BBC science programming to include several Scots’ contributions

THE Scots academic, Dr George McGavin, is to present a two-part anatomy series as part of a raft of science programmes to be broadcast on BBC Two and BBC Four.

And the series, Dissected – the first programme about the hand, the other about the foot – is not the only Scots’ contribution to the BBC’s upcoming science output.

BBC Scotland is also to co-partner in a drama about the invention of radar, while BBC Scotland-based executive, Marcus Herbert, is to oversee two programmes, each made by independent TV production companies: one about hormones, the other about animals’ sleeping habits.

It’s an in-house team at BBC Scotland that is making Dissected, to be executive produced by Jacqueline Smith and series produced by Paul Overton, who are both based at BBC Scotland’s Pacific Quay headquarters as part of the UK-wide BBC Science department.

Meanwhile, Castles in the Sky is, says the BBC, “a factual drama for network BBC Two, telling the previously untold and remarkable story of the fight to invent radar by Scotsman, Robert Watson Watt – played by Eddie Izzard – and a team of British scientists”. It has been filmed around Edinburgh with a cast that includes Scots, David Hayman and Laura Fraser.

Continues the BBC: “Marcus Herbert is the BBC commissioning editor for Hormones, a one-off made by Furnace, which look at the crucial role of hormones as part of the BBC Four human body season. Herbert – the man behind BBC Scotland’s award-winning Afterlife (which looked at decay) and the innovative Planet Ant – is also the BBC commissioning editor for Sleepover At The Zoo, which tracks animals’ sleeping habits. It is being made by Icon Films.”