The new series, to be called Stephen Hawking's Universe will use a mix of archival and new live action footage and CGI to illustrate Hawking's theories about the origins and rules of the universe, according to Discovery Channel president John Ford:

You got the greatest living mind on the universe, and we're taking his knowledge and presenting it to people with fabulous computer graphics... We start at beginning of time, then go into whether time travel is possible, whether we are alone and some of the great questions, done with spectacular special effects.

If this - and the show's name - sound somewhat similar to the History Channel series Universe, then Ford's smack talking suggests that that may not be entirely unintentional:

'Universe' is a good show, but it's a weekly series on a weekly series budget... We're doing a multimillion investment.

Are you going to take that lying down, History Channel? Come on! Get historically-accurately medieval on their asses! Meanwhile, I'm waiting for PBS to chime in, seeing as that they've already made a series called Stephen Hawking's Universe.

Stephen Hawking's Universe is planned to debut next year.

Discovery exploring 'Universe' [Hollywood Reporter]