Look Around You
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Look Around You is a BBC television comedy series devised and written by Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz, and, in the first series only, narrated by Nigel Lambert. The first series of eight 10-minute shorts was shown in 2002, and the second series of six 30-minute episodes in 2005.
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Series 1
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In the first series, the episodes were a satire/homage of 1970s and early 1980s educational videos and schools programmes, with various subjects being discussed. Each episode began with a realistic "countdown clock", as used on BBC Schools programmes of the 1960s and 70s.
The subjects were, in order of transmission:
The subjects were distorted beyond recognition, for instance, germs were described as coming from Germany. The general format of an episode would be an introduction to the subject, followed by a series of silly experiments performed by the hapless (and normally mute) scientists, played by Popper, Serafinowicz and Edgar Wright, among others. At the end, the narrator would explain what the programme would be about next week, but none of these subjects were ever covered.
The series was commissioned off the back of a short film (twice the length of an episode in the first series but otherwise identical) about calcium; this is included on the DVD release of series 1 as an "advanced double-length module".
The DVD extras also include a music video for the song "Little Mouse" (as featured in the module on music), a selection of mock-Ceefax pages, and a creator's commentary. The joke is taken even further by presenting the DVD subtitles in exactly the same format as those broadcast via teletext.
Nori
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During the commentary for the module on 'Iron' in the DVD of the BBC television show Look Around You, the track is repeatedly interrupted by someone exclaiming "Nori!". One can only assume that this is one of the creators of the show yelling 'Iron' backwards.
This exclaimation has since become endemic amongst the students at colleges in which this phrase has taken hold, schools of technology in particular.
Series 2
The second series was composed of six 30-minute episodes and was presented in the pop-science vein of programmes such as How? and Tomorrow's World. Running from 31 January to 7 March 2005 on BBC Two at 10pm, Series 2 comprised the following episodes:
To reinforce the show's retro look, each episode's opening continuity announcement played over the 2-dimensional BBC2 logo from 1979-1986 and the programme was broadcast in the 4:3 "Academy" aspect ratio which was commonplace in TV programmes in the early 80s. This was clearly a deliberate stylistic choice as most, if not all, BBC programmes are now broadcast in 16:9 widescreen).
The second series differed from the first series in that there was dialogue between the four presenters and their guests, leaving behind both the narrated style of the first series and the anonymity given to the scientists. Popper and Serafinowicz starred as presenters Jack Morgan (the artist responsible for the song 'Little Mouse' as featured in the first series) and Peter Packard respectively, alongside the two new female presenters, Pam Bachelor and Pealy Maghti, played by Olivia Colman and Josie D'Arby. There was also a measure of continuity throughout this series, as each week inventors (played by a number of UK comic actors) showcased their new products, culminating in the live final programme where a winning invention was chosen, supposedly by "HRH Sir Prince Charles of Wales".
External links
- BBC Look Around You site (http://www.bbc.co.uk/lookaroundyou)
- Series 2 episode synopses (http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2005/01_january/11/look_synopses.shtml)
- Look Around You fan group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lookaroundyou/)