Designed for seven to 11-year olds, these three films examine the place of water in people’s lives in Bangladesh, Britain and the US. Starting with the water cycle, presenter Steve Backshall follows the progress of water from the hills of Derbyshire into the North Sea, then compares this with the same cycle on a much larger scale in the south-western US. Next week’s looks at the impact of flooding on the inhabitants of a village in Yorkshire and the final episode looks at water use in Nevada and in Bangladesh.

THE ENGLISH PROGRAMME: Film Focus. C4 Fridays to October 24, 9.30-9.55am

“Twenty-first Century Bard” goes behind the scenes to analyse the making of C4‘s splendid recent production of Twelfth Night, looking at the industry, language, art and technology of film. Designed for 14 to 19-year olds studying English, media studies, art and design, performing arts or business.

SCIENCE. BBC2 Tuesday, October 14, 2-4am

Science is on the menu for midnight feasting over the next couple of weeks on BBC2, starting with these tasty “Curriculum Bites”. The aim is to break down indigestible topics into more manageable chunks. There are more snacks of the same kind (for KS4) on Wednesday night, followed on Thursday by six programmes in the series “Short Circuit”, examining major issues in chemistry and then health.

Self Portrait UK C4 Wednesdays, 11.50-11.55am. All five programmes will be broadcast together on November 6 and 7, and December 3.

This neat little collection of five-minute films consists of video self-portraits by personalities (including Benjamin Zephaniah and Shazia Mirza) who talk about themselves in various styles. It could be a good starting-point for similar work by students in English and drama.

GRUMPY OLD MEN. BBC2 Fridays, October 10-31, 9.50-10.30

A glorious four-parter in which males of a certain age - Bob Geldof, Will Self, John Peel et al - tell us what they hate about the modern world. The premise is that all the moaners grew up in the 1960s, an age when everything was supposed to be getting better and better. Now they realise that it hasn’t and they feel, naturally, more than a little let down.

Full listings can be found at: www.bbc.co.ukschoolsguidewww.bbc.co.ukschoolswhatsontvsecondary_month.lt;NIPgt; shtmlwww.channel4.comlearningmainprogrammestv_schedule.htm