TV Highlights

NZTV Premiere: Human Body Month: Freeze Me

National Geographic – Sunday 4 November, 10.30pm

Imagine having your body placed in an aluminium can to be kept in deep freeze storage for hundreds of years. It sounds disturbing but not for the hundreds of people who are paying thousands of dollars to sign up for cryonic preservation in a bid to defy the final human frontier – death. Investigate what drives people that seek this dream for eternal life. Those paying to be cryonically preserved are gambling that the scientists of the future will be able to bring them back from the dead.

NZTV Premiere: Human Body Month: Incredible Human Machine

National Geographic – Sunday 4 November, 9.30pm

Take a high definition journey through the miraculous inner workings of the human body. From skin to bones to brains and everything in between, world-renowned athletes, rock stars, doctors and scientists guide us through the hows and whys of our daily lives. Steven Tyler’s legendary vocal cords provide intimate insight into how we produce sound. An Olympic weightlifter’s power, gymnast’s grace and pentathlete’s endurance highlight how we can propel ourselves forward and up with astonishing agility and speed. The US Navy’s Blue Angels prove the essential link between our blood and our brain. Patients who have lost and regained vision and motion provide living testimonies to the remarkable resilience and regenerative abilities of the human body. Through 10,000 blinks of an eye, 20,000 breaths of air, 100,000 beats of the heart, see how stunning, surprising, and incredible a day in the life of a human really is.

NZTV Premiere: Human Body Month: Incredible Human Machine

National Geographic – Sunday 4 November, 9.30pm

Take a high definition journey through the miraculous inner workings of the human body. From skin to bones to brains and everything in between, world-renowned athletes, rock stars, doctors and scientists guide us through the hows and whys of our daily lives. Steven Tyler’s legendary vocal cords provide intimate insight into how we produce sound. An Olympic weightlifter’s power, gymnast’s grace and pentathlete’s endurance highlight how we can propel ourselves forward and up with astonishing agility and speed. The US Navy’s Blue Angels prove the essential link between our blood and our brain. Patients who have lost and regained vision and motion provide living testimonies to the remarkable resilience and regenerative abilities of the human body. Through 10,000 blinks of an eye, 20,000 breaths of air, 100,000 beats of the heart, see how stunning, surprising, and incredible a day in the life of a human really is.

NZ TV Premiere: The Gun Powder Plot

Documentary Channel – Sunday 4 November, 9.00pm

A spectacular television event building to a genuinely explosive and dangerous climax. To mark the 400th anniversary of the famous Gunpowder Plot, where Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators planned an explosion that would kill the King and the entire British government, this programme sets out to create the biggest gunpowder explosion ever! The original plot was foiled on 5th November 1605. But no-one knows whether the planned explosion would have worked. By replicating the circumstances in intricate detail – even down to shipping in the exact 1605 recipe gunpowder from China – this documentary uses dramatic reconstruction and CGI to weave the historical story through the preparations for a massive gunpowder explosion in a recreated parliamentary building. The story is known to every British schoolchild. On the 5th November 1605, Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament and murder the king. The plan failed, of course, when Guy was dramatically discovered holding the fuse. Bonfires have been lit ever since. To coincide with the 400th anniversary of the original gunpowder plot, presenter Richard Hammond of Top Gear and the production team mounted the biggest historical and scientific experiment ever on television: set off 36 barrels of gunpowder in a full-size House of Lords and light the fuse.The Gunpowder Plot team built a structurally exact replica of the original House of Lords as it was 400 years ago. Based on expert designs, the cellar was built with the same ballistic characteristics as the original. Over 2 months historic building experts and engineers worked together to create this medieval House of Lords in all its glory. The Gunpowder Plot goes on a quest to search out the exact amount and type of gunpowder Guy Fawkes would have used. Richard Hammond along with leading explosives expert, Dr. Sidney Alford travel to Spain to find, make and test the powder. The explosive power of 1 metric tonne gunpowder is completely unknown in modern times. It has to be tested and retested for transportation, explosive characteristics and most of all safety. Interwoven with this action, the programme through dramatic reconstruction follows the story of Guy Fawkes, a young devout soldier, driven to extremes by religious fanaticism and repression. Was he a terrorist or freedom fighter? His story takes us from England to the Spanish wars of the sixteenth century. Where did he learn his munitions skills? What drove him and his 12 fellow conspirators to take part in such a shocking scheme? The Gunpowder Plot uses cutting edge computer technology to try and predict the blast and create various scenarios to help the engineers with their final touches. With all the clues in place and the research done, The Gunpowder Plot takes the story one step further than history, one step further than anyone has gone before. The Gunpowder Plot analyses the results of the explosion. The House is laden with perishable cameras, sensors and crash test dummies to represent the King and Members of Parliament. Could any of England’s 200 most rich and powerful have survived the blast? How would London have looked post detonation? How much of Westminster village would have been destroyed? Would Westminster Abbey have lost its beautiful stained glass windows, still visible today? The Gunpowder Plot analyses Guy’s escape route. Was it a suicide mission? Could Guy have made it to safety before the fuse burned out? And what would the repercussions of the death of the King have been? Who would have taken control of the Crown? How would this one event have changed the course of history?

NZ TV Premiere: Not Forgotton

History Channel – Sunday 4 November, 8.30pm

Taking some of Britain’s 37,500 World War One memorials as a starting point, Ian Hislop explores the ways in which all of British society was transformed by the “war to end all wars”.
There’s a memorial to the dead of the First World War in almost every British village, town and city – with almost a million names. We walk past them everyday but probably only notice them once a year on Remembrance Sunday. Not Forgotten has tracked down descendants of some of the men listed on those memorials, and the result is n extraordinarily intimate take on history.
This genealogical connection between the past and present brings the soldiers’ stories to life and highlights the impact that the war had on British society. By asking descendants to imagine what the horrific experience of the war was like for their relatives, Ian discovers how the shattering experience of the war changed Britain for good. Some of these descendants will visit their relative’s memorial or hometowns for the first time. Some will know all about their ancestor’s story, but for others it may be the first time they’ve even been told they have a connection to the First World War.

NZTV Premiere: Discovery Atlas – Mexico Revealed

Discovery Channel – Sunday 4 November, 7.30pm

Born in the wake of empire, conquest and revolution, Mexico is now the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world. Mexico City, its capital, is the second largest city after Tokyo, bursting with 20 million people and rivalling the whole of Australia in terms of numbers. While Mexico is surrounded by 9,600 kilometres of coastline, up in the north, Mexico rubs shoulders with the world’s mightiest superpower along 3,100 kilometres of shared borders. This is a crossroads for migrants seeking work in America who send 20 billion US dollars a year back to Mexico, fuelling the country with its second largest revenue stream. Home to the New World’s largest Catholic church and diocese, 90% of Mexicans call themselves Catholic. Yet nothing can be less orthodox than rituals celebrating Day of the Dead, or spectacles honouring the patron saint of the country, the Virgin of Guadalupe. Deep in the heartland, the largest indigenous community in the Americas practice rituals that hearken back to ancient Mayan beliefs. From the famous single cry, ‘Viva Mexico!’ that sweeps the country every Independence Day, to the spectacle and pageantry summoned by reverence for the Virgin of Guadalupe, DISCOVERY ATLAS: Mexico Revealed is a journey into the heart of the ancient and the modern, the restless and the pristine.

NZTV Premiere: Chernobyl: Life In The Dead Zone

Animal Planet – Sunday 4 November, 8.30pm

What would happen if the world were suddenly without people – if we vanished off the face of the earth? How would nature react and how swiftly? This program takes place at the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident, hastily abandoned by panic-stricken humans 20 years ago. On April 25 and 26 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant 128 kilometres north of Kiev in the former USSR (now Ukraine) lost control of one of its four reactors, creating a series of explosions. A devastating fireball blew off the reactor’s heavy steel and concrete lid. Highly radioactive fall-out flooded everything within a 32 kilometre radius. 35,000 cattle and 135,000 people were evacuated and only wild animals remained. While humans have made life in this land impossible for themselves, the animals have found a way and they have not just survived, they have thrived.

Channel Premiere: The Business Of Crime: Burglary

Crime & Investigation Network – Sunday 4 November, 6.30pm

This one-hour documentary gives an unsettling insight into the business of burglary. And business it is: day in and day out, New Zealanders come home to find their houses ransacked by strangers who seem to care little for the emotional and physical discomfort they cause. The documentary includes interviews with several reformed burglars who are prepared to talk about their former work in order to educate the public.

Channel Premiere: Final Approach

The History Channel – Saturdays from 3 November, 9.30pm

Few events seize the public’s imagination—and attention—more powerfully than aircraft accidents. Final Approach examines thirteen of the most devastating crashes of recent years, including the Tenerife Boeing 747 crash and Concorde’s fatal take-off in Paris. Combining rare archival footage with stunningly realistic recreations, the series has an investigative approach to the disasters, examining events leading to the crashes and establishing answers to the question of what went wrong. Featuring interviews with world-renowned aviation experts and computer graphic imagery, each story unfolds from moment to moment with the drama of a high-tech thriller. Eyewitness and survivor interviews are interwoven with the investigation to add immediacy and emotional impact to the stories behind some of the worst disasters in aviation history.

NZ TV Premiere: Death Leap

Documentary Channel – Saturday 3 November, 9.00pm

The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is a spectacular landmark known all around the world. Not only is it known for its beauty and stunning location but it is also famous for being the world’s most famous spot to commit suicide. Over 2000 people have died jumping off the bridge since its construction in 1937. ‘Jumpers’ hit the water at 80 mph, a velocity that makes the impact equivalent to the body hitting a cement wall. Somehow there are about 26 people who have miraculously survived the jump, some of whom tell their extraordinary stories in this powerful documentary. Jumpers have become such a phenomenon that there are now sophisticated video systems installed along the bridge as well as special Coast Guards and a ‘Suicide Patrol’ police unit looking out for potential jumpers. This beautiful film shows the rather surreal interplay between the postcard charm of the Golden Gate Bridge and its unsettling reality. Sometimes tragic, sometimes ironic, this film tells the stories of the jumpers and would-be jumpers, their families and all the other people’s lives that are affected by their actions.