Wonders of the Universe
BBC2, Destiny 1/4, series 1
9:00pm - 10:00pm Sunday 06 March Brian Cox sits in the Namibian desert and explains entropy. Nobody else would do this, but this is TV's Professor Stardust and if he chooses he can illustrate the arrow of time using only a sandcastle with a Union Jack stuck in. It's a huge idea made understandable in the most elegant way, and with an added dimension: behind Cox is an abandoned diamond mining town: its cracked façades and skeletal buildings show the effects of decay and disorder over time as beautifully as any setting you could hope for. Yes, the man who makes the cosmos cool has struck again, and his ability to convey the glories of astrophysics is as persuasive as ever. Tonight's trippy travelogue includes a sun temple in Peru, a Patagonian glacier and an eerie shipwreck on the Skeleton Coast, all illustrating aspects of the "vast sweep of cosmic time". Plenty of presenters could stand in front of stirring landscapes and blind us with physics-lite but the way Cox does it has a sense of the (much) bigger picture. His programmes glitter with insights, set against visuals out of a Wim Wenders film and underpinned by a passionate belief in science as the heartbeat of it all. Don't miss it.
VIDEO Plus+: 4457
Subtitled, Widescreen, High definition, Audio-described
Directed by: Stephen CooterRadiotimesThe Sky at NightSunday 06 March
11:25pm - 12:05am
BBC1
700 Not Out Sir Patrick Moore celebrates the programme's 700th episode at his home in Sussex, with guests including Professor Brian Cox, impressionist and amateur astronomer Jon Culshaw and the Lord Martin Rees, the Astronomer Royal. A stellar panel of astronomers gathers to answer vexing questions from viewers - and Sir Patrick has a close encounter with his younger self.
VIDEO Plus+: 395490
Subtitled, Widescreen
Directed by: David SymondsRadiotimes
