Bright Spark

Mark Stuckey has repaired hundreds of items and countless broken hearts as the mechanical maestro of the BBC’s popular factual entertainment show. But what the programme’s millions of viewers don’t know is that the enigmatic engineer has kept an incredible secret – even from his colleagues in the famous barn… For the first time, Mark reveals how he worked for decades as a top magician performing across the country and on television. He then went behind the scenes to work on classic comedy Red Dwarf and develop projects with legendary producers Gerry Anderson and Peter Rogers. All this he achieved under a different name - an alter ego he has kept private… until now! In his deeply personal and candid memoir, Mark journals his nomadic and rebellious childhood, navigating his father’s gambling and his mother’s alcoholism. Mark reflects philosophically on his first marriage collapsing and how he eventually found his soulmate in the most unusual of places: building nuclear weapons systems. From family estrangement to a devastating house fire, Mark has dealt with life’s challenges positively with dogged pragmatism and an assured self-belief. But his insatiable quest for knowledge has propelled him to succeed, helping him master martial arts, collect historic artefacts, travel the globe and explore the stars. Injected with his trademark humour, honesty and humanity, Bright Spark is Mark’s compelling, vivid and inspiring memoir, celebrating how we can all learn to do anything and make the most of life because, frankly, it’s too bloody short.