''Dynasties'' is a 2018 British

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 t ...

series on five vulnerable or

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...

species known to form enduring populations:

chimpanzee The chimpanzee (''Pan troglodytes''), also known as simply the chimp, is a species of great ape native to the forest and savannah of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed subspecies. When its close relative t ...

emperor penguin The emperor penguin (''Aptenodytes forsteri'') is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is endemic to Antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching in length and weighing from . Feathers of t ...

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus '' Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adu ...

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living Felidae, cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily pr ...

and

African wild dog The African wild dog (''Lycaon pictus''), also called the painted dog or Cape hunting dog, is a wild canine which is a native species to sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest wild canine in Africa, and the only extant member of the genus '' Lyca ...

. The series is produced by the

BBC 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 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 histo ...

. The music score was composed by

Benji Merrison Benji is a fictional character created by Joe Camp. He has been the focus of several movies from 1974 through the 2000s. It is also the title of the first film in the ''Benji'' franchise. Benji is a small, lovable mixed-breed dog with an unc ...

. Each episode ends with ''Dynasties On Location'', a behind the scenes look at the planning of each episode, which could be years in advance before production crew even started filming. The series debut was on 11 November 2018 simultaneously broadcast 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, ...

BBC One HD 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 ...

and

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 ...

, and premiered on the same day in Asia. The series debuts in the U.S. as a four-network simulcast (BBC America, AMC, IFC, and Sundance) on 19 January 2019, and in New Zealand on

TVNZ 1 TVNZ 1 ( mi, Te Reo Tātaki Tahi) is the first national television channel owned and operated by the state-owned broadcaster Television New Zealand (TVNZ). It is the oldest television broadcaster in New Zealand, starting out from 1960 as indep ...

on 20 January 2019 (NZDT), with all 5 episodes available on TVNZ On Demand. On December 28, 2020, on the same day that a Christmas special following a meerkat family was broadcast, it was announced that the BBC would be creating a sequel to ''Dynasties'' named ''Dynasties II''. This series will have four episodes, following Angelina the African elephant matriarch, she-cheetah Kali, Rupestre the puma and

spotted hyena The spotted hyena (''Crocuta crocuta''), also known as the laughing hyena, is a hyena species, currently classed as the sole extant member of the genus ''Crocuta'', native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is listed as being of least concern by the IUC ...

matriarch Suma, and will air in 2022.

Episodes

Viewing data sourced from BARB.

''Dynasties''

''
Dynasties II ''Dynasties II'' is a 2022 British nature documentary series commissioned by the BBC and narrated by David Attenborough. It is the sequel to ''Dynasties'' (2018) and was announced via a press release on 28 December 2020. Developing on the succ ...
''

Merchandise

Home media

The series was released as a two-disc DVD set as well as a standard

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

set on 3 December 2018, and as a four-disc 4K UHD Blu-ray + Blu-ray set on 10 December 2018. Media is distributed by

BBC Studios BBC Studios is a British content company. It is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC that was formed in April 2018 through the merger of the BBC's commercial production arm and the BBC's commercial international distribution arm, BBC Worldwide ...

in the UK.

Book

An accompanying hardback book was written by Steven Moss with a foreword by David Attenborough. It is published by BBC Books () and released on 25 October 2018 in the UK. The book
Painted Wolves: A Wild Dog's Life
' by Nicholas Dyer and Peter Blinston is a large-format coffee-table book that charts the lives and fortunes of the same packs of painted wolves featured in BBC Dynasties. It is published by Lycaon Ventures ().

Soundtrack

The musical score and songs featured in the series were composed by Benji Merrison and Will Slater. A digital soundtrack was released on 11 November 2018, while a two physical disc will be released on 14 December 2018 in the UK.

References

External links

* *
Dynasties
' at

*
Dynasties
' at BBC Media Centre * {{David Attenborough 2018 British television series debuts 2020 British television series endings 2010s British documentary television series 2020s British documentary television series David Attenborough BBC Television shows Documentary films about nature BBC high definition shows BBC television documentaries English-language television shows Television series by BBC Studios