Upcoming BBC wildlife documentaries

DesertRhino150

DesertRhino150

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
The news of the viewing figures for Planet Earth III mention that, in 2024, there will be three new wildlife series airing. I figured I would put some information about them here for interest's sake.

Big Cats 24/7
A six-part series, each episode an hour in length. This programme is essentially following the lives of lions, leopards and cheetahs in the Okavango Delta, day and night, for six months. Other than a change in location and the inclusion of night footage, it seems to almost be a recreation of Big Cat Diary.

More information about this programme is in the link below from 2023:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2023/big-cats-247-orphan

Mammals
Another six-part series of hour-long episodes. I am not certain how the episodes will be done - parts of the article mention the variety of habitats that mammals occupy, while other parts mention the different secrets of the mammal's success. The two mammal species mentioned in the article are the Etruscan shrew and the blue whale. Again, it seems like a slightly shortened version of Life of Mammals.

Information about this series can be seen in this link, also from 2023:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2023/factual-commission-bbc-studios-natural-history

Asia
The longest of the three series, consisting of seven hour-long episodes. I believe this is the first series ever by the BBC to look at the wildlife of Asia as a whole (there have, in the past, been a number on regions within Asia, such as India, Arabia, Russia, China, Japan and Indonesia). Animals mentioned in the article include bears, rhinos, big cats, colugo, vampire moths and binturong.

More information on this series can be seen from this link, when the programme was commissioned back in 2021:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2021/new-exciting-natural-history-commissions
 
DesertRhino150 said:
Mammals
Another six-part series of hour-long episodes. I am not certain how the episodes will be done - parts of the article mention the variety of habitats that mammals occupy, while other parts mention the different secrets of the mammal's success. The two mammal species mentioned in the article are the Etruscan shrew and the blue whale. Again, it seems like a slightly shortened version of Life of Mammals.

Information about this series can be seen in this link, also from 2023:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2023/factual-commission-bbc-studios-natural-history
Click to expand...

More information about this series was released yesterday - perhaps most importantly, it will be airing sometime in the spring.

The series, which is being narrated by David Attenborough, also has had the titles for the six episodes revealed - they are Dark, Cold, Heat, Water, Forest and The New Wild, the latter about mammals adapting to human habitats.

Some more species mentioned include tenrecs and wolverines, as well as the more typical humpback whales, chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys. I am guessing, by the included picture with the press release, that Patagonian sea lions are also going to appear.

More information can be found in the link below:
Sir David Attenborough to present BBC Studios Natural History Unit's Mammals
 
DesertRhino150 said:
More information about this series was released yesterday - perhaps most importantly, it will be airing sometime in the spring.

The series, which is being narrated by David Attenborough, also has had the titles for the six episodes revealed - they are Dark, Cold, Heat, Water, Forest and The New Wild, the latter about mammals adapting to human habitats.

Some more species mentioned include tenrecs and wolverines, as well as the more typical humpback whales, chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys. I am guessing, by the included picture with the press release, that Patagonian sea lions are also going to appear.

More information can be found in the link below:
Sir David Attenborough to present BBC Studios Natural History Unit's Mammals
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Hopefully it will be available in Australia!
 
The trailer for 'Mammals' released a couple of days ago, so I will link it here for people who haven't seen it yet:

The trailer contains thirty-five species of mammal (not including the wolverine, blue whale or Etruscan shrew mentioned in earlier press releases) - of these there are fifteen carnivores (including the domestic dog among their number), five primates, five ungulates (of which two seem to be background / cannon fodder to the carnivores), four cetaceans and single species of tenrec, mole, elephant, bat, squirrel and armadillo.

It seems very carnivore-heavy thus far, but that does seem to be true of quite a few of the more recent big BBC NHU productions. Hopefully there will be a greater variety in the actual programmes.
 
DesertRhino150 said:
The trailer for 'Mammals' released a couple of days ago, so I will link it here for people who haven't seen it yet:

The trailer contains thirty-five species of mammal (not including the wolverine, blue whale or Etruscan shrew mentioned in earlier press releases) - of these there are fifteen carnivores (including the domestic dog among their number), five primates, five ungulates (of which two seem to be background / cannon fodder to the carnivores), four cetaceans and single species of tenrec, mole, elephant, bat, squirrel and armadillo.

It seems very carnivore-heavy thus far, but that does seem to be true of quite a few of the more recent big BBC NHU productions. Hopefully there will be a greater variety in the actual programmes.
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Looks amazing! Do we have a date yet?
 
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DesertRhino150 said:
Asia
The longest of the three series, consisting of seven hour-long episodes. I believe this is the first series ever by the BBC to look at the wildlife of Asia as a whole (there have, in the past, been a number on regions within Asia, such as India, Arabia, Russia, China, Japan and Indonesia). Animals mentioned in the article include bears, rhinos, big cats, colugo, vampire moths and binturong.

More information on this series can be seen from this link, when the programme was commissioned back in 2021:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2021/new-exciting-natural-history-commissions
Click to expand...

Some more information about the upcoming series 'Asia' has been published today. The series will be narrated by David Attenborough. Among the animals confirmed in the article are Indian rhinos, red pandas, a Tibetan wolf hunting Tibetan antelopes, Asian elephant and mixed hunting shoals of fish and sea snakes (perhaps the same species filmed for the Shallow Seas episode of the first Planet Earth). Also mentioned, and possibly appearing, are the sea bunny nudibranch, mudskippers, purple frogs and firefly squid.

There is no air date yet, but I assume it will be sometime later in 2024.

The full article can be read here:
Sir David Attenborough to present Asia on BBC One and iPlayer
 
Still waiting for mammals to be available to watch in Australia :( How does Myanmar have it but not us?
 
A second trailer for 'Asia' was released today:

The newest issue of the BBC Wildlife magazine, which I received today, says that 'Asia' will be airing in the UK in the autumn, without giving an exact airdate. The next issue, published on the 14th November, will apparently have a full feature about the series.
 
Although I cannot find anything online confirming it yet, the BBC put out a television trailer for 'Asia' earlier this evening and confirmed it would begin airing two weeks from now, on November 3rd, at 8pm.
 
DesertRhino150 said:
A second trailer for 'Asia' was released today:

The newest issue of the BBC Wildlife magazine, which I received today, says that 'Asia' will be airing in the UK in the autumn, without giving an exact airdate. The next issue, published on the 14th November, will apparently have a full feature about the series.
Click to expand...
This trailer is absolutely spectacular. I eagerly await this phenomenal looking series!
 
Just to point out, the trailer for 'Asia' that I mentioned yesterday is available on the BBC iPlayer site, again confirming the 3rd November date:
Asia - Trailer: Asia - BBC iPlayer

I did also notice that a page has been uploaded about the making of the series, including the titles of all seven episodes and some of the animals included in them:
1. Beneath the Waves - About marine life around Asia; species mentioned include:
Bioluminescent squid, sea slugs - presumably the sea bunny nudibranch mentioned above, manta rays and mudskippers
2. Above the Clouds - About mountain habitats; species mentioned include:
Mountaineering Asian elephants, red pandas and snow leopards
3. The Frozen North - About cold environments, such as the polar regions and cold deserts; species mentioned include:
Red-crowned crane, Himalayan wolf and polar bear
4. Tangled Worlds - About forest habitats; species mentioned include:
Tigers, pandas, rhinos and orangutans
5. Crowded Continent - About animals living in human landscapes; species mentioned include:
Asian elephants, giant flying squirrels and proboscis monkeys
6. The Arid Heart - About deserts and dry grasslands; species mentioned include:
Gobi bear, Asiatic lion and long-eared jerboa
7. Saving Asia - About Asian conservation; the two species mentioned are:
Sun bears and Javan green magpies

The full article can be seen here:
BBC One - Asia - Making Asia
 
The BBC have released more information about 'Beneath the Waves' - the first episode of 'Asia', airing this Sunday. This includes a full list of all the major species that will included and where they were filmed (for those who would rather not be spoiled about what these are - it probably goes without saying, but don't click the spoiler below).

  1. Spawning Moorish idols being hunted by grey reef sharks (Philippine Sea, Western Pacific)
  2. Reef manta rays (Komodo National Park, Indonesia)
  3. Dusky-gilled mudskipper (Ujung Kulon National Park, Indonesia)
  4. Sperm whale (Western Indian Ocean)
  5. Dusky sharks living in a power station outflow (Hadera, Israel, Mediterranean Sea)
  6. Northern fur seals being hunted by orcas (Tyuleniy Island, Sea of Okhotsk, Russia)
  7. Barrel amphipod (Philippine Sea, Western Pacific)
  8. Firefly squid (Toyama Bay, Japan)
  9. Sea bunny nudibranch (Mabini, Philippines, Coral Triangle)
  10. Sea kraits and bluefin trevally communally hunting (Banda Sea, Indonesia)

The first sequence has apparently been a long time coming, with a prior attempt to film it for Planet Earth III having been unsuccessful.

There is a lot more information - including the abovementioned species list without spoilers, so be careful if you want to avoid such things - in the link below:
Asia episode one - Everything you need to know about Beneath the Waves
 
Having just watched Episode 6 (The Arid Heart) I found it rather odd how they referred to Przewalski’s Horse by their alternative name ‘Takhi.’ A political move perhaps, considering the birthplace of the naturalist who they’re named after, or am I reading too much into it?
 
Panthera1981 said:
A political move perhaps, considering the birthplace of the naturalist who they’re named after, or am I reading too much into it?
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Nikolay Przhevalsky was an awful person even by the standards of his day, I highly doubt that the BBC opted to refer to Asiatic Wild Horses as Takhis in their latest wildlife documentary series just because he happened to be Russian.
 
Panthera1981 said:
A political move perhaps, considering the birthplace of the naturalist who they’re named after, or am I reading too much into it?
Click to expand...

I also can't imagine the name change being purely due to it being Russian - the narration was pretty open about most of the third episode being filmed in Russia, when it could just as easily not have been mentioned.
 
DesertRhino150 said:
I also can't imagine the name change being purely due to it being Russian - the narration was pretty open about most of the third episode being filmed in Russia, when it could just as easily not have been mentioned.
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Agreed. Im sure it’s completely innocent, its one of those situations where I had to do a double-take. Ive never heard the species referred to by that name before!

A case of me overthinking!
 
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