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Map Men
The logo for map men, made by combining a capital M with a compass, with 'AP' and 'EN' on its right on two levels.
Logo since Series 3
GenreGeography
Comedy
Created byJay Foreman
Mark Cooper-Jones
Written byJay Foreman
Mark Cooper-Jones
Presented byJay Foreman
Mark Cooper-Jones
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series4
No. of episodes30[1]
Original release
NetworkYouTube
Release4 May 2016 (2016-05-04) –
present (present)[1]

Map Men is an edutainment mini-series[2][3] currently in its fourth series, which is created, written, and presented by Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones.[2][3][4] A mix of comedy and geography,[4] its videos regularly attract 1-5 million views on YouTube.[1][2][3]

Premise

[edit]

The series is created, written, and presented by Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones.[2][3][4] Mark Cooper-Jones is a former geography teacher,[3][4] and the pair met at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where both were performing that year.[4][when?]

The series started in 2016,[4] and has aired for four series. The episodes are a mix of comedy and geography,[4] with each episode answering a short geographical question, often involving maps.[4] The style has been compared to Horrible Histories[2][3] and the pair cite their inspiration as Monty Python.[4] The videos feature deadpan, split-second visual gags, and comic sketches.[3][5]

The pair have claimed the show's success to be due to the growing redundancy of maps as an everyday item, leaving them to be "geeky".[4] They also cite the mix of comedy and geography as the unique element behind the series, leading to its success compared to other more education-based alternatives.[5] In 2021, the series was nominated under the "learning and education" category for the 11th Streamy Awards, losing to Veritasium.[6] In 2024, an edited version of the video about why some British place-names are hard to pronounce won 'Video of the Year' in the inaugural UK and Ireland TikTok Awards.

Episodes

[edit]
SeriesEpisodesOriginally airedAverage viewership - YouTube (in millions)
First airedLast aired
164 May 2016 (2016-05-04)7 August 2016 (2016-08-07)3.67
2515 April 2019 (2019-04-15)2 September 2019 (2019-09-02)3.86
31116 November 2020 (2020-11-16)13 September 2021 (2021-09-13)3.69
4810 July 2023 (2023-07-10)13 October 2024 (2024-10-13)TBC

Series 1

[edit]
No.
overall		No. in
series		Title [1]Directed by [1]Written by [1]Original air date [1] Viewers
(millions) [1]
11"Bir Tawil – the land that nobody wants"Paul KendlerJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones4 May 2016 (2016-05-04)4
22"Mappa Mundi – the worst world map?"Paul KendlerJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones25 May 2016 (2016-05-25)2.7
33"Where is the north/south divide?"Paul KendlerJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones10 June 2016 (2016-06-10)5
44"India/Bangladesh - The world's worst border"Paul KendlerJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones8 July 2016 (2016-07-08)4.6
55"Berlin Wall – Maps With Gaps[a]"Paul KendlerJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones4 August 2016 (2016-08-04)3.2
66"Who Owns the South China Sea?"Paul KendlerJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones7 August 2016 (2016-08-07)2.6

Series 2

[edit]
No.
overall		No. in
series		Title [1]Directed by [1]Written by [1]Original air date [1] Viewers
(millions)
71"The world's oldest border?"UnknownJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones15 April 2019 (2019-04-15)3.8
82"Can you spot a map trap?[b]"UnknownJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones14 May 2019 (2019-05-14)3.3
93"Why every world map is wrong"UnknownJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones20 June 2019 (2019-06-20)4.2
104"How did triangles shrink France?"UnknownJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones7 August 2019 (2019-08-07)3.7
115"The world's silliest time zones"UnknownJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones2 September 2019 (2019-09-02)4.7

Series 3

[edit]
No.
overall		No. in
series		Title [1]Directed by [1]Written by [1]Original air date [1] Viewers
(millions) [1]
121"The map that saved the most lives"Jade NagiJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones15 November 2020 (2020-11-15)2.1
132"Why are British place names so hard to pronounce?"Jade NagiJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones14 December 2020 (2020-12-14)5.4
143"Why does Russia have the best maps of Britain?"Jade NagiJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones11 January 2021 (2021-01-11)3.5
154"What will the world look like in 250 million years?"Jade NagiJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones15 February 2021 (2021-02-15)3.6
165"Who Owns Antarctica?"Jade NagiJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones15 March 2021 (2021-03-15)2.8
176"The mystery of the squarest country"Jade NagiJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones12 April 2021 (2021-04-12)4.1
187"Where is America?"Jade NagiJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones26 April 2021 (2021-04-26)2.8
198"How do you start a new country?"Jade NagiJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones31 May 2021 (2021-05-31)3.1
209"How many continents are there?"Jade NagiJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones28 June 2021 (2021-06-28)3.4
2110"How to read a map with a clock[c]"Jade NagiJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones15 November 2020 (2020-11-15)2.4
2211"English counties explained"Jade NagiJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones13 September 2021 (2021-09-13)4.9

Series 4

[edit]
No.
overall		No. in
series		Title [1]Directed by [1]Written by [1]Original air date [1] Viewers
(millions) [1]
231"Why is North up?"Jade NagiJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones10 July 2023 (2023-07-10)2.7
242"Why British cities make no sense"Jade NagiJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones28 August 2023 (2023-08-28)3.1
253"Internet Vs Ocean: the essential wires we never think about"Jade NagiJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones29 September 2023 (2023-09-29)2.3
264"You'll never guess the most popular internet country code"Jade NagiJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones6 December 2023 (2023-12-06)2
275"The Phantom Island of Google Maps"Jade NagiJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones24 April 2024 (2024-04-24)1.9
286"There are NOT 195 countries"Jade NagiJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones23 June 2024 (2024-06-23)2.1
297"How bad maps win elections - Gerrymandering explained"Jade NagiJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones31 August 2024 (2024-08-31)1.2
308"Map Men vs. Geoguessr"UnknownJay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones13 October 2024 (2024-10-13)1.1

Awards and nominations

[edit]
Year Award Category Result Ref.
2021 11th Streamy Awards Learning and Education Nominated [6]

See also

[edit]

Footnotes

[edit]
  1. ^ Renamed to "Why is there a BLANK space in this map of East Berlin?" after airing.
  2. ^ Renamed to "Why do maps show places that don't exist?" after airing.
  3. ^ Renamed to "The longitude problem: history's deadliest riddle" after airing.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v "MAP MEN - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2024-04-08.
  2. ^ a b c d e Khomami, Nadia (31 October 2023). "Britons go map-crazy, with geographical games and books becoming bestsellers". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 6 April 2024. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Keogh, Glen (6 April 2024). "'Horrible Geography' jokers the Map Men chart out a path to fame". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 1 April 2024. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Burton, Katie (22 November 2023). "Map Men: where comedy meets geography". Geographical. Archived from the original on 6 April 2024. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
  5. ^ a b Fitch, Chris (9 August 2016). "Map Men: teaching geography through comedy". Geographical Magazine. Archived from the original on 16 May 2022. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
  6. ^ a b "11th Annual Streamy Nominees". The Streamy Awards. Retrieved 2024-04-06.
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