Planet Earth Specials poster

Planet Earth

Specials

24 episodes · premiered Mar 5, 2006

Where to watch Planet Earth

  1. E1 Diaries - Eye in the Sky

    Mar 5, 2006 · 10m

    Using the unique overhead heli-gimble camera the crew set out to film a pack of African wild dogs hunting in the Okavango Delta. It came down to the final hour of the final day of filming before they got the shot they wanted.

  2. E2 Diaries - Snow Leopard Quest

    Mar 12, 2006 · 10m

    Over the course of three years the Planet Earth team tried to film the elusive Snow Leopard deep in the mountains of Pakistan. Their patience was eventually rewarded with the world's first footage of a Snow Leopard hunting.

  3. E3 Diaries - Diving with Piranhas

    Mar 19, 2006 · 10m

    Cameraman Peter Scoones is on a mission to film Piranha in the wetlands of Brazil. They are considered the most dangerous freshwater fish, but prove difficult to track down, until Peter finally finds himself immersed in a feeding frenzy.

  4. E4 Diaries - Into the Abyss

    Mar 26, 2006 · 10m

    The team spend a month amongst an enormous mound of bat guano in Gomantong Cave as they film the hundreds of thousands of cockroaches and other inhabitants that live there. The amazing Lechuguilla Cave of New Mexico provides a whole other set of challenges.

  5. E5 Diaries - Wild Camel Chase

    Apr 2, 2006 · 10m

    The Gobi desert is home to the last truly wild Bactrian camels and their fear of humans makes them extremely difficult to capture on film. After weeks of trying the crew were becoming frustrated, but their expert local tracker wouldn't let them down.

  6. E6 Diaries - Alive in the Freezer

    Nov 5, 2006 · 10m

    Cameraman Wade Fairley braved temperatures of minus 50C and near hurricane force winds as he filmed a breeding colony of 20,000 emperor penguins in the Antarctic. At the other end of the Earth on a Norwegian island, cameraman Doug Allan and assistant Jason Roberts get a bit closer to a polar bear than they bargained for.

  7. E7 Diaries - Shot in the Dark

    Nov 12, 2006 · 10m

    Lions hunting elephants has only ever been seen by a handful of people, so the crew were up against it when trying to film this rare behaviour. Using infrared technology they were able to track a pride of lions through the African night, but when they finally got the shots they wanted it was a saddening experience for all.

  8. E8 Diaries - Trouble in Paradise

    Nov 19, 2006 · 10m

    It took the Planet Earth team over eight weeks in the field to film less than 15 minutes of footage of the beautiful but seldom seen Birds of Paradise in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. Behind the scenes cameraman Paul Stewart endured hundreds of hours alone cramped inside a small filming hide, going stir crazy when old songs come back to haunt him.

  9. E9 Diaries - Shark Quest

    Nov 26, 2006 · 10m

    Great white sharks capture their slippery seal prey by rocketing out of the depths and delivering a massive hit at the surface. To record a breach like this in ultra slow motion, which in real-time lasts just a second, was a supreme challenge for cameraman Simon King.

  10. E10 Diaries - Forest Fliers

    Dec 3, 2006 · 10m

  11. E11 Diaries - Ocean Wanderers

    Dec 10, 2006 · 10m

    The camera team of Doug Anderson and Rick Rosenthal were determined to film oceanic whitetip sharks without a cage, relying only on observation, nerves and experience to dictate how long they stayed underwater in their company. The powerful sharks were initially shy of the dive team but, as more sharks arrived, they became bolder - their behaviour changing to that of the hunter.

  12. E12 The Future: Saving Species

    Nov 26, 2006 · 1h

    Many of the animals featured in the Planet Earth series are endangered so do we face an extinction crisis? Saving Species asks the experts if there really is a problem, looks at the reasons behind the declining numbers of particular animals and questions how we choose which species we want to conserve.

  13. E13 The Future: Into the Wilderness

    Dec 3, 2006 · 1h

    Pollution, climate change and a growing human population are all putting pressure on Earth's wildernesses including the Bialowieza forest, the Gobi Desert and the Arctic tundra. So how much of the planet is still wilderness? And why should we care? Into the Wilderness explores why these uninhabited expanses are important for our survival as well as that of all creatures on the planet.

  14. E14 The Future: Living Together

    Dec 10, 2006 · 1h

    This history of conservation throws up some interesting ideas as we look to the future of an ever more populated planet. How can conservation fit into this new world driven by economics and development? Living Together looks at the challenges facing conservation in the 21st century and looks at the role of religion in piloting a moral and ethical approach to the world we live in.

  15. E15 The Making of Planet Earth

    Oct 11, 2006 · 1h

    The making of the sprawling, ambitious series is documented.

  16. E16 Interview with Alastair Fothergill

    Air date TBA · 1h

  17. E17 Desert Lions

    May 30, 2007 · 1h

    Originally aired under BBC Natural World Collection. Many years ago lions thrived in the deserts of Namibia's Skeleton Coast, until they were exterminated by man. Six years ago maverick biologist Flip Stander discovered a tiny remnant population alive and well in nearby mountains, and started to study them. Their numbers have grown and they are now returning to the desert in increasing numbers. But if these lions are to continue roaming here, Flip will have to persuade local people that these lions are worth more alive than dead.

  18. E18 Snow Leopard: Beyond the Myth

    Jan 4, 2008 · 1h

    Originally aired under BBC Natural World Collection. The BBC Natural History Unit explores a secret cave deep in the mountains of Pakistan where generations of snow leopards return each year to raise their young.

  19. E19 Great Planet Earth Moments

    Air date TBA · 1h

    The Planet Earth team reveal their most memorable moments from the making of the series. We'll discover their high points, and their not so high points. And they'll tell us which sequences they consider to be their great Planet Earth moments. From the

  20. E20 Secrets of the Maya Underworld

    Feb 9, 2005 · 1h

    The freshwater pools that dot Mexico's Yucatan peninsula were believed by the Mayans to be portals to the underworld. For the first time ever, the BBC Natural History Unit explores this incredible, labyrinthine system of underground rivers.

  21. E21 Elephant Nomads of the Namib Desert

    Mar 26, 2008 · 1h

    Follow the struggle for survival of two female elephants trying to raise their young in one of the harshest climates on Earth.

  22. E22 Diaries Part I

    Air date TBA · 1h

  23. E23 Diaries Part II

    Air date TBA · 1h

  24. E24 To the Ends of the Earth

    Air date TBA · 12m