Africa • 2011 • episode "Part 5" • The Magic of The Big Blue

28:58

In this episode, Iolo investigates the courtship and nesting behaviour of birds, including the amazing courtship display of great crested grebes at a reservoir near Pontypool, the impressive sky dance of hen harriers in the dramatic Cambrian Mountains, how nuthatch use mud like cement to prepare their nest in a woodland near Harlech, and why long-tailed tits near Newtown are exceptional nest builders. On the Lleyn Peninsula near Trefor, he looks at why one colony of shags nest earlier than any others in Wales, and in Pembrokeshire he finds out where house martins nested before they used our buildings. Iolo also looks at the variety of places birds like to nest, from little ringed plovers on shingle banks along the River Tywi to puffins underground on Skomer.

S1E2 • Secret Life of Birds • 2012 • Nature

46:23

Take a trip through the spectacularly diverse terrain of the Waterberg--a South African land so old it was formed before terrestrial life itself. Today, its sprawling grasslands are home to some of the most eclectic wildlife on Earth, all sustained by the region's abundant water supply.

S1E1 • Africa's Wild Horizons • 2017 • Nature

59:09

Today Earth is a human world, home to eight billion people and counting. Humans now have a greater effect in shaping Earth’s surface than many natural processes. In this episode, Chris Packham explores how dramatic twists in Earth’s story enabled humans to go from being part of nature to controlling it, and what we can learn from this epic tale before it’s too late. The story begins 66 million years ago with the catastrophic impact of the asteroid that wiped out the (Non-avian) dinosaurs. From the ashes of the desolation that followed, a new animal family rose to power. This was adaptable and inventive enough to emerge out of the harsh new world – the mammals. It began with a distant ancestor that shared many traits of the much maligned, but evolutionarily brilliant, rat. Due to a series of extreme geological and climatic events, mammals evolved into early primates feasting in the newly formed tropical rainforests, and then to early humans travelling vast distances between forests in places like East Africa’s Rift Valley. Earth’s story is a saga spanning 4.5 billion years, but it’s only in the last 11,000 years - with the rise of farming - that our species has started to dramatically impact our planet and its ecosystems. The human chapter of Earth’s story might end in disaster, but Chris is keen to argue for a different ending, where all of humanity’s achievements to date “…were just our dress rehearsals, because in the very near future our species will need to reach the zenith of its achievements and… all humanity will have to learn to put our Earth first.”

S1E5 • Earth: One Planet, Many Lives • 2023 • Nature

140:22

Levison Wood tracks down some of the most iconic but endangered animals on Earth and gets a better understanding of how they are surviving against worsening odds. Chapter 1: Orangutans Deep in Borneo's forests, Levison meets the last-remaining endangered orangutans, and learns more about their unique lives and their environment, as they face the threat of deforestation and poaching. Chapter 2: Lions In Namibia's extreme environment, Levison tracks down some of the last remaining desert lions and learns about the vital work that's giving them a fighting chance of survival. Chapter 3: Polar Bears Levison travels deep into the vast arctic wilderness of east Greenland to track down some of the most elusive populations of polar bears on the planet. But will he get up close and personal with one?

2023 • Nature

32:23

In ancient woodlands, a crocodile relies on sound to protect her babies, koalas release powerful roars, and an enchanting frog choir communes.

S1E1 • Earth Sounds • 2024 • Nature

48:54

An expedition which will help viewers decipher Antarctica's key role in climate regulation and see the challenges the iconic Emperor penguin faces in the light of climate change. Discover the secrets of these polar environments on the ice and underwater and get close and personal with the emperor.

S1E1 • Expedition Antarctica • 2016 • Nature