Professor Brian Cox and his very large one. Brain, that is.

In a week where Mother Nature has reminded us exactly who’s boss, Professor Brian Cox’s Wonders Of The Universe (Sundays at 9pm, BBC2) couldn’t have been better timed. Had the terrifying Japanese earthquake and tsunami not have preceded last night’s programme, I may have been quick to scoff at the pin-up prof’s doom-laden claims about the ‘end of the world’ but now I’m not so sure…

The latest BBC series stars Cox marvelling at the beauty of the world around him. Where as thousands of women have developed a sudden and urgent interest in the conservation of angular momentum to marvel at the beauty of HIM.

As an unemployed keyboard player, he went off to study physics at Manchester University. Whilst there he began tinkling ivory for D:Ream, best known for the 1997 New Labour anthem Things Can Only Get Better. Also known for the inanely chirpy lead singer jumping up and down in a tartan suit whilst waving his arms about like a drowning child.

Apparently the television career developed almost by accident. Cox, was working at one of those large particle collider places (as you do), whilst a documentary was being made.

The camera appreciatively caught what the female interviewer later described as ‘a vision of gleaming skin, artfully floppy hair and extremely good teeth’. *swoon* Enter ‘Prof Cox the Fox’ stage right.

Not since Blur’s ex-bassist Alex James became a Very Big Cheese In The Country (see what I did there?!), have I been so excited about a muso crossover into an intellectual (ergo ‘boring’) subject matter so I tuned in last night with feigned interest in scientific stuff. He can probe my atoms any time, etc. Heralded as the new, young face of science in Britain today, he’s actually 42. And boasts a brain the size of Saturn.

Aside from the obvious eye-candy, his sparkly-eyed, hand-waving, all-round enthusiasm for the subject in hand is really quite riveting. Everything seems to be punctuated with exclamation marks in an overly excitable sort of way:

‘Isn’t the universe brilliant? One hundred billion galaxies and each one with eleventy trillion stars! Amazing! Every atom in my body was once part of something else! FANTASTIC!’

The sheer joy he clearly has for his subject matter is infectious, making him an excellent TV host. ‘We are compelled to travel into the future,’ he says – and indeed, he zipped around our own globe in a very Quantum Leap-esque manner: one minute he’s in Nepal, then ten minutes later he’s being cheerful in Chile.

His narration about the end of the universe was pretty poetic too. ‘There will be one last perfect day,’ he reckons, when ‘the cosmos will expand and die’ followed by the ‘end of starlight’. Almost as depressing as an episode of Eastenders – but MUCH more believable.

Oh, and for the record, his ‘end of the world’ is still several trillion years away so there’s no need to throw yourself under the breakfast table (see our handy How To Survive an Epic Earthquake guide for more on this) just yet but remember, as the Prof himself says, ‘nothing lasts forever’. We’re still waiting for the solemn reminder that, ‘things can only get better’. Chortle.