BBC AMERICA STRENGTHENS ITS COMMITMENT TO SCI-FI WITH ALL NEW SUPERNATURAL SATURDAYS IN 2011

BBC AMERICA has long showcased the best of British sci-fi with such hit series as Doctor Who, Torchwood, and Being Human. Today it further demonstrates its commitment to the genre with the announcement of a refreshed primetime sci-fi slate for Supernatural Saturdays. In this slot, the channel will roll out three all new co-productions, Primeval, Outcasts, and Bedlam. It will also be home for new seasons of previous co-productions Doctor Who and Being Human. And as previously announced, BBC AMERICA will premiere the highly anticipated Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol on Christmas Day, the same day as its UK broadcast.

Perry Simon, General Manager, Channels says: "BBC AMERICA has been setting a bench-mark for quality supernatural and sci-fi shows like Torchwood and Doctor Who, attracting millions of fans to the channel. Throughout 2011 our viewers will see the return of old friends like Doctor Who and Primeval, which we helped save from extinction, as well as some great new additions to our schedule like Outcasts and Bedlam. Our fans told us they wanted these shows, and we are delighted to give them what they want."

Following Matt Smith's recent appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, the new Doctor Who Christmas Special, A Christmas Carol premieres for the first time on Christmas Day in the U.S. The festive Dickens-inspired adventure is penned by award-winning lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat (Sherlock, Coupling). Along with newlyweds Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill), Harry Potter's Michael Gambon and Opera diva Katherine Jenkins join The Doctor for what might be his most Christmassy adventure yet. Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol premieres Saturday, December 25, 9:00 pm ET/PT.

Supernatural Saturdays starts off the New Year with a roar with the return of the beloved series Primeval. Returning to screens thanks to a unique international collaboration with BBC AMERICA as a co-producer, the fourth season opens the franchise to new audiences with ambitious new adventures. When rips in time called anomalies started opening across the UK, dangerous creatures from the past and future began appearing in the most unexpected places, endangering lives and putting the whole of humanity at risk. A crack team of specialists was appointed by the government to deal with these "creature incursions." This job has proven deadly for multiple team members and threats continue to escalate. From the creators of Walking With Dinosaurs and Survivors, the new season of Primeval sees a new headquarters, the arrival of new faces and the surprise return of some notable guest stars from earlier seasons. Primeval premieres Saturday, January 1, 9:00pm ET/PT.

Hot on the heels on the Primeval finale and from the makers of award-winning and international hit series Life on Mars and MI-5, comes the frontier drama Outcasts in early 2011. The series takes viewers into a new world as it explores survival, sex, politics and the drive for power in a new post-Earth era. Shot in South Africa and created by Ben Richards (MI-5), Outcasts stars Eric Mabius (Ugly Betty, The L Word), Liam Cunningham (Clash Of The Titans) and Hermione Norris (MI-5, Wire In The Blood). With Earth no longer habitable, a group of courageous pioneers have traveled to another planet to begin again. They've built the town of Forthaven on Carpathia and have the unique opportunity of creating a new and better future on another planet. Led by President Tate (Cunningham) and his core team of Stella (Norris), Cass (Daniel Mays, The Bank Job, Atonement) and Fleur (Amy Manson, Being Human), they're determined to run a democracy, but human nature and some tough decisions from the past come back to haunt them. Outcasts premieres early 2011 on Saturdays, 9:00pm ET/PT.

Supernatural Saturdays in Spring 2011 will see the return of two of BBC AMERICA's top rated programs, Doctor Who and Being Human. Doctor Who will open with a spectacular two-parter set in the U.S. and penned by 'Who supremo' Steven Moffat. In the special two-parter co-produced with BBC AMERICA, key scenes have been filmed in Utah for a story set in the late '60s in which the Doctor, Amy and Rory find themselves on a secret summons that takes them on an adventure from the desert - right to the Oval Office itself. The new season will be split into two blocks, with the first block airing in spring 2011 and the second airing in fall 2011. By splitting the series Moffat plans to give viewers one of the most exciting Doctor Who cliffhangers and plot twists ever, leaving them waiting, on the edge of their seats, until the fall to find out what happens.

BBC AMERICA co-production, Being Human is also back with an all new third season. Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlow and Aidan Turner return as George, Annie and Mitchell, the three twenty-somethings trying to live as normally as possible despite being a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost. This season will see the housemates relocate from their current home in Bristol to Wales - a move triggered by events in the dramatic climax of the second series - while encountering some new faces and battling their biggest threat yet.

Future Supernatural Saturdays in 2011 will debut the haunting all new six-part series, Bedlam. The sexy, contemporary paranormal program stars singer and actor Will Young (Pop Idol winner, Skins), Charlotte Salt (The Tudors), Theo James (A Passionate Woman), Joanna Page (Gavin & Stacey), and Ashley Madekwe (Secret Diary of a Call Girl). Set in Bedlam Heights - an apartment building converted from a pre-Victorian lunatic asylum - the inhabitants experience the darker side of the building's history when former asylum spirits come back to claim what they believe to be theirs and seek revenge on those who have wronged them. The terrifying hauntings that follow reveal that sometimes when you scratch away the surface, things aren't always what they seem.

Complementing its primetime commitment to supernatural drama, BBC AMERICA is also introducing a sci-fi block during the daytime schedule comprising episodes of fan favorites like Doctor Who and Torchwood. The weekday block will see The Doctor have a new American companion - sci-fi touchstone, X-Files. Like Doctor Who, X-Files has long been hailed as one of the defining series of its time. Created by Chris Carter, the Emmy award winning program, launched the careers of David Duchovny (Californication) and Gillian Anderson (The Last King of Scotland, Masterpiece Theatre) who starred as FBI Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, investigating the existence of alien races and other paranormal activity. The X-Files premieres Monday, January 3, 11:00a.m. ET/PT after Doctor Who airings at 10:00a.m. ET/PT.

Now in 68 million homes, BBC AMERICA attracts one of television's most affluent audiences and recorded its highest ever profit for the financial year 2009/10. The channel is responsible for bringing some of the most buzzed about UK shows and talent to the U.S. - from the irrepressible Gordon Ramsay and the irreverent Graham Norton to the intriguing Law & Order: UK and the hilarious Peep Show. BBC AMERICA also first introduced American audiences to the original versions of The Office, Top Gear, Skins, The Inbetweeners and Torchwood.

BBC AMERICA brings audiences a new generation of award-winning television featuring news with a uniquely global perspective, provocative dramas, razor-sharp comedies, life-changing makeovers and a whole new world of non-fiction. BBC AMERICA pushes the boundaries to deliver high quality, highly addictive and eminently watchable programming to viewers who demand more. It is available on digital cable and satellite TV in more than 68 million homes.