Andrew Cohen wants a broad audience

What is the purpose of science on television? It’s a question that I ask myself on an almost daily basis, and a question that sits at the heart of my job as the Editor of Horizon.

Horizon is BBC Television’s flagship science documentary strand, now in its 44th year. Since I took on the job three years ago, it’s been clear to me that, at the heart of Horizon’s remit, sits a stubborn paradox.

Unlike almost every other genre on television, science has to straddle a huge variation of knowledge in the audience. From science-hungry specialists, to the science abstainers – the conflict at the heart of Horizon is quite simply: Who is it for?

Scientists’ view

Many people I meet in the science community are very clear on this issue. They often seem to believe that the population at large are naturally interested and engaged with science. They like the idea that Horizon should follow an agenda set by scientists, that we should survey the cream of scientific publications and turn them into documentary film. They want Horizon to be full of ‘real scientists’ talking about ‘real science’, without any gimmicks, flashy graphics or music. They want the content to be rich and challenging, avoiding the pitfalls of ‘dumbing down’ at all costs.

I understand and appreciate the passion behind this view, but increasingly I believe that this perspective does a considerable disservice to the communication of science in this country.

Public ignorance

Stand on any high street and ask a passerby one of the following questions. Does the earth go around the sun? What is DNA? What is an atom? In my experience the answers to these questions are incorrect or uncertain. Study after study has shown that when it comes to public understanding of science we have a lot of ground to catch up.

Television has a vitally important role to play in this, but obviously television only has worth if people are watching. It’s the job of Horizon to reach as many people as possible, to enrich their lives with a sense of the world around them and the questions and knowledge that science generates. That means finding ways of reaching an audience who would not naturally tune into a science documentary. This ambition is not about ‘dumbing down’. For me, it’s about doing something far more worthwhile.

Reaching a wide audience

If a programme is too heavily labelled with science, we risk alienating a large part of the potential audience. This is the paradox of producing Horizon. We are proud of the science journalism and content that we generate, but we often have to sugar coat the science if we are to communicate it to a wider audience.

I don’t want Horizon to be like a niche science section in a bookshop, visited only by those already interested in science. I want it to be at the front of the shop, putting science side by side with the rest of the bestsellers.

To do this, we need to embrace the modern methods of television: production methods that enable an audience to feel comfortable with the delivery of often difficult content. Celebrity presenters, computer graphics, constructed formats and emotionally engaging human stories: these are the devices that may feel irrelevant to the science purists but are essential for a mainstream audience to engage with a factual programme.

Let’s talk

Of course, not everything we do is about viewing figures. Many of the Horizon films are commissioned purely on the basis of the importance of the subject. From the LHC to GM foods, from epigenetics to fusion research, Horizon still covers the biggest stories in science. But with all of our films I am convinced that the greatest service we can give to the country is to bring our passion for science to as many people as possible.

Although there are many scientists in Britain who support this ambition, I still find stiff resistance amongst many parts of British science to embracing this aim. The only way to improve this is for science and the media to talk more about the issues and objectives we share. I am convinced this would be a crucial step in increasing the public engagement in science.

Andrew Cohen is the Editor of Horizon