Part 1 • 1996 • episode "S1E1" • Microcosmos

29:09

Dr Helen Czerski examines the hottest natural phenomena on the planet - lightning. Bolts of lightning five times hotter than the surface of the sun strike our planet over 3 million times every day - and yet we still know little about this deadly force of nature. Now, specialist photography is revealing how lightning travels through the air, high-speed cameras are unlocking the secrets of upward lightning that's triggered by our urban landscapes, and scientific expeditions are capturing rare images of intense electrical discharges over 80 kilometres wide.

Part 3 • Dangerous Earth • 2016 • Nature

57:31

How air-breathing mammals have found remarkable ways to overcome the many challenges of a life in water, from freshwater jungle ponds to the dark depths of the open ocean. Featuring footage of the birth of a huge sperm whale calf, never-before-filmed orca hunting behaviour, and coastal coyotes in Mexico that have learnt they can benefit from the daily offerings washed up on the shore with each new tide.

S1E3 • Mammals with David Attenborough • 2024 • Nature

49:16

Life-and-death duels are fought daily in the wild: an orchid turns out to be a predator, killer whales ambush sea lions and chimps pursue colobus monkeys.

4/12 • Trials of Life • 1990 • Nature

59:01

In this bird's-eye view of two continents, demoiselle cranes negotiate a dangerous Himalayan pass on their way to India while high-flying bar-headed geese take the fast track five miles above. In Rajasthan, vultures watch hunting tigers hoping for a meal and pigeons visit a temple dedicated solely to sacred rats. Pigeons are also our guide to the greatest gatherings of camels on Earth and learn to dodge buzzards around the battlements of Jodhpur Fort. 9,000 cranes overwinter in the most unlikely of spots - a barbed wire compound in the centre of a desert town. In Australia, rainbow lorikeets drop in on Sydney and patrol Australia's Gold Coast. In the outback, white cockatoos swirl in thousands and budgerigars pass Uluru (Ayers Rock) and gather in the biggest flocks ever recorded. In China, swallows and swifts visit the Great Wall and the Forbidden City of Beijing. In Japan, the country's most revered birds - Japanese cranes are fed fish by appreciative locals and are joined in strange, momentary harmony by hungry red foxes, white-tailed eagles and Steller's eagles. As peace descends, Japanese cranes dance beautifully in the snow.

S1E5 • Earthflight • 2012 • Nature

58:10

How Earth's five oceans connect to form the largest ecosystem on the planet, and how its network of currents supports the health of the seas and marine wildlife.

S1E4 • A Perfect Planet • 2021 • Nature

58:01

Asia's jungles are exceptionally diverse, but whilst they provide shelter, food and opportunity, they are also full of dangers and hidden threats. In monsoon forests, tigers tenaciously hunt their prey, and prehistoric-looking rhinos play courtship games akin to kiss chase. In tropical rainforests, female orangutans must search far and wide to find their perfect mates. And in the little-known forests of Iraqi Kurdistan, a new Persian leopard population is growing amid minefields.

S1E4 • Asia • 2024 • Nature