BBC Earth is pleased to announce Wilderness Week, a special line up of programming that explores and celebrates our wild and rugged landscapes and the people that immerse themselves within it
It’s coming to BBC Earth this October. Screening each evening at 7.20pm from Monday October 24, viewers will venture into the wild with a week of gritty documentaries that explore our passion for adventure.
The week kicks off with Steve Backshall’s Extreme River Challenge, as adventurer Steve Backshall takes on the toughest challenge of his career: a complete descent of the Baliem, a wild waterway of epic rapids. This is extreme nature – an adrenalized adventure where anything could happen. No outside support. No shortcuts. No limits.
On Tuesday we journey with Levison Wood as he sets himself the most ambitious of challenges, to walk the length of the Himalaya from Afghanistan to Bhutan. A four month journey over 2,735 kilometres, this gruelling trek brings him into contact with monks, soldiers and nomadic tribes in some of the most isolated and beautiful valleys and mountain passes on Earth. Four episodes of Walking the Himalayas airing on Tuesday night.
Wednesday is the territory premiere of Our Wildest Dreams. This powerful observational documentary follows four British families as they leave the UK and start a new life from scratch in some of the most extraordinary places on the planet. Tracking every step of their different journeys over the course of a year, from their final days in Britain to their arrival, and the start of their new life, we witness the highs and lows as ordinary families attempt to build new homes and new lives in the wild.
Thursday we wander into a legendary land known for its scorching hot deserts, red rock canyon lands, giant snow-capped mountains and rugged shorelines in Wild West. Home to a vibrant cast of tricksters, pioneers and outlaws, from the shrewd coyote to the feisty hummingbird, the mighty blue whale to the spirited mustang. The series explores this fascinating area of North America: the canyon lands, the high country and the shores.
On Friday we celebrate 10 seasons of Ben Fogle with the territory premiere of Where the Wild Men Are, where the world-known explorer meets more people who’ve turned their back on the rat race and set up home in some of the most remote and inhospitable parts of the world. In this series Ben meets Alex, a retail whizz-kid who left the UK for his own remote Portuguese mountain, he joins Georg and Bettina, a European couple who’ve found solace in the Irish wilderness, and also Sandy, who’s swapped a career in the tourist industry to rescue animals on a Greek Island.
Saturday we’re back with Steve Backshall as he takes on one of the most notorious and deadly mountain climbs in the world – the north face of the Eiger in Steve Backshall Vs The Vertical Mile. After months of gruelling training, Steve and his elite climbing team arrive in Switzerland for their attempt to climb the mountain dubbed ‘the ogre’.
Levison Wood wraps up Wilderness Week on Sunday with Levison Wood: From Russia to Iran as he takes on a new expedition in this four-part series: to cross the mighty Caucasus mountain range that lies between Russia and Iran. And as well as a new region of the world, Levison is taking a new approach to exploring: making his way by any means necessary. Travelling with the locals and living as they do, Levison’s epic 2,600-mile journey takes him through five countries, crossing the wild lands on the tense frontier between Europe and Asia, visiting some of the most fascinating and diverse people on earth.
Wilderness Week premieres all week at 7.20pm weekdays and 6.10pm on the weekends during the week commencing October 24th.