| Eden | |
| Launch Date: | 8 March 2004 |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Area: | UK and Ireland |
| Owner: | BBC Studios |
| Parent: | UKTV |
| Picture Format: | 1080i HDTV |
| Sister Channels: | Alibi U&Dave U&Drama Gold U&W U&Yesterday |
| Former Names: | UKTV Documentary (2004–2009) |
| Replaced: | UK Horizons |
| Timeshift Service: | Eden +1 |
| Online Serv 2: | Sky Go |
| Online Chan 2: | Watch live (UK and Ireland only) |
Eden is a British premium television channel broadcasting nature content with some factual entertainment programming in the United Kingdom and Ireland as part of the UKTV network of channels. The channel originally launched on 8 March 2004 and relaunched in its current format on 27 January 2009.
The UKTV channels were all rebranded on 8 March 2004. At the same time, Eden was launched as UKTV Documentary, showing factual documentaries, mainly from the BBC archives, on a variety of subjects if not covered by another channel in the UKTV network, such as Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man. Much of this programming had come from the former UKTV channel UK Horizons, which had closed down the day before and which the channel, and spun off a sister channel called UKTV People. UKTV Documentary occupied the same broadcasting slot as UK Horizons.
On 9 October 2008, UKTV announced plans to rebrand UKTV Documentary and UKTV People in early 2009.[1] The news came just two days after UKTV's entertainment channels were rebranded to Watch, Gold and Alibi. They announced that UKTV Documentary would be rebranded as Eden and this rebrand took place on 26 January 2009. As part of the rebrand, the channels programming output changed from all documentaries to primarily documentaries focusing on the natural environment. All other documentaries were transferred to UKTV History or UKTV People, depending on their subject matter.
From launch, the channel has had a timeshift service, called Eden +1 and UKTV Documentary +1 before it. The service ran on Sky and Virgin Media and broadcast the channels schedule one hour later than usual. The timeshift was removed from Virgin Media in October 2008 to allow bandwidth for new channel Watch, however the timeshift service was restored on 7 October 2011.
Eden HD launched on 4 October 2010 on Sky channel 559, running a high-definition simulcast of the main channel.[2] As part of Virgin Media's deal to sell its share of UKTV, all five of UKTV's HD channels were added to Virgin's cable television service by 2012.[3] Eden HD was added to Virgin Media on 7 October 2011.[4] On 3 October 2016, Eden HD was added to BT.[5] On 2 October 2017, Eden HD was removed from the Sky lineup and replaced with Gold HD.
The UKTV Documentary identity focused around scenes from the landscape of Britain. The ident would first feature a close up shot, for example of a person or a stone, before pulling back to reveal the bigger picture: such as a busy rail station or a stone circle. This was then overlaid with the UKTV Documentary logo, consisting of the UKTV logo on top, and an upper case 'DOCUMENTARY' tag below, aligned to the left of the screen. Alongside the idents, the channel had a Digital on-screen graphic (DOG) of the same design and also featured a generic UKTV design for all promotions for the channel. The channels house colour was a blue, similar in shade to Azure, and would feature in numerous changing shades on the end boards of promotions.
The current Eden identity features explorers in an unknown environment, such as the deep jungle or the Antarctic, before coming across a landscape, which the logo then forms onto.
The programming used on the channel is mostly from the BBC archives, and are therefore edited to fit the time slot: an original broadcast for an hour-long programme on the BBC might be as much as 58 minutes long, while the same programme here might be 42 minutes long without the commercials. Eden is renowned for showing blue-chip natural history but has more recently moved into more scientific programmes while keeping the blue-chip, cinematic identity. Eden has also produced its own exclusive programming, with the most recent series David Attenborough's Natural Curiosities, produced by Humble Bee Films,[6] broadcasting from January 2013.
As of May 2024, Eden is now showing the range of reality and history programming from W and Yesterday,[7] while rarely airing nature programming.
| Name of show | Original channel(s) | Original run | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Things You Didn't Know About... | 2007-2008 | ||
| Africa | 2013 | ||
| An African Journey with Jonathan Dimbleby | 2010 | ||
| Animal Armageddon | Animal Planet (United States) | 2009 | |
| Amazing Planet | National Geographic Channel (United States) | 2007 | |
| Amazon | 2008 | ||
| Arctic with Bruce Parry | 2011 | ||
| Are We Changing Planet Earth? | 2006 | ||
| Ask Attenborough | Eden | 2011 | |
| Attenborough and the Giant Egg | 2011 | ||
| Attenborough's Paradise Birds | 2015 | ||
| Australia: The Time Travellers Guide | ABC1 (Australia) | 2012 | |
| The Ballad of Big Al | 2000 | ||
| BBC Wildlife Specials | 1995–present | ||
| The Bear Family & Me | 2011 | ||
| Bahama Blue | 2015 | ||
| Bang Goes the Theory | 2009–2014 | ||
| Biggest and Baddest with Niall McCann | 2012-2014 | ||
| Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery | 2008 | ||
| The Blue Planet | 2001 | ||
| The Brain: A Secret History | 2011 | ||
| Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life | 2009 | ||
| Chased by Dinosaurs | 2002 | ||
| The Code | 2011 | ||
| David Attenborough's Natural Curiosities | 2013–present | ||
| Deadly 60 | 2014-2017 | ||
| Death of a Sea Monster | National Geographic Channel (United States) | 2011 | |
| Deserts and Life | Eden | 2012 | |
| Dino Stampede | 2011 | ||
| Do We Really Need the Moon? | 2011 | ||
| Earthflight | 2011-2012 | ||
| 2007 | |||
| Eden Shorts: From Lens to Screen | Eden | 2015 | |
| Equator | 2006 | ||
| Expedition Borneo | 2007 | ||
| Favourite Attenborough Moments | UKTV Documentary | 2006 | |
| First Life | 2010 | ||
| Forecasting the End | 2013 | ||
| Frozen Planet | 2011 | ||
| Galápagos | 2006 | ||
| Ganges | 2007 | ||
| Great Barrier Reef | 2012 | ||
| 2010 | |||
| Hainan Adventure with Nigel Marven | Eden | 2012 | |
| Himalaya with Michael Palin | 2004 | ||
| Horizon | 1964–present | ||
| How to Grow a Planet | 2012 | ||
| Human Planet | 2011 | ||
| ABC1 (Australia) | 2008 | ||
| The Incredible Human Journey | 2009 | ||
| Inside Nature's Giants | 2009–present | ||
| Inside the Human Body | 2011 | ||
| James May's Things You Need To Know | 2011–present | ||
| Killer Whale Islands with Nigel Marven | 2007 | ||
| Killer Whales: Beneath the Surface | 2013 | ||
| Last Chance to See | 2009 | ||
| Life in Cold Blood | 2008 | ||
| Life in the Freezer | 1993 | ||
| Life in the Undergrowth | 2005 | ||
| The Life of Birds | 1998 | ||
| The Life of Mammals | 2002–2003 | ||
| Life on Earth | 1979 | ||
| Life on Fire | Arte (France) | 2009-2010 | |
| Life | 2009 | ||
| Lion Country | 2010–2011 | ||
| The Living Planet | 1984 | ||
| Lost Land of the Jaguar | 2008 | ||
| Lost Land of the Tiger | 2010 | ||
| Lost Land of the Volcano | 2009 | ||
| Madagascar | 2011 | ||
| Monsters We Met | 2004 | ||
| Monster Bug Wars | Science (United States) | 2011–2012 | |
| Mountain Gorilla | 2010 | ||
| Museum of Life | 2010 | ||
| Natural World | 1967–present | ||
| Nature's Great Events | 2009 | ||
| Nature | PBS (United States) | 1982–present | |
| Nigel Marven's Rhino Adventure | 2006 | ||
| Nova | PBS (United States) | 1974–present | |
| Oceans | 2008 | ||
| Ocean Giants | 2011 | ||
| On Thin Ice | 2009 | ||
| Orbit: Earth's Extraordinary Journey | 2012 | ||
| Origins of Us | 2011 | ||
| Planet Dinosaur | 2011 | ||
| Planet Earth | 2006 | ||
| The Polar Bear Family & Me | 2013 | ||
| The Private Life of Plants | 1995 | ||
| Ray Mears' Bushcraft | 2004-2005 | ||
| Ray Mears Goes Walkabout | 2008 | ||
| Ray Mears' Northern Wilderness | 2009 | ||
| Reconstructing T-Rex | National Geographic Channel (United States) | 2010 | |
| Richard Hammond's Invisible Worlds | 2010 | ||
| Sea Monsters | 2003 | ||
| The Secrets of Everything | 2012 | ||
| South Pacific | 2009 | ||
| 2010 | |||
| Super Giant Animals | 2013 | ||
| Swarm: Nature's Incredible Invasions | 2009 | ||
| Ten Deadliest Snakes: China | Animal Planet Eden | 2013 | |
| Ten Deadliest Snakes with Nigel Marven | Animal Planet Eden | 2014–present | |
| Termites - The Inner Sanctum | ORF (Austria) | 2011 | |
| Through Hell and High Water | 2006 | ||
| The Trials of Life | 1990 | ||
| Tribal Wives | 2008-2010 | ||
| Tribe | 2005-2007 | ||
| Tropic of Cancer | 2010 | ||
| 2009 | |||
| Voyage of the Continents | Arte (France) | 2012 | |
| Walking with Beasts | 2001 | ||
| Walking with Dinosaurs | 1999 | ||
| Walking with Monsters | 2005 | ||
| Whale Adventure with Nigel Marven | Channel 5 Eden | 2013 | |
| Wild Arabia | 2013 | ||
| Wild Brazil | 2014–present | ||
| Wild Britain with Ray Mears | ITV Eden | 2010–present | |
| Wild Canada | CBC (Canada) | 2014–present | |
| Wild Caribbean | 2007 | ||
| Wild China | 2008 | ||
| Wild Colombia with Nigel Marven | Eden | 2012 | |
| Wild Down Under | 2003 | ||
| Wonders of the Solar System | 2010 | ||
| Wonders of the Universe | 2011 | ||
| Yellowstone | 2009 | ||
| Yunnan Adventure with Nigel Marven | Eden | 2012 |