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BBC America Summer Preview, all the shows and details

By April MacIntyre May 9, 2011, 3:54 GMT

04/21/2011 - Graham Norton - West End Eurovision 2011 - Piccadilly Theatre - London UK © Richard Hurn / PR Photos

BBC America Summer Preview Cheat Sheet is here!

The network has a season full of fun and gripping programming for your lazy days.

From BBC America

COMEDY

MINISTRY OF LAUGHS

BBC AMERICA brings the best of British comedy to the U.S. in a new hour-long block every Saturday night.  The collection will feature the most hilarious series from the UK, including the premieres of The Inbetweeners Season 3, Come Fly With Me and The Graham Norton Show.  Ministry of Laughs premieres Saturday, June 18, 10:00pm ET/PT.

THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW – U.S. PREMIERE

Last season Graham Norton welcomed Justin Bieber, Matt Smith, Rihanna, Dame Helen Mirren, Kate Hudson, Bruno Mars and Ashton Kutcher to his London studio. Now the UK’s biggest talk show returns for a ninth season with Lady Gaga, Robert Pattinson, Hugh Laurie, Adele and more all stopping by for a chat. The show is truly based on the people, trends, stories, and aspects of celebrity culture that interest Norton most. And as always, expect Norton’s trademark comedy monologues and eccentric stories. The Graham Norton Show premieres Saturday, May 7, 10:00pm ET/PT.

THE INBETWEENERS: SEASON 3 – U.S. PREMIERE

From writers and creators Damon Beesley and Iain Morris (Peep Show, Flight of the Conchords), The Inbetweeners returns with more hilarious tales of awkwardness, idiocy and sexual misadventure from Will, Simon, Jay and Neil. Now in their final year of school, the boys are looking forward to a new era of respect, credibility, and, as seniors, first choice of the ladies.

This year Simon gets an actual, breathing girlfriend. Not that he spends any less time with Will, Jay and Neil, who still manage to tag along to everything. There’s some double-dating; a trip to their first concert and a visit to Warwick.  Naturally none of these things go exactly to plan, and they are still “The Inbetweeners.”  The Inbetweeners premieres Saturday, June 18, 11:00pm ET/PT.

COME FLY WITH ME – U.S. PREMIERE

Matt Lucas and David Walliams make their first television appearance since the success of their series Little Britain, in the hilarious, mockumentary style comedy featuring the duo as they play almost 50 characters found in an airport terminal.  Among the group are Omar, the owner of Flylo, Britain’s eighth favorite low-cost airline, the world’s laziest coffee kiosk lady, Precious Little, and Flylo’s check in girls, Melody and Keely. 

Also featured are the snobby staff members of Great British Air, the country’s most prestigious airline.  The skilled performances are enhanced by award-winning costume and make-up teams.  Come Fly With Me premieres Saturday, June 18, 11:30pm ET/PT.

FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER – U.S. PREMIERE

Written by Robert Popper (South Park, Look Around You), Friday Night Dinner is a comedy focused on the experience of a traditional but not strictly observant Jewish family, the Goodmans. Every Friday night, brothers Adam (Simon Bird, The Inbetweeners) and Jonny (Tom Rosenthal) return to their parents' home for dinner.

They consider the weekly event a necessary annoyance - necessary because they get fed, and annoying because, well, they have to spend the evening with Mom (Tamsin Greig, Episodes, Green Wing, Black Books) and Dad (Paul Ritter, The Norman Conquests).  Girlfriends are an issue - Jonny's is made-up and not even the Internet can sort out a female for Adam.  It doesn’t help that he writes jingles for toilet roll commercials.  Friday Night Dinner premieres Saturday, August 6, 11:30pm ET/PT.

SCI-FI

OUTCASTS – U.S. PREMIERE

The frontier sci-fi drama, starring Eric Mabius (Ugly Betty, The L Word), Liam Cunningham (Clash Of The Titans) and Hermione Norris (MI-5, Wire In The Blood), joins BBC AMERICA’s renowned lineup of sci-fi series. 

Set on the recently-discovered planet of Carpathia, the fast-paced, gripping drama follows a group of courageous pioneers facing a unique opportunity: the chance to build a new world.  The settlers, now inhabitants of the town of Forthaven on Carpathia, are the only surviving population from Earth. 

They work hard to preserve what they’ve built on this planet they now call home, having embraced all the challenges that come with forging a new beginning.  Inevitably these heroes cannot escape the human pitfalls of love, greed, lust, loss, and a longing for those they’ve left behind. 

As they continue to work and live together they come to realize this is no ordinary planet.  Mystery lurks around them and threatens to shatter the fragile peace of Forthaven.  Outcasts premieres Saturday, June 18, 9:00pm ET/PT.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA – BBC AMERICA PREMIERE

Emmy and Peabody award-winning science-fiction series Battlestar Galactica, joins BBC AMERICA’s Supernatural Saturday lineup, with stars Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff, James Callis, Tricia Helfer, Grace Park and Jamie Bamber.

The cult-favorite is the gripping saga of humanity's last remnants and their struggle to find a new home while fleeing from their deadly Cylon enemies.  Faced with an un-winnable battle against a deadly enemy, they are forced to flee under the protection of their one remaining warship, the outdated Battlestar Galactica.

Pursued by the Cylons, some of whom have now taken human form, Commander Adama (Olmos) and President Roslin (McDonnell) lead these last remaining humans in search of a new home - a planet called Earth. 

BBC AMERICA will begin with the two-part miniseries which re-launched the franchise, allowing viewers to start from the beginning of this saga.  Battlestar Galactica “Night 1” premieres on Saturday, June 11, 10:00pm ET/PT and “Night 2” airs in its new regular timeslot on Saturday, June 18, 7:00pm ET/PT. Two episodes will premiere back-to-back each week starting on Saturday, June 25 with Season 1 Episode 1 at 7:00pm ET/PT and Episode 2 at 8:00pm ET/PT.

THE HOUR – U.S. PREMIERE

Created and written by BAFTA award-winning Abi Morgan (White Girl, Sex Traffic), The Hour stars Dominic West (The Wire), Romola Garai (Emma, Atonement) and Ben Whishaw (Bright Star, Brideshead Revisited) locked in a highly competitive, sharp witted and passionate love triangle. 

The series, set behind the scenes of the BBC’s newsroom in London in the mid ‘50s, is an edge-of-your-seat spy thriller. It follows the lives of three characters as they set up a new weekly investigative news program, The Hour.

The drama plots the personal lives, professional interplay and jealous ambition between aspiring but renegade journalist Freddie Lyon (Whishaw), the beautiful ambitious young producer Bel Rowley (Garai) with whom he is in love, and his handsome rival Hector Madden (West), the face and lead anchorman of this rising television news team.  The Hour plays out as a riveting thriller set against the backdrop of the Cold War and Ian Fleming’s world of espionage.  The Hour premieres Late Summer 2011.

NON-SCRIPTED

TOP GEAR – U.S. PREMIERE AND MARATHON

Top Gear will return for an all-new season, its seventeenth, in Summer 2011.  Plus, the world’s most popular car show heads full speed into summer as hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May partake in the ultimate road trip.  From New York to Vietnam, the collection will feature the best and most memorable road trip moments from across the globe and of course, some of the hottest cars on earth. 

Top Gear Season 17 premiere date will be announced. Top Gear Road Trip airs on Mondays, beginning June 6, 8:00 & 9:00pm ET/PT with marathons airing Memorial Day Weekend, July 4th Weekend and Labor Day Weekend.