Hawking is a 2004 biographical drama television film directed by Philip Martin and written by Peter Moffat.

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, it chronicles Stephen Hawking's early years as a PhD student at the University of Cambridge, following his search for the beginning of time, and his struggle against motor neurons disease.

Topology is an approach that uses concepts of shape rather than equations to think about the nature of the universe, and this proves to be the perfect tool for Stephen, who is starting to find it very difficult to write.

With his mind fired up, Stephen begins to work away at the implications of Penrose's discovery and starts to home in on the idea of a singularity.

With remarkable insight – a real Eureka moment – he asks himself: what would happen if you ran Penrose's maths backwards?

Two years after his initial diagnosis, Stephen is not only still very much alive, but has played a part in a great scientific breakthrough which revolutionises the way people think about the universe.

Today, the scientific consensus is that the universe started with a big bang: billions of years ago, a cosmic explosion brought space and time into existence.

They describe how, in the hills above New Jersey, they scanned the skies with a radio-telescope, and began to pick up a strange radio signal from space.

Hawking received two nominations at the 2005 British Academy Television Awards: Best Single Drama and Best Actor (Cumberbatch).

At the Monte-Carlo Television Festival, Benedict Cumberbatch won the Golden Nymph for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV film or miniseries.