TV
Telly Today: from Tanzania via France to Australia
Telly Today takes us to France, Tanzania and Australia for Friday, December 4th.
An animal oasis
In this first episode, the waterhole is built in the middle of an open patch of savannah, to enable wildlife to approach it from all directions. The team excavate 100 tonnes of soil and lay 8 kilometres of fibre optic cable and piping. Sixty thousand litres of sustainable groundwater are pumped in – filling two pools, giving more water edges for thirsty animals to access.
At the beginning of the Tanzania dry season, the new waterhole is open for business, and the cameras are rolling. As demand for freshwater builds, the team want to find out which animals will come, if they share, and how many species use this precious new water source. Within the first hour, warthogs and elephants discover this new oasis, and soon a cast of wild animal characters keep coming back.
With each day the landscape becomes drier, and soon tensions are rising between the two biggest drinkers – elephants and cape buffalo. Is there enough room at the waterhole for these two African giants?
When a Leopard and lion close in the waterhole is fast becoming a dangerous place to be, and the wild community of regular drinkers must risk life and death with each visit.
Waterhole, BBC Two at 9pm
Take a dive
Griff Rhys Jones takes his first tandem parachute jump from 12,000 feet, to view an internationally renowned Australian landmark: Uluru.
At 382 metres high, Uluru is taller than the Eiffel Tower. Watching the sunset on the monolith, Griff begins to understand why people talk of its lure. But he can’t stay long, Griff’s got a train to catch from Alice Springs.
Back on the Ghan, Griff heads further south through the centre of Australia. The train stops at a siding in the middle of the outback near the opal mining town of Coober Pedy, where he fossicks through mullock with a local ‘noodler’.
Spending three days and two nights on the Ghan, Griff travels 1,535 kilometres south to Adelaide to experience just how extraordinary Australia is, meeting Barossa bakers, a snake catcher, and ending aboard the oldest passenger train in the country.
Griff’s Great Australian Adventure, ITV, STV and UTV at 8pm
Looking for an escape
Escape to the Chateau: DIY continues this afternoon with the fifth episode in this latest series.
Dick and Angel Strawbridge offer advice and practical help to British ex-pats who are buying and running chateau businesses in France. In this episode, Joshua and Lee’s search for the perfect chateau with a music venue potential continue in western France.
The heat is on for Tim and Margreeth as they host 14 guests for their first fine dining and floristry weekend in the newly updated library. Dick and Angel renovate their coach house patio for Angel’s parents Jenny and Steve. And Julia renovates her first bedroom and faces issues when installing septic tanks, as she discovers that her chateau is above an ancient cave system.
Escape to the Chateau: DIY, Channel 4 at 4pm
Snappy
The transition of music photography from a niche pastime to a highly collectable and often valuable art form is examined through conversations with gallerists, literary publishers, art experts and those photographers whose body of work now has global prestige and, in some cases, hangs on the walls of the world’s most revered institutions.
Tracing the journey from the early days of low paid assignments through to the first gallery exhibitions of music photography, across to expensive coffee table books and individual prints selling for big money this episode takes an in-depth look at the relationship between art and commerce.
ICON: Music Through the Lens: On the Wall, Sky Arts at 10pm
| Best on the Box | Tonight we tunefully head over to BBC Four for a wander through the world of TV Themes. |
