In Praise of the BBC and it's Education Mission

Or: I love Stargazing Live and I'm not too proud to admit it.

One of the things the BBC does best is Educate. More so than the other 2 legs of it's charter (Inform - news - and Entertain - everything else), it's really the only organisation in the country that has the freedom to do so. 

Nowhere does it demonstrate this better than the annual StarGazing Live extravaganza which normally runs over 3 nights in January. Over the last 5 or so years, they've managed to use this show to bring Astronomy and all things Space to the public in a way that's clearly a success. That's demonstrated ably by this year's Special Guest Victim, comedian John Bishop who's spent the last 3 nights being flung around in centrifuges, undergoing (voluntary!) hypoxia and conducting simulated EVAs in ESA's training tank, all in the name of showing the sorts of things Astronauts have to do for training. On the first night he admitted he'd not been particularly interested in the stars until he'd sat down with his kids to watch Stargazing a few years back; the moment of heartwarming when he gave a shout-out to Tim O'Brian for giving his wife advice on what telescope to get him for his birthday shows exactly the sort of atmosphere we're dealing with: a bunch of nice, relatable, smart people doing their best to present on topics they've got an interest and passion for, for the benefit of the nation.

From poor old Prof. Lucie Green, forever stuck in a muddy field doing her best to let us know what we could see in the night sky if only it wasn't raining again, to Liz Bonin who does an excellent job both in explaining whatever torture John Bishop's going though and acting as the nation's worried Mum for his health throughout it, to the aforementioned Tim O'Brian, the genial, knowledgable and very tolerant host of the event as director of Jodrell Bank, to the two presenters - Professor Brian Cox, the nation's National Treasure scientist and his "straight man" Dara O'Briain, forever tasked with the job of keeping things on-track for the 60 minutes. There isn't a single one of them who doesn't communicate their excitement, enthusiasm and knowledge and make the show work.

But a special mention must be made for Chris Lintott, the whole Sky at Night team (who very clearly support and back-up the production), and the Universe Zoo project which has absolutely and rightly latched-on to the interest in the show to achieve wonders of crowd-sourced science every year. Starting with a proper leap-in-the-dark (again: who else but the BBC could support this?) on the first series, the success and engagement shown by the general public has challenged them to come up with new and interesting projects to showcase every year, a sign that they're really hitting their stride with this has been that there's actual published scientific papers now flowing out on a regular basis. I repeat: A prime-time live show on a public channel has a side-effect of generating real scientific discoveries. And the joy shown on their faces when they can announce the findings (this year: a Pulsar discovered "somewhere in Cygnus" that's showing evidence of orbiting something close by) can't be beaten. Getting (one) of the families who'd done the work to find it in the data on Skype in the background to show their excitement over what they found (and name the Pulsar after their Guinea Pig pets) was also a masterclass in making science relevant and interesting.

And we must not ignore the guests. From (relatively!) obscure scientists, to probe mission leads, to interested amateur celebrities, through to veteran and current Astronauts, the guests have been superbly chosen to compliment and extend the show. Nowhere is this better shown than in the companion "Back to Earth" programme shown immediately after the main show which takes a less structured "fireside chat" approach to extending on the night's topics. 

A defining moment of the programme was (I think) in the second year when, having secured a veteran Apollo Astronaut (Walter Cunningham), current superstar Astronaut Chris Hadfield, and grand dame of the outer planets Carolyn Porco, the producers wisely ditched the "filler" entertainment pieces (questions from K9 as I recall) to give more time to the three guests. How rare, how delightful, how enlightened of the production team to re-plan, live, to get the most out of the opportunity. It's an attitude they've carried on with and it's marvellous. This year they've gone all-out, adding (with little prior warning) a 4th show tonight with Chris Hadfield to talk through Tim Peake's spacewalk and I have to say I can't wait. 

So: If you want to know what a "socialist", nationalised, publicly-funded broadcasting organisation can do that commercial entities can't? Look no further. Having the ability to go all-in on a niche scientific subject, put huge commitment and resources into it, and make it a stunning success.

Now if you'll excuse me I must go find a livestream for NASA TV to watch this spacewalk...