What would the world of television be without the BBC? I lament the thought. As much as a state owned liscendsfunded television company always will be a propaganda machine for the state, the production record of the Scandinavian and British channels are nevertheless outstanding.

Last night for instance I watched the first episode of BBC’s latest natural history series, Life in cold blood, narrated by the narrator above all narrators, sir David Attenbourugh. The viewing left little to be desired and convinced me once again that BBC Bristol is the gold standard of natural history television. Even before they all turned into reality soap opera channels, the Discovery Channel, Nation Geographic Channel and Animal Planet, to name a few, were nowhere near the quality of BBC productions. Read more here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/lifeincoldblood/

© BBC

But the “Beeb” doesn’t just make excellent nature programs, they create other kinds interesting television programs. Last week I got my hands on The Genius of Photography. It’s a documentary series of six one hour episodes highlighting important movements in photography. Familiar names like Martin Parr, Joel Meyerowitz and Alec Soth are featured and interviewed. Excellent and rare TV-entertainment for photographers. Read more here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/photography/genius/