Theroux to face surgeon's knife

Theroux decided to participate in Under The Knife himself

Louis Theroux has undergone cosmetic surgery in his latest programme which forms part of BBC Two's new season.

The documentary-maker has liposuction in Under The Knife, which looked at the Californian plastic surgery business.

Stephen Fry follows up his programme about bipolar depression with a look at HIV, including personal stories from George Michael and Erasure's Andy Bell.

A no-holds barred documentary with music producer Phil Spector will be shown after his murder trial concludes.

Arts programme Arena was granted exclusive access to Spector, who talks about his legacy and influence on rock music.

"He hasn't let anyone film him for a documentary in 35 years," said director Vikram Jayanti. "But he doesn't treat me as a supplicant. We are talking very frankly."

Epic journey

A new Stephen Poliakoff drama, Capturing Mary, starring Dame Maggie Smith and Little Britain star David Walliams, will also be screened.

Another film, Joe's Palace, also from acclaimed screenwriter Poliakoff, will be shown on BBC Two. It is linked to Capturing Mary by its setting - an exquisite house frozen in time.

Actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers will play the young King Henry VIII in drama The Tudors, focusing on the period when the monarch was still married to first wife Catherine of Aragon - and pursuing Anne Boleyn.

Capturing Mary co-stars Dame Maggie Smith (second left) and David Walliams (second right)

And Ewan McGregor and Charey Boorman's epic motorcycle journey across Africa, Long Way Down, while Bruce Parry returns with Tribe.

His stay with the Matis people of the Amazon sees him injected with frog poison and have tree sap dropped into his eyes.

A landmark series using cutting-edge graphics to tell the history of planet Earth will also form part of the new season, presented by geologist Dr Iain Stewart.

Chef Raymond Blanc's first major television series sees nine couples compete to fulfil their dream of running their own restaurant, while Nigella Lawson begins a series about making fast but wholesome food.

In a season of programmes to mark the 60 years since the independence of India and Pakistan, comic Sanjeev Bhaskar and former Apprentice contestant Saira Khan embark on highly personal journeys, to each area respectively.

BBC Three comedy Little Miss Jocelyn will also make its debut on BBC Two.