Ben Major

Serious is an observational documentary series made by the BBC and broadcast as part of their children's programming. It encompasses Serious Jungle (2002), Serious Desert (2003), Serious Arctic (2005), Serious Amazon (2006), Serious Andes (2007), Serious Ocean (2008/09) and Serious Explorers (2011). Serious Ocean consisted of ten 30-minute episodes, while each previous series was six 30-minute episodes. In each series a group of eight 12- to 15-year-olds embark on an expedition to an extreme part of the world, in order to help wildlife or assist in environmental projects. The programmes have won numerous awards, among them honours from BAFTA and the Royal Television Society. So far only Serious Amazon, Serious Ocean and Serious Andes have been aired in Australia, on ABC1 and ABC3. The series has also been shown on Discovery Kids/The Hub, where five complete seasons have been shown. Slovenian television Kanal A has bought the rights to air Serious Amazon. The show airs Saturdays at 2:10 pm, under the title Vse o Amazonki (All About the Amazon). The Italian television network RAI in early 2009 aired Serious Jungle, Serious Desert, Serious Arctic, Serious Amazon, and Serious Andes.