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Soapy science could have made its television debut, rivalling the familiar characters in the Rovers Return and the Queen Vic, if Salford's vice chancellor had his way.

Tom Husband recently revealed plans for a series to develop "the human relationships between engineers, scientists, the people around laboratories and factories". The Royal Academy of Engineers was backing the project but un-fortunately, while it had a writer, it failed to find a backer to produce the show for television.