New Factual Kids’ Titles for CBBC & CBeebies

BBC Children’s has unveiled a slate of new series focusing on the environment, local history and world stories for CBBC and CBeebies.

Among the new titles is My Life, a series of individual documentary films that follow the highs and lows of children across the world. The “My Life: Rapping for Change” episode centers on 8-year-old singer-rappers born and raised in Mathare, one of the biggest slum areas in Kenya.

Other episodes, each produced by a different company, are “Child of the Wild,” “Leaving Home,” “I Won’t Stand for It,” “Jamie’s Cornish Cove,” “To Be a Boxer” and “Eva’s Having a Ball.”

Also on the upcoming slate is Treasure Tales, a 30×14-minute live-action series that explores the story of Cornwall’s history through found objects. Produced by Screen Glue, the show centers on friends Fred and Pete, who live in the Cornish village of Port Isaac and spend their days hunting for treasure. From mysterious hats to burnt buckets, pages of a diary to a broken telescope, each object they find has a story. Fred and Pete get help from Suzy, who runs the Museum of Cornish Treasures.

The new series Deadly Mission Shark sees Steve Backshall lead kids from the U.K. and the Bahamas on a mission to save the world’s sharks, as 70 percent of oceanic sharks have been lost in the last 50 years. Eight children are chosen to undertake a ten-day bootcamp at a shark sanctuary in the Bahamas, where they learn about the challenges sharks face and how they can help save them. The series is being produced by BBC Studios.

“I feel so excited about leaving eight kids utterly inspired, believing they can change the world,” Backshall said. “And that kids and adults watching them will also believe they too can change the world.”

In OZT Goes Wild in Britain, the Whitnall brothers Aaron, Tyler and Cam travel the length and breadth of Britain in their electric vehicle to get up close to British wildlife and conservation projects. They’ll learn about extinct species as well as ones that have suffered catastrophic losses and discover what is being done to save the animals that are still around. From True to Nature, the 5×22-minute series will demonstrate a range of top tips, DIY projects and eco hacks for children and their families to try at home.

Patricia Hidalgo, director of children’s and education at BBC, said, “Learning is one of BBC Children’s core values, and we want our programs with educational themes to highlight great stories and to be fun and lighthearted for our audience. Factual entertainment is a great way to do that, and these new commissions are great additions to our existing shows and means we are offering the broadest range of content for children.”