Monkman and Seagull - Episode Guide

Their 'genius guide' to England showcases an assortment of remarkable inventions. It begins with a trip to Blackpool Pleasure Beach to experience Sir Hiram Maxim's 1904 Captive Flying Machines. The oldest amusement ride in Europe, these miniature rocket-shaped aeroplanes were designed by the eccentric inventor who created the first portable machine gun - but whose ultimate goal was to achieve powered flight. A vertiginous spin on this historic ride gives Monkman the perfect opportunity to describe in detail the theory of centrifugal force.

This second episode - their 'genius guide' to Wales - has a strong industrial engineering flavour.

Monkman and Seagull begin by sailing across the highest navigable aqueduct in the world - Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. Designed by Thomas Telford and completed in 1805, this pioneering piece of engineering was built to carry raw materials over a vast ravine into England during the industrial revolution.

Their "genius guide" to Northern Ireland celebrates some of the most significant and iconic transportation breakthroughs of the last century. It begins with an encounter with a piece of aviation history that has saved thousands of lives – the ejector seat, designed in Northern Ireland - and ends in Belfast on the deck of ‘Titanic's Little Sister', with a host of inquisitive encounters along the way.

The series concludes with a whistle-stop tour of some of Scotland's most enigmatic scientific achievements. Their journey begins in Edinburgh at the birthplace of a little-known scientist who changed the face of history, and ends at gigantic power station buried deep within a Highland mountain.

Eric Monkman and Bobby Seagull travel around Britain as they explore their favourite scientific breakthroughs, beginning with the 18th-century inventions that kick-started the Industrial Revolution and transformed scientific understanding. They head to Derbyshire to investigate Richard Arkwright's water frame - a spinning machine that allowed cotton textiles to be mass-produced, and then examine James Watt's separate condenser, an unassuming invention that would be the biggest single improvement ever made to the steam engine.

Eric Monkman and Bobby Seagull continues their travels around Britain, this time seeking out the birthplaces of the inventions that fuelled the nation's industrial infrastructure. Their first stop is the Royal Institution in London, where they examine how the Davy lamp saved the lives of thousands of coal miners, then pay a visit to the preserved laboratory of Michael Faraday, another of their scientific heroes, whose research on electricity paved the way for its application as a ubiquitous energy supply.

Eric Monkman and Bobby Seagull explore their favourite inventions and scientific breakthroughs from the years between 1850 and 1900, beginning at Crossness Pumping Station in south-east London, which was part of the redevelopment of London's sewerage system. They then head to London Zoo, where they get their hands on a first edition of Charles Darwin's masterwork On the Origin of Species.