| Genre | Radio sitcom |
|---|---|
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station | BBC Radio 4 |
| Starring | Ben Willbond (Colin) Justin Edwards (Kenneth) Raza Jaffrey (Danny, Anish) Rebecca Front (Alison) Margaret Cabourn-Smith (Donna) |
| Written by | Ben Willbond, Justin Edwards |
| Produced by | Adam Bromley |
| Original release | 14 May – 18 June 2008 |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 6 |
| Website | Radio 4 |
Double Science is a British sitcom on BBC Radio 4. It follows Colin Jackson ("no relation") and Kenneth Farley-Pittman, two chemistry teachers existing in a work-life balance haven at the fictional Forresters Sixth Form College. [1] As the college specialises in drama, the science department has long languished in happy obscurity, but the recent death of the old department head and the arrival of new head Dr Alison Hatton threatens to wake the pair from their real ale fuelled malaise.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country located off the northwestern coast of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state, the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south and the Celtic Sea to the south-west, giving it the 12th-longest coastline in the world. The Irish Sea separates Great Britain and Ireland. The United Kingdom's 242,500 square kilometres (93,600 sq mi) were home to an estimated 66.0 million inhabitants in 2017.
A sitcom, clipping for situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use new characters in each sketch, and stand-up comedy, where a comedian tells jokes and stories to an audience. Sitcoms originated in radio, but today are found mostly on television as one of its dominant narrative forms. This form can also include mockumentaries.
BBC Radio 4 is a radio station owned and operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation, broadcasting a wide variety of spoken-word programmes including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is Gwyneth Williams, and the station is part of BBC Radio and the BBC Radio department. The station is broadcast from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasting House, London. On 21 January 2019 Williams announced she was quitting the role. There are no details of when or who will be her replacement.
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Colin and Kenneth's lives are insular revolving around the local Indian restaurant and their weekly "film club" night. Colin is socially awkward, using out-dated slang and wears shorts and sandals all year round. Following a messy divorce from his wife, Kenneth lives on the quiet in the science block's toilets, where he also brews his own ale; he has a habit of not wearing his trousers, and some of his character traits - including the choices for the weekly film club - suggest he may be a not-so-closeted homosexual. Colin's social awkwardness and gaucheness is tested by the attraction he feels towards his new boss and competition for her attention from the right-on drama teacher Danny Woods. Alison is far more assertive than Colin and Kenneth, trying to drag the science department up to date, but at times can be naive and easily persuaded, herself suffering from some social awkwardness. Danny, whilst fairly successful in his role in the drama department and fancying himself as a ladies' man, is over-confident and his own brashness often leads to his own downfall, particularly regarding Alison.
Closeted and in the closet are adjectives for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, LGBT people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior. It can also be used to describe anyone who is hiding part of their identity because of social pressure.
Willbond and Edwards developed their characters from earlier, sketchier incarnations of the pair they had performed, partly improvised, at various comedy festivals. The curry night element which plays a part in each episode, was also developed from another previous sketch Edwards had performed in, about a group of businessmen who were obsessed with going for a curry and "the hotter the better", again at various comedy gigs.
The planned second series was put on hold when a television version for BBC Two was considered. The script for a revised version of the original radio pilot was written, with some differences and alterations, for the pilot of the proposed television version, but the series was never commissioned; the planned second series of the radio version never emerged.
BBC Two is the second flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tends to broadcast more "highbrow" programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio channels, it is funded by the television licence, and is therefore free of commercial advertising. It is a comparatively well-funded public-service network, regularly attaining a much higher audience share than most public-service networks worldwide.
