Monkman & Seagull's Genius Guide to Britain

Monkman & Seagull's Genius Guide to Britain is a BBC documentary series presented by Eric Monkman and Bobby Seagull, a duo who met as rivals on the quiz programme University Challenge and became friends, coauthors and radio-show co-hosts. The show is a road trip around the United Kingdom and focuses on British scientific and technological ingenuity and has a voiceover supplied by Simon Callow.

Monkman & Seagull's Genius Guide to Britain
Genre	Road trip
Directed by	Samuel Palmer
Presented by	Bobby Seagull, Eric Monkman
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	4
Production
Executive producers	Simon Dickson, Lorraine Charker-Phillips
Producer	Merle Currie
Production company	Label1 Television Ltd
Original release
Network	BBC 2
Release	17 September (2018-09-17) – 8 October 2018 (2018-10-08)
Related
Monkman & Seagull’s Genius Adventures

The show aired in September and October 2018 and was recommissioned for a second series which became a new series Monkman & Seagull’s Genius Adventures, which was broadcast in three 60 minute episodes in May 2020.^[1]

Episodes

No.	Title [2]	Directed by [2]	Original release date [3]	UK viewers (millions) [4]
1	"England"	Samuel Palmer	17 September 2018 (2018-09-17)	1.81
Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Sir Hiram Maxim's 1904 Captive Flying Machines, the oldest amusement ride in Europe. British Lawnmower Museum, Southport. Emley Moor transmitting station, Huddersfield The smallest museum in the world, in Warley Town, West Yorkshire. Jodrell Bank Observatory, Macclesfield
2	"Wales"	Samuel Palmer	24 September 2018 (2018-09-24)	1.58
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct the highest navigable aqueduct in the world. Gladstone's Library, Hawarden. Mount Snowdon quarry hospital in Llanberis. Snowdon Mountain Railway.
3	"Northern Ireland"	Samuel Palmer	1 October 2018 (2018-10-01)	N/A (<1.59)[a]
The development of the ejector seat by Martin-Baker The Grub ten-inch refracting telescope at the Armagh Observatory Headhunters Barber Shop & Railway Museum, Enniskillen Belfast Harbour, 'Titanic's little sister' - the SS Nomadic DMC DeLorean motor car
4	"Scotland"	Samuel Palmer	8 October 2018 (2018-10-08)	N/A (<1.69)[a]
James Clerk Maxwell and his theory of electromagnetism. Deep-fried Mars bar Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery and Lord Kelvin Loch Lomond and the science of stone skimming. Inveraray Jail, an authentically preserved 19th-century jail. Cruachan hydroelectric power station on and in Ben Cruachan.

Reception

Sarah Hughes in i called the series "entertaining, eccentric, and well-informed" and praised the pair's unforced eccentricity and natural rapport.^[5]

Rebecca Nicholson in The Guardian also praised the warmth and appeal of their friendship but said that the show felt a bit "skittish" by not staying at locations for long enough.^[6]

In The Evening Standard, Katie Law said there was insufficient chemistry between them and that none of their observations is especially nuanced or perceptive.^[7]

Notes

1. Not reported in the weekly top 15 programmes for four-screen viewer ratings.