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 being announced in 2013, filming took four years in 39 countries over more than 125 international trips. The musical score was composed by Hans Zimmer, Jacob Shea and David Fleming, and English rock band Radiohead reworked their 2011 song "Bloom" with Zimmer specifically for the series.

The series debuted on 29 October 2017 and was simultaneously cast on BBC One, BBC One HD and BBC Earth, making it the first natural history series to premiere on the same day in the United Kingdom, Nordic regions, Europe and in Asia. In the United States, the series premiered on January 20, 2018, as part of a five-network simulcast on BBC America, AMC, IFC, Sundance, and WE tv.

The series received almost universal critical acclaim. It had the highest viewing figures of any television programme in the United Kingdom during 2017, and was so widely watched in China that it reportedly caused internet issues. It was credited with increasing public and political interest in issues affecting marine life, in particular marine plastic pollution, which was dubbed "the ''Blue Planet'' effect".

Background and production

The series was announced by the BBC in 2013 with the working title ''Oceans'', but the title was later changed to ''Blue Planet II'' as was revealed on 19 February 2017, making it a follow-up to the 2001 series ''The Blue Planet''. Filming took place over a course of more than four years; involving 125 expeditions across 39 countries and produced more than 6,000 hours of underwater dive footage from over an estimated 4,000 dives.

Broadcast

British television

The premiere of the series took place at Bristol's Cinema de Lux on 11 October 2017, with special guest appearance by Attenborough along with the producers and wildlife experts. Bristol has been the global home of BBC's Natural History programme making for the past 60 years. The series was first broadcast on 29 October 2017 (from 20:00 GMT to 21:00 GMT) on BBC One and BBC One HD. The first six episodes included a 10-minute making-of documentary called ''Into the Blue''. The previous week's episode was repeated in an earlier time slot the following Sunday. The series was critically acclaimed and gained the highest UK viewing figure for 2017, 14.1 million.

International

The BBC pre-sold the series to several overseas broadcasters, which includes Canada (Blue Ant Media’s licensed channel for BBC Earth), Australia ( Channel Nine) and New Zealand (TVNZ), to Europe with Denmark ( DR), Netherlands ( NPO), Sweden ( SVT), Spain ( Telefonica’s BBC Earth block), Discovery Channel for Latin America and co-production partnerships with BBC America, Germany's WDR, France Télévisions, China's Tencent and CCTV-9. The series was eventually sold to more than 30 countries.

The series is set to broadcast internationally on BBC Earth channel, and also commercial television channels in various countries, besides. The series debuted in Nordic regions and other European countries on 29 October 2017. In Asia, the series began to premiere on each early Monday (from 04:05 SGT to 05:05 SGT) starting from 30 October 2017, the episode was then repeated on following each Tuesday evening (from 20:00 SGT). In Poland, it premiered on 16 November 2017. As for South Africa, it aired from 4 February 2018.

In China, the premiere took place at Shanghai's East China Normal University on 27 October 2017, with guest appearance by the producer Orla Doherty and Mike Gunton, the executive producer of Planet Earth II. The series is streaming broadcast at Tencent's QQLive from 30 October 2017, with episodes updating every Monday at 18:00 CST. It would also be broadcast on the state owned China Central Television’s documentary channel, CCTV-9, with episodes airing each Monday from 6 November 2017 at 21:00 CST.

In the Netherlands, the series is airing on the Dutch channel NPO 1, with episodes airing each Thursday from 28 December 2017. In Belgium, it will air on the Flemish channel Canvas, with episodes airing each Saturday starting from 2 January 2018.

The series aired in Canada and the United States on 20 January 2018. In Canada, it will broadcast with a three-network simulcast across BBC Earth, Cottage Life and T+E channel. In the United States, the series premiered the first episode – with a five-network simulcast across BBC America, AMC, IFC, WE tv and Sundance TV, while the remaining episodes continued to be aired every Saturday on BBC America. It is also available on BBCAmerica.com and the BBCA app.

As for Australia, the series will premiere on Nine Network and 9Now on 17 February 2018. In New Zealand, it premiered on 12 November 2017 on TVNZ 1.

For Singapore, the series premiered on Mediacorp Channel 5 on Sundays starting 27 May 2018.

In Greece, all the seven original episodes were broadcast from 12 April 2020 until 18 April 2020 at 10.30pm on the free-to-air television network Skai TV.

Episodes

Music

(ocean) bloom

In September 2017, the BBC announced that the English rock band Radiohead had collaborated with composer Hans Zimmer to record a new version of "Bloom", a song from their 2011 album ''The King of Limbs''. The new track, "(ocean) bloom", was recorded alongside the BBC Concert Orchestra. In a press release, Radiohead singer Thom Yorke said: "'Bloom' was inspired by the original ''Blue Planet'' series so it's great to be able to come full circle with the song." Zimmer and Radiohead worked with the orchestra in an attempt to emulate a ' tidal effect' in the music. The song was used as the soundtrack for a ''Blue Planet II'' prequel video released by the BBC to promote the series.

Soundtrack

Composer Hans Zimmer returned to score the series. The musical score and songs featured in the series were composed by Hans Zimmer, Jacob Shea and David Fleming for Bleeding Fingers Music. A digital soundtrack was released on 29 October 2017, while a single physical disc was released on 1 December 2017 in the UK.

The soundtrack was released as special edition LP for Record Store Day on 21 April 2018.

Reception

Critical reception

In a positive review, Ed Yong of ''The Atlantic'' called ''Blue Planet II'' "the greatest nature series that the BBC has ever produced".

''The Guardian'' columnist George Monbiot criticised the series for mostly omitting the impact of the fishing industry on the oceans: "It's as if you were to make a film about climate breakdown without revealing the role of fossil fuel companies". Monbiot stated that the film's only mention of the fishing industry was a story "about how kind Norwegian herring boats are to orcas".

Impact

The programme has been credited with raising awareness of plastic pollution both domestically and internationally, an influence dubbed the 'Blue Planet effect'.

After the first episode aired in the UK, there was a surge in search engine enquiries about conservation charities, with the Marine Conservation Society, WWF and Plastic Oceans Foundation all receiving a significant spike in traffic. Following the programme's airing in the UK, the BBC
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