The BBC has commissioned two programmes marking the 40th anniversaries of the Falklands War and the Aids crisis.
They feature among a raft of new factual, arts and classical music content which the broadcaster describes as “high impact, high value”.
Falklands: The Frontline Story, a 90-minute film from the producers of Gun No 6, follows the personal tales of the war and explores its legacy.
The Aids Tapes, meanwhile, will feature a set of recordings of those who lived though the crisis – which have been archived at the British Library – heard widely by the public for the first time.
A six-part natural history series, titled Kingdom, will chronicle the “real-life sagas” of four African animal families living in a remote and fertile river valley in Zambia.
TV personality Scarlett Moffatt, who has failed her driving test 13 times, will open the doors of her own driving school for a 10-part series.
She will invite people who are struggling to pass their test to a five-day driving course in Teesside, where they will be accompanied by their “amateur teacher” – a long-suffering friend or relative.
“I hope that my new show will give us all the confidence to finally rip up those L plates and hit the road,” she said.
Other commissions include the arts series Art That Made Us and a national reading for pleasure campaign to coincide with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Fiona Campbell, the BBC’s acting director of factual, arts and classical music, said: “No other broadcaster has such an extraordinary breadth of factual, arts and classical music content: our programming is watched in huge numbers and gains international recognition – last year, BBC Factual titles reached 21.3m people every week and our programmes and talent won over 25 major awards.
“Coming up, we have an exciting range of new content being released across BBC channels and BBC iPlayer that demonstrates our commitment to championing talent on and off screen and bringing viewers high impact, high-value content that opens up the world to them and reflects their lives across the UK.”