TAKING place in the year 2057, Radcliffe-born Danny Boyle’s 2007 film Sunshine follows a group of astronauts on a dangerous mission to reignite the dying Sun.

Earth’s dying sun spells the end for humanity, so the crew ventures into space to revive the star and save our planet with Boyle employing future Peaky Blinders actor Cillian Murphy as the physicist who operates the massive stellar-bomb device.

To shape the science of the film, Boyle and writer Alex Garland, hired scientific advisers, including Professor Brian Cox and it is this subject which will be discussed at a forthcoming live podcast with writer and TV presenter Rick Edwards and author and journalist Dr Michael Brooks at Manchester’s Science and Industry Museum.

“We usually take a film, book or TV show and explore the actual science within it,” explained Rick. “It’s not about myth-busting or picking holes, but more about looking at the bigger issues it raises. Sunshine is one of those films we’ve talked about doing for quite a while because it was gripping and disturbing and is an extraordinary piece of filmmaking.”

The podcast is being held in tandem with the museum’s current exhibition dedicated to the Sun which takes a closer look at our ever-changing relationship with our closest star.

“You can feel when watching the film that they wanted to make it as authentic as possible,” said Rick. “It’s a great film for us to dig into and of course we all know that in five billion years or so the sun will die out and before that it will stop being able to support life on the planet. In Sunshine it just happens a bit earlier than anticipated.”

Jaws, Deadpool and Wall-E are among the films Rick and Michael have discussed in the past, but Rick admits his scientific background never stops him enjoying the odd blockbuster.

“There are a load of films that get things right and that should probably be celebrated more,” he said. “Even when extraordinary things happen I sometimes enjoy it even more. I saw Skyscraper recently and The Rock makes a jump from a crane into a building and the physics of that would mean he would have had to propel himself into the air at great speed. The Rock can do a lot of things, but I don’t think he can do that. What happens in Armageddon for instance is a genuine concern for the Earth as scientists think we are overdue a collision with a giant asteroid. NASA even have a budget to spot them and there are all sorts of methods being researched about how to deal it. Drilling into an asteroid, as far fetched as it sounds, is probably the most effective.”

The Science(ish) podcast takes place on Tuesday, December 10 at 7.30pm. Entrance is free. For more details go to: scienceandindustrymuseum.org.uk