Television series

Planet Earth

Name: Planet Earth
Genre: Documentary, Nature
Released: 2006
Cast: David Attenborough

The blue-chip nature documentary that reset the genre's ambitions: eleven episodes, four years of filming, every biome on Earth from polar ice to cave systems, shot with helicopters, gyro-stabilised rigs and near-unreasonable patience. Attenborough narrates with quiet wonder rather than urgency. It's slow, expensive television built for a big screen and a comfortable sofa — pure spectacle, occasional heartbreak, and the best argument yet for simply looking closely at the world.

TVMaze rating

8.8

If you liked this

Planet Earth II2016

Same team, a decade of camera technology later — drones, gyro-stabilised long lenses, and the iguana-versus-snakes chase that became an instant classic. Everything the original did, sharper and closer.

But It's more a technical upgrade than new territory; if you want fresh ground rather than a better version of the same idea, it repeats itself.

Blue Planet II2017

Takes the same appetite for spectacle underwater, with deep-sea creatures never filmed before and a plastic-pollution episode that genuinely shifted public policy.

But Some episodes lean hard into conservation messaging rather than pure wonder — less escapist than the original series.

Our Planet2019

Same crews, same voice, but made with WWF and unflinching about what's disappearing — the walrus cliff sequence alone justifies an evening.

But Grimmer and more overtly activist in tone; not the comfortable, awe-first viewing the original offers.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

My Octopus Teacher2020

Same wonder at a nonhuman mind, but the planet shrinks to one man and one animal — the epic scale traded for an aching, personal friendship.

An unexpectedly devastating story of grief and connection between a filmmaker and a wild octopus in a South African kelp forest — it changed how a lot of people think about intelligence in other animals.

But Deliberately small and intimate — no vistas, no globe-hopping, and the emotional weight lands harder than a highlight reel.

Frozen Planet2011

Polar specialists at their absolute best — orcas hunting seals, emperor penguins surviving Antarctic winter, and a candid closing episode on climate change.

But A narrower canvas than the globe-trotting original; a lot of white and blue if you're not in the mood for the cold.

The Blue Planet2001no page yet

The series that proved ocean life could carry a whole season on its own — genuinely astonishing footage, and the direct ancestor of everything that followed.

But Older effects and pacing show their age next to the HD successors it inspired.

Life2007

Organised by survival strategy rather than habitat, so each episode is a grab-bag of bizarre behaviour — walking fish, flying spiders, an endless supply of "wait, what?" moments.

But Less cinematic grandeur than the "Planet" series; feels more like a highlight reel of oddities than an immersive journey.

Africa2013no page yet

A continent-deep dive with unusually generous behind-the-scenes footage showing how each impossible shot was actually captured.

But Single-continent focus feels narrower after the globe-spanning scope of the original.

Dynasties2018no page yet

Follows five animal families — chimps, lions, penguins — across full seasons like a wildlife soap opera, with real stakes and named characters you'll actually root for.

But Emotionally heavier and sadder in places; less scenic wonder, more hardship and loss.

Seven Worlds, One Planet2019no page yet

Organised continent by continent, still finding genuine surprises this late in the Attenborough canon — a solid closing chapter if you're working through them all.

But By this point in a marathon it can feel like more of the same, however handsomely made.

Microcosmos1996

The same impulse to make you gasp at a world you'll never see with your own eyes, just shrunk to insects instead of blown up to continents — sound and music doing the work Attenborough's voice does here.

A wordless, 75-minute descent into dew drops and ant wars, shot in extreme macro — one of the strangest, most beautiful cinema experiences going.

But No narration, no plot, no facts delivered in that reassuring voice — pure sensory immersion, which can test patience if you want to be taught something.

The Living Desert1953no page yet

This is where the nature documentary as spectacle began — the direct, unlikely ancestor of Planet Earth's entire project.

Disney's Oscar-winning True-Life Adventure, arguably the first feature nature documentary — a tarantula fight scored like a duel, and real showmanship decades before drones existed.

But Staged sequences and cheerfully anthropomorphic narration will jar against modern documentary ethics; scientifically it's a period piece.