Human Planet

Human Planet
Narrated by	John Hurt
Composer(s)	Nitin Sawhney
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of episodes	8
Production
Executive producer(s)	Brian Leith, Dale Templar
Cinematography	Pete Haynes, Matt Norman, Toby Strong, Robin Cox,
Running time	50 minutes
Production company(s)	BBC Discovery France Télévisions
Release
Original network	BBC One
Picture format	SD: 576i 16:9 HD:1080i
Original release	13 January (2011-01-13) – 3 March 2011 (2011-03-03)
External links
Website

Human Planet is an 8-part British television documentary series. It is produced by the BBC with co-production from Discovery and BBC Worldwide. It describes the human species and its relationship with the natural world by showing the remarkable ways humans have adapted to life in every environment on Earth.

Announced in 2007, the production teams based at the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol and BBC Wales spent three years shooting over 70 stories in some of the most remote locations on Earth spanning about 40 countries. Each episode of the series focuses on a different human-inhabited environment, including deserts, jungles, the Arctic, grasslands, rivers, mountains, oceans, and the urban landscape.

For the first time on a BBC landmark series the production had a dedicated stills photographer, Timothy Allen, who documented the project photographically for the books and multimedia that accompany the series.

Human Planet was originally screened in the UK on BBC One each Thursday at 8pm over eight weeks, starting from 13 January 2011. Domestic repeats have been seen on Eden, with all 8 episodes aired over one week in April 2012. BBC Worldwide has since announced they have sold the broadcast rights to 22 international markets.

Human Planet was nominated for 7 BAFTA Television Craft awards, the most for any programme in 2011, and it won 2 of them, both for the Arctic episode, where Jason Savage won the factual editing prize, and Will Edwards, Doug Allan and Matt Norman won the photography (cinematography) prize.

Episode list

Episode 1: Oceans – Into the Blue

First aired on Thursday 13 January 2011. Topics include:

• Goose barnacle collection in northern Spain
• Sperm whale hunting in the Indonesian archipelago
• Dolphin assisted fishing in Brazil
• The origin of surfing in Hawaii
• Shark calling in Papua New Guinea
• Compressor diving in the Philippines
• Nationless Bajau people in the Coral Sea near Borneo

Behind the Lens: Compressor diving in the Philippines

Episode 2: Deserts – Life in the Furnace

First aired on Thursday 20 January 2011. Topics include:

• Sandstorm and cattle herding near elephants in Mali
• Fishing in Antogo lake after it has shrunk through evaporation
• Tubu women crossing the Sahara with a camel caravan in Niger
• Camel herders in the Gobi Desert
• Moisture farming in the Atacama desert
• Underground aqueducts in Algeria
• Fertility dance of the Wodaabe in Niger

Behind the Lens: Tubu women crossing the Sahara with a camel caravan in Niger

Episode 3: Arctic – Life in the Deep Freeze

First aired on Thursday 27 January 2011. Topics include:

• Hunting Greenland sharks in Greenland
• Gathering mussels in Northeastern Canada
• Hunting narwhals in Greenland
• Catching auks in Greenland; making a Kiviak
• Herding reindeer in Norway
• Removing polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba

Behind the Lens: Hunting narwhals in Greenland

Episode 4: Jungles – People of the Trees

First aired on Thursday 3 February 2011. Topics include:

• Hunting monkeys with the Matis in Brazil
• Hunting tarantulas in Venezuela
• Monkey breastfeeding Awá Guajá people of the eastern Amazon
• Hunting birds of paradise for plumage used to crown costumes at the Sing-sing event in Papua New Guinea
• Gathering honey with the Bayaka in the Congo jungle
• Transporting timber using Asian elephants in Assam, India
• Filming uncontacted peoples in Brazil
• Building tree houses 35 metres high with the Korowai in West Papua, Indonesia

Behind the Lens: Building tree houses in West Papua

Episode 5: Mountains – Life in Thin Air

First aired on Thursday 10 February 2011. Topics include:

• Hunting with golden eagles in the Altai Mountains of Mongolia
• Battling gelada monkeys in the Semien Mountains of Ethiopia
• Sulphur mining the Ijen crater on the Indonesian island of Java
• Catching giant bats in the New Guinea Highlands
• Avalanche control in the Swiss Alps
• Cataract surgery in the Himalayas, Nepal
• Tibetan sky burial

Behind the Lens: Hunting with Golden Eagles in the Altai Mountains

Episode 6: Grasslands – Roots of Power

First aired on Thursday 17 February 2011. Topics include:

• Dorobo people stealing food from a lion pride in Kenya
• Ambushing kudu in the Kalahari
• Trapping water snakes in Cambodia's flooded grasslands
• Maasai boys and a honeyguide working together to find honey
• Swarming quelea attacking rice crops in Tanzania
• Horsemanship on the Mongolian steppe
• Donga fights of Ethiopia's Suri tribesmen
• Cattle mustering by helicopter in the Australian outback

Behind the Lens: Stealing food from a lion pride in Kenya

Episode 7: Rivers – Friend and Foe

First aired on Thursday 24 February 2011. Topics include:

• Traversing the Mekong's cataracts in Si Phan Don, Laos, during the monsoon
• A winter trek to school along the frozen Zanskar River in Nepal
• Ice-breaking with dynamite on the Rideau River in Ottawa
• Moving a house from a collapsing riverbank in Bangladesh
• Preparing for the annual flood on Brazil's Rio Negro
• Fishing on the edge of Victoria Falls
• Samburu people tracking elephants to locate water below a dry river bed in northern Kenya
• Plastering the mud-walled mosque of Djenné
• The living bridges of Meghalaya

Behind the Lens: Traversing the Mekong's cataracts during the monsoon

Episode 8: Cities – Surviving the Urban Jungle

First aired on Thursday 3 March 2011. Topics include:

• Falconry in Dubai
• Elk control in Estes Park, Colorado
• Rhesus macaque-infested market in Jaipur
• Rat-catching in New York City
• Bedbug infestation in London
• Pigeon-rearing in Fes
• Living with free-tailed bats in Austin, Texas
• Bishnois rescuing fawns in Rajasthan
• Imported tropical fruits in Barcelona
• Life on a landfill in Mombasa
• Building the green city Masdar in Abu Dhabi
• Beekeeping in New York City

Behind the Lens: Collection of filming experiences from all habitats

International broadcast

Country/Region	Channel	Narrator
Portugal	Canal Odisseia
United Kingdom	BBC One Eden	John Hurt
United States	Discovery Channel Discovery en Español	Mike Rowe (English) Gael Garcia Bernal (Spanish)
Australia	ABC1
Latin America Brazil	Discovery Channel	Gael Garcia Bernal Milton Nascimento (Portuguese)
Hong Kong	TVB Pearl	Wong He
Finland	YLE TV1	Tuomo Holopainen
Turkey	NTV Turkey	Tuncel Kurtiz
Singapore	BBC Knowledge
New Zealand	Prime
Germany	ZDFneo Servus TV
Israel	Channel 1	Kobi Meidan
China	CCTV-9 CCTV-1
Philippines	GMA News TV GMA Network	Kara David
Netherlands	Omroep NTR	Carice Van Houten
France	France 5	Fabien Autin
Iran	IRIB Mostanad

Air Time

• (Original screening)- Thursdays at 8pm over eight weeks, starting from 13 January 2011 on.
• (Domestic repeats)- 8 episodes aired over one week in April 2012 on Eden.
• (English)- 6 episodes over three Sunday nights at 8pm E/P (7pm C) from 10 April 2011
• (Spanish) - 25 April 2011 from 8pm E/5pm P
• - 20 March 2011 Sunday nights at 7:30pm
• - 12 May 2011 Thursdays at 11pm E/P
• - 17 May 2011 Tuesdays at 9:30pm
• - 13 Mar 2012 Tuesdays at 7pm
• - 17 July 2011 Sundays at 9pm
• - 30 September 2011 Fridays at 7:30pm
• - 14 November 2011 Mondays and Wednesdays at 8:15pm
• - 13 May 2012 Sundays at 10pm
• - March 2011 every day at 9pm with replays from April 2012; weeknights at 10:35pm
• - 19 January 2013 Saturdays at 10pm
• - (Dutch)- 6 episodes over six Sunday night at 8pm from 20 March 2011
• - 30 December 2011 every Saturday to Sunday

Merchandise

The Region 2 DVD and Blu-ray three-disc set was released on 21 February 2011.

The Region 1 DVD and Blu-ray three-disc set was released on 26 April 2011.

The Region 4 DVD and Blu-ray three-disc set was released on 5 May 2011.

The accompanying hardcover book was released on 20 January 2011:

External links

• Human Planet at BBC Programmes
• Human Planet at IMDb
• Human Planet Audio Slideshow – BBC interview with Human Planet photographer Timothy Allen
• Human Planet Explorer – BBC video and audio clips documenting the stories of man's relationship with nature
• Human Planet Gallery – Photo Gallery of the Human Planet series
• Human Planet web exclusives – Behind the scenes and extra footage
• Human Planet blog
• Timothy Allen's Human Planet photography blog
• Daily Telegraph Review
• Human Planet on Eden