James May's Man Lab - Episode Guide

The first of a new series that sees James May on a mission to save modern man - from themselves. From his Man Lab HQ, James and his team set out on a series of action-packed challenges that will help modern man relearn some of the vital skills, once cherished by his forefathers, that are now in danger of being lost forever.

In this episode, we learn how to defuse an unexploded bomb, build a kitchen out of concrete, how to serenade a woman, transform a fishfinger sandwich, and create the world's first motorised picnic table.

James May is on a mission to save modern men - from themselves. From his Man Lab HQ, James and his team set out on a series of action-packed challenges that will help modern man relearn some of the vital skills, once cherished by his forefathers, that are now in danger of being lost forever.

Learn how to navigate the high seas the old-fashioned way - instead of SatNav, James must avoid sand banks and shipping lanes using only a compass and a dog as navigational tools. Then James passes up on touchy-feely dispute resolution and turns to the honourable art of duelling - as he engages in pistols at dawn after an argument over a parking space.

Any true man should be able to play an instrument, and James draws together an orchestra entirely made up of 'Grade One-ers' - men who made it past that first exam in childhood but haven't played since - until now, as the traumatic sounds of the auditions will attest.

And back in the Man Lab, James and the team buck the decline of a national institution by building a new pub, and they also come up with possibly the world's greatest invention - a toilet paper alarm so you'll never be caught short again.

And in Celebrity Man Skills, John Sergeant tries to beat his personal best time... for changing a tyre.

James May is on a mission to save modern men - from themselves. From his Man Lab HQ, James and his team set out on a series of action-packed challenges that will help modern man relearn some of the vital skills, once cherished by his forefathers, that are now in danger of being lost forever.

In the final episode of the current series, a sky rocket that would make NASA proud is built, and two blokes settle an unresolved 25-year-old dispute with a sabre duel. Celebrity Man Task sees Comedian Hugh Dennis attempt to beat his personal best for wallpapering against the clock.

The Grade Oners, the Man Lab orchestra made up entirely of lapsed Grade One standard musicians, face their sternest test with a debut concert at top venue St Martins in the Field, while James attempts to top the previous invention of the week with a new weapon designed to defeat man's mortal enemy - the wasp.

James applies cutting-edge technology to help a lovelorn bloke on a first date and back in the Man Lab, the team attempt to build the Man Lab Odeon, complete with popcorn and a Wurlitzer organ, in time for the world premiere of James's directorial debut feature The Plumber Comes.

James May returns for another action-packed series, as he continues his epic quest to re-skill the modern male.

A handcuffed James and Oz Clarke break out of Dartmoor prison and must navigate their way across the treacherous moors, with a team of trackers in hot pursuit and just an Ordnance Survey map and a compass to help them. James also builds a genuine slate-bed pool table, turns his hand to portrait painting and squares up to one of the most terrifying scenarios the modern male can face: how to remember people's names at a party.

This programme sees James and the team reunite a teenage rock band, now middle-aged, and gets them to play their first concert in 20 years - in front of 5,000 unsuspecting festival goers. James also demonstrates his own axe skills as he fells a tree, makes toilet paper out of Richard Hammond's autobiography and learns how to tame his fears by going on a good old-fashioned ghost hunt in one of Britain's most haunted castles.

James May takes to the catwalk to liberate men from the tyranny of fashion and promote the one item of clothing they'll ever need - a cunningly modified boiler suit.

He also does his bit for the British space project by sending the ashes of a cat and a budgie 100,000 feet into the stratosphere, re-forms some impractical kitchen items into the perfect lemon squeezer in his very own foundry, and teaches Man Lab's musically-challenged males how to cheat at playing the guitar.

James May attempts to prove the impossible - that an Englishman can take a penalty and score. He will need to keep a cool head as he'll be taking the penalty in front of 20,000 baying German fans on the exactspot where England were knocked out of the 2006 World Cup.

Plus, James reinstates an ancient ferry crossing by building a boat from little more than bendy sticks, creates an indoor garden in the ultimate brown field site - the toilet, and builds the world's first multi-functional Swiss Army Bike.

James May continues his epic quest to re-skill the modern male. In the opening episode James enlists the help of a memory champion as he prepares to commentate live on one of the toughest sporting events ofthem all - the Grand National.

Back in the Man Lab, rather than order in some takeaway, James builds a one tonne pizza oven from scratch. Meanwhile his helpless sidekick Rory is set the challenge of convincing a group of experts that he is the BBC's newest wine expert, with James and Oz Clark offering help via an earpiece from a van parked outside.

James and the team set off chasing storms across the country as they attempt to take on the wrath of Mother Nature and actually catch a bolt of lightning.

Also in the show, James finally thinks he has found a sport he can compete in when he enters the Rock Paper Scissors World Championships. He also attempts to bring down Britain's crime figures by creating a neighbourhood watch team made up entirely of cats and there's still time for James to make a bar of soap for Sim's filthy and neglected hands which involves some dangerous chemistry and a trip to the local Welsh coal mine.

James travels to an Oxfordshire town where a royal tradition desperately needs his help. Can he find a way of feeding thousands of locals to save their diamond jubilee celebration using ballistics and hotcrossed buns?

Man Lab also tests once and for all whether it is possible to make your own luck by beating the odds. To put it to the test, James challenges Sim to the most dramatic drinking game you will ever see.

All this and there is still time for James and the team to build a water clock and create a coat that doubles up as a bed.

James digs up half of the South Coast to try and find the wedding ring his father lost on a family holiday forty years ago.

Man Lab sets sail and goes live with its very own pirate radio station. Meanwhile back at headquarters, James and Sim solve the time old problem of how to deal with junk mail using a model railway and some precision engineering. This time the invention of the week is an ingenious device that guarantees you will never spill a pint ever again.

James May attempts Man Lab's most secretive and risky stunt to date, which involves an ailing seaside town and a great big monster.

Also, James challenges his hapless sidekick Rory to the unenviable task of running a whelk stall, a new type of table football is invented for every England fan, and a cup of tea will never be wasted again with the amazing Cup of Tea Alarm.

In this Christmas special James and the team try to create their own Christmas miracle, by making it snow. Oz Clarke is dispatched in a small plane armed with a salt shaker to see if cloud seeding really will produce the desired effect.

Back in the Man Lab, James invents a Christmas tree decorating blunderbuss gun, he discovers the easiest way to wrap presents and he attempts to transform the tired Christmas cracker by making his own with shocking results. Along with a military planned Christmas dinner preparation campaign, this is the one Christmas show no man can afford to miss.