I watched last night's episode and thought "any minute now they are going to produce the Alco Firefly from a drawer and fire it up". I even put the video on to record on standard play so I could watch it twice!
Arrrgh.
With mounting horror I watched them remove all the safety features from a pressure cooker and light a gurt fire under it - talk about don't try this at home, children! Oh look, the pressure gauge is melting, never mind that, why is the steam condensing before it gets to the turbine? We could try using a bigger diameter even longer copper pipe to see if we can get it to actually freeze before it gets to the turbine.........
Not one of their better efforts!
They really ought to take some lessons from "Rough Science", also on BBC2 last night. With my son, I watched two scientists - who really ought to know better, we said to each other - trying to build a hot air balloon without a flame under it. As we poo-pooed their efforts, the bin-liner balloon warmed in the desert sun and without fuss lifted off into the wide blue yonder to our cries of glee at being proved wrong! I hope they got it down or there will be more reports of alien craft in the sky, it being the American West where they are not used to seeing huge black teddy-bear heads floating by ;o))