yet here were work colleagues talking about heavy elements and photons and the meaning of time.
David Attenborough is also a wonderful television presenter and over the decades we have watched him explain evolution, describe complex animal behaviour and make us all interested in snakes, slugs and countless obscure species. True he is dealing with one of the more accessible sciences – natural history – and one that a general viewer can readily watch and enjoy. Yet as seen in Wonders of the Universe, what draws you in is the quality of the visuals allied to the accomplished presentation style with production standards of the highest quality possible.
Susan Greenfield is another highly successful presenter of science. Some years ago she fronted a six-part series called Brain Story that delved into neurological science. She talked about how the brain works and how we think. The Oxford professor is an expert in neuropsychology and viewers were treated to an overview of the related science. Of course the subject matter under discussion was not from the great outdoors, as for Cox and for Attenborough, but rather the great indoors. We always enjoy programming that is personally meaningful and it doesn’t get much more personal that one’s own brain.
British television delivers a regular supply of high-quality science programming. It is an expensive undertaking, having to send off a film crew plus presenter on around-the-world jaunts to collect film clips from the tops of mountains, the darkest jungles and from beneath the oceans. There is no point just describing these things to the viewer: the audience has to see what is being discussed. The BBC could have run stock film of gorillas in the jungle, but it all became much more real when we saw David Attenborough sitting not two metres away from the great apes.
I am sure that Ireland has its own share of scientists who could deliver similar service as engaging presenters. We are unlikely to see any of these high-quality programmes emerging in the near future however. Our own broadcasters don’t tend to invest in big-budget science programming due to their high cost. The state of the national finances has forced cutbacks at RTÉ and reduced resources are unlikely to encourage the company to delve into home-produced science programming.
And yet look at the undoubted success of this kind of television in Britain. Investment in the area has been shown to deliver good quality entertainment that then can be sold around the world. This delivers a revenue stream that over time defrays the initial costs. Then there is the impact on viewers. Picture a child watching the screen intrigued as a team of bolt-upright meerkats scour the savannah for threats as their peers feed nearby. Will this encounter with “science” spark an interest that will carry through to the Leaving or to third level? Who can say, but clearly people of all ages enjoy these programmes.
If our broadcasters are slow to deliver these programmes who then will step in and do it? It could fall to Discover Science and Engineering, the Government’s science promotions body. It runs a number of schemes meant to attract students of all ages to the sciences. It is the organising body behind Science Week Ireland, promotes careers in the sciences, runs Discover Primary Science for younger pupils, and other outreach programmes.
Its total budget, however, is €1.9 million, barely enough for what it does let alone diverting funds into costly television programming. It would take a major commitment either by Government or some private sector sponsor to pick up this challenge and produce the kinds of science programmes that could help to build Ireland’s reputation as a place known for the quality of its scientific research.
