Mad Muppets top cult science poll
Another day in Muppet Labs
Don't tell the health and safety people but Dr Bunsen Honeydew and his trusty assistant, Beaker, have topped a poll of the UK's favourite cult TV boffins.
The crazy duo whose experiments usually end up destroying their Muppet Labs facility received a third of the votes.
They easily beat Star Trek's Mr Spock and Dr Who's Time Lord in a fun survey to mark the British Association's Festival of Science in Exeter.
More than 40,000 votes were cast in the poll through the bbc.co.uk/cult website.
Neither Dr Honeydew nor Beaker were immediately available for comment but their good friend Kermit the frog was quoted as saying: "They have spread the message that science is not just for short round-headed bald guys and their orange-haired goggle-eyed sidekicks. It's also for people like you and frogs like me."
Responsibility theme
Dr Honeydew is known the world over for his disastrous research at Muppet Labs, "where the future is being made today".
His experiments invariably go awry, with poor old Beaker usually being blown to bits or electrocuted.
UK's TOP CULT TV BOFFINS
1. Honeydew and Beaker (The Muppets) - 33%
2. Mr Spock (Star Trek) - 15%
3. The Doctor (Dr Who) - 13%
4. Q (James Bond) - 9%
5. Dr Emmett Brown (Back To The Future) - 8%
6. Dana Scully (The X Files) - 8%
7. Dr Strangelove - 5%
8. Frank 'N' Furter (Rocky Horror Picture Show) - 4%
9. Dr Evil (Austin Powers) -4%
10. Dr Frankenstein - 1%
Dame Julia Higgins, is the current president of the BA. "I'm not sure that Dr Honeydew is quite the role model we would be looking at for a responsible scientist," she said.
"His treatment of his faithful assistant Beaker is rather alarming, though admittedly also rather amusing."
Professor Keith Goulding, from Rothamsted Research, who is taking part in this year's festival, added: "I think the fact that they are acceptable, humorous - although they blow each other up a bit - but they are fundamentally human, I think says something about science."