Add to FavouritesAbout this Broadcast
Season 2, Episode 6
In an edition focusing on the world's smallest gadgets, Richard Ayoade visits musician Alex James at his farm to demonstrate how to swap large appliances for tiny alternatives, and creates a compact house of five interchangeable rooms, before inviting comedian Jimmy Carr for a tour. He also shows Michelin-starred chef Galton Blackiston a device that can prepare a three-course meal entirely on its own
HD
subtitles
16x9
Education/Science/Factual Topics
Technology
Cast & Crew
Richard Ayoade
(Presenter)
Alex James
(Guest)
Galton Blackiston
(Guest)
Jimmy Carr
(Guest)
John Pereira
(Director)
Dan Edwards
(Series producer)
Ricky Kelehar
(Executive producer)
More Information
Did You Know..
Richard Ayoade
(Presenter)
Best Known For:
The IT Crowd.
Early-life:
Born Richard Ellef Ayoade on June 12, 1977, in London. His mother is Norwegian, his father Nigerian, and Richard is their only child. The family left the capital when he was young and settled in Ipswich. He was interested in film from an early age, and wrote plays and sketches while still at school before landing a place at Cambridge to study law, where he met David Mitchell and joined the famous Footlights group. On leaving university he spent two years writing for TV sketch shows and attempting to become a stand-up comedian.
Career:
Ayoade's breakthrough came when he and Matthew Holness created fictional horror author Garth Merenghi; a stage show featuring the character won the Perrier Award, which was followed by the Channel 4 series Garth Merenghi's Darkplace. Ayoade went on to appear in The Mighty Boosh, Nathan Barley, Bunny and the Bull, and The IT Crowd. He made his big-screen directorial debut with the acclaimed Submarine (which he also wrote, adapting it from the novel by Joe Dunthorne), and has since directed The Double as well as numerous music videos for acts such as the Arctic Monkeys, Super Furry Animals, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Kasabian. He's was a team captain on Channel 4 panel show Was It Something I Said? and took over as host of Gadget Man from Stephen Fry.
Quote:
"I find performing very difficult. It's difficult to be a good actor. I get very nervous, even though it sounds disingenuous, because you could legitimately go, 'Well, why do it?'"
Trivia:
Here's Ayoade's tips for aspiring directors: "Try not to get depressed. You need to be healthy so don't get a cold. Get comfortable shoes because you don't sit down for two months."
Alex James
(Guest)
Born:
November 21, 1968
in
Boscombe, Bournemouth
Best Known For:
Being one quarter of Blur.
Early-life:
Born Steve Alexander James in Boscombe, Dorset, on November 21, 1968. He did well at school, gaining 13 A levels, and studied the violin at his mum's insistence. He joined his first band in his teens and harboured ambitions to be a keyboard player, but his parents bought him a bass guitar because it was cheaper. After sitting his A levels, Alex took a year out and worked on a supermarket cheese counter and as a labourer on a building site, before heading to London university Goldsmiths to study French, where he met Blur guitarist Graham Coxon.
Career:
James and Coxon dropped out of university in their second year to concentrate on the band. Blur released their first single, She's So High, in 1990, and their debut album Leisure charted at a respectable number seven. However, it was the release of their third album, Parklife, in 1994 that transformed the band into a household name. The following year, they got drawn into a high-profile chart battle with Oasis, which they won, but following the hype, Blur changed musical direction. Coxon parted company with the band in 2002 ahead of their seventh album Think Tank, but the original line-up reunited for a string of concerts in 2009. Blur also performed a headline show at Hyde Park for the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, as well as a handful of festival dates in 2013.
Quote:
''All the good things about being in a band - boozing and being stupid - I don't want to do those any more.'
Trivia:
Away from music, James has penned his autobiography, written articles for various newspapers, worked as a radio and TV presenter, and produced his own cheese.
Galton Blackiston
(Guest)
Jimmy Carr
(Guest)
Born:
September 15, 1972
in
Slough
Best Known For:
His stand-up comedy
Early-life:
James Anthony Patrick Carr was born in Slough on September 15, 1972, one of three sons of Irish immigrants. His parents split in 1994, though the marriage didn't end until the death of his mother in 2001. Jimmy did well at school and studied political science at Cambridge before moving into advertising. He landed a job in the marketing department of Shell Oil, but felt unfulfilled. When the company offered him voluntary redundancy, he took it, and decided to pursue a career in comedy.
Career:
Carr began performing on the stand-up circuit, doing up to 300 shows a year for three years, before taking his act to the Edinburgh festival in 2002. This brought him to the attention of TV bosses, and before long he was presenting series such as Your Face or Mine and Distraction. Since then, he's rarely been off TVscreens, hosting the first run of the Friday Night Project, 8 Out of 10 Cats and numerous Channel 4 list shows. He's also made a move into acting, appearing in Alien Autopsy, Confetti, Stormbreaker and Telstar. He is one of Britain's busiest comics and his DVDs are big sellers.
Quote:
'I'm not being condescending, I'm too busy thinking about far more important things you wouldn't understand.'
Trivia:
In February 2007, Carr was the first major comedian to perform in the virtual reality world Second Life.
John Pereira
(Director)
Dan Edwards
(Series producer)
Ricky Kelehar
(Executive producer)
