BBC announces ambitious range of new science titles

• Peter Snow, Zoe Laughlin and Andi Peters, go Planespotting Live
• Privileged access to the biggest renovation project in the 207 year history of Claridge's
• Longitudinal series follows a number of people over two years as they live with different stages of dementia
• Dr Michael Mosley gathers 12 experts for Last Chance Clinic

Tom McDonald, Head of Commissioning, Specialist Factual and Natural History, announces a wide range of science programming across BBC Two, BBC Three and BBC Four. including Five Star Renovation: Inside The Luxury Hotel; Planespotting Live; Living With Dementia, a long term study in to the effects of dementia on patients and their families; Climategate, which uncovers the truth behind one of the biggest scandals in modern science; The Unshockable Dr Ronx, in which the NHS doctor will take health advice out onto the streets; Last Chance Clinic with Dr Michael Mosley; and a new film for BBC Two’s Horizon - Childhood, which continues the story of the children featured in the BBC’s groundbreaking documentary series Child Of Our Time.

Tom McDonald says: “These titles show our continued commitment to delivering science in a huge variety of forms and on an increasingly broad set of subjects. There is no other British broadcaster as committed to the genre - and after the recent success of Surgeons: At The Edge Of Life and The Planets to name just a few titles, science at the BBC feels increasingly vibrant and exciting.

"We're committed to bringing the most timely and important subjects to our audience - from climate change to dementia; and bringing surprising forms to familiar subjects with our live BBC Four strip Planespotting Live and the film Childhood which uses 20 years of archive to deliver a fitting end to the Child Of Our Time story."

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Five Star Renovation: Inside The Luxury Hotel (w/t)

BBC Two

Five Star Renovation: Inside The Luxury Hotel (w/t) is a brand new three part series following the creation of a five storey basement underneath and new rooms and penthouses above the world famous and exclusive Mayfair hotel, Claridge’s.

The series follows the unprecedented technical feat of using cutting-edge construction and engineering methods - including innovative tunnelling techniques, alongside the astonishing labour-intensive work of removing tonnes of excavated rubble by hand - in order to keep the five star hotel open to guests throughout the build. The mega-basement, as deep as the hotel is high, will eventually house a private members club, wine cellar and a new luxury spa and pools. Simultaneously, a lift shaft in the heart of the iconic hotel is painstakingly replaced by a 70 metre high crane so that new floors can be added, creating additional rooms and rooftop penthouse suites.

Filmed over three years, the series will combine the contrasting worlds of expert engineering and luxury hospitality - where most guests are completely unaware of the industrial excavation a few feet below them.

Five Star Renovation: Inside The Luxury Hotel (w/t, 3x60') for BBC Two, is produced by The Garden, part of ITV Studios, who previously produced the acclaimed series Inside Claridge's. The Executive Producers for The Garden are Ninder Billing, Lucy Bowden and Emma Tutty. It was commissioned by Tom McDonald, Head of Commissioning, Specialist Factual and Natural History and Patrick Holland, Controller BBC Two. The Commissioning Editor is Jack Bootle.

Living With Dementia (w/t)

BBC Two

Filmed over the course of two years, Living With Dementia (w/t) will be unique for television, taking a longitudinal look at the illness. The length of filming will allow for the exploration of everyday life with dementia in all its complexities, and will allow us work with people with dementia and their families to track changes, subtle or significant, over a longer period of time.

The series will follow up to six people with dementia at different stages of the condition, to capture a powerfully candid insight into what it is like for them and the people around them. It will explore the complexity of this life-changing illness, how it can vary from day to day and how small shifts in the brain can have an unpredictable impact on people.

Contributors will be opening up their lives, allowing the series to follow the major events, but also the small, everyday moments that show how each person makes sense of their condition. What does it mean to deal with the shifting sands of a changing brain? How do identities and relationships change as dementia progresses? Life doesn't end as dementia begins and this series will chart the ups and downs of each person's journey.

Living With Dementia (w/t, 2x60') for BBC Two, is made by Wonder. The Executive Producer for Wonder is Alexandra Fraser. It was commissioned by Tom McDonald, Head of Commissioning, Specialist Factual and Natural History and Patrick Holland, Controller, BBC Two. The Commissioning Editor is Abigail Priddle.

Last Chance Clinic (w/t)

BBC Two

BBC Two has commissioned a three-part series in which some of the UK’s most brilliant medical minds will come together to try and treat the nations’ most extraordinary and complex cases.

Presented by Michael Mosley, Last Chance Clinic, which is being produced by Bafta-winning production company, Dragonfly TV, will see a team of 12 experts using their collective knowledge to try and transform the lives of people who have suffered, sometimes for years, without a successful diagnosis.

With access to all the latest diagnostic technology, each expert will come from a different specialism and bring their own theories and ideas about the best course of action. Every case will spark a unique investigation, as the team start from scratch and embark on a medical detective mission.

The patients entering the clinic have exhausted every other avenue - and their conditions are having a major impact on their day-to-day lives, with cases ranging from unknown seizures to mystery skin conditions, and unexplained paralysis to sudden loss of vision.

Last Chance Clinic (w/t, 3x60') for BBC Two, is made by Dragonfly TV. Executive Producers for Dragonfly TV is Ros Ponder. It was commissioned by Tom McDonald, Head of Specialist Factual and Natural History Commissioning and Patrick Holland, Controller BBC Two. The Commissioning Editor is Abigail Priddle.

Horizon: Childhood

BBC Two

Filmed over 20 years, Childhood is a coming of age story like no other.

This film will draw on the vast archives of the groundbreaking BBC series Child of Our Time, to show a unique group of children – all signed up by their parents at the turn of the millennium - as they grow up. Their lives have been documented from the moment they were born, up until they turned 18. Now this film, part of Horizon, will be narrated by the children themselves, telling their own stories from the perspective of early adulthood.

They’ll reveal their experiences of key life events and rites of passage; and explore what their parents hoped for them, versus the reality of how life has turned out. By following every stage of their development, we'll see the part parenting, environment and personality have all played in shaping the children they were, and the adults they've become. Their stories will touch on some of the key issues of the age, such as family breakdown, mental health and social media, shining a light on what it truly means to be a child of the 21st Century.

Childhood, (1x60’) for BBC Two’s Horizon, is made by BBC Studios' The Science Unit. The Executive Producer for BBC Studios is Sacha Baveystock. It was commissioned by Tom McDonald, Head of Commissioning, Specialist Factual and Natural History and Patrick Holland, Controller, BBC Two. The Commissioning Editor is Tom Coveney.

Horizon is the BBC's longest running BBC strand across television and the place for the most cutting edge science journalism and approaches to science subjects.

The Unshockable Dr Ronx (w/t)

BBC Three

The Unshockable Dr Ronx (w/t) is pilot for a new BBC Three format that sees NHS doctor Ronx Ikharia on a mission to get young Brits to open up about their medical issues. As an East London Emergency Department doctor, she knows that many young people wait until they need A&E, rather than see their GP. So in this programme, she’s going to take the doctor's surgery to them, setting up her pop-up clinic everywhere from chicken shops to boxing gyms, diagnosing problems and dispensing solutions - one town at a time.

As a black, queer, androgynous medical practitioner, she gets they might fear that they’ll be misunderstood or judged. She’s listening with empathy, and from self-medication, to anxiety to the complications of transgender breast binding, she’s giving no-holds-barred frank advice.

For some patients it’ll be an on-the-spot diagnosis; for others a deeper investigation of a more complicated issue. But in every case her unflappable attitude and hands-on commitment to improving health will see her change the lives of the people she meets - and help the rest of us understand our own health in the process.

The Unshockable Dr Ronx (w/t, 1x40’) for BBC Three, is produced by The Garden. The Executive Producer for The Garden, part of ITV Studios, is Ninder Billing. It was commissioned by Tom McDonald, Head of Commissioning, Specialist Factual and Natural History and Fiona Campbell, Controller, BBC Three. The Commissioning Editor is Jack Bootle.

Planespotting Live

BBC Four

There have never been more planes in our skies - earlier this year 9,000 of them flew over UK airspace in just one day, an all-time record. Now, BBC Four is opening up the skies to give viewers an unprecedented insight into what is flying over their heads at any one time by joining forces with an enthusiastic band of home grown experts: plane spotters.

Live across three nights, Peter Snow, Zoe Laughlin and Andi Peters are starting the country’s biggest mass plane spot. Their mission: To spot as many of the hundreds of different types of plane in UK airspace as possible, from private to cargo to military. And they're asking the British public to help, by sending in their spots.

We’ll also uncover the rich and detailed world of aviation enthusiasts across the country, from the teams lovingly restoring Britain's forgotten planes, to exploring the materials that are at the frontier of more environmentally friendly flying.

This is not just a show for unashamed aviation geeks, this is for anyone with a passion for travel, history and our heritage. With a mixture of archive, personal stories, and remarkable tales of single minded dedication this series is finally giving voice to, and celebrating, those whose passions are planes.

Planespotting Live (3x60’) for BBC Four, is produced by Plum Pictures. The Executive Producers for Plum are Emma Jay and Will Daws. It was commissioned by Tom McDonald, Head of Commissioning, Specialist Factual and Natural History and Cassian Harrison, Channel Editor, BBC Four. The Commissioning Editors are Emeka Onono and Tom Coveney.

Climategate: Science Of A Scandal (w/t)

BBC Four

BBC Four reveals the truth behind a notorious incident ten years ago, when a growing international consensus on climate change was derailed by one of the biggest scandals in modern science. For the first time, all the key players recount the events and what really happened during ‘climategate’.

Thousands of emails hacked from the world-renowned Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia seemed to suggest that climate scientists had been deliberately manipulating data to exaggerate evidence of climate change, a conspiracy that was the holy grail of climate change deniers. The battle between the scientists and their critics over climate science and data transparency resulted in public misinformation, death threats and multiple inquiries.

With the email controversy continuing to be cited by climate change sceptics - among them President Donald Trump - this film is a timely insight into the battle over fact and scientific enquiry and the realities of climate change.

Climategate: Science Of A Scandal (w/t, 1x60’) for BBC Four, is made by Red Sky Productions. The Executive Producer for Red Sky Productions is Ross Harper. It was commissioned by Tom McDonald, Head of Commissioning, Specialist Factual and Natural History and Cassian Harrison, Controller, BBC Four. The Commissioning Editor is Tom Coveney.