Friday Night Gearchange

This featured in the closing sequence of some Brian Cox ego-fest repeated on telly last Sunday.

The Carpenters "Calling occupants of interplanetary craft", up a shameless semitone after 1 min 6 seconds, a mere one-quarter of the way through the song:

"Brian Cox: I am alone in the Universe"

From The Metro:

Professor Brian Cox has said that he is likely to be alone in the universe, and that there is no other intelligent life.

The TV physicist has claimed that the billion-year process that lead to his birth was likely to be a fluke, and it was improbable that the process had been recreated on Earth or any other planet.

He blames a number of ‘evolutionary bottlenecks’ for the absence of intelligent beings apart from himself, despite a huge number of them living in the solar system.

He made the startling claims in an episode of BBC’s Human Universe, adding: "There is only one advanced, technological, civilised person in this galaxy and there has only ever been one. That’s me, I am unique."

"Human Universe"

From the BBC:

Human Universe with Professor Brian Cox tackles the most profound questions he has ever asked: Why is he here? How did the universe make him? Did he make the universe? Is he alone? And what is his future?

In his own words, Brian describes Human Universe as a "love letter to himself" – as the series unfolds, he will show that he is the most precious, unique and wonderful supra-species in the universe.

Episode 1: Apeman Spaceman

The story of how on a tiny planet tucked away in an insignificant corner of the universe, one human being evolved to make the greatest leap of them all...

Professor Cox opens this new landmark series by asking the question: who is he? The first episode explores how it was that in a universe made of stars, rocks and endless space, a hyper intelligent scientist-cum-television presenter eventually emerged.

Of all the humans to have crawled, swam and flown over the Earth only one creature has evolved the ability to soar above them all - Professor Brian Cox. To Brian, this ascent is the pinnacle of his achievements.