Human Universe: the ascent of man – and Brian Cox, of course

New BBC2 science series gets better when David Attenborough's anointed heir comes down to earth

Brian Cox
(Image credit: BBC)

Viewers who have not yet succumbed to the soft-voiced charms of Brian Cox – and I counted myself among their dwindling number until this week – will find little in the opening sequence of his new BBC2 series, Human Universe, to bring them into the fold.

We join him 250 miles above the Earth's surface, or so it seems, as he drifts through space and burbles at the wonder of it all, like a blissed-out Lancastrian Sandra Bullock.

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Holden Frith is The Week’s digital director. He also makes regular appearances on “The Week Unwrapped”, speaking about subjects as diverse as vaccine development and bionic bomb-sniffing locusts. He joined The Week in 2013, spending five years editing the magazine’s website. Before that, he was deputy digital editor at The Sunday Times. He has also been TheTimes.co.uk’s technology editor and the launch editor of Wired magazine’s UK website. Holden has worked in journalism for nearly two decades, having started his professional career while completing an English literature degree at Cambridge University. He followed that with a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University in Chicago. A keen photographer, he also writes travel features whenever he gets the chance.