The Body of Coppens

Watch Mr. Wizard was an American television program for children that demonstrated the science behind ordinary things. The show's creator and on-air host was Don Herbert. Marcel LaFollette said of the program, "It enjoyed consistent praise, awards, and high ratings throughout its history. At its peak, Watch Mr. Wizard drew audiences in the millions, but its impact was far wider. By 1956, it had prompted the establishment of more than five thousand Mr. Wizard science clubs, with an estimated membership greater than one hundred thousand." It was briefly revived in 1971, and then in the 1980s was a program on the Nickelodeon children's television network as Mr. Wizard's World.

Tales of the Unexpected is a new strand of provocative, confronting and thoroughly entertaining science documentaries. Each episode reveals a fascinating, sometimes awkward, and frequently unsettling world where peculiar ideas are put to the test. Come with us to where nothing is quite as it seems, where diseases are diagnosed by palm-readers, where paternity uncertainty drives the mating game, and where breasts are a toxic health hazard.

Stephen Hawking’s Science of the Future investigates the very latest game changing innovations. Each episode takes one area of progress and sends five top scientists out to actively test the inventions and breakthroughs that are driving it. The team explore human upgrades, the virtual world, bio-mimicry, high-tech emergency responses, and more. Featuring a wide range of examples, from advanced robotics and breathtaking digital actors, to cutting edge smart homes and electronic brain stimulation, the series reveals how science is delivering astonishing improvements to all our lives. Using the evidence they gather, the team reveals the year when each innovation will be rolled out for us all to benefit from, and Hawking then draws out his own uniquely insightful predictions about what our world will be like in the years to come.