Television production company Kite Entertainment collaborated with Professor Luke O’Neill to develop a science-themed show for a global audience.

Kite’77, a partnership between Dublin-based independent companies and scientists, writers and broadcasters, will be led by former BBC Entertainment Commissioning Editor Suzanne McManus.

Funded by Enterprise Ireland, the project will focus on both Professor O’Neill’s own writings and the development of an original science television format.

Kite Managing Director Darren Smith said: With the emergence of Luke, who has had such a strong presence during the pandemic, I asked him if he might join a partnership focused on bringing science programming to a wider television audience around the world. I got

“Given that science transcends borders, our ambitions for Kite’77 will be focused on securing an international committee, with streamers as the primary target.”

“A lot of science TV shows look down on people, but Attenborough and Sagan never do.”

Professor O’Neill said that as a teenager, he was inspired to pursue his interest in science by television shows produced by David Attenborough and the late Carl Sagan.

“A lot of science TV shows look down on people, but Attenborough and Sagan never looked down on people,” he said, adding that there is also room to make science TV “fun” through formats such as quiz shows. I was.

Household name

Professor O’Neill, a regular media contributor who rose to prominence during the Covid-19 crisis, believes Kite’77 (whose name is from the Talking Heads album) will capitalize on the interest in science heightened by the pandemic. said it was “perfect timing”.

“My overall dream is to spread as much science as possible to as many young people as possible,” he said.

Professor of Biochemistry, Department of Biochemistry and Immunology, Trinity Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, is an expert in innate immunity and inflammation. He co-founded his company Sitryx, which aims to develop new drugs for inflammatory diseases, and another company he co-founded, Inflazome, was acquired by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche in 2020.

Professor O’Neill, the author of several well-known scientific books, after Mr. Smith saw potential adaptations in his title, RTÉ One’s Irish Most Fitted Family and Virgin Media One’s Gogglebox Irish Manufacturer I was first approached by Kaito. A scientist’s guide to our amazing existence, never mind B#ll*cks. There is science here.

Kite’77 project lead McManus was previously commissioning editor at BBC Choice, the predecessor of BBC Three, and later as BBC commissioning editor for entertainment, including Have I Got News for You, The Graham Norton Show and This Week. Mock, QI, Comic Relief. The Dublin native has had a long-term “creative connection” with Mr. Smith, and she was impressed by Professor O’Neill’s charisma when she appeared on The Late Her Show.

“He was born with great authority and is very charming,” she said.

Kite’77 is in its “very early stages,” but the recent rise in the number of channels and platforms commissioning fact-based entertainment, such as ITV-controlled BritBox and BBC Studios-owned channel Dave, has made it even more exciting. It should support that outlook.

“There are so many Homes out there with great content,” says McManus.

A seasoned television producer who also co-wrote Dustin the Turkey’s 2008 Eurovision entry, Ireland Douse Pointe, Mr. Smith made the ‘final He joked that his ambitions for Kite ’77 might help him move forward.