BBC Worldwide and CCTV-9, the documentary channel of Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, have today signed two co-production deals for new science series Generation Earth and Wonders of Life.  The deals mark the first co-production arrangement between CCTV-9 and BBC Worldwide.

The new productions bring together CCTV and the BBC’s award-winning Science Unit for the first time.  BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, brokered the deals and will distribute the series globally.

CCTV-9 will broadcast the new Brian Cox series Wonders of Life, which examines the story of life through physics, in winter 2012.  Generation Earth, a study of the most ambitious engineering projects on earth, will air on CCTV-9 during spring 2013.

Steve Macallister, President and Managing Director, Sales & Distribution, BBC Worldwide, welcomed the deals. “BBC Worldwide has been doing business in China for over twenty years and has established a strong relationship with CCTV.  We’re proud to bring the UK and Chinese creative sectors together on these educational and enlightening series.”

Liu Wen, Channel Director, CCTV-9, also commented. “The BBC is world-renowned for its factual programming, and we’ve had great success with titles such as Human Planet and Frozen Planet, so we’re very pleased to be partnering with them on two groundbreaking new series.”

Kim Shillinglaw, the BBC’s Commissioning Editor for Science and Natural History, said, ‘With the support of international partners like CCTV-9, our creative talent have the freedom to push themselves even further in producing outstanding programmes.  We’re excited to see the results in the finished series, which are large-scale, ambitious and informative.’

BBC Worldwide has previously brokered a co-production for Wild China (known in China as Beautiful China), between the BBC’s Natural History Unit and CTV, a production company under CCTV.  The series, distributed by BBC Worldwide, has been licensed to over 160 territories around the world.