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| Ex-Python Eric Idle and Brian Cox to take on The Entire Universe for the BBC | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Former Monty Python star Eric Idle will star alongside Professor Brian Cox, Warwick Davis and Noel Fielding in a BBC Christmas special “depicting the birth of the entire universe”. | Former Monty Python star Eric Idle will star alongside Professor Brian Cox, Warwick Davis and Noel Fielding in a BBC Christmas special “depicting the birth of the entire universe”. |
| Written by Idle, the one-hour show will feature the return of Rutland Weekend Television, the haphazard station depicted in Idle’s sketch show of the same name during the 1970s. | Written by Idle, the one-hour show will feature the return of Rutland Weekend Television, the haphazard station depicted in Idle’s sketch show of the same name during the 1970s. |
| Filmed in front of a live studio audience, The Entire Universe will feature an “explosion of comedy, music and dance” and will air on BBC2. | Filmed in front of a live studio audience, The Entire Universe will feature an “explosion of comedy, music and dance” and will air on BBC2. |
| Davis plays The Big Bang and comedian Fielding is Einstein, while Game of Thrones actor Hannah Waddingham tackles time, and Robin Ince attempts to keep order. | Davis plays The Big Bang and comedian Fielding is Einstein, while Game of Thrones actor Hannah Waddingham tackles time, and Robin Ince attempts to keep order. |
| Idle has written songs for the Christmas special, which will be choreographed by Arlene Phillips and combine “fascinating facts about the birth of the universe with larger-than-life comedy characters”. | Idle has written songs for the Christmas special, which will be choreographed by Arlene Phillips and combine “fascinating facts about the birth of the universe with larger-than-life comedy characters”. |
| Cox finds himself in a major musical at Rutland Weekend Television, after thinking he is booked to give a lecture. | Cox finds himself in a major musical at Rutland Weekend Television, after thinking he is booked to give a lecture. |
| Idle said: “I am very pleased that Rutland Weekend Television is back on BBC TV with a Christmas special only 41 years after its last one. The world’s smallest TV station takes on the world’s largest subject: the entire universe.” | Idle said: “I am very pleased that Rutland Weekend Television is back on BBC TV with a Christmas special only 41 years after its last one. The world’s smallest TV station takes on the world’s largest subject: the entire universe.” |
| He added: “It’s fitting that 41 years after Rutland Weekend Television produced a Christmas special with [ex-Beatle] George Harrison, it is back with the Beatle of science, Brian Cox. | He added: “It’s fitting that 41 years after Rutland Weekend Television produced a Christmas special with [ex-Beatle] George Harrison, it is back with the Beatle of science, Brian Cox. |
| “No doubt what Rutland did for TV in the 70s it will now do for science – and set it back 40 years.” | “No doubt what Rutland did for TV in the 70s it will now do for science – and set it back 40 years.” |
| Cox joked: “I’ve made many television documentaries over the years, and a constant complaint has been that the music is too loud and obscures the science. | Cox joked: “I’ve made many television documentaries over the years, and a constant complaint has been that the music is too loud and obscures the science. |
| “This undermines my credibility as a serious scientist. I expect The Entire Universe to be the final nail in the coffin.” | “This undermines my credibility as a serious scientist. I expect The Entire Universe to be the final nail in the coffin.” |