July 2011 highlights

24 May 2011

The Killing, coming to Channel 4 this July.

 

 

July is the warmest month of the year in the northern hemisphere, the one wot we are in. Ways of staying cool in July include spending the month naked in a wind tunnel, sleeping in a cave for four solid weeks, or going on a summer holiday to Scotland. Alternatively, keep the temperature down low by tuning into the coolest channel on television*, and let the soothing balm of brilliant, stimulating telly run all over your sweaty bits. July highlights - Julylights? - include:

 

The Killing
From writer, executive producer and series showrunner Veena Sud (Cold Case), The Killing is based on the wildly successful Danish television series Forbrydelsen, which centres around the murder of a young girl and the subsequent police investigation. The series is set in Seattle, and ties together three distinct stories around the murder. As it unfolds, it becomes clear that there are no accidents; everyone has a secret, and while the characters think they've moved on, their past isn't done with them

 

Gok's Teens: The Naked Truth (w/t)
Gok Wan returns to Channel 4 with a brand new, four-part series. The show will follow Gok as he applies his unrivalled capacity for empathy to the nation's teens in need of help, guidance and a confidence boost. Whether they are struggling with their sexuality, missing out on teenage life as carers, or suffering at the hands of bullies, Gok draws on his on his personal experiences growing up to help give teen contributors the advice, reassurance and self belief to open doors and tackle their issues and anxieties. Plus, he reignites his drive to get a lesson dedicated to body confidence added to the national curriculum with his ‘Get Your School on Board' movement and takes his teens to Westminster.

 

Beaver Falls
Best friends Flynn, A-Rab and Barry are three ordinary British lads who met at Uni. Now freshly graduated, they're determined to have one last carefree summer of fun before facing the cold, hard realities of real life, and they're going to do it in style. Somehow, they've managed to blag themselves jobs at Beaver Falls, an elite American summer camp for the ridiculously tanned and beautiful teenage offspring of California's rich and powerful. This is a summer job that requires them to be responsible. To set an example. To be role models to their young charges...yeah, whatever! There's no way they're going to let the job spec get in the way of their single-minded pursuit of The Ultimate Summer. Two months of hanging out, chasing girls and getting into mischief beckon for these boys, who are all set for the time of their lives.  But things have a habit of not quite working out the way they expect: no one mentioned that the kids they'd be looking after would be this annoying...

 

Dirty Sexy Things
Dirty Sexy Things is a new entertainment concept-doc series that follows leading fashion photographer Perou as he faces the biggest challenge of his career: to create a series of photos that opens the window on the world of modelling and on the lives of the models themselves.  After choosing eight professional models from across the modelling world, Dirty Sexy Things gets down and dirty on the daily demands of life as a beautiful commodity. Who are these people putting themselves on the front line of the super body conscious, hyper harsh fashion world? Is life one long glamour party, or a constant battle to stay on top?

 

Hugh's Big Fish Fight Update
This one-off programme is a follow-up on Hugh's hugely successful series earlier this year, which saw over half a million people pledge their support to Hugh's campaign to ban fish discard. In the show, Hugh will be back in Brussels but this time supported by 600,000 signatures to check whether the campaign has persuaded the EU to ban the practice that sees perfectly good fish thrown back into the sea and entirely wasted. Hugh will also be checking with tinned tuna companies that had promised to use the sustainable pole and line catching method of catching fish. Have they been true to their word? And he'll be knocking hard on the doors of other seafood companies who have failed to do anything at all despite the massive public support. Plus there will be more surprises and more Hugh-shaped mischief to make sure that his message that we can't carry on like this is heard in all corners of the globe.

 

Jo Frost: Extreme Parental Guidance
Britain's favourite nanny is back, and this time she's on the move with her first ever roadshow, sharing her parenting advice with mums and dads across the country.  From large-scale question and answer sessions to intimate one to one conversations inside her specially created home on the road - Jo tackles her widest range of family issues yet - from the modern teenage obsessions of texting or plastic surgery; to the age old battles with fussy eaters and poor sleepers. And as  always she's ready to roll up her sleeves for those families in need of an intervention, whether it's taming a violent six year old, persuading a nine year old to eat his first hot meal, or helping angry kids accept their new step dad.

 

T4 on the Beach
The world's best summer beach party is back on Sunday 10th July, to the delight of a 50,000-strong crowd, and millions more at home. The super-stellar line-up includes music from Jason Derulo, Nicola Roberts, McFly, Tinchy Stryder, The Midnight Beast, Jessie J, The Wanted, The View, Example, Katy B, The Wombats, Wretch 32, Alexis Jordan, N-Dubz and Chipmunk. On top of all the music, fans will also get the chance to get up, close and personal with stars from The Only Way Is Essex and Hollyoaks. There are more appearances to be announced in the coming weeks as the big day draws closer.

 

The Sex Education Show
The Sex Education Show will return with a six-part series which will include the results of a nationwide survey revealing the sexual practices and attitudes of Brits, to reflect the changing sexual landscape of the nation. From the physically disabled to the blind, Anna Richardson will also discover the whys and how-tos of sex as she talks to those who often feel sexually invisible. Plus the programme will tackle the thorny topic of sex and religion. As always, the series will be accompanied by the comprehensive and highly successful Sexperience website www.channel4.com/sexperienceuk.

 

True Blood 3
Mixing romance, suspense, mystery and humour, True Blood tells the ongoing tale of Sookie (Anna Paquin), a waitress with telepathic gifts - and an irresistible attraction to now-174-year-old vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) who went missing at the end of Season 2. Season 3 picks up with Sookie desperately trying to locate her fiancé and ending up in a netherworld of human and undead interlopers, among them the Vampire King of Mississippi, Russell Edgington (Denis O'Hare) and his followers, a pack of vicious werewolves who feed on vampire blood. Love really does suck.

 

Quiz Trippers
A team of avid quizzers, a small mobile home and one big challenge - these are the ingredients of Channel 4's brand new daytime show, Quiz Trippers. The show follows five keen pub quizzers as they spend a week travelling the length and breadth of the country in a campervan to take part in a different local pub quiz every night. Narrated by Christopher Biggins, the team must rely on their wit and general knowledge to win the cash prize at each quiz. And with only basic food and water supplies on the campervan, our quizzers must decide how much, if any, of their winnings to spend on drink and more luxurious treats. Anything left over is theirs to keep. But there's a twist - only one member of the team will walk away with the prize money at the end of the week. After each quiz, the team members must collectively decide who the most deserving winner is, and the person with the most votes at the end of the week is crowned overall winner. Full of drama, humour, rivalry and great characters, Quiz Trippers begins this summer on Channel 4.

 

Undercover Boss
Undercover Boss returns for a third series with six new high profile business bosses  leaving the comfort of their corner offices  to get their hands dirty in an undercover mission to examine the inner workings of the company. Work incognito alongside their employees, the bosses learn the effects their decisions have on their workers and where the problems lie within the organisation. Exposed to both good and bad sides of the business these bosses hear what their employees really think about how the company is run while discovering the talented unsung heroes who take great pride in delivering the day to day successes. After a challenging and enlightening few days the bosses reveal their true identity to their unsuspecting staff. It's an emotional and empowering climax as they explain what they have learnt, the changes they want to make and how they will show appreciation to the employees who've been doing an outstanding job. Unrecognised talent will be rewarded but it's the poor performers who'll have nowhere to hide.

 

True Stories: After the Apocalypse
During the Soviet era, the people of Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan were used as human guinea pigs in the testing of nuclear weapons. Today they live with the consequences. Whilst sheep graze in radioactive bomb craters, many in the population believe that the testing is the reason why one in twenty children are born with birth defects.  

 

*That's Channel 4, by the way. Well, what did you expect?