Planet Earth

Planet Earth is an award winning BBC nature documentary series narrated by David Attenborough and produced by Alliston Fothergill. The American version is narrated by Sigourney Weaver. It was first broadcast in the UK on March 5th 2006.

Each show had a broadcast lenght of 58 minutes. The show had been heavily advertised prior to it's release creating hype. It was shown each Sunday at nine in the evening each Sunday for eleven weeks. It had a consistently high rating of between seven and nine million viewers.

Episode list below:

1. "From Pole to Pole"
2. "Mountains"
3. "Fresh Water"
4. "Caves"
5. "Deserts"
6. "Ice Worlds"
7. "Great Plains"
8. "Jungles"
9. "Shallow Seas"
10. "Seasonal "Forests"
11. "Ocean Deep"

Of course this was not the first nature documentary shown on television so it owes a lot to its predecessors. It's imitation however was not of other peoples work. The narrator David Attenborough has been the face of BBC nature for 40 years and his familiar voice resonated in the audience.

This innovative series was descibed by its makers as being "the definitive look at the diversity of our planet". It was the first nature series to be filmed entirely in high definition. This increased clarity was revolutionary and helped popularize the documentary.