BBC SUMMER SHOWCASE: BBC Entertainment's upcoming SA programming includes Downton Abbey, Call the Midwife, The Cube.

BBC Worldwide Channels which runs the TV channels BBC Entertainment, BBC Knowledge, BBC Lifestyle and CBeebies on MultiChoice's DStv in South Africa unveiled it's upcoming summer programming at its next BBC Showcase upfront held this past Tuesday in Johannesburg.

Jon Farrar, the vice president for programming for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region for BBC Worldwide Channels, took attendees through the various channel's upcoming line-up. The Downton Abbey stars Robert James Collier (Thomas) and Sophie McShera (Daisy) visiting South Africa were present during the showcase.

The BBC Showcase was only for Johannesburg press, TV critics from Cape Town and Durban were neither invited, nor in advance told about it.


ALSO READ: BBC Summer Showcase SA 2013: BBC Knowledge
ALSO READ: BBC Summer Showcase SA 2013: BBC Lifestyle

BBC Worldwide Channels and Jon Farrar unveiled new programming for BBC Entertainment (DStv 120) for the upcoming few months:


Downton Abbey, presumably April 2013

I wasn't there to ask, and when I made a media enquiry I was told "early in 2013" but the third series of Downton Abbey will presumably start in April on BBC Entertainment in South Africa. In the third series it's the 1920s and the inhabitants of Downton Abbey are attempting to get back to normal life after the horrors of the First World War. But the household is soon thrown into turmoil when an unwise investment threatens the entire family fortune. Meanwhile Mary and Matthew are finding that the course of true love rarely runs smoothly and the Dowager Countess of Grantham finds her long-held values questioned by Cora's feisty American mother.
A Carnival/Masterpiece co-production

Death in Paradise, coming soon

The quintessentially British cop DI Richard Poole (Ben Miller) is sent to solve impossible murders on a beautiful Caribbean Island in this new, light-hearted drama series. He'd be the perfect man for the job - if only he didn't hate sun, sea and sand… Sent to the tiny island of Saint-Marie to solve a mysterious murder Detective Inspector Richard Poole is a total fish out of water. Richard's team, though, have their own way of doing things. His new partner, feisty DS Camille Bordey is instinctive, wild, exotic and brilliant in her own way. Police Officer Dwayne Myers is a little too cosy with criminals for Richard's liking and Fidel Best is honest as the day is long – at times frustrating, at times the key to an impenetrable mystery.
Red Planet Pictures and Atlantique Productions in association with BBC Worldwide and Kudos Film and TV for BBC and France Télévisions, produced with support from the region of Guadeloupe.


Ramsay's Hotel Hell, January 2013

Gordon Ramsay turns his perfectionist eye to the hotel trade as he travels across America attempting to fix horrid hotels, awful inns and bad bed & breakfasts in Hotel Hell. He fixes his gaze on some of America's horror hotels, in which you wouldn't want to sleep and definitely wouldn't want to eat. Ramsay endures hotels at their very worst. From dirty bedrooms and mould-ridden bathrooms to incompetent staff and careless customer service, Ramsay works with the hotel owners and employees to turn these hapless establishments around.
An Optomen /One Potato Two Potato production


The Cube, coming soon

The UK TV presenter Phillip Schofield presents this hugely successful family entertainment series which tests contestants' ability, nerve and determination to win. The British public is challenged to attempt deceivingly simple tasks in a giant Perspex cube. Once inside, there is nowhere to hide, as their entire journey is captured from all angles by over 90 slow-motion cameras. With each task worth a large cash prize, the contestant will have to keep their nerve in this high pressure game of skill and strategy to move closer to the top prize of £250,000. Each player starts with nine lives and has to complete seven tasks to win the jackpot. 

Produced by Objective Productions.

Sun, Sex & Suspicious Parents, coming soon

The ultimate rite of passage for the average British teenager - the first ever summer holiday abroad without their parents. But what these teenagers couldn’t possibly have guessed is that whilst they enjoy their first taste of freedom, with all its temptations and excesses, they are being secretly watched... by their parents. As Sun, Sex and Suspicous Parents follows the action from Europe's partying hotspots it will be an eye-opening experience, but will it bring the families closer together or drive them further apart?
A Zodiak Media Group production


Life's Too Short, Sunday 21 October, 20:30

A new comedy series with Warwick Davis as a fictionalised version of himself, and a galaxy of international stars in guest roles including Liam Neeson, Steve Carell, Sting, Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp, Life’s Too Short is a fake documentary following the life of a struggling actor (Davis) who's been forced to live out his life in the glare of the cameras.
With his career on the slide, a massive tax bill caused by his useless accountant and a wife who's divorcing him, showbiz dwarf Warwick has no choice but to open his doors to a film crew 24/7.
A BBC and HBO Co-Production


Call the Midwife, coming soon

The highest rated new BBC drama which was just recently commissioned for a second series. A true story of London's East End in the 1950s. Call The Midwife is a moving, intimate, funny and true-to-life look at the colourful tales of midwifery and families in the Fifties, based on the best-selling memoirs of the late Jennifer Worth. The cast is packed full of both established and new British acting talent including Miranda Hart, Jenny Agutter and Pam Ferris. When Jenny Lee (Raine) first arrives in London’s East End, she knows nothing about hardship, poverty or indeed, life itself. Raised in the wealthy English countryside, she's previously spent time in Paris and could have been anything. But she chose to become a nurse and now, as a newly qualified midwife, Jenny has come to work in the poorest area of the city.
A Neal Street production for BBC


BBC Entertainment also has the following new seasons of returning TV shows:

Graham Norton S12
Top Gear S19
Strictly Come Dancing S9
Hell's Kitchen USA S6
QI S7
Rev S2
Total Wipeout S6