Take one.
'The Big Bang Theory is one of the most popular shows on television,
'loved by millions of people all over the world.
'I've access to everything you don't normally see that brings the show
'to life every week.'
As soon as I got onto the set, I was very excited
and walked down the stairs...
'From the secrets of the wardrobe room...'
I'll know. If this is missing when you leave, you're in trouble.
'To watching the cast record the show.'
Isn't it fun to learn things?
This is great.
Welcome to The Big Bang Theory, Access All Areas.
Within reason. I can just go waltzing into the ladies' loos
or ladies' rest rooms, whatever they call them.
'Luckily for you, I am a long allowed to waltz onto the set
'to meet the cast and I'll be starting with the tough questions.'
Which character do you most enjoy shooting scenes with?
Goodness!
That is Sophie's Choice.
Who makes you laugh the most when you're doing scenes with them?
Who makes me laugh the most?
Favourite people to work with?
How can I answer that?
Are you trying to start World War III?
I'm not going to answer that.
Kunal, diva...
Kunal, I don't like working with at all.
Sure. Sure.
He, to be fair, said the same.
I'm sure he did.
Johnny Galecki, just outrageous.
Who makes me laugh the most? Erm...
You can say none of them.
I'm racking my brain. I can't even remember their names.
Simon. Another diva.
I'm going to be diplomatic and say... the cast.
Or none is probably better.
Or myself.
You should hear the things I say.
But I enjoy them all equally.
Not really. Is that my yearbook?
Mm-hm. "Dear Leonard, You're really good at science.
"Maybe one day you'll come up with a cure for being a dork."
OK, jokes aside, what I really want to know
is how they go about making the show each week.
We start on Wednesday mornings.
We do the table read, which is all the actors, producers and writers.
We read the script and we laugh.
Hopefully!
Hopefully.
And that's usually when we find out what's going to be happening,
so it's as much a surprise to us as everyone else.
The writers take notes of what seems to work well,
what didn't work, and they go off to start rewriting.
Thursdays and Fridays we rehearse more, get it on its feet
and we do run-throughs for producers
and network and studio.
That's when rewrites come through,
so sometimes the script will change by as much as a third,
and then we have a weekend in between to learn our lines.
Monday we rehearse with cameras.
I prefer 20 minutes of rehearsal, but these guys need hours.
But you are a consummate professional.
It's what a lot of people have been saying.
Tuesday night is live audience taping.
Take a bow and they immediately hand us a warm envelope
with the next morning's script in it.
So, that's the actors' week from start to finish,
but before they can do any rehearsing or recording,
they're going to need a script.
But there is an original finals draft Ghostbusters script
with actual slime stains.
Oh, you're right. It's Ghostbusters II. Never mind.
Each and every episode of The Big Bang Theory starts in this building
in the writers' room.
Led by creators Bill Prady and Chuck Laurie,
the team have to conjure up new and exciting ways of making us laugh.
Ooh, dark matter... we'd better bring a flashlight.
'And if anyone knows the pressure of writing a hit show,
'it is Chuck Lorre, who also created Two And A Half Men.'
How do you keep coming up with ideas that feel fresh
and interesting when you've made 100 episodes of a show?
Desperation and fear is a good motivator.
It's like riding through a tunnel
with a train behind you. For nine months, you can't stop.
All aboard! Whoo-whoo!
And how much does the script change
from when you do your first table read?
About 30% to 40%.
Yeah? Is that quite typical?
Gosh, I've been on shows
where it changed 100% from table to shoot night.
120%, you know?
I've never seen a show consistently
where what we read at the table is so funny
that the rewriting becomes a minimal amount.
I can't seem to get in touch with Amy.
I tried email, video chat, tweeting her, posting on her Facebook wall,
texting her... nothing.
Did you call her on the telephone?
The telephone!
'It's common on many shows where what we read on the first day, Monday,'
there's not one word from that script that's there on Friday.
OK.
'We hear all the time,'
the condition our scripts come in,
the good condition they come in, it's a anomaly.
And it makes a difference. You know, I mean,
they're not perfect.
We've certainly had scripts we've had to work on.
Some have had more changes
during the week than others,
and those are rough weeks.
Guys, we are going to do a different line there.
'If life was always like that here,'
it'd be a tear-your-hair-out experience, I think.
On the flip side, now I'm a little spoiled.
Why do you even want this here?!
Its size is completely disproportionate to its purpose.
Seeing as its purpose was to piss you off, I'd say it's spot-on.
Now, the writing's one thing.
Sure it's very good, but then every show has writers.
But a show that features a theoretical physicist,
an astrophysicist, an experimental physicist, a neurobiologist,
a microbiologist and a... well, a Howard Wolowitz,
obviously needs to use a lot of sciencey language
that us at home can barely understand.
Now, luckily, the actors and writers have someone to help them
to ensure that they don't embarrass themselves
by saying "loop quantum gravity" when they mean string theory.
And, trust me, thatisfunny... I checked.
I will graciously overlook the fact that she is an arrogant,
sub-par scientist, who actually believes loop quantum gravity
better unites quantum mechanics with general relativity
than does string theory.
How do you deal with all the kind of scientific content of the show?
Do you leave blanks...
Sub-contract it.
And then go...?
We have a brilliant astrophysicist named David Saltzberg,
who's a professor at UCLA.
I basically get every script in advance and I look it over,
and, er, the writers actually know a lot of science
and fill out what they want. And maybe it'll just need
a little tiny tweak here and there, a change of word.
Other times, they'll say, "Science to come."
What is physics?
We're designing an experiment to look
for the annihilation spectrum resulting from dark matter collisions in space.
My tests of the bomb quantum interference in fact have reached an interesting point.
Force of gravity equals mass times 9.8m per second per second.
Now we're testing phase shift due to an electric potential.
Our 9.8m per second squared as a, can...
Thematic theory, algebraic gossip and epidemiology.
Time dependent backgrounds and string theory.
You work on fundamental tests of quantum mechanics?
It's specifically quantum field theory and D-dimensional de Sitter space.
I preserved it in a 1% solution of polyvinyl acetal resin.
Oh, my God! That's the most romantic thing
anyone's ever said to me that I didn't understand.
And now we have Mayim Bialik, who is a, you know...
A neuroscientist... neuroscientist.
So she tells us when we're wrong in that area.
When it comes to neuroscience and neurobiology,
I guess I'm the unofficial authority.
Come on, tumour.
Mama needs an aggressive little glioblastoma.
Did you ever think that you would start using your neuroscience again?
In this way?
No.
'Since getting my PhD,'
I never thought I would be acting as a neuroscientist, no.
Amy's at the dry-cleaner's and she's made a very amusing pun.
"I don't care for p-chloro-ethylene and I don't like glycol,ether."
Personally, I like that physics is out there and incomprehensible,
but I really like it when it's what we call freshman physics.
We don't need strength... we're physicists.
We are the intellectual descendants of Archimedes.
Give me a fulcrum and a lever, I can move the earth. It's a matter...
I don't have this. I don't have this!
It's something that people have been exposed to in some way
and so there's a chance of knowing what's going on.
Ah, gravity, thou art a heartless bitch.
And, frankly, if people disagree with the science,
they can send a letter to Dr Saltzberg or Dr Bialik.
There's nothing wrong with the science.
Perhaps you mean a different thing than I do when you say, "Science."
Fashion's probably not the first thing that springs to mind
when you think of The Big Bang Theory,
but for a show that's about pretty unfashionable guys,
they do all have their own distinctive style,
from Sheldon's T-shirts to Howard's...
eye-wateringly tight trousers.
They do stand out in a crowd.
So I assume this is all divided up into different characters?
Yes, we call them character closets.
Sheldon, staring with the plaid pants, of course.
Yes.
And then all of his T-shirts back here.
He's got his Green Lantern and Flash shirts.
He has a lot of T-shirts. They all have a lot of clothes, to be fair.
Oh, yes.
'Do you have a favourite Sheldon piece?'
I like this.
Yes, that's nice...
the evolution of an into a robot is nice.
It screams Sheldon to me.
Wow!
I really like Raj's outfits.
I like the fact that I think he looks quite cool.
They all bridge cool,
except I throw something else that just ruins it all.
I think he thinks it's cool.
'When Raj first came to America,'
he was dressed head-to-toe in Miami Vice clothes,
because that was a big popular show in India at that time.
What about arguably my favourite character,
dress-wise and otherwise, Howard?
Where's his stuff?
He's got a room to himself.
Of course he has.
Hey, qu'est-ce que s'up?
Look at that!
Very eclectic. I know.
Look at that.
If this is missing when you leave...
I've got my eye on it.
You're in trouble.
There is one outfit he wore with an eye patch and leather pants...
The guy's a hero.
'And a flowy blouse. He pulled it off.'
Hello, boys.
I would say he's a clothes... horse.
Whore or horse? I don't know.
I think horse.
I think for him, let's say whore.
I want to blend in.
To what?
Toy Story?!
This is Leonard.
I recognise these cords.
Yes.
A muted rainbow.
Yes, muted. He's got a bit of a bucket of water thrown on him
compared to some of the other characters.
Is this all stuff you want me to try on?
No, this is stuff I want you to throw out.
When I had to dress up as Supergirl, that was especially liberating.
I don't know about you, but I feel empowered.
Come on, I made that look good.
Yeah.
I'm Batman!
Camera... Action!
Does anyone have any wood?
Oh, come on! I just want wood!
Why are you making it so hard?
OK, we've got the writing, the science,
the wardrobe and the actors.
But the world of the Big Bang Theory wouldn't be complete without
the incredibly detailed sets.
Designed by legendary production designer John Shaffner,
who designed the famous Friends set amongst others,
the sets each have their own special charm.
Actually, my favourite set is the hallway between the two apartments.
The producers wanted this walk and talk in the stairwell.
Well, we built the set and Chuck and Bill came down and they looked
at it and said, "We really need to see the stairway go down."
So I was like, "Oh, dear,
I'm not authorised by the studio to cut a hole in the floor.
So then we went to the studio
and said we need to cut a hole in the floor.
So that's how we came about building the staircase that actually
goes down about six feet.
If you get to the bottom of the stair and make a corner,
there's dirt and there's a wall full of gum on it from the actors
who wait to go on and put their gum on the wall!
So it's sort of starting to look like the underside of a table in a cheap diner.
Obviously as soon as I got onto the set
and walked downwards I was amazed at how little the gap is to fit in.
Once you've got down you just sort of stand there against a wall.
Um, and the other thing about it was trying to give them enough
space between the two apartments so there'd be working space for a scene.
Um, I put this elevator in the middle and I showed it to Chuck
and Bill and they said, "We don't want the elevator
"because why would they walk up and down the stairs?"
And I said, "Because it's always broken.
The landlord has never fixed it."
Give me that.
What did you do that for, I had plenty of time?!
So, this is it, I've chatted to the cast and crew, I've poked around
behind the scenes, I know exactly how the Big Bang Theory gets made.
All I've got to do now is take my place in the audience
and watch them actually record the show.
This is about as exciting as it gets for a Big Bang fan.
In a way, I wish you could be here.
In another way I don't cos you'll be in my seat.
What I can promise is that I'll really enjoy it for you.
Excuse me. Sorry.
OK, hold the over, Richard.
Ladies and gentlemen, round of applause, are you ready to meet our cast?
Let's hear it!
It's just so electric in here on our take nights.
It's very exciting to have that energy from the audience.
Give it up!
Oh, it's amazing, I love it.
It's great, it's sort of like a short play every week.
I wouldn't be half as happy as I am here
if we didn't have that live audience.
Here's Sheldon, the incredible Jim Parsons!
It does add that element of surprise and adrenaline.
Cameras A, B, C, X.
On the mark.
Here we go, and action!
I don't think I could ever get a massage from a guy.
Really? What was I doing to your neck last night while you were playing Xbox?
Not much, it's still killing me.
We always get comments like,
"OH, my God that laugh-track is driving me crazy,"
but it's not a laugh-track, it's real people!
Where's Howard?
No, "Hi, Raj, how are you, Raj?"
Straight to, "Where's the other white guy?"
When I watch scenes on every show when you know
there's not a live audience,
it's just slightly soulless. Something's missing,
they are a tangible presence in the room, almost like another character.
Some of my favourite scenes,
which also seem to be fans' favourite scenes,
between Amy and Sheldon, do not play that way all week.
The way you see them on TV is the way that the studio audience
determines that they get played.
There's nothing like people seeing Sheldon
and Amy kiss for the first time.
You can't gauge that.
Fascinating.
Um, and for me, that's really where a scene gets life that it
doesn't have for the previous five days.
It's like I'm living in a dictatorship.
"You must take a vacation, you must have fun, you must enjoy life."
I don't think you have a good handle on dictatorships.
There are moments when you can't help
but get carried away like I guess you would in theatre.
You try to keep your pants on.
It's not always possible!
No, but we do our best.
The audience is amazing cos they give you instant reaction.
And they don't lie.
They'll tell you immediately if something is working or not.
I am the king of nerds.
What does that mean?
That means if anyone displeases me
I can arrange to have their email inbox spammed.
We do quite a bit of re-writing here on the fly with them.
Well, it means if anyone displeases me
I don't help them set up their printer.
You have to listen to the audience to get the rhythm of it and then
we wait for the laugh and sometimes it never comes and then we cry...
Um, guys? Guys?
No, it's gonna come.
I know it's been ten minutes, just trust me.
I've been doing this for a really long time and it's humbling
how often the studio audience
will tell you that what you thought was hilarious is not hilarious.
And what you thought was, meh, is fabulous.
I just don't know how I'm going to break it to him.
How about topless?
Well, you waggle those puppies in his face I bet you'd get him
to join the marines.
I think this is good, I dunno, I hope it is,
if it's not the audience will tell us and we'll fix it.
I just don't know how I'm going to break it to him.
Hey, you know, I'm a big believer in breaking bad news to a guy
when you're in bed with him.
That's how I told my high school boyfriend I slept with his brother.
That's how I told his brother the same thing!
You can't anticipate what other people are going to respond to
and if you think you can, you're crazy.
Time and again we've run into situations,
with Sheldon especially, where it's like, just coming off too mean.
They're not laughing they're going, "Ohh..." You know?
And that's not the intent.
Sheldon's not cruel, he's honest.
When instead of a laugh there's an "Ohhh."
Yeah.
Richard Feynman was a famous American physicist.
Part of the Manhattan project.
Everyone in the world of science knows who Richard Feynman was.
Now you do too.
In front of the audience most of us can stay pretty focused
but it's some of the playfulness that Jim
and I have that really kind of brings out some of the giggles.
She broke that, it was fine!
Control yourself!
Are there times when you do just totally lose it
even when the audience are there?
Oh, in as far as getting the giggles?
Yeah.
Kunal is the worst for that, he cracks himself up constantly.
Follow your heart.
I'm the worst at that.
Yeah, I heard that.
That's why you asked me this question?
Yeah, it's leading. It's leading.
No, it's so bad, like, it's cos I'm having the most fun.
No, it's probably cos I'm the most unprofessional.
He can't stop laughing at his own jokes.
And so I'll come over and whisper to him "Sometimes babies die."
And that steels him up.
When I first got here the...
Can I take it from there?
English is tough!
I'm going to be doing some brain-stem estology
while you get yourself on the.
I have no idea what that line is.
With a live audience,
when they're enjoying it
and their laughter is sincere and loud, it's...
That's a great, great sense of gratification.
Too much?
Ooooh!
Yeah. No.
And that's a cut!
We have a wonderfully loyal audience
and there's a bond there over five years.
You have given us your half hour to watch the show,
I want you to come away thinking it was a half hour well spent.
What an experience, I genuinely feel quite lucky to have gained
this insight into the making of the show.
Turns out it's both complicated and fun in equal measure.
But I think I'll leave the final word
on the last hundred episodes to the cast.
What are you tuning in for every week?
It's not the story and the sense of what will happen this week
as much as it is, whatever happens I want to see what these people do.
Here we are five years later...
Really close and a hundred episodes that's over 500 days
here in the same room with the same people.
Part of the reason we're still here is it's a great cast.
These are really talented actors
and they can do anything we ask them to do.
They couldn't be a nicer group of people, they were so welcoming.
And the fact that nobody's killed another person yet...
Is a real achievement!
Yeah, is a real achievement!