Documentary

Wednesday, June 6 at 8.30pm on BIO

Queen Elizabeth II has reigned over the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth since 1953. Despite being in her 80s, she still works as hard as ever, carrying out hundreds of public engagements every year. Through interviews with historians and guests, ambassadors, royals and palace staff, this documentary special focuses on the significance of the great state banquets of the last sixty years.

It explores the precise planning involved from the guest list and seating plan to the special menus and the content of the Queen’s welcome speech. It looks at the political significance these banquets have played in world events, as well as revealing amusing anecdotes from the evenings themselves.

ROYAL COLLECTION Bio celebrates Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee with a comprehensive collection of royal programming throughout June. Deborah Hutton presents a portfolio of programs on the House of Windsor and portraits of the Queen’s life as a princess, a wife and as the monarch of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Nations since since her accession to the throne on the death of her father on Febr ar 6 1952 her accession to the throne on the death of her father on February 6, 1952.

Sunday June 10 at 9.30pm on BIO

Known the world over as the original piano man, Billy Joel is the best-selling recording artist of all time. At 60 years old, Joel has lived a life with incredible heights and devastating lows. He has battled depression, lost his fortune to an embezzler and been married three times, including his high-profile marriage to supermodel Christie Brinkley. He has toured the world dazzling enormous audiences alone and with friend Elton John, singing iconic songs from a remarkable career spanning more than 40 years.

9:30pm – Wednesday, June 6 on ABC2

Josie Bellerby is a typical, if fortunate, eighteen year old. She lives in a loving home in York with her parents Julia and Jules, and has two older sisters Lucy and Emma. Young, vivacious, and not afraid to speak her mind, Josie has lots of friends and realistic dreams of becoming an actress. But life isn’t as blessed as it might seem.

Josie could be living with a deadly inheritance – like her mother, aunt, grandmother and great-grandmother before her, she could be carrying the cancer genes that mean her risk of developing breast cancer increases to eighty per cent.

Now, as her older sister Lucy goes through the testing process to determine if she carries the genes, Josie sets out to become as informed as possible about the reality of what her own test could mean.

Demonstrating a maturity beyond her years, she meets with medical experts and talks to women who have already undergone preventative double mastectomies.

While a negative result would be a great relief to Josie, a positive result would mean having to face a future that includes dramatic body-changing surgery and fast-tracking decisions on fertility, relationships and her looks. This film traces Josie’s journey to decide whether to take the test or not, and it explores how her family – and the experts she encounters – help shape her decision.

7:30pm – Sunday, June 3 on ABC1

Plants are a silent power that have shaped the Earth, creating our atmosphere and driving the evolution of every single animal in the world – including us. This fascinating three-part series offers a totally new perspective on our planet’s history. Narrated and starring Professor Iain Stewart, How to Grow a Planet is a visual feast offering a stunning new perspective on Earth science.

We might think humans are the most powerful living thing on Earth, but it’s plants that time and again have set the agenda for life. All animals rely on plants for their survival.

This is not an accident – they are the most powerful evolutionary force on Earth. Plants enabled amphibians to leave the water, they had a hand in the rise and fall of the dinosaurs, and they ensured the ultimate triumph of insects, mammals, birds and even us humans – all for their own benefit. Plants have only ever had one goal, the domination of the planet.

In episode one, Professor Stewart takes a look at how plants created the world – creating the oxygen we breathe, the soil we walk on and deciding which animals live and die. Episode two, he delves into the world of flowers and explains how after the dinosaurs were wiped out, it was flowering plants which inherited the Earth. In the final episode, he takes a close look at the most powerful plant in our planet’s history; grass.

Epic in scale, cinematic in style, this landmark series utilises the latest state-of-the-art photographic techniques from time- lapse to high speed and innovative CGI, How to Grow a Planet travels right into the inner world of plants and sees life on our planet from a new and stunning perspective.

Wednesday, June 6 at 8.30pm on BIO

This is the story of the extraordinary 16 months between February 1952 and June 1953 when a shy and petite 25-year-old was suddenly and unexpectedly thrust into the limelight, soon to become the most recognised person in the world: the Queen.

Wednesday, June 6 at 10.00pm on BIO

The trial and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg during the height of The Cold War shook America to its core. And in light of the stranglehold Senator Joe McCarthy’s red scare propaganda had on the nation, a true reflection of Julius and Ethel never surfaced.

Wednesday May 23 at 10.00pm on BIO

People with severe anxiety disorders live in a world of invisible monsters that can strike at any time – threatening their lives, their relationships and their sanity. For some, the attacks become so frequent and terrifying that the disorder consumes their whole lives. Anxious will follow real people battling severe anxiety disorders and their attempts to control their anxiety and take back their lives.

Monday May 21 at 8.30pm on BIO

In 2010 conjoined twins Hassan and Hussein Benhaffaf underwent a 14 hour operation to separate them. With exclusive access to the family, this insightful documentary was filmed with them at their home in Ireland in the lead up to the procedure, through to their arrival at the hospital for surgery, as well as the first stages of their recovery. Separate Lives features interviews with the boys’ parents, Angie and Azzedine, the medical staff who have helped the family and poignant footage of the family’s experiences in their journey to this life-changing operation.

Wednesday May 16 at 9.30pm on CRIME & INVESTIGATION NETWORK

Sophie Walker, an investigator working for the charity Reprieve, has just 90 days to try and save the life of Linda Carty. Linda, a 51-year-old British grandmother, is on Death Row in Texas, having been convicted of murder. But she has always protested her innocence. In this powerful one-off documentary, Sophie tries to secure a re-trial and prevent Linda from being the first British woman to be executed since Ruth Ellis in 1955. At the least, Sophie is hoping to win a reprieve for Linda. However, only one in the last 100 Death Row cases in Texas has earned a reprieve.

Monday May 14 at 8.30pm on CRIME & INVESTIGATION NETWORK

Real Crime investigates the murder of Hells Angel Gerry Tobin who was shot dead on one of the UK’s busiest motorways while riding home from the Bulldog Bash Festival in 2007.

Unravel the ferocious motorcycle club rivalry which pre-empted such a public execution and look at how that conflict continues to be played out on the world stage.

With unprecedented access to the police investigation, CCTV footage and to Gerry Tobin’s family we piece together the events which lead up to the death of an angel.