Starting on
BBC Knowledge in October, 2009:
Time Team 13Premiered: Monday, 5 October 2009 at 21h30
Continues: M
ondays at 21h30
Tony Robinson and the Time Team archaeologists continue their journey to uncover the secrets of the past through archeology.
This season sees them visiting Glendon Hall in Northampton-shire, where local resident Martin Hipwell uncovered a skeleton while building his mother a new house.
They also venture to Manchester, to discover what is left of a cotton factory built in 1780 which now lies buried beneath a car park.
Heading further afield, the team visits Utrecht in the Netherlands to unearth a perfectly preserved Roman boat which would have been used to ferry goods between Roman Britain and the rest of the empire.
And in Scotland, the team embarks on one of the toughest Time Team excavations ever as they attempt to excavate a broch, a monumental stone tower that was one of the largest Iron Age structures in Britain.
RitualsPremiered: Tuesday, 6 October 2009 at 22h30
Continues: Every Tuesday at 22h30
Every day, around the world, strange - and sometimes shocking - rituals take place. Rituals gives a guide to the lengths human societies go to get in touch with the spiritual world.
Vicar Pete Owen Jones takes a year-long journey as he travels the world to explore the shocking, bizarre and often dangerous rituals practised by some of the world’s major religions and tribes.
Arriving in time for each festival, he meets the practitioners of the faith, attempts to understand their beliefs and immerses himself in their ceremonies.
Amid the often baffling and intense events, Pete finds moments of serenity and also terror: from the remote beauty of the Henan Mountains in western China as he meets Taoists in search of immortality to the Japanese Fire Festival where hundreds of young men soaked in sake hurtle down a mountain with torches.
Continuing his travels, in Indonesia Pete experiences the remarkable funeral of a woman who has been lying in state for 20 years, joins in a Wicca dance in Australia, witnesses Voodoo priests sacrificing animals in Benin, and joins in a spiritualist séance in Florida.
Amazon With Bruce ParryPremiere date: Thursday, 8 October 2009 at 20h30
Continues: Every Thursday at 20h30
Bruce Parry makes a journey from the Amazon's source deep in the Peruvian Andes to its vast mouth on Brazil's Atlantic coast. The Amazon is a complex, shifting environment.
The deforestation ruthlessly driven by the profits of logging and soya bean plantations has seen one fifth of the Amazon destroyed already - the lands of the indigenous tribes are disappearing and their traditional way of life is seriously threatened.
Travelling over 10,000km, by foot, light aircraft and boat, Bruce travels far and wide to meet the tribes that live beneath the rainforest canopy.
Last Man Standing 2Premiere date: Thursday, 8 October 2009 at 21h30
Continues: Every Thursday at 21h30
Six more athletes face their biggest challenge in this reality show with a difference. The six contestants live with indigenous people and take part in ancient tribal sporting festivals in remote locations around the world.
They must play by local rules, emerging from each programme cut, battered, bruised, and possibly broken. Along with these sports, the competitors take part in all the rites and rituals that lie at the heart of each event.
As with the first season, they live with real tribes with real dangers. Some of the challenges they do include: Suri stick-fighting in Ethiopia, Waura canoe racing in Brazil, high-altitude climbing in Nepal, and endurance foot racing in Siberia, among others, testing them to their physical and emotional limits and beyond.
Those battling for the title of Last Man Standing are: Florida wrestler and traffic cop JJ, Devon kite-surfer Murray, London fireman Wole, US pro-rugby player Jarvis, Chicago soccer player Joe y, and modern pentathlete Ed.
Unbreakables
Premiere date: Thursday, 8 October 2009 at 22h30
Continues: Every Thursday at 22h30
The Unbreakable are eight people who are so driven to compete they’ll stand in front of exploding bombs and drink CS gas for nothing more than pride.
Hosted by explorer Benedict Allen, the show pushes ordinary members of the public as close to the edge as possible.
Challenges include being buried up to their necks in the sweltering heat of the Sahara desert and confronting nature’s deadliest animals head-on such as alligators and swarms of killer bees.
Edge Of ExistencePremiere date: Friday, 9 October 2009 at 21h30
Continues: Every Friday at 21h30.
Donal MacIntyre puts his life and reputation on the line as he tries to live at the absolute limits of human habitation.
The Western world has said goodbye to societies who use sea shells as currency and sacrifice animal hearts in religious rituals, but reporter Donal MacIntyre is determined to seek out forgotten communities who still practice such traditions.
Communities that MacIntyre visits include the desert-dwelling Bedouins of Oman, the Bajau Laut sea gypsies of Borneo and others who live in some of the most inhospitable places.
He moves in with members of these resourceful communities, shadowing their every move in attempt to find out how they survive in their harsh environments.