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Shapeshifters

   2024    Nature
In every ocean… just beyond our shores…lives an animal with characteristics we think of as ‘human’ – intelligent, social, curious, gentle, and fierce. They build cities, use tools, and collaborate with other species to hunt. They have personalities – some are bold, while others shy. These animals can change their skin colour, texture, and body shape in a blink of an eye and see in wavelengths beyond our vision. Recent studies reveal octopuses’ consciousness, sophisticated decision-making, and unique personalities. On tropical reefs, in frigid waters, from the shoreline to the deep sea and everywhere in between, the octopus have made a home. Join us as we reveal ‘Secrets of the Octopus’.
In the first chapter, whether transforming their body shape and color to disappear or mimicking their deadliest enemy, Octopus use shape-shifting superpowers to survive.
Series: Secrets of the Octopus

I Antarctica

   2019    Nature
Millions of years ago incredible forces ripped apart the Earth's crust creating our seven continents - each with its own distinct climate, its own distinct terrain and its own unique animal life. From the colourful paradise of South America to the scorching heat of Africa, ‘Seven Worlds, One Planet’ showcases the true character of each continent in turn and reveals just how it has shaped all life there. Be surprised by unexpected stories. Marvel at iconic landscapes. And be awestruck by spectacular wildlife. This series is an eye-opening journey around a world you thought you knew.
The snowy shores and icy waters of Antarctica are home to some of the most amazing and unusual wildlife in the world. However, even here, many species face extinction due to rapid climate change and overhunting.
Series: Seven Worlds One Planet

Woodland

   2023    Nature
Sir David Attenborough explores the incredible diversity of Britain’s woodlands, taking us on a seasonal journey through our forests, and revealing a host of spectacular animals and the hidden dramas that rule their lives.
In an ancient pine tree in the Cairngorms, two eagle chicks are on the verge of fledging their gargantuan nest. In winter in the Forest of Dean, the reintroduction of wild boar has given the robin a lifeline. As they root through the thick snow, the boar unearth the worms with their snouts, which the robins otherwise couldn't find.
Back in Scotland, a male capercaillie displays to gathering females. These birds are on the edge. With only around 500 left, they are some of the rarest and most threatened in the British Isles. In a beech woodland outside London, the deciduous trees burst to life in spring, and huge colonies of wood ants awaken and go looking for food. Also looking for sustenance is a female roe deer. With no large predators left in our woods, the deer are free to browse on new growth to the extent that they can damage the woodland itself.
In Sussex is an ancient-looking landscape, but one that has only been recreated in the past 20 years. This is the wood pasture of Knepp, created by using old grazing methods that generate a mix of scrub, open areas and ancient trees. In the Scottish Highlands, red squirrels battle it out for access to ripe pine cones at the top of a tree. It’s an acrobatic and energetic encounter, with more than a little cunning required to win the day. As the summer finally fades, we encounter a honey buzzard nest, where two chicks feast on wasp grubs, squabble between themselves and grow up before our eyes.
Autumn brings the fallow deer rut. The woods resonate with their calls, and bucks fight for supremacy. The season also brings colour, both in the leaves but also in the fungi that fruit at this time of year. The mushrooms are just a tiny part of their story, however, and we travel underground to see how the wood-wide web connects the whole forest together.
Series: Wild Isles

Zoo Quest in Colour

   2016    Nature
Thanks to a recent remarkable discovery in the BBC's Film Vaults, the best of David Attenborough's early Zoo Quest adventures can now be seen as never before - in colour - and with it the remarkable story of how this pioneering television series was made. First broadcast in December 1954, Zoo Quest was one of the most popular television series of its time and launched the career of the young David Attenborough as a wildlife presenter. Zoo Quest completely changed how viewers saw the world - revealing wildlife and tribal communities that had never been filmed or even seen before.
Broadcast ten years before colour television was seen in the UK, Zoo Quest was thought to have been filmed in black and white. Until now. Using this extraordinary new-found colour film, together with new behind the scenes stories from David Attenborough and cameraman Charles Lagus, this 90 minute special showcases the very best of Zoo Quest to West Africa, Zoo Quest to Guiana and Zoo Quest for a Dragon in stunning HD colour for the very first time.

Wild Isles: Ocean

   2023    Nature
Sir David Attenborough explores the surprisingly vibrant seas that surround the British Isles. The vast watery wilderness around us is over three times the size of our land mass, and yet to many, our oceans remain a mystery. Full of colour and teeming with life, the seas of Britain and Ireland are crucially important to a range of wildlife. This episode goes beneath the waves to uncover the thriving habitats that exist along our 22,000-mile coastline.
In winter, clear evidence of the ocean’s abundance can be seen on a beach in Norfolk. Thousands of grey seals congregate on the shoreline to give birth. Britain and Ireland are home to 40 per cent of the world’s grey seals, and the number being born on our shore rises every year. Once the newly born pups are weaned, the females are ready to breed again, and heavyweight males enter violent, bloody fights to win a stretch of beach, and the females along with it.
Beyond the beach, the vibrant shallows contain several important habitats. Rich beds of seagrass are nurseries for a range of animals, while also acting as very important carbon storage areas. They are also home to one of the strangest fish in our waters, the seahorse. We follow a male and female as they perform a balletic mating dance in the water, delicately entwining their tails. The stakes are high, as these animals mate for life.
In a touching piece to camera, Sir David bids a fledging Manx shearwater chick farewell as it embarks on a 6,000-mile journey across the oceans to South America. There is no better example of how important the British Isles and its abundant seas are to the survival of wildlife worldwide.
Series: Wild Isles

Grasslands

   2023    Nature
David Attenborough explores Britain and Ireland’s grasslands, revealing the creatures that create them and the extraordinary stories they hide. From the coastal flower meadows in the Scottish Outer Hebrides to the rich open landscapes in the mountains of southern Ireland, we enter surprising and dramatic worlds.
In southern England, we meet an extraordinary bee that lives in chalk grassland, one of our rarest habitats, laying her eggs in empty snail shells. Meanwhile, in the colourful machair of the Hebrides, ringed plovers and lapwings strive to rear their families of tiny fluffy chicks and to save them for marauding gulls.
We travel back in time to explore the vast wild grasslands once found throughout our isles, before meeting herds of semi-wild horses, where males battle fiercely for the females. Today, they are helping to turn some of this land back to wilderness. And in our precious remaining pockets of flower-rich meadow, a remarkable conservation success story plays out. Once extinct in our isles, England now has the largest known populations of large blue butterflies. Their survival relies on a game of deception with red ants, which are tricked into adopting the butterfly’s unassuming but predatory caterpillars.
Our story then journeys to the mountains. Each morning in early spring, feisty male black grouse battle for prime position on their frozen breeding grounds. Their sole mission is to impress a female. Meanwhile, on south-facing scree slopes, dozens of adders emerge from hibernation to perform a surprisingly delicate courtship routine.
The episode concludes with a mighty battle in the wild mountains of County Kerry. This is the scene of an epic and spectacular rut between the largest land mammals in Britain and Ireland, red deer.
The grasslands of Britain and Ireland are under threat. We have lost 97 per cent of our species-rich meadows in the last century, as modern agriculture replaces these precious habitats. This episode shows just how important different types of grassland are to the species which call these islands home.
Series: Wild Isles
Cooked

Cooked

2016  Culture
Tiger

Tiger

2020  History
Cosmos

Cosmos

1980  Science
The Jinx Part 2

The Jinx Part 2

2024  History
Science and Islam

Science and Islam

2017  History
Wild Wild Country

Wild Wild Country

2018  Culture
Top Gear

Top Gear

2012  Technology