The week of current affairs and documentaries on CBC’s THE NATURE OF THINGS, DOC ZONE, the fifth estate, MARKETPLACE, THE PASSIONATE EYE, and documentary Channel
Thursday, Mar. 13 at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT) on CBC-TV
From the filmmakers of the acclaimed series Human Planet and Planet Earth comes WILD CANADA, an epic four-part series that takes place through time and across the vast scale of the Canadian landscape, revealing the country as it has never been seen before. WILD CANADA takes an awe-inspiring look at the world around us, shot with ultra-high-definition cameras that capture sweeping panoramas and extraordinary close-ups of Canada’s majestic terrain and diverse species. This is the largest natural history survey of Canada in our generation—filmed across the country, showing animal behaviour never before captured. Episode one, The Eternal Frontier takes viewers on an extraordinary journey—from the spectacle of humpback whales feeding on capelin off Newfoundland to the world’s largest intact temperate rain forest in B.C., home to the rare white black bear. Acrobatic flying squirrels and thousands of mating red-sided garter snakes are just some of the incredible array of wildlife captured by stunning cinematography.
Thursday, Mar. 13 at 7 p.m. (7:30 NT) on CBC-TV
Twin Life: Sharing Mind and Body reveals a year in the life of the astonishing Hogan sisters the only known twins who doctors suspect can see what the other sees, and feel what the other feels. Their family believes they can also taste what the other tastes. As craniopagus twins, 7 year old Tatiana and Krista are the only people in the world known to share a neural bridge between their thalamus—a part of the brain involved in the regulation of consciousness along with sensory and motor signals. At birth the twins where given a 20% chance of survival. But the girls continue to defy the odds and confound doctors today, moving beyond developmental milestones once thought impossible for them.
The Trouble with Turkeys
Friday, Mar. 14 at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT) on CBC-TV
Do you know where the turkey meat you eat comes from? Host Erica Johnson tracks the food back to the farm, where hidden camera footage reveals a lack of oversight and troubling consequences. Plus, Tom Harrington enlists the help of a popular online prankster to reveal how you may be giving too much personal information away to strangers through social media.
Return to Paradise
Friday, Mar. 14 at 9 p.m. (9:30 NT) on CBC-TV
As many young Canadians head off for spring break holidays, do they face unexpected and potentially lethal dangers - in their hotel rooms? When two Canadian sisters turned up dead in a Thailand hotel in 2012, authorities suggested everything from drugs to food poisoning. But an updated investigation by the fifth estate points to new evidence that a highly toxic pesticide used in holiday hotels in Asia to control bedbugs may have caused their deaths.
It was supposed to be the vacation of a lifetime. Two sisters, Noémi and Audrey Bélanger from a small town in Quebec were young, healthy and bound for the beaches and bars of popular Koh Phi Phi Island. But after their first night on the island, their daily emails to their parents stop. Days later, they are found lifeless in their hotel room. Last season, host Mark Kelley learned that the Bélanger sisters were just the latest victims in a string of unexplained tourist deaths in hotels in the area. The fifth estate examined some of the speculation around what happened at the time. Now in Return to Paradise, the fifth estate and Radio-Canada’s Enquete uncover new evidence that points to a highly toxic pesticide behind not just the deaths of the two Quebec girls, but an American tourist and a young girl from Norway. With new testimony from family members, revealing medical reports and undercover filming of the illegal use of the pesticide, Return to Paradise raises disturbing questions about Thai authorities who appear more interested in protecting the tourism industry than finding out what is killing hotel guests.
Holy Money
Sunday, Mar. 16 at 10 p.m. ET/PT, and repeats Sunday, Mar. 23 at 8 p.m. ET on CBC News Network
As Pope Francis marks his one-year anniversary, Holy Money investigates the financial scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church and the efforts of the new Pope to clean up its multi-billion-dollar business dealings amid allegations of money laundering, corruption and embezzlement of funds. Today, the Pope leads a church with more than one billion Catholics but also a business empire of global dimensions. The Catholic Church is the world’s richest religious institution with vast real estate holdings and its own Vatican Bank. Pope Francis has made it his mission to get the Vatican’s financial house in order but there are stumbling blocks on the road to his newly announced reforms and the stakes are sky high for everyone involved. The documentary deconstructs the mechanisms by which the Church administers and invests its money. It reveals the inner workings of the Vatican Bank, and tells the story of a priest known as Father 500 Euros, charged in January, 2014 with money laundering millions of Euros through Vatican Bank accounts.
Not Criminally Responsible (documentary Channel original)
Tuesday, Mar. 11 at 9 p.m. ET
Directed by John Kastner, this feature documentary about violence, mental illness, and the rights of victims tells the story of a troubled young man who stabbed a complete stranger 6 times in a crowded shopping mall while gripped by psychosis. Twelve years later, his victim, who miraculously survived, is terrified to learn that he’s out, living in the community under supervision. He’s applying for an absolute discharge, and if he succeeds, he’ll no longer be required to take the anti-psychotic drugs that control his mental illness. With unprecedented access to the patient, the victim, and the mental institution, the film looks at both sides of the debate and puts a human face on the complex ethical issues raised.
Dark Matter of Love
Sunday, Mar. 16 9 p.m. ET/10 p.m. PT
Eleven year old Masha Kulabokhova is about to be adopted into fourteen year old Cami Diaz’s family. Masha grew up in a Russian orphanage; Cami was born and raised in Wisconsin and has been the exclusive focus of her parents’ love her whole life. The process of Masha becoming part of the Diaz family is going to change both girls forever. The film follows Masha as she leaves Russia to spend her first year as part of the Diaz family, who have also adopted five year old twin boys Marcel and Vadim.
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For more information including series synopses, press releases, hi-res images, video clips and bios, please visit the CBC Media Centre at cbc.ca/mediacentre. Follow CBC’s publicity team on Twitter @CBC_Publicity.
For further information, or to request interviews, contact:
Corey Black, News and Current Affairs publicist, CBC
416.205.8710 (office)/647.221.4133 (mobile)
