Jonathan: We have been surprised when they’ve got it right. For instance, in the first series, we examined a clip from Shanghai Noon where Jackie Chan is trying to escape from a prison cell. He has this idea of bending the bars, using a piece of cloth for leverage. He pees on a cloth to make it wet because he says wet cloth is stronger than dry cloth. I thought that was a load of rubbish, but when we did the experiment it turned out to be true.

Q: So what’s the most physically challenging thing you’ve had to do so far in the name of science?

Robert: In The Great Outdoors John Candy eats a 96-ounce steak. Well, we made the equivalent weight in hamburgers - 26 massive burgers. I ate two and half pounds of the stuff. The first two were quite nice but after that…my jaw ached for days from all the chewing.

Jonathan: But you’re looking forward to the experiment where you stand in pools of water, being electrocuted…

Robert: Yep, can’t wait for that one.

Q: You seem to have a very relaxed, spontaneous enthusiasm about everything you do together…

Robert: That’s not deliberate. When Jonathan tells me something like we’re going to blow up a safe full of water I go, "Really, what…an actual explosion?" It’s too much fun. We’ve both got that enthusiasm to try things out.

Jonathan: Blowing up the safe…that’s from the film The Score with Robert De Niro. He blows up a safe by drilling a hole and filling the safe with water before putting dynamite in. The idea is because water can’t be compressed, when it blows up, the air can’t absorb the energy, so goes straight to the outside of the walls. When we tried it we put in the same amount of charge…

Robert: We used the exact design of safe…

Jonathan: …And in the safe without water it was a feeble explosion but when we put the water in the safe it blew the door off.

Robert: It fired across the garden.

Jonathan: When I first saw the film I thought I wasn’t sure it could be done but it really worked well, which was brilliant.

Robert: We actually put real explosive in them, which I don’t think we could have done in the first series.

Jonathan: This time round we’re able to fulfil more ambitious scientific investigations - and hopefully provide more entertainment for the audience.

Robert: Yep, the boys have got more toys…

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