Dara O Briain: School Of Hard Sums. Image shows from L to R: Dara O'Briain, Prof Marcus Du Sautoy. Image credit: Fujisankei Productions.

Next New Episode:
Wednesday 29th May
@ 8pm on Dave

Episode Details

Repeats Scheduled:
  Sun 26th (10:40pm)
  Thu 30th (10:40pm)
  Sat 1st (8pm)
  Sun 2nd (11pm)
  Thu 6th (10:40pm)

Dara O Briain: School Of Hard Sums

Currently broadcasting. Next episode is on Wednesday 29th May.  Episode Details

Dara O'Briain presents a comic entertainment show about maths, based on an Emmy Award-nominated Japanese format

AKA:
Dara O'Briain's University Of Practical Mathematics (Working Title)
Genre:
Other
Broadcast:
2012 - 2013  (Dave)
Episodes:
16 (2 series)
Starring:
Dara O'Briain, Marcus du Sautoy
Writers:
Sarah Morgan, Ged Parsons, George Sawyer, Colin Swash
Production:
Fujisankei Productions
& Wild Rover

Dara O Briain: School Of Hard Sums is based on the Emmy Award-nominated Japanese comedy-panel format Comaneci University Mathematics.

The show is hosted by Dara O'Briain. The brainbox Irish comedian and broadcaster studied maths and theoretical physics at University College, Dublin and now he's on a mission to use all his knowledge and intuition to solve some very tasty real-world brainteasers and conundrums.

Dara, with the help of Oxford University maths professor Marcus du Sautoy, uses maths, physics, chemistry, logic and all those hidden mechanics of the world we don't see or are too distracted by football to notice to solve problems.

Each episode is themed and Dara, along with comedy guests like David O'Doherty, Andi Osho, Alex Horne, Simon Evans and Jason Byrne, dissect each conundrum and find out guaranteed ways to solve them.

Want to know how best to save a drowning man? Dara works out the optimum angle to jump into the river and pull them to safety. Want to deduce which door to pass through if the choices are one leading to an exit and one leading to certain death, with each door guard blatantly lying about the contents of each room? Dara finds an answer. Want to find out the most slices you can get out of a pizza if you're only allowed to cut it three times? Dara to the rescue!

The second series has evolved from a simple mathematical formula. By adding a 1 to Series 1 you get Series 2. And to celebrate, the number of guests Dara competes with has also doubled in the new series.

The guests in the second series include Stephen Mangan, Marcus Brigstocke, Josh Widdecombe, Alex Horne, Tim Key, Andrew Maxwell, Josh Widdicombe, Mark Watson, Susan Calman, Josie Long and many more.

Pitted against each other, the teams will fight it out to solve some of the world's quirkiest puzzles. From rescuing your best mate from death in the desert and catching thieves in an art gallery, to bluffing your way through your first day at work, Dara shows how maths can give you the advantage.

Play some of Dara's puzzles online