Crikey. Steve Irwin's final days—though not his final moments—are going to be hitting the airwaves after all.
The Discovery Channel has set a Jan. 21 airdate for Ocean's Deadliest, the wildlife documentary Irwin was working on when he was killed last fall.
The Crocodile Hunter died Sept. 4 after his heart was pierced by a stingray barb while shooting underwater along Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
"The documentary was commissioned, we finished it and it's going to air," said John Stainton, Irwin's former manager and friend. "It's been a long and arduous saga...an emotionally charged time to do an edit on a documentary that did have a deadline, and we did have to honor that deadline."
Footage in the one-off special was recorded in the weeks and days leading up to Irwin's death, though nothing shot the day of his fatal accident will be included in the documentary.
"Anything to do with the day that he died, that film is not available," Stainton said.
Last week, Australian authorities confirmed that video of the fatal stingray attack had been turned over to the Irwin family and that all other copies of the footage—made to assist the investigation of his death—had been destroyed.
Ocean's Deadliest will run Jan. 21 on Discovery immediately following an Irwin tribute; it will subsequently be shown on Animal Planet.
Meanwhile, another Irwin is ready for her TV close-up.
Bindi, the eight-year-old daughter of Steve and Terri Irwin, is prepping for a media blitz to promote her 26-part Discovery Kids show, Bindi, the Jungle Girl. Initially slated to premiere this month, the show was postponed in the wake of her father's death. Discovery first announced the show would be pushed back a full year, though published reports now peg the premiere date as being sometime closer to spring.
Still, Bindi is moving forward with her whirlwind publicity rounds, which she'll kick off this week with a speaking gig at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
"She'll be welcomed with open arms, and rightly so," Discovery senior vice president Annie Howell said of Bindi's onslaught of interviews. "She's a very special child."
And a very in-demand one.
According to Reuters, she'll also tape guest appearances later this week for both The Ellen DeGeneres Show and The Late Show with David Letterman, and will wrap up her U.S. tour by joining Australian kids supergroup the Wiggles onstage at their Los Angeles and New York shows.