Highlights

Steve Coats,
BBC South Africa Editor

In May, we're bringing you some terrific premières of brand new dramas, entertainment shows and documentaries. Get set for murders, architectural wonders, furry animals and Richard Hammond!

Drama Firsts

Lynda La Plante's brilliant Above Suspicion returns with a thrilling third instalment, Deadly Intent (Monday 14 May). As the team investigate the death of a former drugs squad officer, no-one can be trusted: witnesses, suspects, victims all appear to be lying.

Fans of medical dramas will be pleased to meet The Indian Doctor (Friday 18th May). This funny, poignant, gritty drama set in the Sixties against the evocative setting of a south Wales mining town won an instant army of devoted fans when it first aired in the UK. You'll love it!

Entertaining Evenings

Kevin McCloud introduces a new series of Grand Designs that begins Sunday, 6 May. A rusting lifeboat station, a derelict Mill cottage and a 500 year-old barn are all sites earmarked for some very bold Grand Designs. But will they all come to fruition?

Another entertaining programme where the outcome is unknown will be Derren Brown: The Experiments. Putting aside that the bearded illusionist ever so slightly terrifies us, Derren's attempts to show how easily our behaviour can be manipulated are totally gripping. Join him on Sunday, 6 May, as he tests whether someone could be hypnotised into assassinating a celebrity!

Dazzling Documentaries

As well as films on Concorde's Final Flight and The Making on a Queen, you won't want to miss the biggest-ever, most ambitious live global wildlife series, Planet Earth Live. The plan is to track young animals in seven different locations around the world in real time as they struggle for survival. Using the same cutting edge photography that brought us Frozen Planet, this series is set to be a television landmark. Don't miss it!

Above Suspicion: Deadly Intent

From Monday 14 May at 20:00

DI Anna Travis (Kelly Reilly) is back after her promotion, reunited with DCS James Langton (Ciarán Hinds) and DCI Mike Lewis (Shaun Dingwall), who is heading his first murder case.

A fatal shooting in a notorious drug dealer’s squat takes place in North London. The victim is Frank Brandon, an ex-police officer from the drug squad, and friend of James Langton. Travis and the team are soon at the scene trying to connect the presence of their ex-colleague with such desperate surroundings.

The Indian Doctor

From Friday 18 May at 16:30 and 17:15

The Indian Doctor tells the story of Dr Prem Sharma, a high flying Delhi graduate, who arrives in the UK in 1963 as part of the “first wave” of Indian doctors wooed by the then health minister Enoch Powell.

Prem and his wife Kamini want to build a new life for themselves following a family tragedy. But, rather than finding a job as a high-flying consultant in London, Prem finds himself in the Welsh coal mining village of Trefelin, where he quickly starts to realise things are not quite as they should be.

Grand Designs Series 9

Every Sunday at 19:00

In series nine of Grand Designs, we see a family from Braintree who decide to leave their cramped two-bedroom London flat to take on the conversion of a huge grade two listed timber-framed barn, another couple build a home big enough to house their own dance floor and DJ booth in a plot of land carved out of someone’s back garden in Kensington, and in Cornwall, stonemason Adam and his partner renovate a dilapidated grade two engine house into their dream home.

Derren Brown: The Experiments

Every Sunday at 20:25

The award-winning illusionist returns to our screens with The Experiments, a four part series designed to illustrate how easily our behaviour can be manipulated.

Each episode features a mixture of stunts, suggestion, and thought-provoking entertainment combined with tried and tested psychological experiments. Throughout the series we see Derren investigate hypnosis, turn himself into a game show host, attempt to convince someone to confess to a crime they didn’t commit, and discover what it is exactly that makes someone lucky or unlucky.

Planet Earth Live

Starts 6th May at 20:50

Join the world’s best natural history film-makers for the most ambitious live wildlife series ever undertaken!

Experts and cameramen/women from the award winning BBC Natural History Unit combine the spectacular cinematography of Frozen Planet with the live techniques of Big Cat Live and Springwatch to follow real-life animal dramas from around the globe throughout May - a critical time for many of the Earth’s young animals.

From baby elephants in Kenya, black bears in Minnesota, macaque monkeys in Sri Lanka, meerkats in South Africa, grey whales in the Pacific to the lions of the Masaai Mara, the lives of many wild youngsters hang in the balance.

Expect the unexpected as nature writes the script.

Top Gear USA

Every Wednesday at 20:00

Hosted by comedian Adam Ferrara, champion rally and drift racer Tanner Foust and racing analyst Rutledge Wood, Top Gear USA has all the trademarks that have made Top Gear such a success with fans all over the world.

Over the series, the trio of presenters tackle a number of extreme challenges, including a moonshine run along a classic Prohibition route in the Deep South, racing a HALO jumper in a Hennessey Velociraptor across the Arizona desert and evading a Cobra helicopter gunship in a Dodge Viper... through the middle of a town.

Life in the Undergrowth

Every Wednesday at 21:00

David Attenborough ventures into the bizarre, ferocious and surprisingly beautiful world of the invertebrates, embarking on a ground-breaking exploration into a spectacular miniature universe never normally seen, but teeming all around us.

Big Fat Gypsy Weddings

Every Sunday at 18:00

Exploring the secretive world of the gypsies in Britain today, the series witnesses the extravagant and exotic celebrations of traveller weddings, where bigger and brighter is definitely better. With fairy lights, glittering tiaras, 14-stone dresses that illuminate in the dark, these are wedding that you'll never forget.

Deal or No Deal

Every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Monday at 17:00

Every game of Deal or No Deal has the potential to end with the player £250,000 better off… or going home with just 1p.

The drama inherent in the show’s format explains why it’s a worldwide smash hit, and this specially selected run of episodes collects together some of the most tense and surprising encounters between players and the Banker.

With each player bringing their own unique personality to their game, no two shows are alike, but the tension of the outcome of each is always excitingly unpredictable.

The Spice Trail

Every Thursday at 22:00

Kate Humble embarks on a journey of discovery as she goes in search of some of the world’s most coveted spices. It’s a tale of epic voyages, bloody wars, the birth of multinational companies and contemporary cultures, as she travels around the globe to reveal how spices are grown, used and traded in the 21st Century.

Numtums

From Monday 14 May at 06:25 and 14:25

The Numtums are ten cuddly creatures with numbers on their tummies, who love to dance, dress up, play, tickle, fly, and most of all count!

In this series, numtum number 1 turns cartwheels, numtum number 7 juggles seven teddy bears, and numtum number 10 draws a number ten in the air with her aeroplane. The numtums also go for a boogie at the disco, and stop their friends the flamingos from ruffling their feathers.

The Omid Djalili Show

From Tuesday 15 May at 22:00 and 22:30

One of Britain’s best-loved and multi-award-winning stand-up comedians is unleashed as a performer and writer in his own comedy sketch show that mixes energetic stand-up with memorable sketches and characters.

The show takes a grown up swipe at modern life in a multicultural society. It reflects and builds upon Omid’s hugely successful stand-up persona: part political, part social commentary, part plain silly.

Omid is joined in the sketches by a number of familiar faces throughout the series. Having performed in movies such as The Mummy, Gladiator and the Bond film The World is Not Enough, getting his own show seems the ideal opportunity for Omid to call in one or two favours from his famous friends.

Celebrity guests include Alison Steadman (Gavin and Stacey, Secrets & Lies), Freema Agyeman (Doctor Who) and Jill Halfpenny (EastEnders).

Frontline Medicine

From Tuesday 15 May at 21:00

From the frontline of war to the frontline of research, this documentary meets the inspirational men and women behind the latest medical breakthroughs that will save thousands of lives – both on and off the battlefield.

These medical pioneers have introduced procedures that have seen the survival rate of injured servicemen and women rise to 90%. Designed for the warzone, these developments range from spray-on skin cells to rebuilding damaged hands using rib bones.

Restoration Roadshow

From Wednesday 16 May at 10:00

Antiques expert Eric Knowles and a team of antiques restorers invite members of the public to a roadshow set within the grounds of some of the UK’s most beautiful stately homes. The public bring along their damaged heirlooms and attic treasures in the hope that they can be restored.

Items are appraised and valued before restoration, and viewers discover the back story and history of the item, plus the reason the owner would like to see them returned to their former glory.

Service!

From Thursday 17 May at 20:00

Great service matters almost more to Michel Roux than great food. He believes waiters and sommeliers are the unsung stars of the restaurant world, and is on a personal mission to train eight young people as front-of-house superstars.

The trainees will receive the best tuition, learning the skills needed to run service in some of Europe's best restaurants, and Michel hopes they will discover that front-of-house service offers a brilliant career.

James May's Toy Stories: The Great Train Race

Friday 18 May at 22:00

After he conceded a bitter defeat in 2009, James May returns to Devon for a second attempt at joining the towns of Bideford and Barnstaple with a Hornby model railway. Two years on, James is piqued by the sense of unfinished business and spurred on by a fresh challenge.

Armed with a crack team of engineers, a fresh approach, and a revolutionary but temperamental track laying machine, James’ attempt with his trusty Flying Scotsman includes crashes, a battle of wits, and a dramatic, emotional conclusion.

Targeting Bin Laden

Tuesday 22 May at 22:00

Featuring an exclusive interview with President Barack Obama, this drama-documentary reveals the detail behind the US mission that successfully found and killed Osama Bin Laden.

On 1 May 2011, the White House announced that Osama Bin Laden had been shot dead by US Navy SEALS in a house in the town of Abbottabad, Pakistan. The man who had eluded US forces for so long, the man responsible for masterminding the September 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon, had finally been found.

Waybuloo

From Thursday 24 May at 19:00

More adventures in Nara with the Piplings.

In these new episodes, Lau Lau finds a glittery Narmole, Yojojo has a disastrous trip in Nok Tok’s car when he drives it recklessly into the pitcher plant, and De Li’s plans to make plumpkin soup is thwarted when she discovers a caterpillar has made his home in it.

Take your children on a journey through stories of co-operation, friendship and enjoyment.

The Making of a Queen

Wednesday 30 May at 22:00

The Making of a Queen documents how, in February 1952, a shy and petite twenty-five-year old woman was suddenly and unexpectedly thrust into the limelight as she became one of the most famous people in the world; the Queen of England.

In her first year on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II had to deal with a series of national disasters; flooding, train and plane crashes and a war in Korea. Yet by the time of her coronation 16 months later, the country was on the road to economic recovery, and the new Queen was celebrated with one of the most significant displays of pageantry and monarchical adoration the world has ever seen.

Raa Raa the Noisy Lion

Every day at 09:50, 13:50 and 17:50

Raa Raa is a loveable little lion who enjoys exploring the jingly jangly jungle in his cubby buggy looking for new and noisy things to do with his friends.

Raa Raa’s friends include Zebby, who’d rather be snoozing than on an adventure, Huffty, who loves music and singing, and Ooo Ooo, who loves nothing more than being mischievous and having a laugh and a joke. There’s also Topsy, Raa Raa’s tallest and oldest friend who can always find the solution to a problem in one of his books, and Crocky, who loves to help his friends – but he’s a little bit accident prone!

With jungle adventures come many challenges, but Raa Raa and his friends realise they can solve any problem by co-operating and working together as a team.

Penn and Teller: Fool Us

Every Sunday at 19:00

Having conquered the world of illusion and entertainment, Penn Jillette and Raymond Teller have now challenged their colleagues of magic to fool them as best they can using whatever methods they wish. The show also features Penn and Teller performing tricks of their own as they confound and amaze a different audience each episode.

Each episode features magicians who think they’ve got what it takes to fool two of the best in the business. However, in front of a live studio audience and with no camera tricks or fancy edits to play with, this will be magic in its most raw form.

Who will be caught slacking by the two professionals, and who will leave the pair dumbfounded and the audience in awe of what they are witnessing?