BBC Worldwide in South Africa held a Summer Upfront on Tuesday in Johannesburg showcasing some upcoming programming on BBC Worldwide's set of channels that's available on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform in South Africa and selectively through some other African countries.
From BBC Worldwide flew in Grant Welland, the BBC Worldwide's executive vice president for the CEMA (Central Europe, Middle East and Africa), actor Sanjeev Bhaskar who appears in the drama Unforgotten and Chadden Hunter who is an executive producer on the documentary series Planet Earth II.
Editor's note: The PR agency of BBC Worldwide in South Africa didn't inform some media beforehand that the Summer Upfront would be happening. In my case BBC Worldwide's PR agency tells me there wasn't enough coverage given of BBC Worldwide's previous upfront to justify an invitation/communication about it.
Kully Kaur-Bains, BBC Worldwide's head of programming for South Africa says "this summer our South African channel portfolio is one of our strongest yet. From the ambitious history series Planet Earth II to star-studded premium dramas The Collection and The Durrells, audiences will find a diverse range of premium content to indulge in."
Joel Churcher, BBC Worldwide Africa's vice president and general manager for Africa says that since the relaunch of BBC Worldwide's set of channels on DStv in South Africa and some across Africa, "BBC Brit's weekly reach has doubled since the channel's launch among DStv Compact males."
"BBC Earth leads its competitor set with the largest proportion of LSM 8-10 viewers, and BBC Lifestyle continues to be DStv's number one lifestyle channel among all individuals."
Joel Churcher says "BBC First ranks as the number one international drama channel on DStv for average time spent on a channel, a true testament to how well premium British drama resonates with South African audiences."
"BBC Worldwide continues to significantly invest in world-class, premium programming spanning every genre, the results of which South African viewers can experience through our channels."
BBC Brit (DStv 120) (no date, coming soon)
BBC Brit will be showing a collection of the British actor's programming. Race Riots USA (1 60 minutes episode) looks at black people in America.
Reggie Yates' Extreme Russia (3 60 minute episodes) visits three different communities in Russia, exploring what it's like for young people there 24 years after the fall of the Soviet Union.
BBC Brit (DStv 120) (no date, coming soon)
The new Top Gear presenter shows a compilation of his best YouTube hits. He gets behind the wheel and takes viewers into the technical complexities of these vehicles and featuring cars like Ashton Martin G12, Porche 911, GT3 RS, McLaren 650S and Ferrari 458.
Robot Wars
BBC Brit (DStv 120) Sunday 16 October 21:00
Filmed in a purpose-built arena in Glasgow, Scotland, presenters Dara O Briain and Angela Scanion look on 40 teams of amateur robot enthusiasts battle it out over 6 episodes to become Robot Wars Champion 2016. Each episode has 8 competing robots.
Motorheads
BBC Brit (DStv 120) (no date, coming soon)
Described as a "hilarious car show for the internet age". Presenters Tom Ford and Jonny Smith look for online motoring videos and pit their own driving skills against some of those seen on the internet.
Episodes
BBC Brit (DStv 120) Tuesdays 20:00
Comedy series with Matt LeBlanc who plays an actor cast in a British sitcom.
You're Back in the Room
BBC Brit (DStv 120) Sunday 27 November 21:00
A brand-new game show with Phillip Schofield as the presenter. A team of five strangers take on simple tasks - but after they've been hypnotised, something that often triggers them to sabotage their own chances of winning.
BBC Brit (DStv 120) Thursday 1 December 21:00
An inside look at Britain's biggest luxury yacht manufacturer, Sunseeker. This once off hourlong documentary tells the story of the company's latest model and the challenges faced by the company as they build their most bespoke boat every for a demanding New York client.
The Graham Norton Show XX
BBC Brit (DStv 120) Tuesday 11 October 21:00
The talk show returns for its 20th season
The World's Deadliest Drivers
BBC Brit (DStv 120) Mondays 20:00
Dashcams and CCTV footage reveal car crashes, filled with outrageous footage caught by cameras.
BBC Earth (DStv 184) February 2017
Sir David Attenborough (who else?) narrates this next new version based and continuing on from Planet Earth made a decade ago.
The new version will take viewers to jungles, deserts, mountains, islands, grasslands and cities and explore the characters of Earth's most iconic habitats.
BBC Earth (DStv 184) February 2017
Four 50 minute episodes explaining what lies beneath Earth's startling beauty and what makes the world work.
The series uses accessible science and cutting-edge filming techniques as it answers questions like "Why is water blue?"
Rome's Invisible City
BBC Earth (DStv 184) Sunday 17 January 2017 16:00
Dr Michael Scott leads a team to reveal the ancient world's most awe-inspiring city - the underground quarries, aqueducts, vast water cisterns, temples, tombs, lifts, trap doors, and mechanics beneath the Coliseum and how the city was built two thousands years ago.
Weird Wonders of the World
BBC Earth (DStv 184) (no date, coming soon)
Eight 50 minute episodes in which scientists answer some of the strangest questions that range from animal oddities and weird weather to remarkable natural phenomena and medical marvels.
BBC Earth (DStv 184) Tuesday 1 November 19:30
There's 9 episodes in the third season in which adventurer Ben Fogle meets more people setting up home in some of the most isolated locations on Earth.
This season he will join Gaynor Leeper in the Swedish Arctic Circle, in Utah twins living inside a canyon, an Alaskan forest home, and in Namibia someone living in the desert sand dunes.
Life Below Zero IV
BBC First (DStv 119) (no date, coming soon)
Twenty episodes following the hardy characters living and working in Alaska as they gather, hunt, fish and build before the land freezes and the dark winter arrives around them.
Note: BBC Worldwide South Africa says this is coming to BBC First but it falls in the BBC Earth category, likely making the "BBC First" a mistake.
The Great South African Bake Off II
BBC Lifestyle (DStv 174) Tuesday 18 October 20:00
Twelve new baking contestants with one leaving midway through in the new second season of the local South African version of the baking reality show.
With Anne Hirsch as presenter and Lentshe Bhengu replacing Donovan Goliath as the new co-presenter, and Shirley Guy and Tjaart Walraven both back as the judges.
Strictly Come Dancing XIV
BBC Lifestyle (DStv 174) January 2017
Fifteen new British celebrity contestants dancing and trying to win the Glitterball trophy. Look out for the South African dancer Oti Mabuse.
BBC Lifestyle (DStv 174) (no date, coming soon)
The British-Indian food writer and TV chef Anjum Anand takes viewers on a spice trail throughout Australia in this new 12-episode series.
Celebrity MasterChef UK IX
BBC Lifestyle (DStv 174) February 2017
Twelve celebrities put on aprons and prepare dishes to try and impress judges John Torode and Gregg Wallance. They have to make dishes for former MasterChef champions and notorious restaurant critics.
BBC Lifestyle (DStv 174) February 2017
Follows the House of the Year competition to find the winner of this architecture prize. Kevin McCloud and others explore some of Britain's most contemporary and cutting-edge homes.
BBC First (DStv 119) (no date, coming soon)
This new 8-episode drama series revolves around a fashion empire, The House of Sabine, in Paris 1947, that's run by two very different brothers.
Paul controls the business and younger brother Claude is the reckless, hedonistic one. Behind the glamour are of course devastating secrets in this drama series set during a pivotal moment in France's history when fashion became a vehicle for transformation and reinvention.
BBC First (DStv 119) (no date, coming soon)
Drama series adapted from Len Deighton's bestselling thriller.
The 6 hour-long episodes that's a bit like The Man in the High Castle, revolve around London detective in a London in the 1940's where the Second World War was won by Hitler.
Detective Douglas Archer is caught between his brutal new SS bosses and the British resistance movement.
Maigret
BBC First (DStv 119) January 2017
Rowan Atkinson is Maigret in two 90-minute episodes as a detective in Paris in the 1950s solving cases. The first episode deals with a serial killer targeting women in the seedy district of Montmartre.
The second episode deals with the murder of a gambler.
Sherlock IV
BBC First (DStv 119) (no date, coming soon)
There's a further three 90-minute episodes of this detective series with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.
Unforgotten II
BBC First (DStv 119) (no date, coming soon)
Sanjeev Bhaskar and Nicola Walker in a brand-new story, revolving around the fallout from the investigation into a historic murder case.
BBC First (DStv 119) (no date, coming soon)
A British family living in the Greek islands and based on Gerald Durrell's trilogy of novels exploring the drama when a family adjusts to a new way of life with new challenges in a new country.
Ripper Street IV
BBC First (DStv 119) Friday 18 November 21:00
A fourth season of the cancelled, then brought back Victorian era set drama series taking place in London's East End criminal world.
Father Brown IV
BBC First (DStv 119) Friday 23 December 20:00
The meddling detective and man of the cloth is back investigating further crimes in the sleepy Cotsworld village of Kembleford with his pushy secretary Mrs McCarthy. Ten new episodes.
DStv 400, StarSat 256
Little new.
Still basically Focus on Africa from Mondays to Fridays at 19:30 and Africa Business Report on Fridays at 20:40.
Didi Akinyelure from CBNC Africa (DStv 410) won this year's BBC World News Komla Dumor Award.
CBeebies (DStv 306) Monday 10 October 17:50
The animation series is back daily from Monday 10 October about four international heroes looking like cut-off fingers with a My Little Pony that's a unicorn.
They like to explore new places and learn more about (and protect) landmark natural and man-made places.
