Local Heroes (British TV series)

Local Heroes is a science and history television programme in the United Kingdom, presented by Adam Hart-Davis.
Made by Screenhouse Productions and directed by Paul Bader, it was first aired on the ITV regional network Yorkshire Television in 1991. In the show, Adam Hart-Davis, dressed in the pink and yellow cycling clothes that would become the show's trademark, rode around the YTV region (including Yorkshire, Norfolk and Lincolnshire) on a matching pink and yellow bicycle, stopping in a particular area to tell the stories of scientists that lived or were born there. These stories were embellished by experiments, performed on the street by Hart-Davis, generally using bits of wood and junk from a trailer on his bike.
This hobo-meets-Johnny Ball style approach to science-education proved appealing, and after two series, the show was sold to the national BBC2 network in 1994. The move saw two changes: the scope of the show was expanded nationwide, with a different region visited each episode; and the theme tune was changed from "No More Heroes" by The Stranglers to a twee and plinky number, more in keeping with the programme genre. Eventually this was replaced by a more upbeat theme, by "Wallace and Gromit" composer Julian Nott, played by a Czech orchestra.
Since then, the series has covered over 200 'heroes', and has seen several special episodes. The first special saw Hart-Davis visit Egypt to investigate ancient heroes, while another took him to Italy for a Renaissance special. Another notable show was the finale of the last series (to date), which was performed in front of a live audience at the Royal Institution, much in the style of the Institution's Christmas Lectures.
The show continued until 2000. Since then, Hart-Davis has moved on to other shows, and the bbc.co.uk Local Heroes pages have now been deleted, suggesting that no further series are planned.
Series 2.
1 Devon: Isambard Kingdom Brunel:
 Henry Moule:
 Thomas Savery:
 Mary Anning:
2 Scotland: Alexander Bain (inventor): Electro-chemical telegraph
 Charles Macintosh: Mac
 James Clerk Maxwell:
 Robert Stirling: Inventor
 James Gregory (mathematician): Mathematician
3 East: William Harvey: Reformed incorrect thinking about the circulation of blood.
 Robert Fitzroy: Pioneered storm warning system and invented the weather forecast.
Benjamin Wiseman: Patented a Windmill in 1783.
 William Hase: Modified prison treadmills to take power outside the prison.
 William Gilberd: Discovered the earth is a magnet.
 John Jeyes: Invented a unique three-function toilet cleaner Jeyes Fluid.
 William Hyde Wollaston: Invented a clever mirror-and-prism device (Camera lucida) that lets you see your subject superimposed on your sketch pad.
4 North East: John Walker (inventor): Invented the friction match.
Charles Algernon Parsons: Invented the steam turbine.
 Joseph Wilson Swan: Invented the incandescent light bulb.
 Lewis Fry Richardson: Inventor of sonar and the understanding of the mathematics of the weather.
 Thomas Wright (astronomer): First to understand the Milky Way.
 Gladstone Adams: Invented the windscreen wiper.
5 Wales: Thomas Telford: Developed a system for road building & built bridges.
Alfred Russel Wallace: Devised theory of natural selection jointly with Darwin.
 William Price (physician): Pioneer of cremation.
 Harry Grindell Matthews: Invented a portable radio, and supposed Death Ray inventor.
 Richard Trevithick: Ran world's first steam locomotive at Merthyr.
 Robert Recorde: Invented equals sign.
 Hugh Owen Thomas (and the bonesetters of Anglesey): Four generations of bonesetters and founder of
 orthopaedic surgery.
6 South East: 
Samuel Morland: Invented giant megaphones and was master mechanic to Charles II
Hertha Ayrton: Invented way of clearing trenches of Mustard Gas.
 Eleanor Coade: Her artificial stone was used for many landmarks.
 Henry Maudslay: Founder of precision engineering and first production line.
 Thomas Young (scientist): Discovered how the eye works and translated the Rosetta Stone.
 Liborio Pedrazzoli: Inventor of swimming umbrellas.
 Ralph Wedgwood (inventor): Invented carbon paper.
 William Willoughby Cole Verner: Invented cavalry sketching board to enable cavalrymen to make accurate maps whilst on horseback.
Series 3.
1 Devon and Cornwall: Thomas Newcomen et al.
2 London: Cornelius Drebbel et al.
3 South: Robert Hooke et al.
4 Special - Egypt
5 Special - Italy
6 Special - Science Week
Series 4.
1 South: Henry Cavendish et al.
2 East of Scotland: James Dewar et al.
3 Cotswolds: William Henry Fox Talbot et al.
4 St Pauls: Heroines