Season content

Season content

Published: 24 March 2016

Springwatch at Easter
BBC Two
Springwatch at Easter will launch the huge volunteering initiative with Springwatch: Do Something Great, which will ask viewers to get outdoors and do something to help our Great British wildlife. By showing viewers that volunteering can be fun as well as rewarding, presenters Chris Packham, Michaela Strachan and Martin Hughes-Games will call on the nation to get involved in a host of projects within their local communities that have been designed to make neighbourhoods a better place for nature.

In conjunction with a host of wildlife charities and organisations, Springwatch will share information on all types of activities, from beach cleans and litter picking-parties to advice on sowing wild flowers to help our pollinating insects. Springwatch: Do Something Great will show that everyone can participate, pledging as little as two minutes a week to helping nature.

As part of the campaign, Chris and Michaela join a beach clean at Freshwater West where they will look at how plastics are affecting the environment and what we can all do to help. And Martin will visit the Skomer nature reserve where he will become a volunteer for the Wildlife Trust team, helping with its annual spring clean of the island.

Saving Lives At Sea
BBC One
Every day around the UK, an army of unpaid volunteers put their own lives on the line to try and save the lives of complete strangers. Across four episodes, Saving Lives At Sea tells the story of these ordinary men and women who are doing something extraordinary, putting their free time to use by staffing more than 200 RNLI lifeboat stations right across the UK and providing a vital rescue service on Britain’s waters.

Could you be your Neighbourhood’s Superhero?
BBC iWonder quiz
An opportunity for everyone to discover their ‘inner volunteer’ – BBC audiences can take part in a new fun, interactive quiz, designed to help those who have never volunteered before discover their perfect volunteering match. Partnering with volunteering aggregators across the UK such as DoIt; Volunteer Scotland; Volunteer Wales and Volunteer NOW, as well as a host of specialist volunteering sites, the BBC will enable budding volunteers to discover these organisations and find opportunities that match their skills and abilities.

Available at www.bbc.co.uk/dosomethinggreat

Why Should I Volunteer? (w/t)
BBC iWonder Guide
An interactive BBC iWonder guide will explore why volunteering benefits those who take part, and not just those on the receiving end. For example, ‘giving to others’ is named as one of the 5 Steps to Mental Wellbeing by the NHS. This iWonder guide will also investigate what the benefit of volunteering is to society at large – with ONS estimates finding that formal volunteering in the UK is worth £23.9 billion per year.

Available from May at www.bbc.co.uk/dosomethinggreat

Springwatch
BBC Two
Springwatch will direct an army of passionate viewers out into their neighbourhoods to help create a map of natural beauty that will help our wildlife to thrive. In conjunction with a host of wildlife charities and organisations, the show will share information on all types of activities - from beach cleans and litter picking parties to advice on sowing wild flowers to help our pollinating insects. ‘Springwatch: Do Something Great’ will show that everyone can participate, pledging as little as two minutes a week to helping nature.

DIY SOS (pictured) - Volunteering special
BBC One
In classic DIY SOS style Nick Knowles and the team will be calling on the help of volunteers to achieve another amazing transformation, but this time celebrating the volunteers’ efforts and uncovering what motivates people to lend a hand. What’s more they’ll be getting an additional boost to the team from Men’s Sheds - an organisation that puts the skills of retired electricians, plasterers, carpenters to good use. A ‘silver army’ will be joining the ‘purple army’ for a special project - a garden tree house that will mean the world to a family in need.

Old School with the Hairy Bikers
BBC Two
The Hairy Bikers have a big new challenge. They are taking two groups in society often marginalised, at odds and with a range of different challenges - pensioners and teenagers - and pairing them up to see if 12 unlikely couples spending time together as equals can transform lives.

The pensioners have their frailties and issues, including bereavements, loneliness and scepticism about the ‘youth of today’ to contend with. Whilst the teens are struggling with chequered academic records, bullying and low self-esteem, with the added pressure of life-changing exams ahead. The ambitious hope is that these strange bedfellows can push each other in new ways - and in the process improve their health, wellbeing and cognitive skills.

Old School is produced in partnership with The Open University.

The Open University will also be supporting the wider Do Something Great season on the OU website, and showcasing their own volunteering content including a new, free short course introduced by Martha Lane Fox. More detail here

Notes to Editors

  • To sign up to Radio 1 and 1Xtra’s #1MillionHours campaign please visit bbc.co.uk/radio1

Press enquiries

  • Springwatch at Easter – FD
  • Springwatch – FD
  • Saving Lives at Sea – BW
  • DIY SOS Volunteering Special – JM5
  • Old School – SH6
  • Radio 1 & 1XTRA – AJ