I quite like The Eels. They’re a good little pop group fronted by Mark Oliver Everett. A few years ago, I was due to interview him for another publication, but alas, it didn’t end up happening. However, during the build up to the (now failed) interview, I did my research and found out loads of interesting… and depressing… facts about the country rocker. His past was blighted by untimely deaths in his family and his dad was a very famous scientist indeed. However, with E (has Mr Everett is better known) is a very private man… so a documentary looking at his dad’s work, Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives (BBC Four, Monday, 10.40pm) looked pretty darn interesting.

Everett traveled across America to learn about the father he never really knew. His father, quantum physicist Hugh Everett III died of a heart attack in 1982, where his body was found by 19-year-old Mark. The two didn’t really know each other… and now, on a strange and complicated journey into the world of quantum mechanics, we saw Mark growing closer to his old man.

If I’m honest, science has never been one of my strong points. As a way of thinking, say, like philosophy, I can get into it… but throw the numbers at me and I start yawning and get a headache. Thankfully for me, Mark Oliver Everett is exactly the same (he asks “what’s a photon?” leaving a scientist unable to answer in simple terms). Algebra makes him run a mile… picking a guitar up and idling away the hours… now that’s where it’s at. However, going on a journey through atoms, sub-atomic particles, numbers and ideas so out-there that it makes your head hurt, in an attempt to get closer to your dad is brave and daring.

Throughout the show, we gradually immersed ourselves in the strange sea of quantum physics. As it turns out, Hugh Everett III was a brilliant maverick who came up with an idea that was so far ahead of its time that people are only just getting to grips now. Basically, through numbers and atoms, Hugh Everett III came up with the theory of a parallel universe. That’s pretty big talk eh?

Now, I’d love to be able to tell you how it works… but I can’t. To over simplify amazingly, you can prove that when a photon travels, it moves in a way that sees it in two places at the same time. If photons are made of atoms, and so are we, then in theory, we can be in two places at the same time… a parallel universe. Hell, if you’re sat there thinking ‘oh shut up you novice!’, then I suggest you click here and watch the show which will do a far better job than this… uh… novice.

Anyway, the science of the show, mind bending and fascinating, wasn’t the only reason that Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives was a great show. The scenes showing fans of Everett’s dad fawning at the feet of E were sweet and enjoyable to view… and not only that, but throughout the show, you could see Everett becoming more fond of his dad, summarising with “I guess in the world of science, my dad was a rock star…”. Again, it’s a simplification (something this programme did very well for simpletons like me), but I guess that’s the point. I mean, how on earth do you make quantum physics accessible? A good place to start is to tell the tale through a very real and human story filled with joy and painful memories. Great stuff and food for thought.