TV and Radio

The first broadcast of China on Four Wheels -in which the presenters embark on two epic journeys across China - is on Sunday 9 September at 8pm on BBC2 and BBC HD.

In this new two-part series Anita Rani and Justin Rowlatt embark on two epic car journeys through China, navigating congested cities and winding mountain roads to explore how the country's economic growth, symbolised by its booming car industry, is affecting people's lives.

Dr Qian Kan and Dr Daphne Chang are the academic consultants on the series for The Open University.

The OpenLearn website also offers more information on Chinese language. You can view a series of short films called ‘Chinese at the tip of your tongue’ and download the OU’s Chinese mobile app.
 

The BBC/OU Saving Species series on BBC Radio 4 returns on Tuesday 4 September at 11am with another year of live broadcasts examining the world of nature and the challenges of wildlife conservation.  The programme is repeated on Thursdays at 9pm.

Presented by Brett Westwood, the first programme looks back at the summer of 2012. At the time this programme is broadcast many of our summer migrants will already be heading south to Africa. But how did they fare over the summer? This summer has been one of the wettest on record, has this affected our wildlife? We look at some of the winners and losers in the battle for survival.

Also in the programme, Saving Species heads to Dungeness in Kent where a long-term project is underway to return the short haired bumblebee to Britain. This formerly widespread bee was last recorded in 1988 and declared extinct in 2000. Queen bees collected from Sweden have been released in specially prepared farmland and Joanna Pinnock was there to witness this memorable day. 

At the opposite end of the country, Chris Sperring reports from Devon where he joined a public night-time safari to look for one of our most enigmatic and enlightening beetles, the glow-worm. Devon last conducted a country wide survey in 1999. Glow worms have declined across the rest of Britain, but have Devon’s glow worms declined since the last survey was completed?

Also in the programme is news from around the world with regular news reporter Kelvin Boot and an update on the activities of the Open University’s iSpot.

OpenLearn also has extensive content in connection with this new series of Saving Species.


 

In a new OU/BBC eight-part series, historian Ruth Goodman and archaeologists Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn are taking on their biggest challenge yet, turning the clock back to run Manor Farm in Hampshire exactly as it would have been during the Second World War.

During the series, which is called Wartime Farm and starts at 8pm on Thursdy 6 September on BBC TWO, they will face up to one of the biggest the challenges ever seen in the history of the British countryside – in what Churchill called ‘the frontline of freedom’.

As well as tackling the trials of day to day living in volatile times, the team will be managing livestock, attempting to cultivate unused land, tackling new tools and technologies, and learning the basics of civil defence, while all the time confronting shortages.

To accompany the series, the OU’s Open Media Unit has produced a free 16-page Wartime Farm booklet to help explain how Britain fed itself during the Second World War and how rationing affected the wartime diet. 

For a copy visit www.open.edu/openlearn/wartimefarm where you can also try two new interactive challenges Beat the Ministry and Food in the Second World War.