''Planet Earth'' is a 2006 British television series produced by the
BBC Natural History Unit. Five years in the making, it was the most expensive
nature documentary series ever commissioned by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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and also the first to be filmed in
high definition
High definition or HD may refer to:
Visual technologies
*HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format
*HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format
*HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape
* HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...
. The series received multiple awards, including four
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
s, a
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
, and an award from the
Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...
.
''Planet Earth'' premiered on 5 March 2006 in the United Kingdom on
BBC One, and by June 2007 had been shown in 130 countries. The original version was narrated by
David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...
, whilst some international versions used alternative narrators.
The series has eleven episodes, each of which features a global overview of a different
biome or
habitat on
Earth. At the end of each fifty-minute episode, a ten-minute featurette takes a behind-the-scenes look at the challenges of filming the series.
Ten years later, the BBC announced a six-part sequel had been commissioned, titled ''
Planet Earth II'', the first television series produced by the BBC in
ultra-high-definition
Ultra-high-definition television (also known as Ultra HD television, Ultra HD, UHDTV, UHD and Super Hi-Vision) today includes 4K UHD and 8K UHD, which are two digital video formats with an aspect ratio of 16:9. These were first proposed by ...
(
4K). David Attenborough returned as narrator and presenter. A second sequel, ''Planet Earth III'' is currently announced and planned to air in 2022.
Background
In 2001 the BBC broadcast ''
The Blue Planet'', a series on the natural history of the world's oceans. It received critical acclaim, high viewing figures, audience appreciation ratings, and many awards. It also became a hugely profitable global brand, eventually being sold to 150 countries worldwide. Feedback showed that audiences particularly liked the epic scale, the scenes of new and unusual species and the cinematic quality of the series. Programme commissioners were keen for a follow-up, so
Alastair Fothergill decided that the Natural History Unit should repeat the formula with a series looking at the whole planet. The idea for ''Planet Earth'' was born, and the series was commissioned by
Lorraine Heggessey, then Controller of BBC One, in January 2002.
A
feature film version of ''Planet Earth'' was commissioned alongside the television series, repeating the successful model established with ''The Blue Planet'' and its companion film, ''Deep Blue''. ''
Earth'' was released around the world from 2007 to 2009. There was also another accompanying television series, ''
Planet Earth: The Future'', which looked at the
environmental problems facing some of the
species and habitats featured in the main series in more detail.
Broadcast
''Planet Earth'' premiered on BBC One on 5 March 2006 in the United Kingdom. On the same day or in the subsequent weeks or months, the series also began airing in several other countries.
International broadcasters carrying Planet Earth include Australia on
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
and
GEM
A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, a ...
, Canada on
CBC and
CTV
CTV may refer to:
Television
* Connected TV, or Smart TV, a TV set with integrated internet
North America and South America
* CTV Television Network, a Canadian television network owned by Bell Media
** CTV 2, a secondary Canadian televisio ...
, New Zealand on
Prime, the Philippines on
GMA Network and
GMA News TV
GMA News TV (GNTV; visually rendered in its logo in all capital letters as GMA NEWS TV) is a 24-hour Philippine-based international pay television channel owned by Citynet Network Marketing and Productions Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of GM ...
, the U.S. on
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...
,
Velocity,
Science,
Animal Planet,
Destination America and
BBC America.
British television
The episodes are each an hour in length, comprising the main programme and a 10-minute featurette called ''Planet Earth Diaries'', which details the filming of a particular event. In the UK, ''Planet Earth'' was split into two parts, broadcast in spring and autumn 2006. The first five episodes premiered on
BBC One at 9:00 pm on Sundays, beginning on 5 March 2006. The programmes were repeated the following Saturday in an early evening slot on
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...
. Along with its 2005 dramatisation of ''
Bleak House'', the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
selected ''Planet Earth'' for its trial of
high-definition broadcasts. The opening episode was its first-ever scheduled programme in the format, shown 27 May 2006 on the
BBC HD channel.
The first episode in the autumn series, ''
Great Plains
The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...
'', received its first public showing at the
Edinburgh International Television Festival on 26 August 2006. It was shown on a giant screen in Conference Square. The remaining episodes were broadcast from 5 November 2006 in the same primetime
BBC One slot, following a further repeat run of the spring programmes on
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002 . The autumn episodes were broadcast simultaneously on
BBC HD and were repeated on
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002 the following week.
Besides being
BBC One's featured ''One to Watch'' programme of the day, ''Planet Earth'' was heavily trailed on the BBC's television and radio channels both before and during its run. The music that was featured in the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
trailers for the series is the track "
Hoppípolla" from the album ''
Takk...'' by
Icelandic post-rock
Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with ...
band
Sigur Rós
Sigur Rós () is an Icelandic post-rock band from Reykjavík, active since 1994. The band comprises singer and guitarist Jón Þór "Jónsi" Birgisson, bassist Georg Hólm, and keyboardist Kjartan Sveinsson. Known for their ethereal sound, fron ...
. Following the advertisements, interest was so widespread that the single was re-released. In the United States, the series was promoted using "The Time Has Come" from
trailer music company Epic Score, composed by Gabriel Shadid and Tobias Marberger. The
Australian trailers initially used ''Jupiter: The Bringer of Jollity'' from
Gustav Holst's orchestral suite ''
The Planets
''The Planets'', Op. 32, is a seven- movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1917. In the last movement the orchestra is joined by a wordless female chorus. Each movement of the suite is name ...
'', but later reverted to "
Hoppípolla".
International
The
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
pre-sold the series to several overseas broadcasters, including the
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...
for the United States, the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation,
China Central Television
China Central Television (CCTV) is a Chinese state- and political party-owned broadcaster controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its 50 different channels broadcast a variety of programing to more than one billion viewers in six lan ...
,
WDR for Germany, Discovery Channel for
India,
Prime Television for New Zealand, and C1R for Russian broadcasts. The series was eventually sold to 130 countries.
['']Radio Times
''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...
'': 4–10 November 2006
On 25 March 2007, the series began its run on American television on the
Discovery
Discovery may refer to:
* Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown
* Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown
* Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence
Discovery, The Discovery ...
network, premiering on the
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...
and
Discovery HD Theater
Motor Trend is an American sports television network owned by Motor Trend Group, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit. It primarily broadcasts automotive-themed programming, including motorsports events.
It was or ...
. There were a number of revisions to the original British programme. Actress and conservationist
Sigourney Weaver was brought in to replace
David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and author. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural histor ...
as narrator, as it was thought her familiarity to American audiences would attract more viewers. The Discovery programmes also used a slightly different script to the British original. The series was broadcast on Sundays in one 3-hour block followed by four 2-hour blocks. The ''Planet Earth Diaries'' segments were not shown immediately after each episode, but collectively in ''Planet Earth: The Filmmakers' Story'', a two-hour special which was broadcast after the series had finished its initial network run. Edited versions were later broadcast on
The Science Channel
Science Channel (often simply branded as Science; abbreviated to SCI) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel features programming focusing on science related to wilderness survival, engineering, manu ...
,
Animal Planet, and
Planet Green.
In Canada, the series did not air on the Canadian Discovery Channel, as it is owned by
CTV
CTV may refer to:
Television
* Connected TV, or Smart TV, a TV set with integrated internet
North America and South America
* CTV Television Network, a Canadian television network owned by Bell Media
** CTV 2, a secondary Canadian televisio ...
and the
Canadian rights were exclusively sold to the
CBC.
Episodes
''Planet Earth: The Future''
The latter episodes were supplemented by ''Planet Earth: The Future'', a series of three 60-minute films that highlight the conservation issues surrounding some of the featured species and environments. The programmes are narrated by Simon Poland and the series producer was
Fergus Beeley. The series began transmission on
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002 after the ninth episode, "Shallow Seas".
Feature film
Alongside the commissioning of the television series,
BBC Worldwide
BBC Worldwide Ltd. was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in January 1995. The company monetises BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadcas ...
and GreenLight Media secured financing for a US$15 million film version of ''Planet Earth''.
This followed the earlier success of ''Deep Blue'', the BBC's 2003 theatrical nature documentary which used re-edited footage from ''The Blue Planet''. The film was co-directed by
Alastair Fothergill and
Mark Linfield and produced by Alix Tidmarsh and Sophokles Tasioulis. Only 30% of the footage shown in ''Earth'' is new, with the remainder being reworked from the television series to suit the narrative of the film. David Attenborough was replaced as narrator by high-profile actors:
Patrick Stewart for the UK market and
James Earl Jones for the United States.
''Earth'' had its worldwide premiere in September 2007 at the
San Sebastián International Film Festival in
San Sebastián
San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...
, Spain, in
Basque Country
Basque Country may refer to:
* Basque Country (autonomous community), as used in Spain ( es, País Vasco, link=no), also called , an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain (shown in pink on the map)
* French Basque Country o ...
.
Lionsgate released the film in several international markets over the following year. In the United States, it became the first film to be released by
Disneynature, the
Walt Disney Company's new nature documentary arm.
When released on
Earth Day
Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org (formerly Earth Day Network) including 1 b ...
2009 it set the record for the highest opening weekend gross for a nature documentary, and went on to become the third highest grossing documentary of all time.
It has grossed more than $108 million worldwide; in the nature documentary genre, only ''
March of the Penguins'' has achieved greater box-office success.
Reception
Critical reception
''Planet Earth'' received widespread critical acclaim. On review aggregation website
Rotten Tomatoes, the miniseries has an approval rating of 95% based on 22 reviews, with an average rating of 9/10. The critical consensus reads "Planet Earth weaves innovative camera techniques and patient observation to deliver viewers an astounding glimpse of the world's perils and wonders, capturing jaw-dropping scenery and animals on both an epic and intimate scale." ''
Time'' magazine's
James Poniewozik named it one of the Top 10 New TV Series of 2007, ranking it at No. 4. In 2019, ''Planet Earth'' and its sequel were ranked 72nd on ''
The Guardians list of the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century.
Accolades
''Planet Earth: From Pole to Pole'' won the Science and Natural History award at the
Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...
Programme Awards in 2007. The RTS also awarded it a Judge's Award and a Photography Award at its Craft and Design Awards. The series picked up two awards from the
Broadcasting Press Guild for Best Documentary Series and Innovation in Broadcasting, and won Best Documentary Series at the 2007 Broadcast Awards. At the 2007
BAFTA Television Awards, ''Planet Earth'' was nominated in the Specialist Factual and Pioneer Audience Award categories, but lost out to ''Nuremberg: Goering's Last Stand'' and ''
Life on Mars'' respectively.
It received three nominations at the BAFTA Television Craft Awards later the same year. George Fenton's original score won him Soundtrack Composer of the Year at the 2007
Classical BRIT Awards
The Classic BRIT Awards (previously Classical BRIT Awards) are an annual awards ceremony held in the United Kingdom covering aspects of European classical music, classical and Classical crossover, crossover music, and are the equivalent of popu ...
. Planet Earth was also nominated for the NTA for Most popular Factual program but lost to ''
Top Gear'' (''
Supernanny'' and ''
Bad Lad's Army: Officer Class'' were also nominated).
''Planet Earth'' was recognised by the American television industry, collecting the award for Nonfiction Series at the
59th Primetime Emmy Awards
The 59th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 16, 2007, honoring the best in U.S. prime time television programming at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. The ceremony was televised live on Fox at 8:00 p.m. ...
in September 2007 and winning a further three prizes in technical categories at the
Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
It also collected two awards from the
Television Critics Association in
Los Angeles in July 2007 and a
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...
in April 2008.
[67th Annual Peabody Awards](_blank)
May 2008.
The series was also fêted at wildlife film festivals around the globe, collected multiple prizes at the
Wildscreen Festival
Wildscreen is a wildlife conservation charity based in Bristol, England.
The charity was founded in December 1987 from a trust which had operated since 1982, with the initial aim of encouraging and applauding excellence in the production of nat ...
2006, the International Wildlife Film Festival 2007 and the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival 2007.
Awards and nominations
Audience response
The credentials of the filmmakers, the size of the production, a high-profile marketing campaign and a primetime BBC One timeslot all resulted in ''Planet Earth'' attracting large audiences when it debuted in the UK in March 2006. The first episode, "From Pole to Pole", was watched by more people than any natural history programme since Attenborough and Fothergill's previous series, ''The Blue Planet'', in 2001. The first five episodes drew an average audience of 11.4 million viewers, including the early evening repeats, outperforming even ''The Blue Planet''. When the series returned to British screens after a six-month break, it remained popular but viewing figures did not reach the same levels. The final six episodes attracted an average audience of 6.8 million viewers, appreciably lower than the spring episodes, but still higher than BBC One's average for the timeslot. The BBC's 2007 Annual Report revealed that the series "received the highest audience appreciation score of any British programme on TV this year".
In the United States, ''Planet Earth'' drew equally impressive ratings when it premiered on Discovery and Discovery HD Theater on 25 March 2007. The first three episodes (screened back to back) averaged 5.72 million viewers with a peak of 6.07 million viewers, giving the network its third highest audience ever. It was also the most watched Discovery programme since ''
The Flight That Fought Back'' in 2005.
Sequel
In February 2016, the BBC announced a six-part sequel had been commissioned, titled ''Planet Earth II'', for release in late 2016, with Sir David Attenborough returning as narrator and presenter. As with the 2006 series, the trailer features the track 'Hoppipolla' by Icelandic group Sigur Ros.
Merchandise
The popularity of the television series around the world translated into strong sales of associated ''Planet Earth'' merchandise. In the United States, it became the fastest and bestselling documentary
DVD in Discovery Channel's history, and the
high-definition (HD) discs generated US$3.2 million in sales in just two months.
By the end of 2007, U.S. sales had topped 3 million units, making it the highest-grossing HD title and one of the top ten DVD titles of the year.
In addition, the brand was licensed to other companies to produce children's books, calendars, a board game,
jigsaws, stationery, cards, and more.
DVD
A five-disc DVD box set of the complete series (BBCDVD1883) was released in the UK for
Regions 2 and 4 (
PAL) on 27 November 2006 by
2 entertain
2 Entertain (stylized as 2 , entertain) is a British video and music publisher founded in September 2004 by the merger of BBC Video and Video Collection International in 2004. Under CEO Richard Green, the company operated as a joint venture b ...
. It is presented in 5.1-channel
Dolby Digital
Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3, is the name for what has now become a family of audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Formerly named Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995, the audio compression is lossy ...
surround sound and
16:9 widescreen video. The bonus features include ''Planet Earth Diaries'' (presented immediately after each episode as for the original TV broadcast) and ''
Planet Earth: The Future''. In the United States, two versions of the same five-disc set were released as a
Region 1 (
NTSC) DVD on 24 April 2007. The
BBC Warner release retained David Attenborough's narration from the original British television broadcasts, but the Discovery Channel edition used the alternative Sigourney Weaver voice-over. Even in the United States the Attenborough version was much the better for sales.
HD DVD and Blu-ray
Except for a small amount of extremely hard-to-obtain footage, ''Planet Earth'' was filmed entirely in
high-definition, and consequently became one of the first television series to take advantage of the new HD disc formats.
The series was released in both
Blu-ray and
HD DVD formats as a five-disc
Region B box set on 12 November 2007. On the fifth disc, the bonus features from the
standard-definition DVD set were replaced by two episodes from the BBC's ''
Natural World'' series, "Desert Lions" and "Snow Leopard: Beyond the Myth", both also presented in high-definition.
In the United States, the series was released as a four-disc set in both high-definition formats,
the Blu-ray version on
single-layer BD-25 discs and the HD DVD set on
dual-layer HD DVD-30 discs. The first U.S. high-definition releases omitted the extra disc of bonus features from the standard-definition boxed set, though these extras were included with new material in a special-edition Blu-ray released in 2011.
Books
Four official tie-in volumes were published by
BBC Books in 2006 and 2007:
*''Planet Earth: As You've Never Seen It Before'', written by Alastair Fothergill with a foreword by David Attenborough, was published in hardback on 5 October 2006 ().
*The paperback title ''Planet Earth: The Future'' was also published on 5 October 2006 (). It was edited by Fergus Beeley and Rosamund Kidman Cox with a foreword by Jonathon Porritt.
*A second paperback volume revealed some of the tales from the field during filming expeditions. ''Planet Earth: The Making of an Epic Series'' was written by David Nicholson-Lord and published on 9 March 2006 ().
*A collection of still images from the series was published in a hardcover volume as ''Planet Earth: The Photographs'' on 7 October 2007 ().
Soundtrack album
On 20 November 2006, a two-disc
soundtrack CD was released with a compilation of the
incidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as t ...
specially commissioned for ''Planet Earth''. The award-winning score was composed by
George Fenton and performed by the
BBC Concert Orchestra and has been performed during "Planet Earth Live" events in the United States and the United Kingdom.
See also
*''
Planet Earth II''
*''
The Blue Planet''
*
Blue Planet II
''Blue Planet II'' is a 2017 British nature documentary series on marine life produced by the BBC Natural History Unit. Like its predecessor, ''The Blue Planet'' (2001), it is narrated and presented by naturalist Sir David Attenborough.
After ...
*''
Frozen Planet''
*
Frozen Planet II
''Frozen Planet II'' is a 2022 British nature documentary series co-produced by the BBC and The Open University as a sequel to ''Frozen'' ''Planet'', which was first broadcast in 2011. The series is presented and narrated by Sir David Attenbor ...
*
9° North
9 North, or Nine North, is a region of hydrothermal vents on the East Pacific Rise in the Pacific Ocean, 900 kilometers off the coast of Acapulco, Mexico; it has been so named by scientists because its latitude is 9°50' N. It was first ...
*''
Our Planet''
References
Further reading
Alastair Fothergill discusses ''Planet Earth''in ''
The Times''.
Text at Universal Librarydiscussing the ''Planet Earth'' series and the technological background.
External links
*
*
Planet Earth' at
BBC EarthDiscovery Channel website''Planet Earth''on the
Eden
Eden may refer to:
* Garden of Eden, the "garden of God" described in the Book of Genesis
Places and jurisdictions
Canada
* Eden, Ontario
* Eden High School
Middle East
* Eden, Lebanon, a city and former bishopric
* Camp Eden, Iraq
O ...
website
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Planet Earth (Tv Series)
2006 British television series debuts
2006 British television series endings
2000s British documentary television series
Discovery Channel original programming
BBC high definition shows
BBC television documentaries
Peabody Award-winning television programs
Nature educational television series
Television series by BBC Studios
Planet Earth (franchise)
Television Academy Honors winners