MUMBAI: UK pubcaster The BBC has announced that BBC One controller, Danny Cohen has been appointed as BBC Television director.

Cohen?s appointment follows an open recruitment process and is the final addition to new director-General Tony Hall?s senior management team.

He will sit on the BBC?s executive and management boards and will oversee the BBC?s four main channels, BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC Four alongside BBC iPlayer and online content for BBC Television. He also oversees the drama, entertainment, knowledge and comedy genres as well as BBC Films. In addition, he will be responsible for the BBC Television archive and BBC Productions, Europe?s largest television production group.

Hall said, "Danny Cohen has been the driving force behind an extremely successful period in BBC One?s history. Key to his success has been an ability to provide viewers with a mixture of high quality programmes they enjoy whilst also introducing them to new subjects they might not have considered before. I am looking forward to seeing his impressive mix of creativity and vision being put to great effect across the whole of the BBC Television portfolio."

Cohen said, "I?m honoured to be taking over as director of BBC Television. Our ambition is to be the finest broadcaster and producer in the world and our values will be based on talent, creativity, storytelling and innovation. I?ve had a wonderful time at BBC One and am grateful for the work of all the talented people who have made the channel the most popular in the UK in recent years."

Cohen begins his new role on 7 May. He will be paid a total package of GBP 327,800.

MUMBAI: BBC has appointed Leon Wilde to the In-House Entertainment Department as Editor, Format Entertainment. He will take up his position in January.

Since 2009, Leon has been Executive Producer at Shine TV, where among other programmes he was the joint creator of ?The Magicians? (BBC One); ?Got To Dance? (Sky) and ?As Seen On TV? (BBC1).

Prior to this, he was Hat Trick Productions head of entertainment, creating shows such as ?What?s The Problem with Anne Robinson? (BBC One) and ?He?s Having A Baby? (BBC One and BBC Three).

Before this, he was at Granada, where he co-created shows including ?Saturday Night Takeaway? (ITV1); ?Brainiac: Science Abuse? (Sky One); ?Fight School? (Sky1) and ?Pop Stars the Rivals? (ITV1).

He said, "After a long time working in the independent sector I?m delighted to be bringing my enthusiasm for fun and inclusive prime time formats to the BBC, where I hope to build on their already impressive roster of joyful and triumphant entertainment programmes."

BBC controller entertainment and events Katie Taylor said, "Leon lives and breathes entertainment formats, so I look forward to seeing what he can conjure up for BBC audiences."

MUMBAI: In just a single lifetime, humans have changed the face of planet Earth on a scale unimaginable to our predecessors.

Generation Earth, a three-part documentary series by UK pubcaster BBC‘s BBC One channel, for the first time charts the epic scale of our re-design of the planet and how humans have transformed the planet.

‘Generation Earth‘ traces the spectacular story of how humans have changed our world in a single generation.

In this series, Dallas Campbell travels the globe, visiting the world‘s largest and most ambitious engineering projects, exploring the power of human ingenuity and the making of the modern world.

In 1980, the tallest building on the planet was the Sears Towers in Chicago and Dubai was a dusty strip of desert with a single highway. Fast forward 30 years and the world‘s tallest building stands at more than 800 metres in Dubai, cities like Las Vegas have sprawled across the desert and are home to millions, and China is the manufacturing capital of the world, with many of the fastest growing cities on earth.

Throughout the series Dallas undertakes some extraordinary feats - from cleaning the windows of the world‘s tallest building - the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, to scuba-diving in raw sewage in Mexico City, in order to unblock the turbines driving the mega-city‘s failing sewage system. He also flies a replica of the Wright Brother‘s glider from 1902, paraglides over the world‘s largest greenhouse array and travels to a cosmodrome on the desert steppes of Kazakhstan, to witness a new age of space travel.

Dallas said: "The way we live on the planet is changing in ways that our ancestors would have thought impossible. Telling that story has been utterly absorbing and fascinating and by far the most ambitious and demanding project I‘ve ever worked on. I‘ve had privileged access to the some of the world‘s defining engineering projects - projects that are re-shaping the planet, and the chance to experience first-hand some of the extraordinary innovations that allow us to live the way we now do."

In the first episode, Dallas looks at how we are building faster than ever before.

In episode two, he explores how we are shrinking the planet, transforming our transport networks, and moving more objects around the globe faster.

In the final episode, Dallas examines what it takes to keep seven billion of us alive, in terms of energy, food and water.

Drawing on satellite imagery, CGI and specialist filming, the series provides a new view on the world and compresses time to watch a generation of change pass in a few moments. Multiple time?lapse cameras track the progress of the biggest construction projects underway today, from bare rock to engineering marvels. Each an emblem of a global trend, together they capture the sheer scale of human ambition to remake the planet. Filmed in HD, Generation Earth invokes the stunning and sometimes terrible beauty of the man-made world.

MUMBAI: UK pubcaster The BBC has announced that BBC One controller Danny Cohen has commissioned a 30-minute special edition of Jim‘ll Fix It, produced by BBC In-House Entertainment.

Hosted by Shane Richie, the programme will be broadcast as part of this year‘s BBC One festive line-up.

Originally devised and hosted by Sir Jimmy Savile and broadcast on BBC One between 1975 and 1994, ‘Jim‘ll Fix It‘ was watched by millions on a Saturday evening. The BBC will now fix it for a new generation of children, whether they want to break a world record, be a superhero for a day, train with an Olympic athlete or be the fairy on top of the Christmas tree. And the new programme will even feature the original theme tune, with a modern twist.

Cohen said: "I think it will be a great tribute to Jimmy to re-create his famous show as a Christmas treat for audiences."

Richie added, "On being asked what my memories were on the iconic BBC One series Jim‘ll Fix It, the visions of stories and people came flooding back, as it was compulsive television in our house and all my friends would talk about the ‘fix its‘. I even wrote in but wasn‘t one of the lucky ones! I‘m honoured to be part of this Christmas Special and salute Sir Jimmy and fix it for a new generation!"