State_of_the_Planet Knowpia

*State of the Planet*
State of the Planet
	Region 2 DVD cover
Genre	Nature documentary
Presented by	David Attenborough
Composer	Sarah Class
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of episodes	3
Production
Producer	Rupert Barrington
Running time	147 minutes
Production company	BBC Natural History Unit
Original release
Network	BBC One
Release	15 November –; 29 November 2000

State of the Planet is a three-part environmental documentary series, made by the BBC Natural History Unit, transmitted in November 2000. It is written and presented by David Attenborough, and produced by Rupert Barrington. It includes interviews with many leading scientists, such as Edward O. Wilson and Jared Diamond. Each of the programmes attempts to find answers to the potential ecological crisis that threatens the Earth.

The series was specially commissioned by BBC One for the millennium, and had a budget of around GBP2 million. The BBC drew criticism for scheduling the first episode in competition with the final part of ITV's Inspector Morse; as a consequence, it drew just 4 million viewers, well below the channel's typical share.^[1] However, ratings recovered to around 7 million for the second and third programmes.^[2]

Attenborough fronted this series in between presenting his 1998 ornithological study, The Life of Birds, and providing narration to the award-winning 2001 series The Blue Planet.

Programmes edit

1. "Is There a Crisis?" edit

Broadcast 15 November 2000, together with leading experts, David Attenborough examines the latest scientific evidence in order to discover if the planet's ecosystems are really in crisis. If so, he asks how it could have come about, and what is so different now that prevents certain species from adapting to survive, as they did in the past?

2. "Why Is There a Crisis?" edit

Broadcast 22 November 2000, Attenborough presents some stark facts. He states that humans are now triggering a mass extinction on a similar scale to that which wiped out the dinosaurs – but at an unprecedented rate. He investigates the five main activities of mankind that are the most likely contributory factors:

3. "The Future of Life" edit

Broadcast 29 November 2000, as Homo sapiens relentlessly encroaches on the natural world and its inhabitants, the viewer is presented with a choice: leave behind a flourishing planet or a dying one.

"The future of life on earth depends on our ability to take action. Many individuals are doing what they can, but real success can only come if there's a change in our societies and our economics and in our politics. I've been lucky in my lifetime to see some of the greatest spectacles that the natural world has to offer. Surely we have a responsibility to leave for future generations a planet that is healthy, inhabitable by all species."
— David Attenborough, in closing

DVD edit

The complete series was released on DVD (BBCDVD1498) on 27 September 2004.

References edit

^ O'Carroll, Lisa (16 November 2000). "ITV's Morse kills off BBC1 Attenborough epic". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
^ Clarke, Steve (27 February 2001). "Life in the old iguana yet". The Independent. London. Retrieved 24 May 2010.^{[dead link]}