Saturday 26th
BBC1 - Inside the Perfect Predator - "Soaring above the people of London is the fastest animal on the planet, the peregrine falcon, on a mission to kill for her chicks.
Off the coast of South Africa the world's largest predatory fish, the great white shark, has just completed a 7000 mile journey and is hungry for seal blubber. On the plains of Africa, the fastest land animal, the cheetah, struggles to provide for her cubs as her enemies move in. And having survived a drought by entering into a state of suspended animation, the prehistoric Nile crocodile is poised to ambush his dinner.
With ground-breaking computer graphics and incredible close-up photography this documentary reveals the inner alchemy that gives these four extraordinary hunters the edge - from the moment they detect their prey through to the vital kill. But who is the Perfect Predator?"
Monday 28th
BBC1 - Panorama: What's Up With The Weather? (postponed from Monday 21st) "Yet another barbeque summer has been predicted, but do you really trust the forecasters any more? Despite governments, scientists and campaigners telling us the world's climate is changing, increasing numbers of us simply don't believe in global warming.
After one of the coldest winters on record and a vicious row about the science behind climate change, Panorama goes back to basics and asks what we really know about our climate and how it will affect us.
Panorama reporter Tom Heap speaks to some of the world's leading scientists on both sides of the argument, to find out what they can agree on and uncovers some surprising results."
Five - Crimes That Shook The World - "Drama-documentary series looking at some of the most notorious murders from around the globe. This instalment focuses on the sickening crimes of the 'Monster of Florence', who preyed on young lovers in and around the Italian city in the early 1980s."
Tuesday 29th
BBC4 - What Did You Do In The Great War Daddy? - "Documentary telling the tragic story of the greatest loss of fathers in British history. When the nation was called to arms in the patriotic fervour of 1914 it was difficult to imagine that, four years later, half a million children would have lost their fathers in battle. The impact of their deaths was devastating and never forgotten by their sons and daughters. Now in their 90s, they go on an emotional journey to remember their lost fathers, culminating in a visit to their graves in France."
Wednesday 30th
Channel 4 - The Untold Great Fire Of London - "Everyone knows that the Great Fire of London started at a baker's in Pudding Lane; that it was a terrible accident; and that hardly anyone died. However, many Londoners, reeling from plague and war, and torn apart by sectarian tensions, believed that the fire had been started deliberately by a foreign enemy living within their midst. And they wanted to make sure a foreigner would pay for this crime of the century.
For several apocalyptic days and nights, as the city burned, Londoners hunted the foreign fire-starters. The first target was the Dutch, whose cities, navy and empire Britain coveted; the second was the French, our fundamentalist religious enemies. After an orgy of rage and violence, cosmopolitan London had found its incendiary alien - a Frenchman who claimed to have committed this act of terror - and from whom the mob would, quite literally, demand their pound of flesh.
But many were left wondering whether the real horrors had been committed by Londoners themselves. As the real stories of hardship and heroism emerged, the authorities had to ask whether London's foreign communities had been more loyal than they could ever have imagined.
With expert interviews, fresh visualisations of 17th-century London and contemporary sources, The Untold Great Fire of London reveals the dirty truth behind one of our most famous historical moments."
Thursday 1st July
Channel 4 - The Untold Invasion of Britain - "In a mountainous land, at the limit of its influence, the world's only superpower gets bogged down in an asymmetric war against a deadly insurgency. It sounds like a familiar story, but this is history from almost 2,000 years ago.
Brought to life with animated sequences based on contemporary Roman sources, this is the extraordinary story of a very bloody foreigner: the little-known Roman Emperor Septimius Severus, an African who seized Rome's Imperial throne in a vicious civil war and then fought a brutal campaign in Britain, transforming the country in his wake.
In 207AD, Britain was just a far outpost of the mighty Roman Empire with the north holding out. With a vast army, Severus marched over Hadrian's Wall. Using guerrilla tactics, the Britons attacked isolated Roman patrols, and then melted into the mountains. Severus wasted four years and thousands of Roman lives in a futile attempt to defeat his invisible enemy until his demise in York in 211AD. His campaign only served to create a new enemy north of The Wall and helped forge the English/ Scottish divide that is familiar to us today.
This programme follows Severus's trail from the magnificent remains at Lepcis Magna in the Libyan Desert, to the military hardware left by his campaign in Britain."
Five - Oil Disaster: The Rig That Blew Up - "Documentary exploring what really happened in the first 36 hours of the biggest environmental disaster in US history - the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Featuring exclusive access and footage, the film follows the salvage team called in to save the burning oil rig Deepwater Horizon, and unravels the desperate story of the men tasked with preventing a catastrophe."
Friday 2nd July
BBC4 - Shanghai Tales - 3-part series - "Part 1 - Children of the Chinese Circus -
Documentary looking at Shanghai Circus school, where the gruelling training regimes result in some of the best acrobats and circus performers in the world. Children as young as eight have their unformed bodies stretched and tested to breaking point as they learn to master the most taxing feats of acrobatic grace and daring. Harsh demands are also made of teachers and parents as their proteges strive to be Number One in the circus - the Chinese way."
Channel 4 - Unreported World - Colombia's Dying Tribes - "Unreported World investigates how Colombia's indigenous people have been targeted in a string of massacres perpetrated by guerrillas, paramilitary groups and the security forces.
Colombia's government claims success in its war against left-wing FARC guerrillas and in restoring law and order. But the country is still beset with a conflict that is killing thousands.
And as Reporter Aidan Hartley and director Katherine Churcher discover at a jungle massacre site where the pools of blood are still drying, behind the continuing violence there is a state of complete impunity. Nobody can explain why the massacre happened. Soldiers claim civilian attackers with pistols have murdered eight people. But local witnesses say they heard sustained bursts of automatic gunfire, hinting at the involvement of security forces.
In the region of Narino, the Awa people - one of about 100 indigenous groups in Colombia - are trying to escape the violence. The Awa are living in squalid conditions without proper shelter, hygiene or food. One tells Hartley they fled a massacre in the jungle that killed 11 people. A young farmer, who narrowly escaped being killed, claims their FARC attackers told him they were taking revenge against the Awa, who they accuse of collaborating with the army.
The team is told about another massacre in the nearby village of Rosario, where they find the local Awa people too scared to reveal what happened. A human rights worker shows Hartley photos of the grisly scene at Rosario. He says that the attackers wore camouflage uniforms and masks and executed 12 people, including small children. He claims the murders took place after a local Awa woman complained that the Colombian army had shot dead her husband, who they accused of being a FARC rebel. He says the authorities have failed to investigate what happened."
BBC2 - Gardeners' World Special: Gardening On The Edge - "Toby Buckland visits some of his favourite coastal gardens and discovers how, despite the tricky and tempestuous locations, the gardens around the coast of Britain are at the forefront of horticulture and are amongst the most beautiful in the country."
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