Television Time: What’s On BBC (January 2022)

Kickstart the New Year with The Green Planet, BBC Earth’s latest landmark title of 2022. Presented by Sir David Attenborough, this 5-part series takes you into the secret, unseen lives of plants and how they behave like animals in so many ways. They are just as aggressive, competitive and dramatic – locked in life and death struggles for food and light, taking part in fierce battles for territory, and desperately trying to reproduce and scatter their young. Using pioneering new filmmaking technology and the very latest science, The Green Planet reveals this strange and wonderful world of plants like never before.

Indulge in a fascinating tale of tea through One Cup: A Thousand Stories on BBC Earth. As one of China’s greatest contributions to human civilisation, discover the history and influence of tea through this stunning landmark series, captured in sumptuous 4D. From high mountains to wild coasts, this unique series will take you on a journey across the vast landscapes of China to learn the ways tea has transformed both people and culture.

Mystery thriller The Tourist premieres on BBC First, starring Jamie Dornan as a nameless British man who wakes up with amnesia after an epic cat and mouse chase involving a tank truck in the Australian outback. The Tourist is a story of self-discovery as The Man’s relentless pursuit of his identity meets shocking, funny and even brutal turns.

BBC Earth

The Green Planet

Coming Soon

Step into a magical hidden world full of remarkable new behaviour, emotional stories and surprising heroes. Presented by Sir David Attenborough.   Plants live secret, unseen lives. Using specialist cameras, this spectacular series allows us to travel beyond the power of the human eye, to look closer at their interconnected world, showcasing over two decades of new discoveries. From deserts, tropical jungles and underwater worlds to seasonal lands and our own urban environment, each episode introduces a set of plants, reveals the battles they face, and the ingenious ways they’ve found to survive. New stories, never-seen-before animal behaviours, surprising heroes. This is Planet Earth from the perspective of plants.

One Cup: A Thousand Stories 

Premieres Thursday, 20th January at 9:00pm, on StarHub channel 407 and BBC Player | Singtel channel 203

An immersive, beautifully filmed story of the drink that changed the world.   Tea is one of China’s greatest contributions to human civilisation. It has conquered the world to influence cultures, beliefs and behaviours across the globe in surprising ways and is now playing a major role in forging a more sustainable future. This stunning landmark series tells the story of tea on an unprecedented scale, revealing the extraordinary landscapes of tea, from high mountains to wild coasts. It allows the women and men who grow, harvest, taste and sell tea to tell their own gripping tales – all captured in sumptuous 4D.

Chasing Monsters Series 5

Premieres Sunday, 30th January at 9:00pm, on StarHub channel 407 and BBC Player | Singtel channel 203

Up close with the planet’s most dangerous underwater creatures   Join extreme adventurer Cyril Chauquet as he ventures into a world of mysterious, dangerous, and colossal underwater creatures. From diving with a giant tiger shark in the Bahamas to dodging man-eating crocodiles while on the hunt for Africa’s largest freshwater fish, this adrenaline-packed returning series takes the viewer on incredible, globe-trotting challenges. Cyril explores oceans, rivers, and lakes all over the planet, venturing into some of the most remote parts of the world to find the biggest fish he’s ever faced. Whether he’s deep in Amazon, cast away on a deserted island in the Pacific Ocean chasing the toothy ‘Dienton’, forced to dodge raging hippos in the jungle of Central Africa or wading through shark infested waters in Tahiti, every episode is guaranteed to be packed full of adventure, incredible sights, fascinating characters, and colossal fish!

BBC Lifestyle

The Great British Bake Off: Series 12 

Premieres Saturday, 1st January at 10:50am, on StarHub channel 432 and BBC Player | Singtel channel 255

Matt Lucas and Noel Fielding return to host the multi-award-winning phenomenon. This is the ultimate baking battle, where passionate amateurs compete to be crowned Britain’s best. In every episode, judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith set brand new challenges to test a different baking skill, each becoming more difficult as the competition unfolds. The Signature, Technical and Showstopper bakes push the competitors to the limits of their baking ability. Each week only one can claim Star Baker, while another must leave the Bake Off tent. On your marks, get set… Bake!

Extraordinary Places To Eat Series 2 

Premieres Monday, 17th January at 7:25pm, on StarHub channel 432 and BBC Player | Singtel channel 255

Leading chefs take host Fred Sirieix to experience the restaurants where they genuinely love to eat and explore what goes into making them so special.

CBeebies

Number 1 Newton Avenue

Premieres Monday, 3rd January at 8:15pm, on StarHub channel 303 and BBC Player | Singtel channel 236

Early maths learning has never been such fun! With catchy songs and colourful animation, counting, patterns, measurement, shapes and numbers are brought boldly to life. Drop in at Number 1 Newton Avenue, where Freddie, Libby, Jayden and Rio find that maths impacts everywhere, every day, often without us realising. Whether it’s setting a table or making a puppet show, numbers are our friends and really do solve problems. Using everyday situations, this innovative, entertaining, scripted series takes the fear out of maths and puts the fun back in.

BBC First

Annika

Premieres Friday, 7th January, on StarHub channel 502 and BBC Player | Singtel channel 308

Detective Chief Inspector Annika Stranded has just become head of a new specialist Marine Homicide Unit, tasked with solving murders that take place in and around the waterways of Scotland. In her team is the plucky and fearless DI Tyrone Clarke, the emotional DS Michael Andrews and the brilliant and witty analyst Blair Ferguson. Annika Stranded offers a unique perspective on the detective genre. By breaking down the fourth wall, Annika invites the audience in to hear her thoughts, engaging them and enticing them to solve the crimes with her. Led by Annika, every episode will see the team solve a self-contained crime in a visually striking location off the Scottish coast.

The Tourist

Premieres Sunday, 2nd January, on StarHub channel 502 and BBC Player | Singtel channel 308

In the glowing red heart of the Australian outback, a British man is pursued by a vast tank truck trying to drive him off the road. An epic cat and mouse chase unfolds and the man later wakes in hospital, hurt, but somehow alive. Except he has no idea who he is. The Tourist is a character-driven mystery packed thriller, full of shocking, surprising, funny and brutal turns. At its heart however, it’s a story of self-discovery with a ticking timebomb underneath: as The Man starts to uncover the mystery of who he was, he’s also forced to ask who he is now – and fast. Will he unlock the secrets of his identify before those who are trying to kill him catch up with him?

Midsomer Murders Series 22

Premieres Friday, 28th January, on StarHub channel 502 and BBC Player | Singtel channel 308

This series follows Barnaby and Winter as they investigate an urban myth becoming a murderous reality, a post-operative heart rehabilitation club whose members’ dreams of a second chance at life are cut short, a murder mystery weekend, a twisted scarecrow festival and an amateur dramatics company with deadly secrets.

Doctor Who: New Year Day’s Special

Premieres Sunday, 2nd January, on StarHub channel 502 and BBC Player | Singtel channel 308

The Thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) and friends will kick-start 2022 with an action-packed spectacular episode set to air on BBC One on New Year’s Day. The festive special will feature guest stars Aisling Bea (This Way Up, Living With Yourself, Quiz), Adjani Salmon (Dreaming Whilst Black, Enterprice) and Pauline McLynn (Father Ted, Shameless).

Sarah (Aisling Bea) owns and runs ELF storage, and Nick (Adjani Salmon) is a customer who visits his unit every year on New Year’s Eve. This year, however, their night turns out to be a little different than planned…

Father Brown Series 9 

Premieres Friday, 21st January, on StarHub channel 502 and BBC Player | Singtel channel 308

The beautiful English countryside is the setting for more charming mysteries featuring the charismatic clergyman sleuth. The year is 1953, and the sleepy Cotswold village of Kembleford is stirred by such dastardly deeds as murder at the local holiday camp and at Lady Felicia’s illustrious New Year Masked Ball. With a killer in his midst, could this be the last waltz for Father Brown? He also faces a race against time to unmask a mystery attacker before pernicious newcomer Lord Hawthorne has him hounded out of the parish… for good!

BBC Player

The Cleaner

Premieres Saturday, 1st January on BBC Player

It’s the cops’ job to clean up the city, but it’s Wicky’s job to clean up the crime scenes. BAFTA-winner Greg Davies writes and stars in a truly arresting comedy.

Wicky is a crime scene cleaner. When the detectives are done, he moves in, armed with his bleach and scrubbing brushes. His job brings him into contact with the strangest people: those who knew the victims, and sometimes even the killers themselves. But because he’s a chatty man, he tends to gossip rather more than he cleans. Sharing some of its DNA with Inside No.9 and Jonathan Creek, this crime comedy is based on the multi-award-winning German cult hit Der Tatortreiniger.