Comic in TV's first sperm race

Comic Zeron Gibson is to star in the first televised sperm race.

The stand-up will pitch his semen against that of scientist Mike Leahy to demonstrate the competitive nature of human sperm.

The pair will have plaster-casts made of their testicles, have their erections measured and their sperm counts taken ­ all in the name of science.

A spokesman for the show said: "They also bravely agree to abstain from masturbation for different periods of time to discover the effect on the quality of their sperm."

And, for the climax, the race inside two glass tubes, filmed by microscope and shown on a wide-screen TV in a Birmingham pub called The Cock Tavern.

The programme, Able-Boded Semen, will be broadcast on BBC3 on Thursday as part of the Lab Rats strand, produced in association with the Open University.

BBC Three controller Stuart Murphy said it was a "creative risk to tackle difficult but important subjects".

In other shows, London-based Gibson ­ who also performs in character as Valentine Flyguy -will explore fear, by spending the night with a snake and the effects of G-force.

Published: 9 Apr 2004