Planet Earth II

David Attenborough narrates this BBC One documentary series that transports viewers across the planet's most extraordinary habitats. Directed by Alastair Fothergill, the show aired from November 6 to December 11, 2016, across six episodes. Each installment focuses on a distinct biome, from remote islands to bustling cities, revealing how wildlife adapts to extreme conditions. The production spanned 64 countries over three years, involving over 2,000 people and accumulating 8 million hours of footage.

Filmed in 4K Ultra HD, the series pushed technological boundaries with drones, stabilized remote cameras, and low-light capabilities. Hans Zimmer, Jacob Shea, and Jasha Klebe composed the score, performed by a full orchestra. The series drew an average of 9.2 million UK viewers for its premiere, the highest for a natural history program in 15 years. It won multiple BAFTA and Emmy awards, including for cinematography and sound.[edit]

Planet Earth II presents a journey through six of the planet's most challenging environments, each episode a self-contained exploration of life's resilience. There is no overarching narrative; instead, the series lets the landscapes and their inhabitants tell their own stories. The opening episode, Islands, examines isolated ecosystems where species evolve in peculiar ways, such as the marine iguana on the Galapagos and the komodo dragon in Indonesia. Mountains ascends to high altitudes, tracking snow leopards in the Himalayas and flamingos in the Andes, where thin air and fierce winds demand extreme adaptations.

Jungles dives into tropical rainforests, dense with life, highlighting the symbiotic relationships between plants and animals, from leafcutter ants to jaguars. Deserts ventures into scorching dunes and barren plains, revealing creatures like the fennec fox and the sidewinder rattlesnake that have evolved to survive with minimal water. Grasslands surveys vast savannas and prairies, focusing on the drama of predator-prey dynamics, from lions hunting buffalo to cheetahs on the chase. The final episode, Cities, offers a surprising look at wildlife in human-built environments, including leopards prowling Mumbai's outskirts and peregrine falcons nesting on skyscrapers.

The central theme is adaptation: each creature's struggle to find food, reproduce, and raise young in habitats shaped by geography and climate. The series does not follow a single protagonist; rather, it rotates among dozens of species per episode, weaving their stories into a tapestry of survival. The overarching shape of the season is a gradual shift from pristine wilderness to human-dominated landscapes, culminating in the city episode that underscores nature's resilience. Throughout, Attenborough's narration provides context without moralizing, letting the footage speak for itself. The series avoids manufactured drama, relying on real, unscripted moments of life and death.[edit]