Its temperatures range from those of the tropics in its lower reaches to that of the poles higher up. "The Building of the Earth" īroadcast 19 January 1984, the first episode begins in the world's deepest valley: that of the Kali Gandaki river in the Himalayas. David Attenborough’s opening narration 1. From the oceans, it has spread even to the summits of the highest mountains as animals and plants have responded to the changing face of the Earth." Two-thirds of the surface of this unique planet are covered by water, and it was here indeed that life began. Here, animals and plants, insects and birds, mammals and man live together in intimate and complex communities, each dependent on one another. And here plants and animals proliferate in such numbers that we still have not even named all the different species. Around the equator, where those two essentials for life, sunshine and moisture, are most abundant, great forests grow.
Even in its most barren stretches, there are animals. "Our planet, the Earth, is, as far as we know, unique in the universe. Those are extremely difficult things to do." Episodes The difficulties are those that are encountered by the cameramen, directors and recordists, who actually have to get an animal doing something which perhaps nobody's ever even seen before. It's not too difficult to walk on to a rock and look at a camera and say something. "The difficulties are not actually experienced by me, because the bits that I do are the easiest bits.
In an interview on the making of the series, Attenborough was self-effacing concerning his own contribution: One new piece of equipment used was a scuba diving suit with a large, fully enclosed faceplate, allowing Attenborough to speak (and be seen) underwater. The birds had to be reared by hand from birth so that they would respond to the voice of their 'mother', and this eventually enabled them to be photographed as they flew alongside a moving open-top car.įilming techniques continued to evolve. However, the most time-consuming sequence involved red-breasted geese in flight – not in terms of actual filming, but in preparing for it. Elsewhere, cameraman Hugh Miles had to put himself 25 yards (23 m) away from a polar bear in order to film it in close-up.įor the episode "The Sky Above", the series' makers managed to secure the services of NASA, and the use of its gravity research aircraft, affectionately known as the Vomit Comet. Some subjects proved even more challenging: the production team had to wait two years for news to arrive of an erupting volcano, and had to suspend all other filming in the hope that it would still be alight when they reached it. In South America, a shortage of boats led to one cameraman having to push his equipment in a rubber dinghy, while he himself swam behind it. Conversely, areas such as the Himalayas permitted no transportation at all, so the only option was to walk. The programmes were just as ambitious to produce as those in the previous series, each featuring a variety of locations from around the world.Īmong the most difficult places, in terms of logistics, was the Sudan, where the crew had to be flown in – despite there being no runways or indeed roads. However, before the latter, Attenborough wrote and presented two shorter series: The First Eden (1987), about man's relationship with the natural habitats of the Mediterranean, and Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives (1989), concerning the discovery of fossils. Part of David Attenborough's 'Life' series, it was followed by The Trials of Life (1990). The executive producer was Richard Brock and the music was composed by Elizabeth Parker of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Each of the twelve 55-minute episodes (one fewer than his previous series) featured a different environment. The sequel to his pioneering Life on Earth, it is a study of the ways in which living organisms, including humans, adapt to their surroundings.
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The Living Planet: A Portrait of the Earth is a BBC nature documentary series written and presented by David Attenborough, first transmitted in the UK from 19 January 1984.
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