Richard Hammond Explores a Supersized World in Epic 'BIG' Exclusive First Look

Richard Hammond is on a mission to explore some of the biggest and baddest feats of human ingenuity and engineering in Science Channel's epic new nine-part series, BIG, premiering Wednesday, Feb. 12. Ahead of the series debut, PopCulture.com has an exclusive first of what's to come as the award-winning British car aficionado, presenter and host embarks on his mission to explore the world's largest structures and machines while uncovering how they've changed the world.

"I love making engineering shows because I'm fascinated by the science and people behind some truly amazing feats," Hammond said in a press statement. "Whether it's a container ship a quarter of a mile long or the longest rail tunnel in the world 2km under the Alps, or a massive hydroelectric dam, or an oil platform -- once you get to a giant scale, how does that change how it works? And what is it like to live and work with?"

Hammond will travel from Italy and Austria to The Netherlands and beyond to get a behind-the-scenes learn more about "the science of 'big,'" including demonstrations and experiments that prove just how much the engineers behind these structures have overcome to make their vision a reality.

Spotlighted in the nine-part series is the world's biggest car factory in Wolfsburg, Germany, where one Volkswagen car plant manages to churn out a new car every 16 seconds, as well as the Austrian mega-dam that somehow manages to house dozens of tunnels and walkways while withstanding 200 million tons of water. The Brenner Base Tunnel will also be explored as the world's longest railway connection, as will the Marie Maersk container ship, which sails from Asia to Europe carrying 18,000 containers weighing in at a quarter of a million tons.

All that and more on Richard Hammond's BIG, premiering Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 10 p.m. ET on the Science Channel.

Richard Hammond's BIG was commissioned for Discovery by Vice President, Original Content, Factual, Victoria Noble, with Oliver Wilson as Executive Producer. The series is produced by Chimp Productions with Andrew Barron as Series Producer and Michael Massey as Executive Producer. Caroline Perez serves as Executive Producer for Science Channel.

Photo credit: Science Channel