Let's see more of Mrs Brian Cox – doing science on TV

Guardian.co.uk: Let's see more of Mrs Brian Cox – doing science on TV

The problem with science television is merely an amplified version of what is wrong with the rest of TV – institutionalised male boorishness. The argument is as follows: there aren't many women working in science, so it's a small pool to pick from. We don't succeed when we go out to cast female presenters so we fall back on male presenters. There aren't any strong female role models in science on TV, so not very many girls go into science. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

As a scientist turned TV producer I've worked on numerous science programmes: Superhuman (fronted by Robert Winston), Scrapheap Challenge (Robert Llewellyn), Brainiac (Richard Hammond), The Garage for Discovery (a documentary set in a garage repair workshop run by men) and Top Trumps (Robert Llewellyn and Ashley Hames). If a programme has a boys-toys gender stereotype as a subtext, chances are I'll have some connection with it.

You'll have spotted the trend: the lack of female presenters. This is not just a failing on TV, of course, but wider society. But that doesn't let TV off the hook. Maybe it's time we had a Brainiac for girls.

Brainiac was excellent; it unapologetically raised the profile of science and got lots of kids onboard. At times the series ran a little fast and loose with the facts, but it did for general science what Brian Cox has done for space. But at what price? Alongside the fun stuff (blowing up caravans) and the interesting stuff (can you walk on custard?), there were inserts such as Professor Myang Li wearing skimpy bikinis while doing pointless experiments (which fruit floats?) under a heavily innuendo-packed voiceover and close-ups of her cleavage. That's not going to become watercooler TV for subscribers to feminista, nor will it inspire a generation of girls into science, engineering, or technology.

What would a Brainiac for girls look like? Well, just like Brainiac but without the cleavage shots, bikini-clad babes and sexy nurses. It's a lie that only boys like explosions and things that go fast. We don't need a female Brainiac, we just need more women blowing things up, racing fast cars and generally being seen to get down and dirty (but not in that way).

The sooner TV stops pussyfooting around and actively goes out with a plan to shift the presenting ratio of females to males back where it should be, the sooner they'll see the change that eventually came to news-presenting gender split.

Let's not pretend the talent isn't out there. If you wanted it, right now, you'd have a feast of talented women to pick from. The fantastic girl-geek Gia Milinovich, who also happens to be Brian Cox's wife, does transatlantic crossover so well I'm amazed that Discovery doesn't make more of her for international programming. Lisa Rogers, missing from our screens since the demise of Scrapheap, knows more than most blokes about the inner working of the combustion engine. Both of these women are feisty, funny and can more than hold their own in traditional male arena. Tanya Ross is an engineer who built me a scale model of the Millennium dome (no the O2) in 15 minutes flat from construction waste. Alice Roberts could be used to better effect than titillating middle-aged men with Wild Swimming, and we could definitely be seeing more of Charlotte Uhlenbroeke. As far as newcomers are concerned, a PhD student in planetary sciences, Sheila Kinani, should be one to watch. And if you're really looking for the next generation, cast your eye on the Planet Scicast entries for last years competition, in which a group of teenage girls from Scotland made an excellent film off their own backs which explained the complex concept of sonoluminescence – how bubbles turn sound into light.

I heard a quote yesterday from an 11 year-old girl who had just been listening to a talk about astronomy by a female presenter. At the end, the presenter asked if there were any questions. She put up her hand and said: "Please don't solve dark matter – I want to do that when I grow up." Let's give her something that will inspire her to live that dream. Give her someone to aspire to. Then maybe she really will grow up to be the female Brian Cox. Now, how about we get some of these women together to front a show that will really inspire the next generation?