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Upcoming BBC programmes (1 Viewer)

JTweedie

Well-known member
We can obviously start new threads when it's right, but here's a summary of some new stuff coming up. It's been a strong year for the BBC's Natural History Unit and it looks like they've got lots of good programmes coming up. Well worth looking at the press release at it has a video with little glimpses some of the new programmes.

Inspiring Attenborough: Sir David At 90

In this one-hour special, produced by the Natural History Unit, broadcaster Kirsty Young will talk to David about his career, the inspiring people he has met, the extraordinary journeys he has made, and the incredible animal encounters he has had across the globe.

Light On Earth

The spectacular and magical light produced by glow worms, fire flies and luminous plankton is what most of us know as bioluminescence - light made by living things. But those familiar glows and flashes are just a tiny, easily observed fragment of a previously unexplored, mysterious realm.

Sir David Attenborough will be our guide as we venture into a world he describes as "utterly unlike our own".

The Great Race

The Great Race follows three iconic animals – caribou, zebra and elephants - on three of the world’s most breathtaking wildlife adventures. Each must overcome immense obstacles, from challenging terrain to hungry predators and sheer physical exhaustion. What drives these animals to risk everything in the race of their lives?

Koko

This is the extraordinary personal story of the most famous gorilla in the word, who was adopted in the 1970s by Stanford University graduate Penny Patterson. In a unique experiment, Penny taught Koko how to ‘talk’ to humans with sign language, in the hope that they might finally cross the boundary between animals and humans.

Mountains

With one programme each on the Rocky Mountains, the Andes and Himalaya, this series will use drones to reveal these mountains as never before. The audience will be taken from hidden valleys to unknown peaks and they will feel the vertigo, cold and sense of wonder that these great ranges evoke.

World’s Sneakiest Animals

Over three episodes, presenter Chris Packham will explore how amazing new science is showing that cheating happens in almost all species alive while revealing how simple tricks have evolved into complex and amazing deceptions.

Others

One Planet

Great Barrier Reef (not to be confused with the series of the same name presented by Monty Halls)

Waking Giants (dinosaur-themed programme)

Netflix have poached some of the brightest talent - those behind Frozen Planet, and are making a series for release in 2019 called Our Planet.
 
It's a pity that, once again, the programme makers leap frog Europe and focus on Australia, Africa & the Americas. There may not be the range of species here in Europe, but there's a lot of spectacular wildlife that gets ignored.
 
Someone in Netflix can appreciate good nature documentaries. I have just subscribed and at least in Spain they have Life, Planet Earth, Africa and others. As an addict I already own them on dvd or bluray, but great to know that someone at least will try to match bbc quality. I hope they will match the scientific content, which is lacking in most silly documentaries nowadays.
 
Netflix have poached some of the brightest talent - those behind Frozen Planet, and are making a series for release in 2019 called Our Planet.
I wouldn't say poached is the right description. They left to form the independent production company Silverback Productions, and are responsible for The Hunt currently showing on the BBC. Overall I think this will increase the total spend on nature docs and increasing the number of hours rather than the same content changing network.
 
I wonder how long the BBC will keep producing the extraordinary nature documentaries they make, as there seems to be a lot of pressure to reduce costs.

And I wonder of course about Netflix. Are they going to make BBC grade documentaries or Discovery grade ones? Although given that they are poaching BBC and not Discovery staff, and that the documentaries they are offering are from the BBC as well I hope they will do the right thing.

Anyway, I just hope the BBC won't follow the same path as Spanish television. Back in the 70s we had our own landmark tv naturalist (Felix Rodriguez de la Fuente) and, sadly, his death meant that Spanish nature documentaries were mostly history. His programmer would seem crude now, and the scientific standards weren't as high as in Attenborough's documentaries, but he was a pioneer anyway.
 
Netflix seem to be quite committed to high production values in their own programmes, e.g. House of Cards, so hopefully that'll continue with this new nature series. I'm sure the people behind it will have their own personal and professional standards to maintain - if they can produce something as accomplished as The Hunt then I doubt they'll want to produce anything to a lesser standard for Netflix.
 
The BR version of The Hunt finally arrived. I've just watched part of the first episode and it has the landmark BBC quality, excellent stuff.

Unfortunately, there is a nasty surprise. The BBC has included one of those nasty non stoppable ads that plays when you insert the disk. It's a really disgusting and tasteless practice in my opinion, quite intrusive.

I hope they will reconsider it for future releases. Over the past years I've purchased maybe 40 BBC series on DVD and BR and, at least on documentaries, it's the first time they do this.

I understand they need to promote their productions, but, come on, they can include an additional feature with the ad or something like that. But an ad that blocks the menu button and which you have to figure out how to stop? Disgusting.

I've sent a complaint but I wonder if they pay attention to it.
 
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