Documentaries
Sky’s BBC Knowledge channel disappears from the line-up on Monday, but don’t fret – its place will be taken by a new Beeb brand, BBC Earth.
The change is part of a roll-out that BBC Worldwide began in 2015, and, as you’d expect from the new name, there’s a strong emphasis on the BBC’s natural-history catalogue. But the brief also encompasses “human stories, adventurous travels and scientific investigations”.
Monday’s launch day will offer a Planet Earth II marathon from 10.00am and the hiddencamera nature series Spy in the Wild (8.30pm), along with My Year with the Tribe, Will Millard’s controversial TV-anthropology series with a West Papuan tribe who aren’t as isolated from the modern world as Millard at first believes (9.40pm).
The format is also broad enough to encompass Without Limits, which follows six disabled people as they tackle the 1400km Ho Chi Min Trail in Vietnam, and Michael Mosley’s Trust Me, I’m a Doctor.
November sees the launch of a series of programmes under the Being Human banner, which include Future Human: AI and Meet the Humans.
But if you’re hooked on Who Do You Think You Are?, don’t worry – it’s being moved to UKTV, along with other factual entertainment programmes. You can find out more about what’s on the new channel at the BBC New Zealand website: tinyurl.com/NZLEarth.
Meanwhile, World’s Tiniest Masterpieces (Prime, Sunday, 7.30pm) looks at the work of celebrated micro-sculptor Willard Wigan, who makes art so small it can fit in the eye of a needle.