James May's Things You Need to Know is a British television series presented by Top Gear presenter James May. The first, three-part series was aired on BBC Two between 20 June and 4 July 2011. A second, six-part series was aired on BBC Two starting 13 August 2012.[1] The show answers key questions on aspects of everyday life, including what makes up the human body, what a cloud is and what makes the universe work so effectively. The first series has yet to be released on DVD.
| James May's Things You Need to Know | |
|---|---|
 Title card | |
| Genre | Science |
| Directed by | James Gray, Emma Parkins |
| Presented by | James May |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 9 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | John Farren/Elliot Halpern |
| Running time | 29 minutes |
| Production companies | 360 Production, Yap Films |
| Original release | |
| Network | BBC Two & BBC HD |
| Release | 20 June 2011 – 17 September 2012 |
Episode list
editSeries One (2011)
edit| # | Title | Director | Airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Human Body" | Emma Parkins | 20 June 2011 |
| 2 | "The Universe" | James Gray | 27 June 2011 |
| 3 | "The Weather" | Elizabeth Trojian | 4 July 2011 |
Series Two (2012)
edit| # | Title | Director | Airdate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Einstein" | David Starkey | 13 August 2012 |
| 2 | "The Brain" | Catherine Ross | 20 August 2012 |
| 3 | "Evolution" | Alex Mcintosh | 27 August 2012 |
| 4 | "Speed" | Catherine Ross | 3 September 2012 |
| 5 | "Engineering" | David Starkey | 10 September 2012 |
| 6 | "Chemistry" | Robin Bicknell | 17 September 2012 |
