Television series
The Hunt
The Hunt is a suite of standalone episodes, each built around a single hunting strategy or predator-prey pairing—cheetah versus gazelle, orca versus seal, spider versus almost anything. Filmed with extraordinary patience, it cuts between hunter and hunted so you feel torn about who to root for. Gorgeous, unhurried, occasionally devastating. For anyone who wants their wildlife documentaries with genuine dramatic stakes.
If you liked this
Planet Earth II2016
Same crews, same patient camera technology, wider canvas. If a single chase sequence in The Hunt left you breathless, this scales that suspense up across every biome on Earth.
But Less focused than The Hunt—broader scope means individual hunts get less screen time and detail.
Blue Planet II2017
Takes the predator-prey tension underwater: dolphins herding fish into bait balls, orcas working as coordinated teams. Same relentless craft, wetter and often stranger stakes.
But If you've had your fill of Attenborough's voice for a while, this is another six hours of it.
Frozen Planet2011
Contains one of the single most-replayed hunts in nature television—a polar bear stalking walrus. Colder, earlier cousin to The Hunt's format, with the same white-knuckle editing.
But Some episodes lean harder into landscape and climate than pure hunting drama.
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Duel1971
It's The Hunt's exact architecture—unseen hunter, fleeing prey, audience forced to feel every second of the chase—just relocated from savannah to highway.
Spielberg's feature debut turns a lone motorist into prey for an anonymous, roaring predator—a truck whose driver we never see. Pure chase logic, stripped of narration and dialogue, nowhere left to hide.
But Thin on plot by design—one long pursuit, not for anyone wanting complexity or actual wildlife.
More like this (8)
Dynasties2018
Swaps the buffet of species for five deep character studies—a lion pride, a chimp troop—following named individual animals across a full season, hunts included.
But Slower and more soap-opera than pure spectacle; it needs patience for the politics between episodes.
Life2007
Attenborough's earlier survey of survival strategies across the animal kingdom, containing some of the most jaw-dropping single hunting sequences ever captured on camera.
But Broader remit than The Hunt—mating and defence get as much attention as hunting.
Africa2013no page yet
A continent-specific deep dive with extraordinary big-cat and crocodile sequences, built by the same team whose fingerprints are all over The Hunt's tension.
But Regional focus means missing the global variety that made The Hunt feel so wide-ranging.
Serengeti2019no page yet
Ditches narration-only distance for a soap-opera structure, naming individual animals and following their fortunes—makes every hunt feel personal rather than anonymous.
But The dramatic styling—music, character arcs—is far more melodramatic than Attenborough's restraint.
Big Cats2018no page yet
Narrower focus, all cats, all the time—cheetahs, snow leopards, lions. If the feline hunts were your favourite part of The Hunt, this is simply more of that.
But Can feel repetitive if you're after variety in prey species and terrain.
Seven Worlds, One Planet2019no page yet
Continent-by-continent structure with plenty of hunting sequences, including one of the most talked-about survival moments in recent nature TV.
But Spreads itself across seven continents and many themes, so hunting is only one thread among several.
Watership Down1978
Tells the predator-prey story from deep inside the prey's experience, exactly as The Hunt does with real animals—only here it's drawn, and somehow it hurts more.
An animated film about rabbits fleeing predators and vanishing habitat, made with a bluntness that traumatised a generation of children. It shares The Hunt's unsentimental honesty about what prey animals endure.
But Genuinely upsetting for young or sensitive viewers—not the gentle cartoon its poster promises.
The Silent World1956
A direct ancestor of everything The Hunt does—the same appetite for filming predators at work, from the very birth of wildlife filmmaking, unfiltered and unashamed.
Jacques Cousteau's Palme d'Or-winning descent into the ocean's hunting grounds, decades before HD cameras or Attenborough's voice—raw, strange, and one of the films that invented the genre The Hunt belongs to.
But Dated pacing, and some wildlife-handling moments that sit uneasily with modern conservation standards.
People
Cast
David AttenboroughNarrator
Production
- Alastair FothergillExecutive Producer
- Huw CordeyProducer
- Jonnie HughesProducer
Recommended by
Winged Migration, Planet Earth II, Under the Skin, Frozen Planet, Dynasties, Meerkat Manor