The Big Bang Theory

A closer look at the story

The Big Bang Theory is a comedy series about Leonard and Sheldon, two brilliant friends whose idea of fun is thinking about quantum physics. The pair are physicists who live in the same building, and their social life revolves mostly around their equally geeky pals, Howard and Raj. Their orderly, highly particular little world gets shaken up by the arrival of a new neighbour across the hall. Penny is an aspiring actress, a striking blonde who has just come out of a turbulent relationship. She decides she has plenty to teach these neighbours of hers, who are staggeringly clever but hopelessly behind when it comes to women and everyday life. As time goes on, events prove just how right she was. Created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, the show first aired on CBS in 2007 and came to an end after 12 seasons and 279 episodes. Johnny Galecki plays Leonard, Jim Parsons plays Sheldon and Kaley Cuoco plays Penny, with Simon Helberg as Howard and Kunal Nayyar as Raj.