Planet Earth III Renewed + New Spinoff Shows For BBC!

BBC reveals unprecedented commitment to natural history with announcement of new landmark programmes up to 2022

The BBC is world famous for its natural history programming and these new series will raise the bar even higher.

Charlotte Moore, BBC Director of Content, has unveiled a series of landmark natural history programmes to take the BBC’s natural history offer into the next decade.

There will be three new series in the globally renowned Planet strand, which have proved hugely popular with audiences. These landmark series will help audiences everywhere to better understand the greatest issues affecting our planet and our relationship with the natural world. They demonstrate the BBC’s unique commitment to natural history programming of the highest quality.

• Perfect Planet will be a unique fusion of blue chip natural history and earth sciences explaining how the living planet operates. This five part series will show how the forces of nature – weather, ocean currents, solar energy and volcanoes – drive, shape and support Earth’s great diversity of life. It will broadcast in 2020
• Frozen Planet II will take audiences back to the wildernesses of the Arctic and Antarctica. Ten years on from the original Frozen Planet, this series tells the complete story of the entire frozen quarter of our planet that’s locked in ice and blanketed in snow. It will broadcast in 2021
• Planet Earth III will be the most ambitious natural history landmark ever undertaken by the BBC. Combining the awe and wonder of the original Planet Earth, the new science and discoveries of Blue Planet II and Planet Earth II, and the immersive character-led storytelling of Dynasties, the series will take the Planet Earth experience to new heights. It will broadcast in 2022
• These three series will be in addition to the previously announced One Planet: Seven Worlds (transmitting 2019) and Green Planet (transmitting 2021).

Since the launch of Planet Earth in 2006, the BBC Planet titles have become a huge global hit and over a billion people have watched Planet Earth II and Blue Planet II in the last three years. This new five-strong slate is expected to involve over 10,000 days of filming – and will tell a truly global story.

Alongside the latest addition to the Planet series the BBC is also announcing three further natural history commissions that demonstrate the range and breadth of the BBC’s Natural History commissioning.

The Mating Game for BBC Two will show the greatest challenge of all – finding a mate; whilst Primates for BBC One is an in-depth look at the most charismatic family in the animal kingdom, the one to which we all belong. And Earth’s Paradise Islands, for BBC Two, will take viewers to mysterious and exotic islands of Madagascar, Borneo and Hawaii.

Charlotte Moore, BBC Director of Content, says: “The BBC is world famous for its natural history programming and these new series will raise the bar even higher. We know that audiences want shows that bring them the richest narratives, the best camerawork and the highest quality production values and they look to us to deliver this. Viewers around the globe have been captivated by the incredible stories that the Planets series have told and now new technology allow us to explore even more of the natural world than ever before.

“We’re also announcing three new series that will look in depth at specific aspects of the natural world, giving revealing and sometimes surprising insights to animals and the habitats they live in. It’s our biggest ever commitment to natural history and one we are proud of.”

Tom McDonald, Head of Commissioning, Natural History and Specialist Factual, says: “Planet Earth II, Blue Planet II and most recently Dynasties reinvented landmark natural history at BBC – delivering record breaking global audiences and receiving awards around the world.

“These new titles reveal the scale of our ambitions in natural history – with a rich and innovative pipeline of titles up to 2022: the biggest commitment we have ever made in the genre.

“Alongside new titles such as The Mating Game and Primates, I’m delighted to be bringing the long awaited Frozen Planet back to our screens a decade after the first series was on air, and of course thrilled that Planet Earth will be back in the BBC’s centenary year. Both will continue our pledge to reveal not just the world’s greatest wonders and animal behaviour but reflect the very real challenges the natural world faces.” (BBC)