# U&Eden

U&Eden is a British free-to-air channel broadcasting nature, factual entertainment and drama programming in the United Kingdom and Ireland as part of the UKTV network of channels. The channel originally launched on 8 March 2004 and relaunched in its current format on 27 January 2009. Eden was a pay television channel until 2024.
On 29 November 2023, UKTV announced its intention to launch 'U' – a new masterbrand that will unite its family channels and its streaming. Eden rebranded to U&Eden on 16 October 2024.
Launched on 16 July 2024, UKTV's streaming service UKTV Play became U; and its family of free-to-air channel adopted the 'U&...' branding: U&Dave, U&Drama, U&W, and U&Yesterday.
On 16 August 2024, Ofcom gave UKTV a new broadcasting licence for U&Eden to become a free-to-air channel. U&Eden launched on Freeview on 16 October, replacing U&Yesterday+1.
Gold and Alibi rebranded to U&Gold and U&Alibi on 7 November 2024.

## History

The UKTV channels were all rebranded on 8 March 2004. At the same time, Eden was launched as UKTV Documentary, showing factual documentaries, mainly from the BBC archives, on a variety of subjects if not covered by another channel in the UKTV network, such as Jacob Bronowski's The Ascent of Man. Much of this programming had come from the former UKTV channel UK Horizons, which had closed down the day before and which the channel, and spun off a sister channel called UKTV People. UKTV Documentary occupied the same broadcasting slot as UK Horizons.
On 9 October 2008, UKTV announced plans to rebrand UKTV Documentary and UKTV People in early 2009. The news came just two days after UKTV's entertainment channels were rebranded to Watch, Gold and Alibi. They announced that UKTV Documentary would be rebranded as Eden and this rebrand took place on 26 January 2009. As part of the rebrand, the channels programming output changed from all documentaries to primarily documentaries focusing on the natural environment. All other documentaries were transferred to UKTV History or UKTV People, depending on their subject matter.
In August 2024, it was reported that Eden had secured a licence to broadcast on Freeview, following the secure of a DTPS (Digital Television Programme Services) licence by Ofcom.
Eden was rebranded as U&Eden and launched on Freeview, Freesat and Freely on 16 October 2024. The channel effectively became free-to-air on 7 October 2024, when its encryption was dropped on satellite in preparation for its addition to Freesat.

## Subsidiary channels
### U&Eden +1

From launch, the channel has had a timeshift service, called Eden +1 and UKTV Documentary +1 before it. The service ran on Sky and Virgin Media and broadcast the channels schedule one hour later than usual. The timeshift was removed from Virgin Media in October 2008 to allow bandwidth for new channel Watch, however the timeshift service was restored on 7 October 2011.

### U&Eden HD

Eden HD launched on 4 October 2010 on Sky channel 559, running a high-definition simulcast of the main channel. As part of Virgin Media's deal to sell its share of UKTV, all five of UKTV's HD channels were added to Virgin's cable television service by 2012. Eden HD was added to Virgin Media on 7 October 2011. On 3 October 2016, Eden HD was added to BT. On 2 October 2017, Eden HD was removed from the Sky lineup and replaced with Gold HD.

## On-air identity

The UKTV Documentary identity focused around scenes from the landscape of Britain. The ident would first feature a close up shot, for example of a person or a stone, before pulling back to reveal the bigger picture: such as a busy rail station or a stone circle. This was then overlaid with the UKTV Documentary logo, consisting of the UKTV logo on top, and an upper case 'DOCUMENTARY' tag below, aligned to the left of the screen. Alongside the idents, the channel had a digital on-screen graphic (DOG) of the same design and also featured a generic UKTV design for all promotions for the channel. The channels house colour was a blue, similar in shade to Azure, and would feature in numerous changing shades on the end boards of promotions.
The 2009–2024 Eden identity featured explorers in an unknown environment, such as the deep jungle or the Antarctic, before coming across a landscape, which the logo then forms onto.
The 2024 identity films introduced in the rebrand to U&Eden utilise aerial photography, similarly to those of Sky Mix.

## Programming

The programming used on the original pay-TV Eden channel was mostly from the BBC archives, and so was therefore edited to fit the time slot: an original broadcast for an hour-long programme on the BBC might be as much as 58 minutes long, while the same programme here might be 42 minutes long without the commercials. Eden was renowned for showing blue-chip natural history but then moved into more scientific programmes, while keeping the blue-chip, cinematic identity. Eden has also produced its own exclusive programming, with the most recent series David Attenborough's Natural Curiosities, produced by Humble Bee Films, broadcasting from January 2013.

### Programmes on U&Eden

From January 2024, Eden began to show a wider range of programming and now airs a range of reality, gameshows, drama and history programming from U&W, U&Drama, U&Dave and U&Yesterday, and as of October 2024, nature programming is only shown during the day on Saturdays.
| Name of show | Original channel(s) | Original run |
| 10 Things You Didn't Know About... | BBC Four | 2007–2008 |
| Africa | BBC One | 2013 |
| An African Journey with Jonathan Dimbleby | BBC Two | 2010 |
| Animal Armageddon | Animal Planet (United States) | 2009 |
| Amazing Planet | National Geographic Channel (United States) | 2007 |
| Amazon | BBC Two | 2008 |
| Arctic with Bruce Parry | BBC Two | 2011 |
| Are We Changing Planet Earth? | BBC One | 2006 |
| Ask Attenborough | Eden | 2011 |
| Attenborough and the Giant Egg | BBC Two | 2011 |
| Attenborough's Paradise Birds | BBC Two | 2015 |
| Australia: The Time Travellers Guide | ABC1 (Australia) | 2012 |
| The Ballad of Big Al | BBC One | 2000 |
| BBC Wildlife Specials | BBC One | 1995–present |
| The Bear Family & Me | BBC Two | 2011 |
| Bahama Blue | Animal Planet | 2015 |
| Bang Goes the Theory | BBC One | 2009–2014 |
| Biggest and Baddest with Niall McCann | Animal Planet | 2012–2014 |
| Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery | BBC Four | 2008 |
| The Blue Planet | BBC One | 2001 |
| The Brain: A Secret History | BBC Four | 2011 |
| Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life | BBC One | 2009 |
| Chased by Dinosaurs | BBC One | 2002 |
| The Code | BBC Two | 2011 |
| David Attenborough's Natural Curiosities | Eden W | 2013–2017 |
| Deadly 60 | CBBC | 2014–2017 |
| Death of a Sea Monster | National Geographic Channel (United States) | 2011 |
| Deserts and Life | Eden | 2012 |
| Dino Stampede | BBC Two | 2011 |
| Do We Really Need the Moon? | BBC Two | 2011 |
| Earthflight | BBC One | 2011–2012 |
| Earth: The Power of the Planet | BBC Two | 2007 |
| Eden Shorts: From Lens to Screen | Eden | 2015 |
| Equator | BBC Two | 2006 |
| Expedition Borneo | BBC One | 2007 |
| Favourite Attenborough Moments | UKTV Documentary | 2006 |
| First Life | BBC Two | 2010 |
| Forecasting the End | The Weather Channel | 2013 |
| Frozen Planet | BBC One | 2011 |
| Galápagos | BBC Two | 2006 |
| Ganges | BBC Two | 2007 |
| Great Barrier Reef | BBC Two | 2012 |
| The Great Rift: Africa's Wild Heart | BBC Two | 2010 |
| Hainan Adventure with Nigel Marven | Eden | 2012 |
| Himalaya with Michael Palin | BBC One | 2004 |
| Horizon | BBC Two | 1964–present |
| How to Grow a Planet | BBC Two | 2012 |
| Human Planet | BBC One | 2011 |
| Humpbacks: From Fire to Ice | ABC1 (Australia) | 2008 |
| The Incredible Human Journey | BBC Two | 2009 |
| Inside Nature's Giants | Channel 4 | 2009–2012 |
| Inside the Human Body | BBC One | 2011 |
| James May's Things You Need To Know | BBC Two | 2011–2012 |
| Killer Whale Islands with Nigel Marven | Channel 5 | 2007 |
| Killer Whales: Beneath the Surface | BBC Two | 2013 |
| Last Chance to See | BBC Two | 2009 |
| Life in Cold Blood | BBC One | 2008 |
| Life in the Freezer | BBC One | 1993 |
| Life in the Undergrowth | BBC One | 2005 |
| The Life of Birds | BBC One | 1998 |
| The Life of Mammals | BBC One | 2002–2003 |
| Life on Earth | BBC Two | 1979 |
| Life on Fire | Arte (France) | 2009–2010 |
| Life | BBC One | 2009 |
| Lion Country | ITV | 2010–2011 |
| The Living Planet | BBC One | 1984 |
| Lost Land of the Jaguar | BBC One | 2008 |
| Lost Land of the Tiger | BBC One | 2010 |
| Lost Land of the Volcano | BBC One | 2009 |
| Madagascar | BBC Two | 2011 |
| Monsters We Met | BBC Two | 2004 |
| Monster Bug Wars | Science (United States) | 2011–2012 |
| Mountain Gorilla | BBC Two | 2010 |
| Museum of Life | BBC Two | 2010 |
| Natural World | BBC Two | 1983–2020 |
| Nature's Great Events | BBC One | 2009 |
| Nature | PBS (United States) | 1982–present |
| Nigel Marven's Rhino Adventure | Channel 5 | 2006 |
| Nova | PBS (United States) | 1974–present |
| Oceans | BBC Two | 2008 |
| Ocean Giants | BBC Two | 2011 |
| On Thin Ice | BBC Two | 2009 |
| Orbit: Earth's Extraordinary Journey | BBC Two | 2012 |
| Origins of Us | BBC Two | 2011 |
| Planet Dinosaur | BBC One | 2011 |
| Planet Earth | BBC One | 2006 |
| The Polar Bear Family & Me | BBC Two | 2013 |
| The Private Life of Plants | BBC One | 1995 |
| Ray Mears' Bushcraft | BBC Two | 2004–2005 |
| Ray Mears Goes Walkabout | BBC Two | 2008 |
| Ray Mears' Northern Wilderness | BBC Two | 2009 |
| Reconstructing T-Rex | National Geographic Channel (United States) | 2010 |
| Richard Hammond's Invisible Worlds | BBC One | 2010 |
| Sea Monsters | BBC One | 2003 |
| The Secrets of Everything | BBC Three | 2012 |
| South Pacific | BBC Two | 2009 |
| The Story of Science: Power, Proof and Passion | BBC Two | 2010 |
| Super Giant Animals | BBC One | 2013 |
| Swarm: Nature's Incredible Invasions | BBC One | 2009 |
| Ten Deadliest Snakes: China | Animal Planet Eden | 2013 |
| Ten Deadliest Snakes with Nigel Marven | Animal Planet Eden | 2013–2017 |
| Termites - The Inner Sanctum | ORF (Austria) | 2011 |
| Through Hell and High Water | BBC One BBC Two | 2006 |
| The Trials of Life | BBC One | 1990 |
| Top of the Pops | BBC One and BBC Two | 1964-Present |
| Tribal Wives | BBC Two | 2008–2010 |
| Tribe | BBC Two | 2005–2007 |
| Tropic of Cancer | BBC Two | 2010 |
| Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor: The Link | BBC One | 2009 |
| Voyage of the Continents | Arte (France) | 2012 |
| Walking with Beasts | BBC One | 2001 |
| Walking with Dinosaurs | BBC One | 1999 |
| Walking with Monsters | BBC One | 2005 |
| Whale Adventure with Nigel Marven | Channel 5 Eden | 2013 |
| Wild Arabia | BBC Two | 2013 |
| Wild Brazil | BBC Two | 2014 |
| Wild Britain with Ray Mears | ITV Eden | 2010–2013 |
| Wild Canada | CBC (Canada) | 2014 |
| Wild Caribbean | BBC Two | 2007 |
| Wild China | BBC Two | 2008 |
| Wild Colombia with Nigel Marven | Eden | 2012 |
| Wild Down Under | BBC Two | 2003 |
| Wonders of the Solar System | BBC Two | 2010 |
| Wonders of the Universe | BBC Two | 2011 |
| Yellowstone | BBC Two | 2009 |
| Yunnan Adventure with Nigel Marven | Eden | 2012 |

### U&Eden programming

U&Eden launched as a rebranded free-to-air service on Freeview on 16 October 2024, with its programmes, usually scheduled in multi-episode blocks, now including:
* Abandoned Engineering
* Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (repeats started from season 12 on 16 October 2024)
* The Architecture the Railways Built
* The Bill
* Campion
* Cutting It
* David Attenborough's Natural Curiosities
* Dr Christian: 12 Hours to Cure Your Street
* Expedition with Steve Backshall
* Hornby: A Model World
* Impossible Engineering
* Inside the Ambulance
* The Missing
* Mistresses
* Pointless
* Steam Train Britain
* Top of the Pops
* Warbird Workshop