William Collins scoops tie-in to BBC Brian Cox series

William Collins has scooped the tie-in publication to Professor Brian Cox’s new BBC series "The Universe".

Publishing director Myles Archibald bought world rights directly from the BBC. It will be the eighth series that William Collins has collaborated on with the BBC involving executive producer Andrew Cohen and Cox. The book will be published on 14th October, and the accompanying five-part BBC Two series will air in the autumn. 

The publisher said: "The scope of the story The Universe tells, and its infinite cast of characters, is almost incomprehensible. It is 25 trillion miles to our nearest neighbouring star. Expanding at 67 kilometres a second, the universe is so vast it seems impossible to imagine we can even begin to explore it. But huge advances in scientific understanding mean that for the first time we can see places we didn’t know existed 10 years ago. Including the latest stunning Nasa photography, The Universe takes readers on a voyage of discovery, via the probes and telescopes exploring the outer reaches of the universe, revealing how it was formed and how it will inevitably be destroyed. From the day without a yesterday when it all began to the birth of a star in a stellar nursery and the chaos created when two galaxies collide, The Universe reveals a world beyond ours of cosmic proportions."

Archibald said the upcoming book and TV series were "extraordinary" and it was "an absolute delight" to be publishing "such a brilliant book associated with the defining TV series of 2021".

Cox says in his foreword: "I hope you enjoy the series and the book and, perhaps, are motivated to look upwards into the night not in terror at the infinite spaces but in exhilaration at the infinite wonder. What is the meaning of it all? I don’t know, but we won’t find the answer by looking inwards. We’ll find it by lifting our gaze above the horizon and outwards into the Universe beyond. We used to look to the sky and see only questions. Now, we are beginning to see answers."

Executive producer and author Cohen added: "The knowledge we have gained over the last decade has transformed our understanding of the cosmos, opening our eyes to new phenomena, new structures and new worlds. And all of this new knowledge has allowed us to begin to build something extraordinary, the life story of the universe and our place within it. It’s still a story with many mysteries but it is a privilege to live at a time where we can look up at the stars and begin to understand our very deepest origins."