Planet Earth (2006 TV series)

This article is about the 2006 BBC TV series. For the 2016 sequel series, see Planet Earth II. For the 2023 sequel series, see Planet Earth III. For the franchise as a whole, see Planet Earth (franchise). For the unrelated 1986 PBS TV series, see Planet Earth (1986 TV series).

Planet Earth
GenreNature documentary
Narrated by
ComposerGeorge Fenton
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of episodes11
Production
ProducerAlastair Fothergill
CinematographyDoug Allan
EditorsMartin Elsbury
Andy Netley
Running time60 minutes
Production companyBBC Natural History Unit
Original release
Network
Release5 March (2006-03-05) –
10 December 2006 (2006-12-10)
Related
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Planet Earth is a 2006 nature documentary television miniseries produced as a co-production between the BBC Natural History Unit, BBC Worldwide, Discovery Channel and NHK, in association with CBC. Five years in the making, Planet Earth was the most expensive nature documentary series ever commissioned by the BBC and also the first to be filmed in high definition.[1] The series received multiple awards, including four Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award, and an award from the Royal Television Society.

Planet Earth premiered on 5 March 2006 in the United Kingdom on BBC One, and by June 2007 had been shown in 130 countries. The original version was narrated by David Attenborough, whilst some international versions used alternative narrators.

The series has eleven episodes, each of which features a global overview of a different biome or habitat on Earth. At the end of each fifty-minute episode, a ten-minute featurette takes a behind-the-scenes look at the challenges of filming the series.

Ten years later, BBC announced a six-part sequel had been commissioned, titled Planet Earth II, the first television series produced by the BBC in ultra-high-definition (4K). David Attenborough returned as narrator and presenter.[2][3] A second sequel, Planet Earth III was announced and aired in 2023.[4]

  1. ^ Slenske, Michael (18 March 2007). "Alastair Fothergill - Planet Earth - TV". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  2. ^ "Sir David Attenborough to present brand new landmark natural history series for BBC One". BBC. 22 February 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
  3. ^ "Everything you need to know about David Attenborough's Planet Earth 2". The Independent. 6 November 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  4. ^ "Your first look". BBC Earth. Retrieved 4 February 2021.