Science documentary Blast!, which hopes to bring an Indiana Jones-style adventure to the world of astrophysics, has been sold to British public broadcaster the BBC's Storyville strand.

The documentary, which follows Dr Mark Devlin as he attempts to launch a multi-million dollar telescope in to space, is produced by Paul Devlin, a filmmaker whose previous credits include slam poetry documentary Slamnation and political doc Power Trip.

Distributor Louise Rosen says that the film has a number of different interesting angles, including the scientific exploration as well as the personal lives of the scientists as they battle to launch this telescope and keep their families happy. "It's this mixing of genres that's really interesting. Science-meets-adventure-meets-philosophy," she adds. "You see them go through this incredible amount of travails to get where they're going."

The film, which has also been pre-sold to Discovery Canada as well as a raft of European public broadcasters including YLE, recently aired at the Sheffield Doc Fest. Blast! has been well received on the festival circuit including at Canada's Hot Docs and Rosen says that it has accrued interest across different demographics. "Young kids are really taken with it, because it shows science in a new way, and it's also galvanised teenagers," she says.

The programme will launch on BBC Storyville, which currently airs on the broadcaster's digital channel BBC4, in the spring of '09. Rosen adds that a number of US networks have expressed an interest.

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Screenwatch: Blast!