Desert • 2023 • episode "S1E2" • Secrets of the Elephants

58:01

While the pandemic restricts our movements, wildlife remains free. In this time of crisis, the natural world can be a source of solace and escape. In the most extreme of environments, from the hottest deserts to the freezing poles, from the highest mountains to underwater kingdoms, animals overcome adversity to survive and thrive, offering a message of hope to humanity. To raise our spirits, join Sir David Attenborough on a round-the-world trip to the wildest places on earth to see some of the most spectacular wildlife. The BBC Natural History Unit has brought together the most astounding stories from the Bafta-winning Planet Earth II and Blue Planet II to create the ultimate escape. The journey is accompanied by a thrilling new musical score, created by renowned composers Hans Zimmer and Jacob Shea, performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra and featuring Mercury Prize winner Dave on the piano.

2020 • Nature

58:58

David Harewood narrates a documentary exploring three of the most exotic and remote islands on the planet, beginning with the unique and extraordinary wildlife of Madagascar. As the oldest island on Earth, life has had time to evolve and there are now more unique plants and animals on Madagascar than any other, with footage of ring-tailed lemurs, labord's chameleons and Decken's sifakas.

S1E1 • Earth's Tropical Islands • 2019 • Nature

47:24

Deserts are getting even hotter, drier and bigger, yet a host of remarkable animals still survive in the harshest of conditions, including cunning hyenas, pint-sized meerkats and sand-dwelling spiders.

S1E5 • Hostile Planet • 2019 • Nature

39:32

First prog in series about fossils. David Attenborough travels in UK, Dominican Republic, West Germany & USA in search of fossils, & the palaeontological techniques to find and reveal them.

S1E1 • Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives • 1989 • Nature

89:30

From the food on our tables to the fuel in our cars, crude oil seeps invisibly into almost every part of our modern lives. Yet many of us have little idea of the incredible journey it has made to reach our petrol tanks and plastic bags from its origins millions of years ago.

2007 • Nature

88:47

A fascinating look at the secret, underground world of the ant colony in a way that has never been seen before. At its heart is a massive, full-scale ant nest, specially-designed and built to allow cameras to see its inner workings. The nest is a new home for a million-strong colony of leafcutter ants from Trinidad. For a month, entomologist Dr George McGavin and leafcutter expert Professor Adam Hart capture every aspect of the life of the colony, using time-lapse cameras, microscopes, microphones and radio tracking technology. The ants instantly begin to forage, farm, mine and build. Within weeks, the colony has established everything from nurseries to gardens to graveyards. The programme explores how these tiny insects can achieve such spectacular feats of collective organisation. This unique project reveals the workings of one of the most complex and mysterious societies in the natural world and shows the surprising ways in which ants are helping us solve global problems.

2013 • Nature