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◆STEM · Television

Advice to Television Programmes

Behind the camera: checking the science, shaping the demonstration, and making sure the numbers add up.

Cartoon of eighty cyclists powering a house, from Gavin's Green Building Magazine article on the Human Power Station (reprinted with the permission of Green Building Press)

Good science television depends on a lot of quiet work off screen. Producers and researchers often need someone who can check that an explanation holds up, suggest a demonstration that will actually work on the day, or say plainly what the numbers are.

I’ve done that for a CBeebies animation about solar cells, for a Countryfile segment on recycling lithium-ion batteries, and for BBC One’s Bang Goes the Theory, where eighty cyclists powered a family home. It is one of the most enjoyable parts of my work: it puts the science where people actually meet it.

◆Expert advice

Programmes I’ve advised

2020

Adviser on lithium-ion battery recycling, BBC Countryfile (segment featuring the Faraday Institution)

Gavin advised BBC Countryfile on recycling lithium-ion batteries for a 2020 segment featuring the Faraday Institution.
2018

Script adviser, BBC CBeebies 'Do You Know?' (Series 3, Episode 4: photovoltaics animation)

Gavin advised on the script of an animation explaining how photovoltaic (solar) cells work, for 'Day and Night and Solar Panel', Series 3, Episode 4 of Maddie's Do You Know? (7 Wonder for BBC CBeebies). The episode was first broadcast on 2 May 2019.
2009

Adviser (via Electric Pedals), BBC One 'Bang Goes the Theory': Human Power Station

Gavin advised Electric Pedals, the specialists engaged to engineer the Human Power Station for a special of Bang Goes the Theory (BBC One and The Open University), in which eighty cyclists on bicycle generators powered a family home for a day. He worked on the interface between the bikes and the house. The programme was broadcast on BBC One on 3 December 2009, and Gavin wrote it up for Green Building Magazine (Winter 2009).

I wrote up the Human Power Station for Green Building Magazine (Winter 2009): Read the article →   The exhibit →

◆On screen

Programmes I’ve appeared in

2006

Extra, 'Absolute Zero: The Conquest of Cold' (documentary filmed at the Royal Institution)

Gavin appeared as an extra in Absolute Zero: The Conquest of Cold, a documentary on the history of the science of cold, filmed in 2006 in the lecture theatre of the Royal Institution, London. It was broadcast on BBC Four in 2007 and on PBS NOVA in 2008.

◆For producers and researchers

Making a programme?

If you’re working on a programme about energy, batteries, critical materials or recycling, I’m happy to help with expert advice and research for the production team, appearing on screen as a contributor, or checking a script, graphic or animation for accuracy. Please say what the programme is, who it’s for, and your filming dates.

Get in touch

Television coverage

Interviews and coverage of my research on television are in my publicity archive.

Television coverage →