05-10-2004, 08:51 PM
Digital TV channel BBC Three is to broadcast what it says is the first televised sperm race later this month.
The race, to be shown as part of the educational Lab Rats series, will pit the sperm of presenters Dr Mike Leahy and Zeron Gibson against each other.
It will be filmed inside two tiny glass tubes by a microscope and relayed to a crowd watching a pub's big screen.
BBC Three controller Stuart Murphy said it was being done for an audience that usually "balks at educational shows".
It was a "creative risk" but Lab Rats tackled "difficult but important subjects", he added.
Dr Leahy, a scientist, and Gibson, a comedian, say they will adopt different "training routines" to find out how different lifestyle choices affect reproductive abilities.
They will then have their sperm measured and tested by fertility expert Allan Pacey from the University of Sheffield, who will predict which man is likely to win.
The programme will be shown on 15 April at 2330 BST and is one of a four-part Lab Rats series.
In other shows, Dr Leahy will go 60 hours without sleep to show the effects of sleep deprivation and the pair will ride a centrifugal machine to nine times the force of gravity.
The race, to be shown as part of the educational Lab Rats series, will pit the sperm of presenters Dr Mike Leahy and Zeron Gibson against each other.
It will be filmed inside two tiny glass tubes by a microscope and relayed to a crowd watching a pub's big screen.
BBC Three controller Stuart Murphy said it was being done for an audience that usually "balks at educational shows".
It was a "creative risk" but Lab Rats tackled "difficult but important subjects", he added.
Dr Leahy, a scientist, and Gibson, a comedian, say they will adopt different "training routines" to find out how different lifestyle choices affect reproductive abilities.
They will then have their sperm measured and tested by fertility expert Allan Pacey from the University of Sheffield, who will predict which man is likely to win.
The programme will be shown on 15 April at 2330 BST and is one of a four-part Lab Rats series.
In other shows, Dr Leahy will go 60 hours without sleep to show the effects of sleep deprivation and the pair will ride a centrifugal machine to nine times the force of gravity.
Why do I keep this cesspool alive?
