The Blue Planet is a British nature documentary series created as a co-production between the BBC Natural History Unit and Discovery Channel. It premiered on 12 September 2001 in the United Kingdom. It is narrated by David Attenborough. Described as "the first ever comprehensive series on the natural history of the world's oceans", each of the eight 50-minute episodes examines a different aspect of marine life. The underwater photography included creatures and behaviour that had previously never been filmed. The series won a number of Emmy and BAFTA TV awards for its music and cinematography. The executive producer was Alastair Fothergill and the music was composed by George Fenton. Attenborough narrated this series before presenting the next in his Life series of programmes, The Life of Mammals (2002), and the same production team created Planet Earth (2006). A sequel series, Blue Planet II was aired on BBC One in 2017.
Background The series took almost five years to make, involving nearly 200 filming locations. The fact that most of the ocean environment remains a mystery presented the production team with many challenges. Besides witnessing some animal behaviours for the first time, the crew also observed some that were new to science. The producers were helped by marine scientists all over the world with state-of-the-art equipment. Blue whales – whose migration routes were previously unknown – were located by air, after some of the animals had been given temporary radio tags. The camera team spent three years on standby, using a microlight to land on the water nearby when they finally caught up with the creatures in the Gulf of California. The open ocean proved more difficult and over 400 days were spent in often unsuccessful filming trips. After six weeks, the crew chanced upon a school of spinner dolphins, which in turn led them to a shoal of tuna. Off Mexico, the behaviour of a flock of frigatebirds guided the cameramen to a group of sailfish and marlin: the fastest inhabitants of the sea. Near the coast of Natal in South Africa, the team spent two seasons attempting to film the annual sardine run, a huge congregation of predators such as sharks and dolphins, that assembles to feast on the migrating fish by corralling them into "bait balls". Meanwhile, in Monterey Bay, orca were documented attacking gray whales and killing a calf. Filming in the deep ocean required the use of special submersibles. One of them enabled the crew to dive over a mile into the San Diego trench, where the carcass of a 40-ton gray whale had been placed to attract a large variety of scavengers. When first transmitted on BBC One, over 12 million people watched the series and it regularly achieved an audience share of over 30%. In 2018 a newly-discovered species of phytoplankton (Syracosphaera azureaplaneta) was named by scientists in honour of the programme, and in recognition of David Attenborough's contribution to promoting wider understanding and awareness of the oceanic environment.
Episodes "Our planet is a blue planet: over seventy per cent of it is covered by the sea. The Pacific Ocean alone covers half the globe. You can fly across it non-stop for twelve hours and still see nothing more than a speck of land. This series will reveal the complete natural history of our ocean planet, from its familiar shores to the mysteries of its deepest seas."
Merchandise
DVD and Blu-ray The series was available as a 3-disc DVD set (BBCDVD1089, released 3 December 2001 and re-released in 2003), including interviews with the production team, a photo gallery and three additional programmes:
Making Waves: the making of The Blue Planet (50 mins) Deep Trouble: an ecological documentary (50 mins) Blue: a five-minute theatrical short The first DVD has now been superseded by a 4-disc Special Edition (BBCDVD1792, released 3 October 2005), which has three extra programmes:
The Abyss Dive to Shark Volcano Amazon Abyss In the US, there is a 4-disc Collector's Set edition (Released 2002), including 8 featurettes, interviews, photo galleries and one additional programmes:
Deep Trouble: an ecological documentary (50 mins) In the US, there is also a 5-disc Special Edition (BBC040754, released 6 May 2008). It contains the same features as the US 4-disc versions, but includes a fifth disk containing four special presentations:
Amazon Abyss: discover an array of creatures living in the Amazon Dive to Shark Volcano: venture to Cocoa Island, an underwater volcano Beneath the Tides: explore an estuary in winter Antarctica BBC released a 3-disc The Blue Planet: Seas of Life on Blu-ray on 9 April 2013. It contains the featured presentations as well as a third disk containing interviews, behind-the-scenes footage and five special presentations:
Amazon Abyss Dive to Shark Volcano Beneath the Tides Antarctica Deep Trouble.
Books The accompanying book, The Blue Planet: A Natural History of the Oceans by Andrew Byatt, Alastair Fothergill and Martha Holmes (with a foreword by David Attenborough), was published by BBC Worldwide on 27 September 2001 (ISBN 0-563-38498-0). The companion volume for the US market of the same book was published by Dorling Kindersley (DK) and released in 2002 (ISBN 0-789-48265-7).
Film
Deep Blue is a 2003 nature documentary film that is a theatrical version of The Blue Planet. Alastair Fothergill and Andy Byatt are credited as directors, and six cinematographers are also credited. The film was premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain on 20 September 2003. It screened in more than 20 territories from 2003 to 2005 and grossed over $30 million at the box office.
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