Geography edutainment miniseries
| Map Men | |
|---|---|
| [REDACTED] Logo since Series 3 | |
| Genre | Geography Comedy |
| Created by | Jay Foreman Mark Cooper-Jones |
| Written by | Jay Foreman Mark Cooper-Jones |
| Presented by | Jay Foreman Mark Cooper-Jones |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 30 |
| Original release | |
| Network | YouTube |
| Release | 4 May 2016 (2016-05-04) – present (present) |
![[REDACTED]](https://u3vuiephb.global.ssl.fastly.net/File:Xbox-360-Wireless-Controller-White.png){kind=link}
Map Men is an edutainment mini-series currently in its fourth series, which is created, written, and presented by Jay Foreman and/or Mark Cooper-Jones. A mix of comedy and geography, its videos regularly attract 1-5 million views on YouTube.
Premise
The series is created, written, and presented by Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones. Mark Cooper-Jones is a former geography teacher, and the pair met at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where both were performing that year.
The series started in 2016, and has aired for four series. The episodes are a mix of comedy and geography, with each episode answering a short geographical question, often involving maps. The style has been compared to Horrible Histories and the pair cite their inspiration as Monty Python. The videos feature deadpan, split-second visual gags, and comic sketches.
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". 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. In 2021, the series was nominated under the "learning and education" category for the 11th Streamy Awards, losing to Veritasium. 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
| Series | Episodes | Originally released | Average viewership - YouTube (in millions) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | ||||
| 1 | 6 | 4 May 2016 (2016-05-04) | 7 August 2016 (2016-08-07) | 3.67 | |
| 2 | 5 | 15 April 2019 (2019-04-15) | 2 September 2019 (2019-09-02) | 3.86 | |
| 3 | 11 | 16 November 2020 (2020-11-16) | 13 September 2021 (2021-09-13) | 3.69 | |
| 4 | 8 | 10 July 2023 (2023-07-10) | 13 October 2024 (2024-10-13) | TBC | |
Series 1
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | Viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Bir Tawil – the land that nobody wants" | Paul Kendler | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 4 May 2016 (2016-05-04) | 4 |
| 2 | 2 | "Mappa Mundi – the worst world map?" | Paul Kendler | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 25 May 2016 (2016-05-25) | 2.7 |
| 3 | 3 | "Where is the north/south divide?" | Paul Kendler | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 10 June 2016 (2016-06-10) | 5 |
| 4 | 4 | "India/Bangladesh - The world's worst border" | Paul Kendler | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 8 July 2016 (2016-07-08) | 4.6 |
| 5 | 5 | "Berlin Wall – Maps With Gaps" | Paul Kendler | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 4 August 2016 (2016-08-04) | 3.2 |
| 6 | 6 | "Who Owns the South China Sea?" | Paul Kendler | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 7 August 2016 (2016-08-07) | 2.6 |
Series 2
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | Viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 1 | "The world's oldest border?" | Unknown | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 15 April 2019 (2019-04-15) | 3.8 |
| 8 | 2 | "Can you spot a map trap?" | Unknown | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 14 May 2019 (2019-05-14) | 3.3 |
| 9 | 3 | "Why every world map is wrong" | Unknown | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 20 June 2019 (2019-06-20) | 4.2 |
| 10 | 4 | "How did triangles shrink France?" | Unknown | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 7 August 2019 (2019-08-07) | 3.7 |
| 11 | 5 | "The world's silliest time zones" | Unknown | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 2 September 2019 (2019-09-02) | 4.7 |
Series 3
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | Viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | 1 | "The map that saved the most lives" | Jade Nagi | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 15 November 2020 (2020-11-15) | 2.1 |
| 13 | 2 | "Why are British place names so hard to pronounce?" | Jade Nagi | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 14 December 2020 (2020-12-14) | 5.4 |
| 14 | 3 | "Why does Russia have the best maps of Britain?" | Jade Nagi | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 11 January 2021 (2021-01-11) | 3.5 |
| 15 | 4 | "What will the world look like in 250 million years?" | Jade Nagi | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 15 February 2021 (2021-02-15) | 3.6 |
| 16 | 5 | "Who Owns Antarctica?" | Jade Nagi | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 15 March 2021 (2021-03-15) | 2.8 |
| 17 | 6 | "The mystery of the squarest country" | Jade Nagi | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 12 April 2021 (2021-04-12) | 4.1 |
| 18 | 7 | "Where is America?" | Jade Nagi | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 26 April 2021 (2021-04-26) | 2.8 |
| 19 | 8 | "How do you start a new country?" | Jade Nagi | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 31 May 2021 (2021-05-31) | 3.1 |
| 20 | 9 | "How many continents are there?" | Jade Nagi | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 28 June 2021 (2021-06-28) | 3.4 |
| 21 | 10 | "How to read a map with a clock" | Jade Nagi | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 15 November 2020 (2020-11-15) | 2.4 |
| 22 | 11 | "English counties explained" | Jade Nagi | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 13 September 2021 (2021-09-13) | 4.9 |
Series 4
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | Viewers (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | 1 | "Why is North up?" | Jade Nagi | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 10 July 2023 (2023-07-10) | 2.7 |
| 24 | 2 | "Why British cities make no sense" | Jade Nagi | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 28 August 2023 (2023-08-28) | 3.1 |
| 25 | 3 | "Internet Vs Ocean: the essential wires we never think about" | Jade Nagi | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 29 September 2023 (2023-09-29) | 2.3 |
| 26 | 4 | "You'll never guess the most popular internet country code" | Jade Nagi | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 6 December 2023 (2023-12-06) | 2 |
| 27 | 5 | "The Phantom Island of Google Maps" | Jade Nagi | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 24 April 2024 (2024-04-24) | 1.9 |
| 28 | 6 | "There are NOT 195 countries" | Jade Nagi | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 23 June 2024 (2024-06-23) | 2.1 |
| 29 | 7 | "How bad maps win elections - Gerrymandering explained" | Jade Nagi | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 31 August 2024 (2024-08-31) | 1.2 |
| 30 | 8 | "Map Men vs. Geoguessr" | Unknown | Jay Foreman and Mark Cooper-Jones | 13 October 2024 (2024-10-13) | 1.1 |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 11th Streamy Awards | Learning and Education | Nominated | |
| 2024 | 1st UK and Ireland TikTok awards | Video of the year | Won |
Footnotes
- Renamed to "Why is there a BLANK space in this map of East Berlin?" after airing.
- Renamed to "Why do maps show places that don't exist?" after airing.
- Renamed to "The longitude problem: history's deadliest riddle" after airing.
References
- ^ "MAP MEN - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2024-04-08.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- "WeatherBug® Your Weather Just Got Better". aws.com. Archived from the original on 2009-01-06. Retrieved 2025-01-23.
- ^ Burton, Katie (22 November 2023). "Map Men: where comedy meets geography". Geographical. Archived from the original on 6 April 2024. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "11th Annual Streamy Nominees". The Streamy Awards. Retrieved 2024-04-06.
- ^ Rufo, Yasmin (3 December 2024). "Social media stars crowned in first UK and Ireland TikTok awards". BBC News. Archived from the original on 5 December 2024. Retrieved 5 January 2025.