Attenborough takes a walk on the wild side

hen it first aired a decade ago Planet Earth, was said to have “redefined natural history filmmaking". Five years in making, the David Attenborough-narrated epic travelogue from the people behind of The Blue Planet, was the first documentary series to be produced in HD. It was the culmination of more than 2000 days in the field, using 40 cameramen filming across 200 locations, and told 'the ultimate portrait of our planet'. It was a stunning television experience that combined rare action on an unimaginable scale to capture intimate moments with our planet's best-loved, wildest and most elusive creatures, including the rare sight of an endangered snow leopard hunting in the Himalayas and great white sharks leaping from the water as they hunt. This brand-new follow-up series,

shot in ultra-high definition and using the latest camera stabilisation, remote recording and aerial drone technology, is being billed as even better than it predecessor, as the team promises to take the audience closer to nature and allow them to experience the wilderness as if they were there. Charlotte Moore, controller of BBC1, said of the potential gamechanger: “A decade on from Sir David Attenborough's Planet Earth, this new series promises to be an extraordinary experience for our audience. "Filmed over three years across the globe with all the very latest technology, the series uncovers stories about the natural world we have simply never been able to witness before." Tom McDonald, BBC head of commissioning for Natural History and Specialist Factual Formats, adds: “Following the success of The Hunt, Great Barrier Reef, and Attenborough And The Giant Dinosaur, I'm delighted that Sir David will be presenting our landmark natural history series. "Ten years on from Planet Earth, it feels like the perfect moment to bring our audience a series of such ambition which will change the way we see the natural world." Travelling through islands, jungles, deserts, mountains, grasslands and cities, the series explores the unique characteristics of Earth's most iconic habitats and the extraordinary ways animals survive within them. Tonight's opening episode looks at the creatures that inhabit the world's islands and how these small areas of land surrounded by sea or ocean offer sanctuary for some of the planet's strangest and rarest creatures.