The scheme has been launched after a successful pilot exercise in Hampshire.

BBC: A DNA autoradiogram

But despite efforts on the parts of the networks that pay for the pilots and the studios that make them, pilot season remains an expensive exercise in futility: Lots of time, money and effort is spent creating entertainment that no one will ever see.

FORBES: Pilots That Crash

Some training as part of Exercise Joint Warrior has been altered to avoid Portmahomack in Easter Ross where three long-finned pilot whales were stranded.

BBC: Royal Navy 'changes training' to avoid whales