Horizon Season 55 Episode 14 Synopsis

Comedian Jimmy Carr takes over Horizon for this one-off special programme, produced as part of BBC2's sitcom season.

Jimmy turns venerable documentary strand Horizon into a chat show, with eminent laughter scientists as guests and a studio audience to use as guinea pigs. Jimmy and his guests try to get to the bottom of what laughter is, why we enjoy it so much and what, if anything, it has to do with comedy.

Between them, and with the help of contributions from other scientists on film, Jimmy and guests discover that laughter is much older than our species, and may well have contributed to making us human.

Horizon Season 55 Episodes...

• s55e01 - The Immortalist
• s55e02 - Project Greenglow
• s55e03 - The Mystery of Dark Energy
• s55e04 - Oceans of the Solar System
• s55e05 - The End of The Solar System
• s55e06 - How to Find Love Online
• s55e07 - Ice Station Antarctica
• s55e08 - Curing Alzheimer's
• s55e09 - E-cigarettes: Miracle or Menace?
• s55e10 - Why Are We Getting So Fat?
• s55e11 - Doping
• s55e12 - Inside CERN
• s55e13 - My Amazing Twin
• s55e14 - Jimmy Carr And The Science Of Laughter
• s55e15 - The Lost Tribes of Humanity
• s55e16 - The Wildest Weather in the Universe

Horizon Show Summary

Horizon is BBC Two's flagship 50-minute science documentary series.

Recognised as the world leader in its field, it regularly wins a sweep of international science, medical and environmental film accolades, and has recently won the Royal Television Society Award and the Prix Italia.

In 2002, the British Academy of Film & Television Arts presented Horizon with the BAFTA Television Award for Best Factual Series or Strand.

In 2003 it won the prestigious Images et Science award for best medical documentary and the Carl von Linne Award at the Living Europe film festival in Sweden. That year, a Horizon co-production with WGBH Boston won the Emmy for best documentary.

In September 2014 it celebrated its 50th anniversary and it continues to enjoy outstanding critical acclaim.