Bang Goes the Theory

Did You Know?

• Musician John Boswell created a song using clips from the show and website, featuring pitch-correction software over original music, used at the end of Bang LIVE roadshows.
• A DVD set containing the first two series was issued in 2010; a second set with Series 3 and 4 was issued in November 2011; no subsequent series were released on DVD.

Production

The BBC and the Open University teamed up for this series, announced in June 2009 and ordered by BBC One controller Jay Hunt for ten half-hour episodes. Its goal was to test scientific theories and show how science influences everyday life. Hunt said the show would bring popular science back to the centre of BBC One, drawing a comparison to the long-running series Tomorrow's World, which aired from 1965 to 2003 before being cancelled due to low ratings. Series editor Dermot Caulfield also linked the two programmes. The academic leads were Dr. Stephen Serjeant, a cosmology reader at the OU, and Dr. Ian Johnston, an OU engineering lecturer, covering fields like geology, astrophysics, neuropsychology, and zoology. The studio segments were first filmed in a building at RAE Bedford in Bedfordshire that once held supersonic wind tunnel fans and served as a test site for the first Harrier jump jet prototype. Later, filming moved to the old linear accelerator building on the University of Sussex campus near Brighton, where presenter Jem Stansfield kept his workshop. From series six, which began in March 2012, no studio was used, and linking parts were shot on location. To encourage hands-on science, BBC Learning organised free events across the UK tied to the show. Over its run, the programme evolved from an educational entertainment format mixing short films, street science demonstrations mainly by Yan Wong, and stunts mostly by Jem Stansfield, into a current affairs-style show. In series six, each episode focused on one theme, the studio was dropped, guest presenters appeared (including Maggie Philbin, who later became a regular), and Stansfield's stunts were ended, with his pedal-powered flying machine attempt across two episodes being the final one.

Episodes

The programme launched with ten episodes in its first series, ending with a promise to return in March 2010, and carried the tagline "Putting science to the test" through its third series. Series two followed with eight episodes plus a one-hour special beginning on 15 March 2010, and was available on BBC HD. The third series, airing from 8 September 2010, had six episodes and also aired on BBC HD. The fourth series kicked off with an hour-long special on 10 March 2011, again on BBC HD, and adopted the slogan "Revealing your world with a bang" until the fifth series; a Japan Earthquake special episode used the phrase "Revealing your world through science". Series five started on 15 August 2011 on BBC One and BBC One HD. The sixth series premiered on 12 March 2012 on BBC One and BBC One HD in England and Scotland, with a day-lag broadcast on BBC Two in Northern Ireland and Wales. Series seven began on 4 March 2013 on BBC One and BBC One HD in England, simultaneously on BBC Two in Scotland, and a day later on BBC Two in Northern Ireland and Wales. The eighth and final series launched on 10 March 2014 on BBC One and BBC One HD in England and Scotland. Jem Stansfield missed episodes 4, 6, 7, and 8 but remained credited as "Engineering consultant"; guest hosts Sir Terry Wogan, Charlie Dimmock, and Dr. Chris van Tulleken filled in for him.

Controversy

The BBC Trust's Ethical Standards Committee ruled that series 5, episode 8, which focused on nuclear power, was "not accurate" and "misleading." This decision followed a complaint from 50 signatories, including MPs and nuclear specialists. On 1 October 2021, former presenter Jem Stansfield received £1.6 million in damages for pain and lost income after being injured in 2013 while serving as a human crash-test dummy. The judge remarked it was "astonishing that anyone thought that this exercise was a sensible idea," adding that someone with Stansfield's intelligence and scientific background might have understood the risk.