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69-524: Human Planet is an 8-part British television documentary series. It was produced as a co-production between the BBC Natural History Unit , BBC Worldwide , BBC Cymru Wales , Discovery Channel and France Télévisions . The documentary 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. The show drew attention for alleged fakery and

138-671: A bedbug infestation in London with a sniffer dog ; attracting feral pigeons in Fes in order to harvest droppings for leather tanning ; living with and profiting from free-tailed bats in Austin, Texas ; Bishnois rescuing and caring for orphaned fawns in Rajasthan ; the availability of non-seasonal or non-local foods all over the world; scavenging on a landfill in Mombasa , Kenya; building

207-569: A honeyguide working collaboratively to locate and then harvest African bee honey; protecting rice crops in Tanzania from massive swarms of quelea ; mustering horses on the Mongolian steppe in order to make airag (a traditional fermented horse-milk yoghurt); traditional Donga stick-fights of Ethiopia 's Suri tribesmen; mustering beef cattle by helicopter in the northern Australian outback . This episode documents people's attraction to

276-457: A 50-minute Sunday evening slot. Because of the challenge of producing enough colour material, the commission was shared between the NHU and London's Travel and Exploration Unit. The extended opportunities offered by the 50-minute format and improvements in film technology and expertise finally allowed the NHU to begin showcasing its talent. One of Attenborough's main achievements as Controller of BBC 2

345-554: A chronological summary of the Unit's major television and film productions. As well as returning series such as Springwatch and Autumnwatch and natural history content for BBC One's The One Show , the Unit has been commissioned to produce or co-produce the following announced titles: The Natural History Unit as a whole was awarded the Gold Medal at the 2001 Royal Television Society awards for its "outstanding contribution over

414-497: A full editorial review. 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: Templar, Dale (2011). Human Planet . BBC Books . ISBN   978-1-84607-956-6 . BBC Natural History Unit The BBC Studios Natural History Unit (NHU)

483-554: A nest hole. By 1957, with Look firmly established and Gillard and Hawkins lobbying hard, the BBC management in London approved the official formation of a Natural History Unit. Gillard was on the search for a senior producer to head the new Unit, and asked David Attenborough to take on the role. Attenborough had good credentials (he was a trained zoologist ) but declined, having recently settled in London with his young family. Instead, he

552-580: A regime of co-management between the states and the indigenous communities present in the territory on which the resource extraction is being held. Moreover, the law states that indigenous peoples have to be part of « strategic planning », in other words in defining the various deadlines of such projects. They should as well receive a « fair and equitable benefit sharing ». A revenue sharing scheme would improve Arctic indigenous peoples' living standards and enable them to gain further economic autonomy. Finally, following United Nation Declaration of

621-452: A scene from the "Deserts" episode, which supposedly showed a wild wolf being shot at by Mongolian herders, actually showed a semi-domesticated wolf running to its handler, who was kept out of frame. The wolf was not shot at. Another scene depicting Venezuelan children hunting tarantulas, while implied to be taking place in the jungle, actually was shot in a television studio. As a result, the BBC withdrew Human Planet from distribution pending

690-823: A source of Vitamin C ) using traditional methods in Greenland; in July, using nets to harvest auks in Siorapaluk , Greenland; preparing kiviak , made by fermenting auks in a seal skin; in September, herding and driving of reindeer by Sami people on Arnøya in Norway; and in October, removing migrating polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba Canada. This episode examines how people survive in tropical forests, where there

759-572: A special award at the International Broadcasting Convention in recognition of its unique contribution to wildlife film and documentary making. On television, the anniversary was marked with the broadcast of Saving Planet Earth , a conservation-themed series which helped to raise over £1.5 million for the BBC Wildlife Fund. In October 2007, the BBC announced that the NHU would suffer cuts of

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828-716: A state-only control as the Arctic Council's aim is to focus on sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic region, excluding de facto other topics like security or border disputes. Circumpolar peoples do not have access or have only limited access to these types of discussions which concerns their land but are discussed elsewhere. In 2023, the Statement of the Arctic Peoples’ Conference 2023 – Inuiaat Issittormiut Ataatsimeersuarnerat 2023

897-496: A third in both staff numbers and its £37 million annual budget, as a result of the Government's decision to impose a lower than inflation increase in the television licence fee. The cutbacks were widely condemned within the media industry and by programme-makers, including David Attenborough. In response to the criticism, Keith Scholey, Factual Controller of BBC Vision, promised that the BBC would "continue to make and show

966-625: Is a department of BBC Studios that produces television, radio and online content with a natural history or wildlife theme. It is best known for its highly regarded nature documentaries , including The Blue Planet and Planet Earth , and has a long association with David Attenborough 's authored documentaries, starting with 1979's Life on Earth . The Natural History Unit is a specialist department within BBC Studios Productions. Each year it produces around 100 hours of television and 50 hours of radio programmes, making it

1035-549: Is composed of Inuit . It is difficult to find an exact number of the indigenous peoples in the Arctic as states have a tendency to downplay the numbers. Moreover, each state has its own different methods to count its indigenous population. For instance, Russia excludes from the official status of "small peoples of the North" ( Russian : "малые народы Севера" or "Коренные малочисленные народы Севера" ) every community that exceeds  50,000 people. They are therefore excluding from

1104-603: Is marketed internationally under the BBC Earth brand. Original content is also broadcast on the Earth Unplugged YouTube channel. The Unit has been based in Broadcasting House, Bristol since its formation in 1957, and has been headed by Jonny Keeling since 2021. The BBC natural history unit's links to Bristol date back to the 1940s, when Desmond Hawkins , then a young producer, joined

1173-819: Is often less protein available than in the deserts. Topics include: blowgun hunting canopy monkeys with the Matis in Brazil; hunting goliath tarantula with the Piaroa people in Venezuela; breastfeeding orphaned monkey pets by the Awá Guajá people of the eastern Amazon; hunting birds-of-paradise for plumage used to crown costumes at the Mount Hagen sing-sing in Papua New Guinea ; gathering honeycomb with

1242-530: Is sometimes mistakenly translated. The voice of indigenous people in the Arctic is important as they have usually been seen as the representatives and voices of the impact of climate change in the Arctic . Some numerically large indigenous communities hold a role in the geopolitics of the Arctic region through the status of permanent participant in the Arctic Council . It is the case of the Aleuts though

1311-864: The Wildlife Special miniseries Tiger: Spy in the Jungle both reportedly achieved the highest-ever audience appreciation index (AI) rating for a factual programme. Since launching commercially, the Natural History Unit has won commissions from international broadcasters including Apple TV+ ( The Year Earth Changed and Prehistoric Planet ), Discovery Channel ( Endangered , narrated by Ellen DeGeneres ), NBCUniversal ( The Americas previously known as The New World ), National Geographic ( Ocean Xplorers in partnership with James Cameron ), and PBS ( Wild Scandinavia , narrated by Rebecca Ferguson ), as well as producing for

1380-1229: The Aleut International Association , the Canadian and Alaskan Athabaskans through the Arctic Athabaskan Council , the Gwichʼin through the Gwich'in Council International , the Inuit through the Inuit Circumpolar Council , the Sámi through the Saami Council and the Indigenous peoples of the Russian north through Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North (RAIPON). Generally, when indigenous peoples participate in international discussion, they have

1449-792: The Altai Mountains of Mongolia ; cliff-farmers battling gelada monkeys in the Semien Mountains of Ethiopia ; mining rock sulphur in the active Ijen crater on the Indonesian island of Java ; Yangoru-boiken tribe members hunting giant bats in the New Guinea Highlands ; avalanche control using dynamite on mountains near Grindelwald in the Swiss Alps ; cataracts due to high-UV rates, and free eye surgery provided by Dr. Sanduk Ruit in remote areas of

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1518-726: The Bayaka in the Congo jungle ; logging timber using Asian elephants in Assam , India; gathering evidence of uncontacted peoples in Brazil; and building a tree house 35 metres high with the Korowai in West Papua , Indonesia . This was later revealed to have been faked. This show highlights the attraction of mountains for people, such as security or rare resource exploitation. Topics include: ethnic Kazakhs hunting with golden eagles in

1587-700: The Dogon people in a drought shrunken Mali lake; Tubu women in Niger navigating their way across the Sahara with a camel caravan on the way to market; the struggle between wolves and camel and sheep herders in the wintry Gobi Desert ; moisture farming for agriculture in the Atacama Desert ; mining and networking underground aqueducts in rural Algeria ; details of extravagant water usage in Las Vegas ; and

1656-538: The Ganges in Bangladesh ; preparing for the annual flood on Brazil 's Rio Negro by harvesting baby turtles; fishing in the rapids on the edge of Victoria Falls ; Samburu camel herders tracking elephants to locate water below the dry Milgis riverbed in northern Kenya ; plastering the mud-walled mosque of Djenné ; and the natural living bridges of Meghalaya in northern India. The final episode concludes

1725-687: The Himalayas , Nepal ; and a Tibetan sky burial using vultures high in the rural mountainside. The sixth instalment shows humanity's reliance on grass species and the animals they support. Topics include: Dorobo people using guile to steal wildebeest meat from a lion pride in Kenya ; bushmen tracking and ambushing kudu in the Kalahari ; netting water snakes for food and for market in Cambodia 's flooded Tonlé Sap grasslands; Maasai boys and

1794-520: The BBC eventually acknowledged that a number of scenes were inaccurately depicted or misleading and withdrew the series from distribution. 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

1863-581: The BBC. Content is marketed internationally under BBC Studios' BBC Earth brand. Original content is also broadcast on the BBC Earth YouTube channel. According to Circumpolar peoples Approximately four million people are resident in the Arctic , among which 10 percent are indigenous peoples belonging to a vast number of distinct communities. They represent a minority with the exception of Greenland of which 90 percent of its population

1932-637: The Inuit, and other related peoples, have migrated throughout the Arctic and subarctic regions of Canada ( Inuit Nunangat ), Greenland , Russia ( Siberia ), and the United States ( Alaska ). Other Indigenous peoples of the circumpolar north include the Chukchi , Evenks , Iñupiat , Khanty , Koryaks , Nenets , Sámi , Yukaghir , and Yupik . Yupik people still refer to themselves as Eskimo which means "snowshoe netters", not "raw meat eaters" as it

2001-504: The Move . Natural World also received a three-year commission from BBC Two on its 25th anniversary. Post 2010, a greater emphasis was placed on climate change, which several special programmes broadcast focusing on the issue. More broadly, series looked at the negative effects of climate change and habitat destruction within series that did not focus solely on the topic. In 2016, BBC's non-news content production, including natural history,

2070-518: The Unit's first colour production. This was one of six films made for the BBC by part-time film-makers Ron Peggs and Leslie Jackman . Leslie filmed the insect sequences at his home in Paignton using specimens collected by John Burton. Colour transmission finally arrived in 1967 on BBC 2 under the stewardship of David Attenborough, who had retired from programme-making to move into BBC administration. The first natural history film to be shown in colour

2139-582: The West Region staff. His personal interest in the subject led to a radio series called The Naturalist , which began on the Home Service in 1946 and proved an immediate success, later augmented by Out of Doors and Birds in Britain . By the early 1950s, Hawkins had been promoted to Head of Programmes, West Region and was keen to translate his success to the developing medium of television . At

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2208-529: The ambitious, large-scale, truly memorable series that audiences associate with BBC natural history output". Titles affected by the cuts include the BBC Two Wild strand. Productions already underway were not affected by the cuts, so the following year came Wild China , Pacific Abyss , Lost Land of the Jaguar and Big Cat Live , as well as the Unit's most ambitious radio event to date, World on

2277-538: The annual Guérewol fertility dance of the Wodaabe Fula people in Niger . The third episode looks at the hunting season of some of the 4 million people eking out a living within the hostile Arctic Circle . Topics include: Inuit hunting Greenland sharks as food for their huskies ; using a neap tide to gather mussels under sea ice in North-eastern Canada; hunting narwhals (prized as

2346-495: The broadcast rights to 22 international markets. 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

2415-680: The city lights - face to face with raw nature. This is the Human Planet. The beginning of the episode contrasts the richness and dangers of the oceans with the adaptability and endeavour of the people attracted to it, and their reliance on oceanic resources with its exploitation. Topics include: goose barnacle collection in coastal Galicia in northern Spain ; sperm whale hunting off the Indonesian archipelago island of Lembata ; bottlenose dolphin assisted fishing at Laguna in Brazil ;

2484-573: The definition certain numerically large indigenous communities like the Komi peoples , Karelians or Yakuts . The earliest inhabitants of North America's central and eastern Arctic are referred to as the Arctic small tool tradition (AST) and existed c. 2500 BCE . The AST consisted of several Paleo-Eskimo cultures, including the Independence cultures and Pre-Dorset culture. The Dorset culture ( Inuktitut : Tuniit or Tunit ) refers to

2553-515: The early problems for the Unit was the difficulty in sourcing film stock . At the time, the only wildlife cameramen were amateurs, and the footage wasn't always good enough for broadcast. The embryo unit's first film camera, a clockwork Bolex , was bought from a Bristol camera shop with petty cash by Desmond's assistant, Tony Soper . Some of Scott's own expedition films were used for early episodes of Look . One particularly outstanding film from 1955, shot by Heinz Sielmann , showed woodpeckers inside

2622-703: The first official Head of the Unit. It celebrated its silver jubilee in 1982 with the miniseries Flight of the Condor , and sealed its reputation as one of the foremost production companies for popular natural history films in the following decades. A succession of series have followed the format established by Life on Earth , often presented or narrated by Attenborough, and transmitted on the BBC's main channel. The Blue Planet (2001) and Planet Earth (2006) typify these signature programmes, characterised by high production values, specially-commissioned musical scores and often ground-breaking footage of wildlife from around

2691-441: The first underwater films. Nicholas Crocker, a senior producer with West Region, became the Unit's first Head in September 1957. Founder members included Tony Soper (producer) and Christopher Parsons (assistant film editor ), both of whom would go on to play a major part in the Unit's development. Although much of the Unit's early output concentrated on British and European wildlife, one of its first productions to be broadcast

2760-476: The future of these communities. They also call for climate justice and denounce green colonialism which is the land encroachment, resource extraction and renewable energy production on their land, without their consent as well as the  proliferation of marine protected areas that are not indigenous-led. They recall their right to determine their own priorities for development, which should be understood as not confined to economic development. Finally, they highlight

2829-425: The globe. The NHU has also diversified into other programme formats. Its Diary series have featured African big cats , elephants , orang-utans and bears in a nightly wildlife soap opera . Among of the longest-running programmes has been Wildlife on One (1977–2005) which was broadcast in a regular evening slot. The Continents strand on BBC Two has featured series on all the world's major land areas over

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2898-444: The green city of Masdar in Abu Dhabi ; and urban apiary in New York City. 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. The BBC has issued multiple statements about inaccuracies within

2967-411: The idea. Attenborough was receptive, even to the idea that he should present the series, but both men realised at that time that it was beyond the scope of the Unit's capabilities. When Attenborough resigned from his administrative duties to return to programme making at the start of 1973, planning for the proposed series resumed. It was another three years before the resourcing and financing were agreed,

3036-417: The largest wildlife documentary production house in the world. The BBC commissions programmes from the Unit for broadcast on five terrestrial television channels ( BBC One , BBC Two , BBC Four , CBBC and CBeebies ) and BBC Radio 4 . It also makes programmes for other broadcasters and services including Apple TV+ , Warner Bros. Discovery , National Geographic Global Networks and NBC Universal . Content

3105-489: The need to ask for their consensus before making any decision in the Arctic Council and that making decisions without consensus undermines its purpose and integrity. With the melting of the ice and the possibility of opening new trade routes as well as extracting resources from the seabed, resource managements could be a major topic of discussion between Arctic States and Circumpolar Peoples. According to international law and indigenous rights, resource management should fall into

3174-400: The next inhabitants of central and eastern Arctic. The Dorset culture evolved because of technological and economic changes during the period of 1050–550 BCE. With the exception of the Quebec / Labrador Peninsula , the Dorset culture vanished around 1500 CE. Dorset / Thule culture transition dates around the 9th–10th centuries. Scientists theorize that there may have been cross-contact of

3243-429: The outline episode scripts written (by Attenborough) and a production team in place. Parsons would serve as series producer and share production duties for the individual episodes with Richard Brock and John Sparks . Filming took place in 39 countries, featured over 650 different species and involved over 1 million miles of travel. Attenborough himself has said that if it had not been for computerised airline schedules,

3312-470: The past 44 years to broadcasting about the natural world". It was praised for being "a national resource for people's understanding and love of wildlife on our planet, and a symbol of both quality and talent in public service broadcasting". NHU filmmakers are regularly nominated and rewarded at film festivals such as Wildscreen , the Missoula International Wildlife Film Festival and the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival and their output has been recognised by

3381-399: The past eighteen years, including Spirits of the Jaguar (1996), Land of the Tiger (1997), Andes to Amazon (2000) and Wild Down Under (2003). Also on BBC Two, the annual Springwatch (since 2005) and Autumnwatch (since 2006) series have brought live pictures of British wildlife into millions of homes. In 2007, the Unit celebrated its 50th anniversary and was rewarded with

3450-416: The responsibility of the Features office of the West Region. One of the first programmes was an outside broadcast from the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust 's centre at Slimbridge in 1953, the first TV collaboration between the BBC and Peter Scott . Occasional programmes continued the following year, but it was not until 1955 that the BBC began a regular studio-based series, Look , presented by Scott. One of

3519-412: The rich yet unpredictable river systems around the world. Topics include: fishermen traversing the Mekong 's cataracts in Si Phan Don , Laos , during the monsoon floods; a 100 kilometre 6-day winter trek to school along the frozen Zanskar River in Ladakh, India; flood control through ice-breaking with dynamite along the Rideau River in Ottawa ; moving houses threatened by a collapsing riverbank along

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3588-443: The same table as states representatives. It enables them to gain influence on the soft law making process, which was until now for states-only. They are also starting to gain influence in the making of legally binding texts as they participated in the making of the Arctic Search and Rescue (May 2011) or the Agreement on Cooperation on Marine Oil Pollution Preparedness and Response in the Arctic (2013). Certain areas still remain under

3657-402: The same time, the technology to broadcast and receive colour television was being developed, and the BBC made funds available to begin filming in colour to allow filmmakers to experiment with the latest equipment in preparation for the switchover. The Major (1963), produced by Parsons and filmed largely by New Forest cameraman Eric Ashby, told the story of an ancient English oak and was

3726-404: The series with an exploration of humans attempts to control urban nature. Topics include: using falconry in Dubai to control the feral pigeon population; local police on Segway scooters controlling wild elk stags in Estes Park, Colorado ; the dilemma of selling food in a rhesus macaque -infested market in Jaipur ; catching rats and controlling other pests in New York City; dealing with

3795-469: The series would have probably been impossible to undertake. When it was finally broadcast in 1979 on BBC 1 , Life on Earth drew an audience of 15 million people in the UK and was eventually seen by an estimated 500 million people worldwide. The Natural History Unit made its name with Life on Earth , and was rewarded by being awarded departmental status by BBC management in December 1979. Christopher Parsons, by then its most experienced producer, became

3864-409: The series. A first statement admitted that "the portrayal of the [ Korowai ] tribe moving into the treehouse as a real home is not accurate." In fact, the tribe built the treehouse on commission for the programme. A second statement stated that a scene depicting "a Lamaleran whale hunter named Benjamin Blikololong shown supposedly harpooning a whale" is also inaccurate. The BBC also later disclosed that

3933-543: The spiritual origins and modern aspects of surfing in Hawaii ; shark calling in Papua New Guinea ; the dangers of compressor diving around Palawan in the Philippines ; and the transient stateless houseboat Bajau people living in the Coral Sea near Borneo . The second instalment deals with the lifestyles and adaptations of people existing in the unforgiving arid regions of the Earth. Topics include: cattle herders racing African elephants to Lake Banzena for scarce water resources in Mali ; sacred Antogo fishing by

4002-443: The status of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), in order to differentiate them from states. However, the Arctic Council established a unique model of indigenous participation by giving them the status of Permanent Participants . It is a new reading of their participation and consultative right granted by the United Nation Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People in its article 18. Indigenous people are for once, seated at

4071-417: The studio-based series To Bafut for Beef (April 1958), using African footage shot by Durrell. In the early 1960s, natural history filmmaking was being held back by the limitations of the available technology, particularly the restrictions of shooting often fast-moving subjects in poor light and spectacularly colourful subjects in black and white. The second of these problems was about to be resolved. Around

4140-454: The time, radio still commanded much higher audiences than the fledgling television service, but Hawkins was not alone in recognising the potential for natural history programmes for the newer medium. His vision was shared by Frank Gillard , the regional Head, and the two men would become the driving force behind the establishment of the Natural History Unit (NHU) in Bristol. Until such formalities were completed, natural history programmes were

4209-413: The two cultures with sharing of technology, such as fashioning harpoon heads, or the Thule may have found Dorset remnants and adapted their ways with the predecessor culture. Others believe the Thule displaced the Dorset. By 1300, the Inuit , present-day Arctic inhabitants and descendants of Thule culture, had settled in west Greenland, and moved into east Greenland over the following century. Over time,

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4278-418: 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. Only one creature has carved a life for itself in every habitat on Earth. That creature is us. All over the world we still use our ingenuity to survive in the wild places far from

4347-411: The wider broadcasting industry too, winning four Emmys , eleven BAFTAs , and the Prix Italia on three occasions. Recognition has also come in the form of high audience viewing figures and audience approval ratings, particularly for 'blue-chip' series such as Planet Earth . When first screened in the UK it was watched by more than 8 million people. In 2008, episodes of Life in Cold Blood and

4416-493: Was Faraway Look featuring Peter Scott in Australia . The early programmes were limited by the available technology, but it was also a time of great experimentation in style and content, bringing the Unit notable success. Animal Magic (1962–1983), presented by Johnny Morris and Tony Soper, was a successful format for young audiences which ran for over 20 years. The Unit also collaborated with Gerald Durrell on several films of his animal-collecting expeditions, beginning with

4485-443: Was Ron Eastman's The Private Life of the Kingfisher (1968), written and produced by Jeffery Boswall . Attenborough, by then controller of BBC 2, wanted to make a strong statement on BBC's second channel of the boundless possibilities that colour television offered, and recognised that natural history was the obvious subject matter to choose. He commissioned a series called The World About Us (1969–1982) that would broadcast in

4554-404: Was issued on the common circumpolar peoples' political goals for the 50th anniversary of the first Circumpolar Meeting of Arctic Indigenous Peoples. One of the main arguments is the defense of their right to well being. A major preoccupation is the access to healthcare and the application of mental health policies as suicide, especially among the younger generations, is a major issue that threatens

4623-582: Was placed in charge of the newly formed Travel and Exploration Unit , striking a deal which would allow him to continue to film his popular Zoo Quest (1954–1963) series alongside natural history output from the fledgling Bristol unit. The Travel and Exploration Unit in London also introduced viewers to more exotic wildlife, and made household names of the first natural history presenters. Armand and Michaela Denis filmed East African wildlife for their On Safari programmes, whilst another pioneering husband-and-wife team, Hans and Lotte Hass , created some of

4692-489: Was separated into a commercial subsidiary BBC Studios . NHU head Wendy Darke departed and was succeeded by Julian Hector. Since its inception in the 1950s, the Natural History Unit has produced a wealth of material for television, radio, and more recently, cinema. Being the first and the largest production unit devoted to natural history programme making, it maintains an extensive archive of images and sound recordings as well as film materials. The filmography article presents

4761-430: Was to commission Civilisation (1969), a major series presented by the respected art historian Kenneth Clark . It was a resounding success with critics and the public, pioneering the 'personal view' form of documentary films for television. Parsons, by then an experienced producer with the NHU, recognised the potential for a similar treatment with natural history as the subject and approached Attenborough in 1970 with

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