The Great Egg Race was a BBC television series, in which problem solving teams are given a challenge to design and build machines using limited resources and time, to solve a problem set by the judges.

Sixty-eight episodes were produced and presented by seven presenters over the life of the show which ran for eight series from 1979 to 1986 and was broadcast on BBC 2. The first series consisted of five episodes and series two to eight consisted of nine episodes each.

The show was presented by Brian Cant (1979), Charlotte Allen (1979 & 82), Johnny Ball (1980), Hilary Henson (1980–81), Professor Heinz Wolff (1983-86),^[1] Lesley Judd (1984), and Howard Stableford as a guest presenter for one episode in 1986.^[2]

Re-edited 15-minute episodes of the original show were later made for BBC Choice in 2000, under the title The Great Egg Race Rides Again.^[2]

The series obtained its name from the initial challenge of making a device capable of transporting an egg in a rubber-band-powered vehicle the furthest possible distance without breaking it.

After the initial egg-related challenges, other non-egg events were introduced,^[3] and after two series, the original egg-racing was dropped.

The show usually featured three problem solving teams from academia, industry or friend groups, creating Heath Robinson style mechanical creations. The teams had limited resources, having to use ingenuity and creativity in an attempt to solve a complex problem, set at the start of the show.

Each episode featured Heinz Wolff judging, along with a guest judge with expertise in the problem domain; judges included Professor Michael French and Fred Dibnah. Scoring was at the judge's discretion and could be given for categories such as "design", "courage" and "entertainment".^[4] Later episodes would see the teams attempt challenges outside of the studio in remote and outdoor locations, and the final series changed the format into a knockout competition.^[2]

In the first episode, as well as the egg-carrying challenge between several devices, three teams had to precision weigh three items – a feather, an egg, and a household brick (a weight range 10,000:1) – using a 50 g (1.76 oz) weight and ordinary domestic items.^[3] In the final episode the two teams' challenge was to take an aerial photograph of an offshore oil rig.^[2]

The theme music was by Richard Denton and Martin Cook and is featured on the BBC Records LP Top BBC-TV Themes - Vol 2 (1979).^[5]

For series 4 to 7, Aardman Animations created the title sequence of the egg on a rollercoaster made of kitchen utensils.^[6] The neon effect programme logo was filmed separately backlit on a rostrum camera and composited with the film shoot in a film optical.^[7]