''The Planets'' is a 2019 BBC/PBS television documentary series about the Solar System presented by Professor Brian Cox in the UK version and Zachary Quinto in the US version. First broadcast 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 ...

beginning Tuesday 28 May 2019, the five-episode series looks at each planet in detail, examining scientific theories and

hypotheses A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous obser ...

about the

formation and evolution of the Solar System The formation of the Solar System began about 4.6 billion years ago with the gravitational collapse of a small part of a giant molecular cloud. Most of the collapsing mass collected in the center, forming the Sun, while the rest flattened into a ...

gained by unmanned missions to the planets. Originally released in the UK, it was changed to cater more to the American audience watching on PBS's series ''

Nova A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramati ...

''. Cox presents segments to camera from various locations around the world alongside extensive

computer-generated imagery Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is the use of computer graphics to create or contribute to images in art, printed media, video games, simulators, and visual effects in films, television programs, shorts, commercials, and videos. The images may ...

and footage from space missions. The series was created as a partnership between BBC Studios and the Open University.

Episodes

Merchandise

A 288-page hardback book written by Brian Cox and Andrew Cohen was released on 23 May 2019. by HarperCollins (). The book was also released for ebook readers as well as an audiobook on the same day.

References

External links

* 2019 British television series debuts 2019 British television series endings 2010s British documentary television series Science education television series BBC television documentaries English-language television shows Documentary films about outer space Documentary television series about astronomy BBC television documentaries about science Nova (American TV program) episodes Television series by BBC Studios {{Sci-documentary-stub