''British Isles – A Natural History'' is an eight-part

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

series 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 '' T ...

and presented by

Alan Titchmarsh Alan Fred Titchmarsh (born 2 May 1949) is an English gardener, broadcaster and writer. After working as a professional gardener and a horticultural journalist, he became a radio and television presenter and a novelist. Early career Alan Fred T ...

. Originally broadcast in the UK on

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

from September to November 2004, it took viewers on a journey from the formation of what is now the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

some 3 billion years ago to the present day, revealing how natural and human forces have shaped the landscape. Each of the 50-minute episodes was followed by a 10-minute short specific to each region of the British Isles. In 2007, the BBC made a companion series about British wildlife called '' The Nature of Britain'', also presented by Titchmarsh. A 3-disc Region 2 and 4 DVD set (BBCDVD1506) featuring all eight episodes was released on 29 November 2004. Titchmarsh wrote an accompanying book, also called ''British Isles: A Natural History'', and released by BBC Books on 1 October 2004. ()

Filming

On 30 May 2003 while filming near the

Sycamore Gap Tree The Sycamore Gap tree or Robin Hood tree was a 150-year-old sycamore tree next to Hadrian's Wall near Crag Lough in Northumberland, England. It was illegally felled in 2023, but has since sprouted from the stump. Standing in a dramatic dip in ...

, the helicopter crashed around away, narrowly avoiding presenter

. The four on board the aircraft were lightly injured.

References

External links

* * * 2004 British television series debuts 2004 British television series endings 2000s British documentary television series BBC television documentaries Nature educational television series Ecology of the British Isles Documentary films about prehistoric life {{sci-documentary-stub