''The Green Planet'' is a 2022

nature documentary A nature documentary or wildlife documentary is a genre of documentary film or series about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures, usually concentrating on video taken in their natural habitat but also often including footage of tr ...

series on

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

s and their relationship with animals, humans and the environment. It was produced by

BBC Studios Natural History Unit The BBC Studios Natural History Unit (NHU) is a department of BBC Studios that produces television, radio and online content with a natural history or wildlife theme. It is best known for its highly regarded nature documentaries, including '' ...

and narrated and presented 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 ...

. Utilising

time-lapse photography Time-lapse photography is a technique in which the frequency at which film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than the frequency used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus ...

, drones and specially designed camera rigs called "Triffids", the series aimed to show

plant movements Plant physiology is a subdiscipline of botany concerned with the functioning, or physiology, of plants. Closely related fields include plant morphology (structure of plants), plant ecology (interactions with the environment), phytochemistry (bio ...

over prolonged periods, but sped up into real time. The series first aired on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

on 9 January 2022, and consisted of 5 episodes. It was subsequently made available on demand on

BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers and smart televisions. iPlayer services del ...

and was aired internationally on other networks. Filming took three years to complete, and took place in 27 countries. Producer Paul Williams hired engineer Chris Field to develop new filmmaking technology for the series based on a prototype of the "Triffid" camera system in a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

video. Original music was composed by Benji Merrison and Will Slater. A tie-in

augmented reality Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be de ...

experience in London and an online content initiative were launched to promote the series. ''The Green Planet'' was a ratings success in the United Kingdom, with its first episode drawing 5.4 million viewers. It also received positive reviews from critics, who noted its production quality, storytelling, and

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...

themes.

Episodes

The series consists of five episodes, each based on a different theme and environment. Each episode ends with a segment on the methods and equipment used to capture the episode.

Production

In January, the upcoming release of ''The Green Planet'', a five-part documentary about the biodiversity of plant life narrated by

was announced. The series was a collaboration between PBS and

. It was co-produced by

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

CCTV-9 CCTV-9 is a television channel operated by Chinese state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV), broadcasting documentaries in Mandarin Chinese. It shared the name with CCTV's English language documentary channel until 31 December 2016, when ...

Bilibili Bilibili (stylized bilibili), nicknamed B Site, is a video sharing website based in Shanghai where users can submit, view and add overlaid commentary on videos. Since the mid-2010s, Bilibili began to expand to a broader audience from its origi ...

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

France Télévisions France Télévisions (; stylized since 2018 as ) is the French national public television broadcaster. It is a state-owned company formed from the integration of the public television channels France 2 (formerly Antenne 2) and France 3 (former ...

and

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestri ...

. The series was considered to be a "passion project" for Attenborough. In an interview with ''

The Irish News ''The Irish News'' is a Compact (newspaper), compact daily newspaper based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's largest selling morning newspaper and is available throughout Ireland. It is broadly Irish nationalist in its view ...

'', Attenborough said that "The world is green – it's an apt name or the series the world is green. And yet people's understanding about plants, except in a very kind of narrow way, has not kept up with that. I think this will bring it home." Filming began in early 2019 and took over three years to complete. Filming took place in 27 countries, including

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

, and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The series, which was presented from a "plant's eye view", was filmed using

, to show the slow progress of

. One

cactus A cactus (, or less commonly, cactus) is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family comprising about 127 genera with some 1750 known species of the order Caryophyllales. The word ''cactus'' derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek ...

was filmed continuously in time-lapse for three years, making it the longest time-lapse study undertaken by the BBC. A number of technologies, including drone-mounted cameras and motion-control robotics were used to capture the slow movements, defense mechanisms and growth of plants. Two FPV racing drone pilots were hired to film parts of the series, as drones were faster and more eco-friendly than filming from helicopters. Creative director

Mike Gunton Mike Gunton is a British television producer and a senior executive at the BBC Natural History Unit, the world's largest production unit dedicated to wildlife film-making. In November 2009 he became the Unit's first Creative Director. As Creativ ...

explained that the racing drone pilots had " hedexterous skill to be able to operate those drones in the most incredibly micro-detailed way." Specialized

camera rig A camera is an optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), with a ...

s called "Triffids" were developed for the series. The "Triffids" were created by former military engineer Chris Field, who developed them to capture plant movements in the wild. Field had been inspired to develop timelapse camera technology by watching the BBC documentary ''

Planet Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surface ...

.'' Field also developed robotic rigs which could move freely around a plant while capturing it in timelapse. Producer Paul Williams discovered Fields' camera work by seeing a timelapse of

Venus flytrap The Venus flytrap (''Dionaea muscipula'') is a carnivorous plant native to subtropical wetlands on the East Coast of the United States in North Carolina and South Carolina. It catches its prey—chiefly insects and arachnids—with a trapping ...

s he had made that was linked on

. Based on that video, Williams hired him to develop new technologies for ''The Green Planet''. Williams stated that the name of the rigs came from

John Wyndham John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris (; 10 July 1903 – 11 March 1969) was an English science fiction writer best known for his works published under the pen name John Wyndham, although he also used other combinations of his names ...

's 1951 science fiction novel ''

The Day of the Triffids ''The Day of the Triffids'' is a 1951 post-apocalyptic novel by the English science fiction author John Wyndham. After most people in the world are blinded by an apparent meteor shower, an aggressive species of plant starts killing people. Al ...

'', about a species of mobile, carnivorous plants. It was the first documentary on plant life Attenborough had created since ''

The Private Life of Plants ''The Private Life of Plants'' is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first shown in the United Kingdom from 11 January 1995. A study of the growth, movement, reproduction and survival of plants, it was ...

'' in 1995. In the fourth episode of ''Green Planet'', Attenborough revisited a

creosote bush ''Larrea tridentata'', called creosote bush and greasewood as a plant, chaparral as a medicinal herb, and ''gobernadora'' (Spanish language, Spanish for "governess") in Mexico, due to its ability to secure more water by inhibiting the growth of n ...

(''larrea tridentata'') in the

Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert ( es, Desierto de Sonora) is a desert in North America and ecoregion that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the southwestern United States (in Arizona ...

of Arizona which had previously been featured in ''

The Living Planet ''The Living Planet: A Portrait of the Earth'' is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 19 January 1984. The sequel to his pioneering ''Life on Earth'', it is a study of th ...

'', a series which he filmed in 1982. The bush had grown only a quarter of an inch in the intervening forty years. Original music was composed by Benji Merrison and Will Slater.

Premiere

The series premiered at the

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme F ...

Theatre in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Scotland on 31 October 2021. The premiere took place during the

2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as COP26, was the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference, held at the SEC Centre in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, from 31 October to 13 November 2021. The ...

. English actress

Maisie Williams Margaret Constance "Maisie" Williams (born 15 April 1997) is an English actress. Williams made her acting debut in 2011 as Arya Stark, a lead character in the HBO epic medieval fantasy television series '' Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019). She ...

delivered a speech introducing the first episode. Attenborough also spoke at the summit, and received a standing ovation. The series was scheduled to debut in the US on 6 July 2022 on PBS. To air weekly.

Broadcast

British television

The series was first broadcast on 9 January 2022 on

. Subsequent episodes were aired weekly on the channel. Episodes were also made available via the

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

service

after each broadcast.

International

In 2021, BBC Studios pre-sold the series to a large number of overseas networks, including

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

in Australia,

TVNZ , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the So ...

in New Zealand,

Radio Canada The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

, DR in Denmark, ERR in Estonia, LTV in Latvia, LRT in Lithuania,

Movistar Plus+ Movistar Plus+ (formerly Movistar+) is the trade name of the subscription platform for digital television owned by Telefónica, which operates in Spain. The service is distributed via optical fiber and ADSL and as well as with satellites such as ...

in Spain,

NRK NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting Aksjeselskap, AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and ...

in Norway,

Friday! Pyatnitsa! (russian: Пятница!, literally ''Friday!'') is an all-Russian entertainment TV channel. Its broadcast network is based on original entertainment programs of its own production, as well as those produced by Ukrainian TV channels ...

in Russia, and

RTVS Radio and Television of Slovakia ( sk, Rozhlas a televízia Slovenska ) or RTVS is a nationwide public broadcasting, state-funded organisation in Slovakia. It is headquartered in Bratislava and led by Ľuboš Machaj. History The organization i ...

in Slovakia. It was presold to

BBC Earth BBC Earth is a brand used by BBC Studios since 2009 to market and distribute the BBC's natural history content to countries other than the United Kingdom. BBC Studios is the commercial arm of the public service broadcaster. BBC Earth commercia ...

in Africa, Asia, Poland,

MENA MENA, an acronym in the English language, refers to a grouping of countries situated in and around the Middle East and North Africa. It is also known as WANA, SWANA, or NAWA, which alternatively refers to the Middle East as Western Asia (or a ...

, Turkey, Canada and the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; literal translation, lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmar ...

. On 18 January 2022, it was announced that the series would be broadcast weekly in the United States on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

, from 6 July 2022 to 3 August 2022.

Reception

Critical reception

The series received widespread critical praise for its cinematography, technological advances, narration, presentation, storytelling and environmental message. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the series has an approval rating of 100% based on 5 reviews. Harry Cockburn of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' praised the show for bringing "an incredible level of drama, insight and imaginative presentation" to its subject matter. Carol Midgley of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' also gave the series five stars, saying that the series at times felt "like a horror flick" and at other times was "almost a plant porno." Anita Singh, in a review for ''The Telegraph'', also compared some of the show's imagery to that of

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

s, and gave the series four out of five stars. It received five-star reviews in the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'' and ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''.

Natalie Bennett Natalie Louise Bennett, Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (born 10 February 1966) is a Australian-British politician and journalist who served as Leader of the Green Party of England and Wales from 2012 to 2016. Bennett was given a peerage in ...

, writing for ''The House'', praised the series overall, but criticized it for relying on nature documentary tropes of conflict and struggle, and not also portraying examples of interspecies cooperation. The series was also praised for raising awareness of environmental issues and climate change. Critics commented on the environmental message of the series, which encouraged the conservation and appreciation of plant life. Steve Clarke, writing for ''Variety'', considered it to be an example of "a new willingness from TV types to put uncomfortable truths regarding environmental damage alongside feel-good shots of beautiful beasts and pristine landscapes." An editorial piece in ''The Guardian'' described the series as " akingaim at

plant blindness Plant blindness is an informally proposed form of cognitive bias, which in its broadest meaning, is a human tendency to ignore plant species. This includes such phenomena as not noticing plants in the surrounding environment, not recognizing the ...

" by demonstrating the importance of plant life.

Audience response

The first episode of the series received an average of 4.5 million viewers in the UK, peaking at 5.4 million.

Related exhibitions and initiatives

BBC Studios created the Green Planet AR Experience, inspired by the series, with funding from the British government's 5G Create competition. The month-long

installation opened at Piccadilly Circus on February 11, and is scheduled to remain open until March 9, 2022. It is a collaboration between BBC, 5G network provider

EE Limited EE is a British national mobile network operator and internet service provider, which is a brand within the BT Group. EE is the second-largest mobile network operator in the United Kingdom, with 26.1 million subscribers as of September 2 ...

and Factory 42. In February 2022, the BBC Natural History Unit and the Moondance Foundation launched #OurGreenPlanet, a conservation initiative inspired by the series.

References

External links

*
''The Green Planet'' at BBCEarth.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Green Planet (Tv Series), The PBS original programming BBC high definition shows BBC television documentaries 2020s British documentary television series 2022 British television series debuts 2022 British television series endings Television series by BBC Studios Documentary films about nature David Attenborough Documentary films about environmental issues