The document outlines a proposed TV show or film called "The Geek Machine" which follows three university students who accidentally create a time machine while drunk. Each episode would feature a different adventure where the students go back in time and unintentionally change history, only to wake with hangovers and discover the world around them has changed. The target audience would be teens aged 16-17 and the show would aim to garner viewership between 1-10 million, similar to ratings for shows like Doctor Who and The Big Bang Theory.

1. The Geek Machine
By James Speirs

2. Plot
3 University students, each studying a aspect of science (Biology, Physics and
Chemistry). Like every other teenagers, drinking is a part of the University life.
Accidentally create a time machine while drunk by plugging a home made plug to
charge their electric car.
Each episode contains a different adventure where they go back and change history.
Only to wake up with a killer hangover and realise the world has changed around
them... The first series, they have to go through time to find out what they had
changed, only to correct it.

3. Audience Research
• I carried out a survey to see what 16-24 year olds where watching on TV
and in the cinema.
• Out of 13… The winner with 3 Votes was Doctor who and The Big bang
theory, with The Walking Dead running behind with 2 votes.
• This research helped me decide what I should design this show/film to be
like.

4. Target Audience
•
•
•
Although my survey was aimed at 16-24year olds. 8/13 were aged 16-17 year old.
The idea will be aimed specifically for teens.
Which means I am limited to a 15 aged rating or later showing with TV

5. Competition/ Market Research
•
The competition would be The Big Bang Theory and Doctor who, since the idea is
from inspiration, so people may not watch it because of the many similarities
between them two. It will also be competition since both shows are shown
somewhere in evening. But to avoid clashes, I was thinking to air at around 9.
•
With The Big bang theory, the first season brought in an average viewer number of
1 million.
Doctor who ever since they reinvented the show in 2005 Series 1 gained a total of
9.9 Million views. I don’t plan to make it make Doctor Who’s ratings, but wish to
get somewhere between the two shows ratings.
•

6. Sources
"Rose" was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on 26 March 2005 on
BBC One, and was the first Doctor Who episode to air since the Doctor
Who Television Film in 1996. Unofficial overnight viewing figures from
the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board showed that the episode
attracted an average of 9.9 million viewers — 43.2% of the available
television audience — over the course of the evening. At its peak, it had
10.5 million viewers, a 44.3% share. The final figure for the episode,
including video recordings watched within a week of transmission, was
10.81 million, third for BBC One that week and seventh across all
channels. In some regions, the first few minutes of the original BBC
broadcast of this episode on March 26 were marred by the accidental
mixing of a few seconds of sound from Graham Norton hosting Strictly
Dance Fever
Big Bang Theory:
The show made its UK debut on Channel 4on February 14, 2008 bringing
in an average audience of 1.0 million viewers. The second episode,
shown the following week, also received 1.0 million. For the third
episode an average of 1.1 million tuned in. The show is also shown as a
'first-look' on Channel 4's digital offshoot E4 the preceding evening, and
brings in 400,000 viewers on average. The 5th episode received 880,000
viewers. After the first 5 episodes, the average number of viewers
continues to hover around the 1 million mark. Episode 13 was watched
by 1.3 million viewers and was the most watched episode.