BBC Bulks Up Natural-History Content

LONDON: A raft of new commissions have been made by BBC’s Natural History Unit for programming to air across BBC One and Two, among them an ambitious six-part series about animals’ survival tactics.

For BBC Two, Wild Arabia takes viewers on a journey into the heart of this rarely explored lost world. The three-part series, scheduled for 2013, also features the first-ever wild Arabian leopards to be captured in HD. Also for BBC Two, How Life Works is a four-parter slated for spring 2012. The show features Chris Packham looking at the interdependence of species’ relationships. The three-part The Dark, also for BBC Two, is scheduled for 2012. The program makes use of military night-filming technology to look at the activities of nocturnal animals.

For BBC One comes Survival, a 6×1-hour series due in 2014. The program will uncover the life stories of some of the world’s most unusual animals. Tiny remote cameras are being used to closely observe behavior of animals’ great struggle for success.

Kim Shillinglaw, the commissioning editor for science and natural history, said: "The range of subjects we are exploring in this new raft of natural-history programs will hopefully provide something for everyone. From BBC One’s epic series Survival to the deeper dive offered by the likes of Wild Arabia and How Life Works on BBC Two, I hope viewers across the board will find something to satisfy their curiosity about the natural world."

Andrew Jackson, the head of the Natural History Unit, added: "After almost 60 years of natural history filming you would think there were few places and subjects left for us to cover. The diversity of these new programmes proves that, thanks to the unit’s vast experience and expertise, coupled with some staggering new advances in technology, we can continue to surprise and delight our audiences. The Dark is a prime example of how filmmakers have harnessed the latest in military technology to give viewers a unique insight into animal behavior at night. I’m very excited to see what they uncover."