BBC America Announces July 2010 Highlights

-BBC AMERICA heats up with the summer premieres of The Choir, Being Human and Come Dine with Me-

THE CHOIR - U.S. PREMIERE

This U.S. premiere, BAFTA award-winning series, has spellbound UK audiences and created an unlikely reality star in choirmaster Gareth Malone as he attempts to recruit a choir in the most unlikely of settings. From schools with no tradition of music to blue collar neighborhoods in need of a community focus, Malone is a man on a mission. It's an emotional journey of shocks and surprises, challenges and rewards with heartwarming results.

Classically trained Malone embarks on a groundbreaking journey to save the choir and prove it's cool to sing together. Malone dives deep into the community's culture discovering where classical music stopped and what will ignite these people to be inspired to unite and sing. His three projects on this mission will challenge him to create choirs capable of performing at the world's biggest singing competition - the World Choir Games in China, Britain's acclaimed Royal Albert Hall and at a choral festival staged by Malone with hopes of attracting thousands of spectators to the struggling town of South Oxhey. At the heart of this series are people's journeys overcoming fear, ripping down barriers and uniting to build something greater than they ever could have imagined.

The Choir premieres Wednesday, July 7, 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.

BEING HUMAN - SEASON 2 - U.S. PREMIERE

The highly anticipated second season of BBC AMERICA's co-production, Being Human sees the return of Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlow and Aidan Turner as George, Annie and Mitchell, the three twenty-somethings trying to live as normally as possible despite being a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost. After the death of vampire leader Herrick at the end of season one, the supernatural friends are hoping they can now get on with their lives, but an even greater danger is lurking, within the very human world of which they want to be a part. Unbeknown to the trio, the mysterious Professor Jaggat and her cold-hearted colleague Kemp - religious zealots who have discovered the existence of vampires, werewolves and ghosts - are determined to carry out brutal experiments and destroy them.

While Professor Jaggat and Kemp plot behind the scenes, werewolf George is coming to terms with the fact that he has Herrick's blood on his hands, and a girlfriend who knows his horrific secret. Turning down the door of death has implications for ghost Annie, but her confidence is at a peak and she's determined to stand up and be counted in the real world. And, with Herrick gone, Mitchell must appease an out of control vampire world - can he find a way to lead by example?

Being Human premieres Saturday, July 24, 10:05 p.m. ET/PT, directly following the Doctor Who season finale. After the premiere episode, its regular time is Saturdays, 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.

COME DINE WITH ME - SEASON ONE - U.S. PREMIERE

Come Dine with Me follows four total strangers across the UK competing for the title of the ultimate dinner party host. Each episode features a new city and a new group of amateur chefs as they take turns cooking up their idea of the perfect dinner party. As well as cooking, the rival hosts snoop around each others' houses and go to bizarre lengths to win the competition. At the end of the evening, the host is judged by their guests and the contestant with the most points wins a cash prize.

Come Dine with Me premieres Wednesday, July 7, 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.

BBC EARTH SUNDAY

Breathtaking natural history programming from BBC EARTH presents an afternoon of incredible specials featuring some of the fastest creatures on land, underwater or both every Sunday in July.

SERPENT - CHANNEL PREMIERE

One of the most successful species on earth is also one of the least documented. Serpent reveals how snakes - all 3000 species - are still surprising naturalists and still bending the laws of nature. Serpent examines, Black Mambas, Cobras and Garter snakes, using unique miniaturized snake-cams. Mounted on wild snakes, this documentary goes deeper into the snake's world than ever before. Serpent airs Sunday, July 4, at 6:00p.m. ET/ 3:00 p.m. PT.

LIFE IN THE FREEZER: THE RACE TO BREED - CHANNEL PREMIERE

David Attenborough spent three years studying the world's most frigid and inhospitable continent, Antarctica. Life in the Freezer: The Race to Breed is a look at the short Antarctic summer where there is a frantic race to breed. It begins as the sub-Antarctic beaches are inundated by noisy, aggressive fur seals and chinstrap penguins that have to overcome crushing ice, predators and a long, steep march in hopes of successfully rearing a mate. Meanwhile microscopic animals (frozen in winter) melt, feed and breed during a brief period of 24 hour daylight, Antarctic terns fly far to find fish for their chicks and Adelie penguins must go to sea, leaving their young in great danger, all going to great lengths to breed.

Life in the Freezer: The Race to Breed airs Sunday, July 11, at 6:00 p.m. ET/ 3:00 p.m. PT.

LIFE IN THE FREEZER: THE DOOR CLOSES - CHANNEL PREMIERE

After the summer in Antarctica comes autumn, when the ice starts to return and the first heavy snowfalls begin to bury the young - so birds rush to finish breeding. Penguin chicks gather at the water's edge and following their departing parents, take the icy plunge. Leopard seals burst from the water to grab the unsuspecting fledgling, storms ravage the continent and the seas begin to freeze over. Beautiful images of frost flowers, diamond dust and other optical effects describe the gradual formation of the ice.

Life in the Freezer: The Door Closes airs Sunday, July 11, at 6:30 p.m. ET/ 3:30 p.m. PT.

SEARCH FOR TIGERS - CHANNEL PREMIERE

Against a backdrop of unsurpassed natural beauty, Saba Douglas Hamilton - an expert on the large carnivores of Africa - teams up with renowned tiger expert, Valmik Thapar, to track down the tigers of Ranthambhore Park in India. In addition to being a unique tiger paradise, Ranthambhore is an oasis for wildlife and Saba encounters leopards, deer, crocodile and bears in her search for the tigers. However this is no ordinary year in Ranthambhore, the monsoon rains have failed and neither Saba nor Valmik know in what state they will find the park and its tigers.

Search for Tigers airs Sunday, July 18, at 6:00 p.m. ET/ 3:00 p.m. PT.

A LEMUR'S STORY - U.S. PREMIERE

If you're born into a Lemur family, you probably want to be female. And this lemur group is all about girl power, but you have to work your way up from the bottom to become ring-leader. You must be thick skinned, as bullying is the norm and it's not from big brothers. The feisty females will go all out, even with young ones on their backs; while the boys happily take a back seat in the trees. Surviving the family squabbles is only half the battle; young and old alike must be on the lookout for predators, such as fossas, who can strike almost anywhere the lemurs dare to hide.

A Lemur's Story airs Sunday, July 18, at 6:30 p.m. ET/ 3:30 p.m. PT.

MOVIES

BLAME IT ON RIO - CHANNEL PREMIERE

Michael Caine and Demi Moore star in this classic romantic comedy about two grown men - best friends and co-workers - who, when their marriages start experiencing some trouble, escape on a vacation to Rio with their teenage daughters. When one of the men starts a relationship with his friend's daughter, he'll go to any length to keep it a secret.

Blame It on Rio airs Friday, July 2, 9:00 p.m. ET/PT

STUNTS

KITCHEN NIGHTMARES SUNDAY

Internationally-renowned chef Gordon Ramsay is on a quest to turn around the biggest kitchen nightmares this side of the pond. American restaurateurs short on spice will have to turn up the heat because Ramsay refuses to rest until their establishments are serving up great food, top service, and killer atmosphere. Kitchen Nightmares Sunday also features three episodes of the newest season of Kitchen Nightmares USA.

Kitchen Nightmares Sunday airs Sunday, July 4, starting at 3:00 p.m. ET/12:00 p.m. PT

PLAYDATE WITH JAMES MAY

From cultivating the world's first Plasticine garden, building the world's biggest model plane and constructing the world's first full-size house made of Lego, James May's Toy Stories brings ambitious adventures and extraordinary feats of engineering and technology to life in this three-episode marathon that spark the imagination and remind us of the joys of doing things together as a family.

Playdate with James May airs Sunday, July 18, starting at 3:00 p.m. ET/ 12:00 p.m. PT

LICENSE TO THRILL ALL-DAY BOND-A-THON

Classic, action-packed James Bond movies including Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies, and The World Is Not Enough are featured in this all day marathon. Travel from Cuba to Siberia and Turkey to Thailand as Pierce Brosnan's Bond travels the world on a mission for Her Majesty's Secret Service.

License to Thrill All-Day Bond-a-thon airs Sunday, July 25, starting at 10:00 a.m. ET/ 7:00 a.m. PT

ONGOING PREMIERES

Other series that will continue to premiere new episodes during July include:

Weeknights: Star Trek: The Next Generation

Mondays: James May's Toy Stories

Thursdays: Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares

Fridays: Friday Night with Jonathan Ross

Saturdays: Doctor Who, The Graham Norton Show

BBC AMERICA brings audiences a new generation of award-winning television featuring news with a uniquely global perspective, provocative dramas, razor-sharp comedies, life-changing makeovers and a whole new world of nonfiction. BBC AMERICA pushes the boundaries to deliver high quality, highly addictive and eminently watchable programming to viewers who demand more. BBC AMERICA is distributed by Discovery Networks. It is available on digital cable and satellite TV in more than 67 million homes.

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