Series SeasonSeason 0 episodes2006

Planet Earth

Specials

No season overview available.

Episodes

Each episode has its own detail page.

Episode 110 min2006-03-05

Diaries - Eye in the Sky

Using the unique overhead heli-gimble camera the crew set out to film a pack of African wild dogs hunting in the Okavango Delta. It came down to the final hour of the final day of filming before they got the shot they wanted.

Episode 210 min2006-03-12

Diaries - Snow Leopard Quest

Over the course of three years the Planet Earth team tried to film the elusive Snow Leopard deep in the mountains of Pakistan. Their patience was eventually rewarded with the world's first footage of a Snow Leopard hunting.

Episode 310 min2006-03-19

Diaries - Diving with Piranhas

Cameraman Peter Scoones is on a mission to film Piranha in the wetlands of Brazil. They are considered the most dangerous freshwater fish, but prove difficult to track down, until Peter finally finds himself immersed in a feeding frenzy.

Episode 410 min2006-03-26

Diaries - Into the Abyss

The team spend a month amongst an enormous mound of bat guano in Gomantong Cave as they film the hundreds of thousands of cockroaches and other inhabitants that live there. The amazing Lechuguilla Cave of New Mexico provides a whole other set of challenges.

Episode 510 min2006-04-02

Diaries - Wild Camel Chase

The Gobi desert is home to the last truly wild Bactrian camels and their fear of humans makes them extremely difficult to capture on film. After weeks of trying the crew were becoming frustrated, but their expert local tracker wouldn't let them down.

Episode 610 min2006-11-05

Diaries - Alive in the Freezer

Cameraman Wade Fairley braved temperatures of minus 50C and near hurricane force winds as he filmed a breeding colony of 20,000 emperor penguins in the Antarctic. At the other end of the Earth on a Norwegian island, cameraman Doug Allan and assistant Jason Roberts get a bit closer to a polar bear than they bargained for.

Episode 710 min2006-11-12

Diaries - Shot in the Dark

Lions hunting elephants has only ever been seen by a handful of people, so the crew were up against it when trying to film this rare behaviour. Using infrared technology they were able to track a pride of lions through the African night, but when they finally got the shots they wanted it was a saddening experience for all.

Episode 810 min2006-11-19

Diaries - Trouble in Paradise

It took the Planet Earth team over eight weeks in the field to film less than 15 minutes of footage of the beautiful but seldom seen Birds of Paradise in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. Behind the scenes cameraman Paul Stewart endured hundreds of hours alone cramped inside a small filming hide, going stir crazy when old songs come back to haunt him.

Episode 910 min2006-11-26

Diaries - Shark Quest

Great white sharks capture their slippery seal prey by rocketing out of the depths and delivering a massive hit at the surface. To record a breach like this in ultra slow motion, which in real-time lasts just a second, was a supreme challenge for cameraman Simon King.

Episode 1010 min2006-12-03

Diaries - Forest Fliers

No episode overview available.

Episode 1110 min2006-12-10

Diaries - Ocean Wanderers

The camera team of Doug Anderson and Rick Rosenthal were determined to film oceanic whitetip sharks without a cage, relying only on observation, nerves and experience to dictate how long they stayed underwater in their company. The powerful sharks were initially shy of the dive team but, as more sharks arrived, they became bolder - their behaviour changing to that of the hunter.

Episode 1260 min2006-11-26

The Future: Saving Species

Many of the animals featured in the Planet Earth series are endangered so do we face an extinction crisis? Saving Species asks the experts if there really is a problem, looks at the reasons behind the declining numbers of particular animals and questions how we choose which species we want to conserve.

Episode 1360 min2006-12-03

The Future: Into the Wilderness

Pollution, climate change and a growing human population are all putting pressure on Earth's wildernesses including the Bialowieza forest, the Gobi Desert and the Arctic tundra. So how much of the planet is still wilderness? And why should we care? Into the Wilderness explores why these uninhabited expanses are important for our survival as well as that of all creatures on the planet.

Episode 1460 min2006-12-10

The Future: Living Together

This history of conservation throws up some interesting ideas as we look to the future of an ever more populated planet. How can conservation fit into this new world driven by economics and development? Living Together looks at the challenges facing conservation in the 21st century and looks at the role of religion in piloting a moral and ethical approach to the world we live in.

Episode 1560 min2006-10-11

The Making of Planet Earth

The making of the sprawling, ambitious series is documented.

Episode 1660 min

Interview with Alastair Fothergill

No episode overview available.

Episode 1760 min2007-05-30

Desert Lions

Originally aired under BBC Natural World Collection. Many years ago lions thrived in the deserts of Namibia's Skeleton Coast, until they were exterminated by man. Six years ago maverick biologist Flip Stander discovered a tiny remnant population alive and well in nearby mountains, and started to study them. Their numbers have grown and they are now returning to the desert in increasing numbers. But if these lions are to continue roaming here, Flip will have to persuade local people that these lions are worth more alive than dead.

Episode 1860 min2008-01-04

Snow Leopard: Beyond the Myth

Originally aired under BBC Natural World Collection. The BBC Natural History Unit explores a secret cave deep in the mountains of Pakistan where generations of snow leopards return each year to raise their young.

Episode 1960 min

Great Planet Earth Moments

The Planet Earth team reveal their most memorable moments from the making of the series. We'll discover their high points, and their not so high points. And they'll tell us which sequences they consider to be their great Planet Earth moments. From the

Episode 2060 min

Secrets of the Maya Underworld

The freshwater pools that dot Mexico's Yucatan peninsula were believed by the Mayans to be portals to the underworld. For the first time ever, the BBC Natural History Unit explores this incredible, labyrinthine system of underground rivers.