Helen Keen

Popular science has never been more popular, I'm happy to observe. Helen Keen joins the ranks with It Is Rocket Science, the first of a four-parter based on her Edinburgh Fringe show. Her history of rockets kicked off with the pioneers: Tsiolkovsky, who dreamed in 1903 of a multi-stage rocket powered by liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen ..."and people say David Bowie was ahead of his time". And Oberth, whose work in the 1930s incited a surge of interest in space travel. "Rockets really started taking off," as Keen put it.

In truth, it felt as if she was trying too hard; fewer gags and more info would have been good. And with its Horrible Histories feel, wouldn't it be ideal for children, rather than going out at 11pm?

It is Rocket Science - Helen Keen interview

New Radio 4 show Rocket Science starts tonight, we speak to writer Helen Keen.

A determined attempt to make science jolly by Helen Keen, with Peter Serafinowicz and Susy Kane doing the funny voices. Keen focuses first on three rocket science pioneers, one Russian, one American and one Transylvanian-German, all of whom lived in the 19th century and each ridiculed by their contemporaries. Give it a try. It sounds a bit like one of those hugely popular Late Nights at the Science Museum but it's only 15 minutes out of your life and at least it proves that rocket science is of more use than in a stupidly dismissive cliché.

"Onwards to Mars!" was a catchphrase for 1920s' rocket club members and Helen Keen demonstrates a similar enthusiasm in this entertaining four-part series, romping through the often surprising history of rocket science. Featuring deadpan Peter Serafinowicz as "The Voice of Space", this week's show describes space pioneers Robert H Goddard, Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky and Hermann Oberth.

Quirky, offbeat and original, this four-part history of space travel and rocketry blends comedy and science. There are plenty of jokes, but also sharp sketches of three pioneers in the 1920s and 1930s - Russia's Eduardovich Tsiolovsky, America's Robert H Goddard and Germany's Hermann Oberth. Next week: Wernher von Braun.

The creator (at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2008), co-writer and main female performer is Helen Keen, clearly someone to watch.

Helen Keen pays tribute to the founding fathers of rocket science in this clever, offbeat comedy series, based on her successful Edinburgh Fring show. She guides us through the universe - 'that infinity of violent cold, seemingly without creation or culture, that great astral Aberdeen' - with help from Peter Serafinowicz, who is tremendously good value as The Voice of Space.

Irreverent comedy and aerospace engineering don't seem an obvious fit, but It Is Rocket Science, performed by Peter Serafinowicz, Helen Keen and Susy Kane, proves that fact-based boffin buffoonery works. The trio present an accurate account of the history of rocket science, starting in late-19th century Russia with Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky's dreams of space stations.

Video: Comics regale skeptics with tales

Stand-up comedians Helen Keen and Matt Parker perform for Skeptics in the Pub at the Monarch in Camden on 23 December.