Wallace & Gromit's World of Invention

Wallace and Gromit explore the wonders of the natural world and look at inventions inspired by Mother Nature. We visit some incredible flying penguins and other elegant manta-ray-inspired robots at Festo in Germany and visit Malawi, where scientists are studying the intricate structures of termite mounds to create self-cooling houses of the future. In Holland we meet the brilliant sculptor Theo Jansen as he shows us his latest amazing contraption, the Animaris Siamesis - a huge insect-like structure that moves independently and gracefully with the wind. In Israel, Jem Stansfield meets a man who has invented a fish-like 'gill' which could allow humans to breathe underwater and we look at some weird and wonderful fly-eating furniture based on the Venus Fly Trap plant and other carnivorous plants. Finally, Wallace, with the help of his friend Goronwy, gives us a run-down of his top five animal-inspired inventions.

Wallace and Gromit explore the mysteries behind man's fascination with flight, from 'homemade' space rockets in Manchester to jetpacks in the UK. There is also a look at some planes that unfortunately don't fly in another Contraption Countdown. On location in the USA, we explore the most advanced flexible spacesuits being developed by NASA that are designed to allow wearers to perform cartwheels on Mars, and in Germany we look at the life of Gustav Mesmer, a man obsessed with flight, but whose inner inventor was locked inside his own imagination for years, and who finally got to realise his dreams of flying bicycles. Finally, Wallace's Science Correspondent Jem Stansfield travels to California to investigate the connection between David Beckham and an eerie-looking spherical airship.

Wallace and Gromit look at ingenious inventions for the home. From 1940s household robots and strange humanoid butlers to cutting-edge labour-saving devices, the pair explore the social history of domestic life through inventions. There is a visit to the home of iconic inventor Trevor Baylis - the man who revolutionised the radio - and meet George, one of the first walking humanoid robots ever built, as he is brought to life for the first time in 60 years by his creator, Tony Sale. We visit the world's largest collection of the peculiarly English invention, the teasmade, and delve into the mind of a young Malawian inventor who designed windmills to power his family's home. Finally, Jem Stansfield visits some budding young inventors in Oxford who are recreating a fridge first devised by Einstein which never got off the drawing board.

Wallace and Gromit experience the world through the five senses, exploring the fact and fiction behind invisibility cloaks, bomb-detecting bees and the top sensory inventions. In London, scientists are creating prototype invisibility cloaks using metamaterials to bend light around objects, and we discover the science behind new technology allowing the blind to 'see' through taste using hi-tech sunglasses. In Kentucky, USA we visit the small town where a local farmer invented wireless telephones over 100 years ago. Or did he? Finally in Tasmania, we meet our Inventor of the Week who, after being told it was impossible, invented and made his own unique prosthetic arm.

Wallace and Gromit have always taken their safety into their own hands, and in this episode of the science series they consider other inventors with the same philosophy. They tell the tale of 1940s Hollywood starlet Hedy Lamarr, who had a side-line in inventing, and who devised a radio-controlled 'secret-communication' system for steering torpedoes to help allied forces in the war, the technology of which is featured in all modern bluetooth systems. We look at the most futuristic surveillance drones and the history of spy technology, first developed using the humble pigeon in WWI. In the USA, we look at the fascinating history of spacesuits, while in the UK we reveal the life of eccentric British inventor Arthur Pedrick and his helpful cat. Arthur owns hundreds of patents, from explosive underground bomb shelters to cat flaps, and sometimes a mixture of both. Ejector seats from past to present are revealed in the UK, with some nail-biting tales of high-speed ejection from the lucky pilots themselves, and finally Wallace and Gromit take a look at some less successful health and safety nightmares.

The desire for freedom and escape has driven human inventiveness through the ages. In this episode, Wallace and Gromit explore incredible transportation inventions from around the globe. In our 'Contraption Countdown' the focus is on peculiar transport devices, and we find out how to cross the River Thames in a plastic bag. We discover the intention behind laser propulsion in the creation of flying saucer technology, and meet Cedric Lynch, an illustrious engineer who invented electric tricycles, as he competes in the world famous TT race on the Isle of Man with his electric motorbike. We take a trip to St. Petersburg in Russia and meet Mikhail Puchkov, who has spent the last 30 years building his own submarine. We meet Sir Clive Sinclair, who devised the first digital watches, home computers and pocket calculators, but who still has plans to revolutionise personal transport. Jem Stansfield looks at Brunel's Atmospheric Railway system, and discovers that perhaps it wasn't the failure history remembers it being.