[Submitted via press release]
BBC KNOWLEDGE (channel 251 on DStv)
June 2012 highlights
Great Ormond Street PREMIERE – Seasons 1 & 2 - (9 Episodes) From Monday 4 June at 21:00Series continues every Monday at 21:00
Great Ormond Street follows the life and death decision-making of some of the world’s top consultants at the highly respected London children’s hospital.
The children who visit Great Ormond Street hospital often present complex medical challenges that other hospitals have failed to solve, meaning the staff work at the frontiers of medical knowledge - often developing treatments that have never been tried before.
This series covers the painfully honest exchanges between medical experts and the children’s families as they weigh up the balance between the pain of the procedures and the likely quality of life if they succeed.
In today’s ethical climate, the staff need the consent and cooperation of the parents - but it’s not always forthcoming.
Each episode concentrates on a particular unit within the hospital, covering the Cardiac Unit, the Intensive Care Unit and the Renal Unit, and reveals the skill and resilience of the doctors and nurses, as well as the courage and patience of the mums and dads who must share the decision making in the fate of their beloved but very poorly children.
Queen: Days of Our Lives PREMIERE – (2 Episodes) Tuesday 5 June at 22:00 and 23:00
In 1971 four university students formed a band that would see four decades of success, selling 26-million albums and 300 million records worldwide.
The story of Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon is a remarkable one; a narrative that covers struggles, huge obstacles, arguments, breakups, triumph, tragedy and an enduring legacy.
This two-part documentary reveals how four strong-minded individuals, all capable of writing massive hit songs, worked together so successfully for so many years. Queen: Days of Our Lives is a story full of intelligence, wit, humour and painful honesty.
With Freddie Mercury as the ultimate showman, the band smashed attendance records with a series of shows across America. But with their massive highs, Queen also suffered catastrophic lows.
A loss of focus, a decline in popularity, increasing internal tension and growing desires to go solo saw the band’s success dwindling and it seemed as though Queen had had its day.
Then came “that” performance from Freddie at Live Aid, and their record-breaking “Magic” tour in 1986, and Queen was propelled back to the top - until tragedy struck again, threatening to tear the band apart.
The Tube PREMIERE – (6 Episodes) From Tuesday 5 June at 21:00Series continues every Tuesday at 21:00
The Tube goes behind the scenes of the world's oldest, biggest and busiest underground train network during the biggest overhaul in its history.
With unique access to London Underground, the series reveals the massive new engineering works involved in the ten billion pounds upgrade. Also discover what it’s like inside the command centre to find out what running the world's most complex train set entails.
The Tube also follows key members of the Tube's 19,000 staff - from chief operating officer Howard Collins down to the litter pickers who walk miles of track every night collecting rubbish.
Drivers, station staff and emergency response workers all reveal their unique perspective on the passengers; from tourists to suburban commuters to drunks getting the last train home in the dead of night.
In the biggest upgrade of any rail network ever, find out how the process of dragging a Victorian infrastructure kicking and screaming into the 21st century doesn't always run smoothly.
The Queen’s Palaces PREMIERE – (2 Episodes) Wednesday 6 June at 21:00 and 22:00
Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse have been part of British royal history for hundreds of years. Fiona Bruce celebrates these three exceptional royal buildings, and reveals the treasures found within them.
As well as telling the story of each building’s creation, Fiona walks around the rooms and corridors she captures the stories and histories of works of art and fine objects.
Alongside the paintings by Holbein and the Canaletto that hang on the palace walls, Fiona discovers the story behind a cat needlework panel at Holyroodhouse and finds the musket ball that killed Nelson on display in Windsor Castle.
Combining Fiona’s role as interested amateur with contributions from Royal Collection curators and experts, each episode offers a mix of high level insight and interesting and curious stories.
Louis Theroux: Miami Mega Jail PREMIERE – (2 Episodes) From Thursday 7 June at 21:00Series continues every Thursday at 21:00Louis Theroux spends some time with the inmates of Miami’s ‘mega jail’, which holds 6,000 prisoners and processes up to 100,000 people each year. It is a transitory home for those not yet sentenced, and those awaiting trial and charges.
Mega jails are a new American phenomenon, brought about by the country’s struggle to keep on top of its vast numbers of criminals. The conditions in these prisons are tough, dark and cramped, with up to 25 prisoners in each ‘cage’. Some of the inmates are just drunk and disorderly – but others have committed murder.
From the men on death row awaiting their appeals to those waiting to appear in court, Louis meets a collection of people who are guilty, innocent, and some who are yet to be tried.
Top Gear Australia PREMIERE – Season 2 - (8 Episodes) From Friday 8 June at 21:00Series continues every Friday at 21:00
The scenery is different and so are the presenters, but after getting an oil change and fine-tuning at the local TV workshop, the world’s most successful car show revs into top gear Down Under.
In Season 2, presenters Warren Brown and Steve Pizzati welcome a new member of their team - renowned jazz trumpeter and car enthusiast James Morrison - and even let him pick whatever car he wants for his first review.
Challenges featured this series include building a low cost electric car from existing petrol-powered ones, trying to make a retired pastor look cool, creating an armoured vehicle for VIPs and subjecting it to live arms target practice, and a lawnmower race between the best on the market and one Warren made himself.
As well as racing all kinds of vehicles on the track, Top Gear Australia also goes further afield, for some difficult and exciting rides.
Highlights include a 620 km race from Coober Pedy to William Creek along one of the toughest off-road tracks in the world, and Warren negotiating winding mountain roads in the Porsche Cayenne Diesel muscle car in a race against a horse taking a Man from Snowy River approach.
Undercover Boss USA PREMIERE – Season 3 - (13 Episodes) From Monday 11 June at 22:00Series continues every Monday at 22:00Undercover Boss USA returns for a new series, following high level corporate executives as they slip anonymously into the lowest level jobs within their companies.
Once undercover, they get their hands dirty with the rank and file, find out what their employees really think of them, and discover how smoothly - or not - their companies are run. In the process, these senior executives learn about themselves, the perception of their company, and the morale of their work force.
The third season offers bosses from across the US the opportunity to see exactly what goes on in their companies, revealing useful and sometimes shocking discoveries about some of the people under their leadership and the conditions they work in.
Included in this season, CEO of Diamond Resorts International Stephen J Cloobeck goes undercover to work as a booking agent at a call centre in Miami, Florida. His first task is to observe Sarah to see how the job is done, but he quickly reaches boiling point when it becomes clear her knowledge and customer services skills leave a lot to be desired.
Also featured is Dina Dwyer-Owens, CEO of The Dwyer Group, who vows to share her father’s vision for the future of the business. Whilst undercover, she is reduced to tears by the sad story of employee Jake, whose family business fell apart after his father committed suicide a year ago. She is also proud to find a female employee who is strong, and knowledgeable - as well as being a good wife and mother to her family.
Secrets of the Superbrands PREMIERE – (3 Episodes) From Thursday 14 June at 22:00Series continues every Thursday at 22:00
Alex Riley is happy to use a hand-me-down mobile phone and believes he is immune to the powerful lure of big name labels. But millions of consumers can’t resist - so how do brands make you buy them, believe in them, and even love them?
Focusing on three key areas where the brand is king - technology, fashion and food - Alex takes a closer look at some of the most powerful brands in the world to find out how have they become so central to our lives and how they plan to stay ahead of the game.
He finds out why Microsoft spends billions of dollars every year on development to score a hit product, how Apple has literally become a new religion and how the billion dollar organisations behind clothing superbrands have invaded our wardrobes and our minds.
He also goes on the trail of the global food and drink giants to understand how they persuade us to keep buying their products.
After meeting up with brand fanatics - including a man who owns 500 pairs of one particular company’s trainers - he interviews the creators of market-leading brands to reveal the tips and tricks that help them sell vast quantities of sportswear, mobile phones and fast food.
Then it’s his chance to put their tactics to the test with his own creations. Will their methods work as well for Brand Alex?
BBC Knowledge is on DStv, Channel 251.