Brosville
Queen Bee
Tonight (29th March) BBC2 and BBC HD, 8pm
"The “Queen of the Savannah” in the subtitle is not a lioness but a bee on the plains of Kenya. Apparently, among African honeybees (the same species as British ones but with a different lifestyle) the queen is the only one whose sting is designed to be used repeatedly. Why? So that when she first emerges from her wax cell, she can wrestle with and kill her sisters, whose lives are brief, to say the least.
We follow this dynastic fight to the death and the subsequent adventures of the queen’s extended family, courtesy of some extraordinary photography. A very different end-section shifts the scene to London.
ABOUT THIS PROGRAMME
The life of the African honeybee queen, from hatching and killing off her sisters to the battle to survive with the rest of her colony. Narrated by Tamsin Greig, the film provides a bee's-eye view of the world as the insects fight off giant invaders and migrate across the savannah to Mount Kenya before the dry season arrives. The documentary is followed by Safe in the City, a 10-minute film with Dr George McGavin on the growth of the urban beekeeper"
"The “Queen of the Savannah” in the subtitle is not a lioness but a bee on the plains of Kenya. Apparently, among African honeybees (the same species as British ones but with a different lifestyle) the queen is the only one whose sting is designed to be used repeatedly. Why? So that when she first emerges from her wax cell, she can wrestle with and kill her sisters, whose lives are brief, to say the least.
We follow this dynastic fight to the death and the subsequent adventures of the queen’s extended family, courtesy of some extraordinary photography. A very different end-section shifts the scene to London.
ABOUT THIS PROGRAMME
The life of the African honeybee queen, from hatching and killing off her sisters to the battle to survive with the rest of her colony. Narrated by Tamsin Greig, the film provides a bee's-eye view of the world as the insects fight off giant invaders and migrate across the savannah to Mount Kenya before the dry season arrives. The documentary is followed by Safe in the City, a 10-minute film with Dr George McGavin on the growth of the urban beekeeper"
