The First Frontier • 2023 • episode "S1E2" • Life on Our Planet

36:19

Like most big cats, the leopard is a master of secrecy. It's one of the hardest of all big cats to see, let alone observe. This is mainly because leopards need absolute invisibility to hunt. This is why they're such good climbers and why they evolved to be so incredibly secretive.

S1E5 • The Secret Lives of Big Cats • 2019 • Nature

59:00

As the expedition team near the end of their journey across Micronesia, it's a race against time for the extreme deep divers as they continue their search for new species. As Kate Humble explores the Rock Islands of Palau, Mike DeGruy embarks on a unique training programme. The Newtsuit is an incredible feat of submarine engineering - a bright yellow one-man submersible that Mike has to master before he can venture even deeper into the Pacific abyss.

S1E3 • Pacific Abyss • 2008 • Nature

58:40

In Snowball, Chris Packham tells the story of the astonishing moment in Earth’s distant past, when almost the entire planet froze – a glistening ‘Snowball Earth’ in the dark void of space. With ice wrapped around the planet to the equator, the chances of life surviving hang in the balance. Earth’s terrifying journey into the deep freeze started with fire, not ice. 800 million years ago, long before the age of the dinosaurs, before there was even animal life, the giant supercontinent Rodinia broke up. Earth’s vast powerful tectonic forces ripped the land apart, kicking off a series of events that resulted in huge amounts of carbon dioxide being sucked from the atmosphere and sending global temperatures plummeting. This plunge into the deep freeze couldn’t have come at a worse time. The very first forms of complex life - the ancestors to the amazing life we see around us today - were evolving but, as the planet froze to the equator, it looked like their days were numbered. Happily, Chris discovers that after 50 million years locked in ice, volcanic eruptions drove a great thaw. Life broke free from the ice and soon made a giant leap, from the microscopic, to the first animals big enough to see and touch.

S1E2 • Earth: One Planet, Many Lives • 2023 • Nature

58:31

Simon Reeve travels through wilderness of Patagonia, at the foot of the South American continent. A beautiful and rugged land of mountains, ice and endless wild grasslands, Patagonia is whipped by wind, rain, and snow. Simon's journey takes him up to the huge south Patagonian ice field, through the foothills of the Andes towards the great Grey Glacier of eastern Chile - coming face to face with pumas and riding with gauchos.

S1E2 • Wilderness with Simon Reeve • 2024 • Nature

58:26

David Attenborough reveals how, by pushing themselves and their bodies to the limit, mammals have found remarkable ways to survive in the hottest places on earth. In South America, thirsty capuchins need all their natural curiosity as they search for water on the forest floor. Camels roam the vast outback of Australia, where they can go for weeks without water thanks to their distinctive hump as an energy store. White sifaka lemurs hug trees to avoid the heat in Madagascar's spiny forest and the echidna has an even stranger way of keeping cool - it blows snot bubbles.

S1E5 • Mammals with David Attenborough • 2024 • Nature

58:28

Simon discusses the challenge of preserving unspoilt wildernesses, from the icy expanses of Siberia to the tropical forests of central and South America. Simon reflects on how his past series have dealt with the causes and impact of climate change, as well as remembering a memorable report exposing the extent of plastic pollution in the ocean. He also recalls meeting indigenous people around the world and hearing their first-hand experiences of ecological damage.

S1E4 • Incredible Journeys with Simon Reeve • 2021 • Nature