Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life is a 2009 television documentary about Charles Darwin and his revolutionary theory of evolution through natural selection, produced by the BBC to mark the bicentenary of Darwin's birth. It is part of the BBC Darwin Season. The presenter, David Attenborough, outlines the development of the theory by Darwin through his observations of animals and plants in nature and in the domesticated state, visiting sites important in Darwin's own life, including Down House, Cambridge University and the Natural History Museum, and using archive footage from Attenborough's many nature documentaries for the BBC. He reviews the development of the theory since its beginnings, and its revolutionary impact on the way in which humans view themselves - not as having dominion over the animals as The Bible says, but as part of the natural world and subject to the same controlling forces that govern all life on Earth.
The Black and White Minstrel Show was a British light entertainment show that ran on BBC television from 1958 to 1978 and was a popular stage show. It was a weekly light entertainment and variety show presenting traditional American minstrel and country songs, as well as show and music hall numbers, usually performed in blackface, and with lavish costumes. The show was created by George Mitchell.
Superstars is an all-around sports competition that pits elite athletes from different sports against one another in a series of athletic events resembling a decathlon. Points are awarded for the position in which the competitor places in each event. The competitor with the most points at the end of all ten events is declared the champion.
On the original ABC version, an athlete could compete in up to seven events, but no athlete was permitted to compete in the sport of his or her profession. In the World, International, European and British versions of the contest, athletes would compete in 8 out of 10 events, with no-one generally allowed to take part in their own sport, although some handicapping rules did apply.
The idea was developed by 1948 and 1952 Olympic figure skating champion Dick Button. He shopped the idea to all three U.S. television networks, and ABC bought it as a special for the winter of 1973. The first Superstars competition was held in Rotonda West, Florida in March 1973 and was won by pole va
Brainstorm was a British comedy quiz programme about science. It originally aired on BBC1 for one series in 1988, hosted by Kenny Everett and co-hosted by Cleo Rocos.
Driving School is a docusoap that was broadcast on BBC One in the summer of 1997, which followed a group of learner drivers around Bristol and South Wales. Made on a reduced budget but shown in primetime, it created one of the first reality TV stars in Maureen Rees.
It was narrated by Quentin Willson, who would later present the similar Britain's Worst Driver.
Sixty Minutes was a news and current affairs programme which ran each day at 5:40pm between 24 October 1983 to 27 July 1984 on BBC1. It replaced the Nationwide programme, and like Nationwide, it also integrated the BBC regional news programmes into a single magazine programme.
However, the BBC's News department stoutly maintained its independence from colleagues in Current Affairs, and the first 15 minutes of news was almost a separate programme, followed by 20 minutes from BBC regional news before the final 25 minutes of national current affairs. Accordingly the format was unwieldy, with neither the conciseness of a bulletin nor the softness of the show's predecessor, Nationwide.
The editor, David Lloyd, poached Nick Ross from the highly popular Breakfast Time to front the show, along with Desmond Wilcox, Sarah Kennedy, and Sally Magnusson. Sarah Kennedy was unable to join the team at the programme's launch but eventually began to present the show after Wilcox was dismissed early in the show's run. The news bull
Star Spell is a BBC game show which put celebrities against each other in spelling related games, each one was subsequently eliminated until there was one Star Spell Champion. It was presented by Eamonn Holmes and was a spin off from the BBC programme Hard Spell.
The Paras was a 1983 BBC TV documentary series about British Parachute Regiment recruits of 480 Platoon undertaking their basic training between January and June 1982.
The series aired on BBC1 in November and December 1983. It was later repeated in 1984, with an update on the platoon members' lives in the last episode.
Written and presented by Glyn Worsnip, it was shot in the fly-on-the-wall style, giving the viewing public a unique insight to military life. The programme's timing could not have been better as it began filming just prior to the onset of hostilities of the 1982 Falklands War. The series was accompanied by a book of the same name written by the principal researcher Frank Hilton
The series was accompanied by a score of military music written and arranged by Conn Bernard.
Some of those recruits passing out in 1982 went on to have long and distinguished careers including Dean Ward and Rod Stoner. In addition one of the platoon staff corporals, Al Slater was later killed in Northern Ireland whilst a
Wilfred Owen: A Remembrance Tale was a 1-hour 2007 BBC documentary on the life of the First World War poet Wilfred Owen. It was presented by Jeremy Paxman and starred Samuel Barnett as Owen and Deborah Findlay as his mother Susan. It premiered on BBC One on Remembrance Sunday 2007.
The Family was a 1974 BBC television series made by producer Paul Watson, and directed by Franc Roddam. It was a fly-on-the-wall documentary series, seen by many as the precursor to reality television. It was similar to an American documentary which had aired the previous year in 1973, called An American Family.
It followed the working-class Wilkins family of six of Reading, through their daily lives, warts and all, and culminated in the marriage of one of the daughters, which was plagued by fans and paparazzi alike.
The show was the basis for two parodies: Monty Python's Flying Circus, in their very last episode which aired 5 December 1974, featured a sketch called "The Most Awful Family in Britain 1974"; and Benny Hill, on one of his 1975 specials, did a takeoff called "That Family."
Margaret re-married and became Margaret Sainsbury; she died of a reported heart attack in Berkshire on 10 August 2008, aged 73.
The format was revived in 2008.
The Disorderly Room was a very early British television comedy production, written by Eric Blore and starring Tommy Handley. Blore was also an actor who played roles such as butlers in various Hollywood films, while Handley later found greater fame in the BBC radio comedy show It's That Man Again.
The Disorderly Room was first performed on stage at the Victoria Palace Theatre, in 1919 and starred Blore, Stanley Holloway, Tom Walls, Leslie Henson and Jack Buchanan. The show was a one-off piece which consisted of a single sketch, wherein army disciplinary proceedings were put to the tunes of various popular songs of the day. It was first performed live on the BBC Television Service on Saturday 17 April 1937, in a fifteen-minute form at 3.45pm. Such was its popularity, however, that the production was re-staged on various occasions before the suspension of the flegdling television service for the duration of the Second World War in September 1939.
The later performances on 30 August 1937; 23 December 1937; 15 August
John's Not Mad is a QED documentary made by the BBC in 1989. It was ranked, in a British public poll, as one of the 50 Greatest Documentaries. The film shadows John Davidson, a 15-year-old from Galashiels in Scotland, who had severe Tourette syndrome. John's life was explored in terms of his family and the close-knit community around him, and how they all coped with a misunderstood condition.
Missing, titled Missing Live from 2008–2010, is a BBC One morning television series which has been running since 2005. It is currently presented Louise Minchin and Rav Wilding, who replaced Sally Magnusson in 2008. The fifth series adopted a live studio style as opposed to the pre-recorded, docu-drama, style of the previous series. The seventh series returned to the original style and was pre-recorded and presented solely by Louise Minchin.
The Real Swiss Family Robinson is a four-part BBC television miniseries in which different families leave their regular lives behind and sample life on a desert island.
Runaway is the story of a young boy who takes to the streets to get away from the torment he suffers at school and daily problems at home. Life at home is rife with daily doses of scoldings from his half-drunk mother, and his two younger brothers Dean and Jack pay him scant attention until noticing he is missing. On his journey, Sean meets a girl named Molly who takes him to a crumbling mill where her family lives. The series follows the police search for Sean, and how his disappearance affects his family.
Runaways was part of a short season on CBBC about children and homelessness, along with a 5-part documentary "Sofa Surfers". The program was first shown as three separated half-hour episodes in March 2009, and later as an 82-minute film.
Hotel Trubble is a children's comedy drama made by the BBC and broadcast on its television channels CBBC and BBC One. It stars Dominique Moore as Sally, the receptionist; Gary Damer as Lenny; Sam Phillips as Jamie, the bellboy; and Tanya Franks as Dolly and Sheila Bernette as Mrs. Poshington, a guest who never leaves. It is a farce sitcom. A total of 39 episodes have aired on TV between December 2008 and August 2011.. Many guest stars have appeared, including Tom Price, Josie d'Arby, Miranda Hart, Stephen Evans, Steve Furst, Steve Marsh, Dan Wright, Les Dennis and Phil Cornwell.
It'll Never Work was a television programme for children showcasing new inventions and developments in scientific technology. Produced by Roy Milani for BBC Children's, the show ran for seven series between 9 November 1993 and 23 August 1999 on weekdays within the Children's BBC, later CBBC, strand on BBC One. It'll Never Work was presented throughout its run by children's television presenter Sally Gray, who would go on to present children's quiz 50/50, Jez Nelson, who would go on to front the related primetime BBC technology series Tomorrow's World, and science presenter Angela Lamont. This team was augmented during later series by presenters Adrian Johnson and Rick Adams.
For each episode the presenters travelled worldwide to discover new gadgets and to test out whether new inventions worked or not, hence the show's title. Depeche Mode's 1984 hit single "People Are People" was used as the theme music.
The show was critically and commercially lauded, winning the 1994 BAFTA TV Award in the category of 'Best Chil
Supersense is a six-part nature documentary television series produced by the BBC Natural History Unit, originally broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC1 in 1988.
Half Moon Investigations is a children's crime/comedy drama television series created by the BBC and based upon the novel of the same name by the author Eoin Colfer. It concerns a schoolboy, Fletcher Moon, who spends much of his spare time solving petty crimes around his school, St Jerome's. 13 episodes were first broadcast between January and March 2009. The series was filmed in and around a disused secondary school, located in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire.