Highlights | October 2011
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October 2011 Highlights
The Great Rift: Africa’s Wild Heart From Monday 3 October at 20:00 and 20:50 Series concludes Tuesday 4 October at 20:00
Visible from space, Africa‟s Great Rift runs for thousands of miles, from the Red Sea to the mouth of the Zambezi, and is a diverse landscape of erupting volcanoes, forest-clad mountains, spectacular valleys, rich grasslands, vast lakes and mighty rivers. Home to the greatest concentration of animals on Earth, including lions, crocodiles, elephants, hippos, flocks of flamingos, and pastoralists such as the Maasai - this is a land in constant geological turmoil.
The Great Rift: Africa’s Wild Heart takes viewers to another world – a world of exotic extremes, where the forces of nature have shaped the landscape and so created a hotbed of evolution. It is the very cradle of mankind.
What the press says about The Great Rift Africa’s Wild Heart:
“Stunning footage… so much beauty and space.” Times
October 2011 Highlights
Life in the Canopy From Monday 3 October at 22:40 Series concludes Tuesday 4 October at 22:40 and 23:30
A look at the world from 120 feet up.
Three million years ago, our ancestors came down from the trees. Now BBC Knowledge is going back up, to observe rare primates and experience life high up in the rainforest.
The vast African rainforest is one of the least- explored places on Earth – very little is known about the amazing creatures that live here. A zoologist, a wildlife film-maker and an adventurer set out to uncover the jungle's secrets. Their home for the six-week expedition is a huge treehouse, a safe haven from the dangers of elephants and buffaloes on the forest floor.
From their treetop base, the team goes in search of a rare group of monkeys; the red-capped mangabey, one of the least-studied primates in Africa. Living alongside the monkeys is a host of other wildlife; hippos, herds of forest elephants and the elusive lowland gorilla.
October 2011 Highlights
The History of Safari with Richard E Grant Wednesday 5 October at 22:40 and 23:30
For almost one hundred years, big game hunters from Theodore Roosevelt to the British royal family travelled to East Africa to bag the 'big five'.
Now 'eco safaris' continue to drive the economies of countries such as Tanzania and Kenya. Richard E Grant follows the controversial history of the safari from its emergence out of the Arab slave trade and the decadent world of the big game hunters to the luxury eco-tour and the burgeoning modern hunting business.
Along the way, this two-part documentary shows how, as ivory traders and trophy hunters decimated Africa's wildlife, they also established the central relationships of imperial rule and, in order to protect their 'sport', introduced the first conservation laws. Ultimately, Richard‟s exploration reveals how the nature of safari has been and continues to be a measure of our attitudes to big game, travel, colonial inheritance and Africa itself.
What the press say about The History of Safari with Richard E Grant:
“The Withnail & I star makes an engaging host and the nature footage isn't bad either.” Daily Telegraph
“Grant is just as you'd expect - earnestly broaching his feelings about his own colonial roots, but beaming with enthusiasm at each eccentric twist in the tale.” Times
October 2011 Highlights
An African Journey with Jonathan Dimbleby From Monday 3 October at 21:40 Series continues every day at 21:40
Africa consists of more than 50 countries, each one unique. With its population of more than a billion, Africa – where homo sapiens originated at least 100,000 years ago – is the most culturally and ethnically diverse continent on the planet.
The peoples of Africa are sometimes perceived as victims of hunger, disease, poverty and conflict, but to view Africa exclusively through that narrow prism is to short-change the truth. In this series, veteran journalist and broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby reveals Africa as it is; a diverse continent that is vibrant with energy, imagination, innovation, and talent, populated by a wide range of individuals and communities who face great challenges but approach them with optimism and resolve.
Travelling from the Sahara to Nigeria, Dimbleby meets Africans who, so far from being victims of circumstance, have taken control of their own destinies. Utilising 21st century technologies, they are shaping the world in which they live while managing to preserve their unique cultures which go back many centuries before the colonial era.
Then it‟s southwards from the Horn of Africa, through Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania – where Dimbleby discovers the peoples of these countries do not sit back with begging bowls at the ready waiting for western aid, but are resourceful and self-reliant.
On the final leg of his epic journey, Dimbleby travels through Democratic Republic of Congo to Zambia and South Africa, the continent‟s richest and most powerful nation and host of the 2010 World Cup Finals.
Challenging a host of prevailing misconceptions, and with the insight of one of the UK's most respected journalists, An African Journey With Jonathan Dimbleby paints the continent in an entirely new and refreshing light.
October 2011 Highlights
Good Morning Kalimantan From Monday 17 October at 22:30 and 23:00 Series continues every day at 22:40 and 23:10
Good Morning Kalimantan is a stunning series following the adventures of a gibbon expert battling to save Borneo‟s threatened wildlife and using a very special radio station to do it.
Featuring an engaging cast of human and simian characters, Good Morning Kalimantan is entertaining natural history programming at its best. Chanee Brule is a young French © Nick Lyon © www.FILMS4.org zookeeper who‟s been fascinated by gibbons since childhood. Determined to save Borneo‟s gibbons – the magical singing apes of the forest – from extinction, Chanee is responsible for the biggest gibbon rescue and rehabilitation programme in Indonesia, caring for over 400 gibbons at a centre on Hampapak Island. He has also built a reputation as a successful matchmaker – a significant achievement, as being with a partner is essential for a gibbon‟s survival in the wild.
His efforts are boosted by his other role as lead DJ on Kalimantan‟s most popular radio station, nicknamed Radio Gibbon. Attracting an influential young audience to his show with music, Chanee then educates them with his conservation message. If that wasn‟t enough, he‟s in the process of building a new television studio – Gibbon MTV – where wild music and wildlife will collide.
October 2011 Highlights
Inside the Perfect Predator Monday 17 October at 20.00
The cheetah, the great white shark, crocodiles and falcons – each of them is a spectacular assassin. But how do they accomplish their extraordinary killing feats?
Inside The Perfect Predator travels inside these animals‟ bodies to understand how they achieve the incredible, revealing their tactics in intimate detail. Using dramatic natural history images and stunning CGI, this film deconstructs © Andy Rouse the four critical stages of the hunt – detect, stalk, chase and kill – revealing the challenges each predator faces and how they overcome them.
As the predator moves in, the film is frozen revealing the moment of the kill with groundbreaking video timeslices. Moving, mid-action, from outside to inside the body at these key moments, the extraordinary biological machinery powering these natural born killers is revealed. Using 3D graphics and animated scanning microscopy, processes taking place are revealed – from a journey along a crocodile‟s neurons as they fire faster than the speed of sound, to the eye of a falcon as it zooms in on a seemingly invisible target.
Delivering amazing facts and astonishing images, Inside The Perfect Predator is a fast-paced, dramatic and unique insight into the remarkable events taking place inside predators at the critical moment of attack.
What the press say about Inside The Perfect Predator:
“This is a film full of extraordinary scenes and facts… viewing these thrills will definitely push up your own pulse rate.” Mail on Sunday
“This fascinating wildlife documentary reveals the secrets of the animal world‟s most extraordinary predators – including why the great white shark goes blind when it attacks.” Sun
October 2011 Highlights
Live at the Apollo Series 5 - From Friday 28 October at 00:45 and 01:30 Series continues every Friday at 00:10 and 00:55
The popular stand-up show returns for some more cutting edge comedy from the hottest names on the comedy circuit.
Live from the world famous Hammersmith Apollo in London, Live at the Apollo showcases a variety of comedic talents, with a host of different styles. This time around, taking their turn as the evenings‟ hosts are Rob Brydon of Gavin & Stacey fame, Irishman Ed Byrne and impressionist Alistair McGowan.
Each perform a special set before introducing some of today‟s finest talent, including British Comedy Award winner, Michael McIntyre, Jason Byrne, Sarah Millican, Adam Hills and pun-meister Tim Vine.
October 2011 Highlights
Beast Legends From Monday 31 October at 22:40 and 23:30 Series concludes Tuesday 1 and Wednesday 2 October at 22.30 and 23.20
They‟re the stuff of legends; hidden creatures, unknown to science and confined only to the imagination… until now. Prepare to meet the world‟s most mysterious animals.
Griffins, kraken, wild men, mega jaws and giant sea creatures… we've all heard stories about these strange and unidentifiable creatures. © YAP Beast Productions
Now, using a powerful combination of eye-witness accounts, scientific fact and CGI, these animals are brought to life by credible and expert investigators in a series that journeys to the very frontiers of knowledge.
Each episode takes an iconic mystery animal and for the first time scientifically investigates it. A team of 'Beast Seekers', made up of leading zoologists and specialist scientists, tease clues about the animals from first-hand accounts and physical evidence, to arrive at groundbreaking conclusions.
Then it's into the „Beast Lab' where the animal is constructed, and with stunning CGI, is merged into its environment, revealing it as a living, breathing creature, and taking it from dreams and nightmares to an all too real existence.