Earth: The Biography

Share this earthly delight with your family and let the sensational images and astounding facts reveal the hidden life story of our incredible, exceptional planet. Cave-dive in a volcano and see how its molten force shapes our landscape. Plunge 500 feet down and experience a glacier's earth moving power. Explore the ocean depths and see the vital role wateer plays in affecting our land and air. As seen on the National Geographic Channel.

Earth is an incredible, exceptional planet with an amazing life story full of cataclysmic disasters, eleventh hour coincidences that save it from extinction and an astonishing power to continually regenerate. This landmark series uses breathtaking footage and specialist imaging to tell the story of the great forces that shape the planet - volcanoes, the ocean, the atmosphere and ice.

Travelling from Ethiopia's unique lava lake to an ice cave under a glacier in Greenland and a host of amazing locations in between, we examine the forces that have helped create and foster life on Earth - from the volcanic eruptions that shape the land to the development of the unique formula of the air that we breathe.

We discover how these forces have not always been benevolent: the ocean belched poisonous gas into the atmosphere; encased in ice, the earth nearly froze to death; and a great meteorite strike helped to drive the dinosaurs to extinction. Yet, through each disaster the planet, aided by lucky breaks, has steered its own recovery and sustained life. Can it continue this astonishing fight for survival or is man contributing to the Earth's inevitable destruction?

Volcano - Volcanoes have a fearsome reputation. In reality, they are the most important force in the creation of the planet as we know it today. Abseiling into a lava lake and cave-diving in a cenote, this episode shows how the heat that fuels volcanoes also drives some of the most fundamental processes on the planet.

Atmosphere - This episode ventures into the stratosphere in a Cold War fighter, travels to Siberia and discovers why Argentina is one of the stormiest places on Earth. All to show why our atmosphere is unique and utterly crucial for life.

Ice - Ice may be nothing more than frozen water but it holds extraordinary power. Descending 150m down a frozen waterfall, this episode looks at a glacier in action from below and discovers why the huge Jacobshaven glacier is retreating, how it shaped our past and why it may now threaten our future.

Oceans - Travelling from Hawaii to the Amazon and Ethiopia and then on to the Mediterranean, this episode tells the story of the oceans - fierce waves, huge tidal bores, global currents and the future dangers of global warming.

Rare Earth - This episode looks at the big picture of Earth's place in Space. It has taken four-and-a-half billion years and several great catastrophes to turn it from a barren rock to the unique planet we know today.

"We find ourselves at the top of Erta Ale volcano in Ethiopia. Beneath there is a sea of bright-red lava that is bubbling through a black stone crust: like blood boiling up from the deep. At that point, I was hooked ... A dazzling tour of our planet's rocky wonders ... the programme does rely heavily on its fine photography as the camera swoops over fault lines, into craters and along seabeds boiling with underwater eruptions. The end result, I am pleased to say, is absolutely riveting."  - Observer

"Not lacking for ambition ... It's fascinating stuff."  - Guardian

"There are impressive shots of molten lava, and [the programme] manages to get across a lot of information - particularly about how volcanoes create and sustain life."  - The Times

"[A] great big new series about the forces that have shaped life on Earth ... The theme tonight is volcanoes, which means lots of awesome, no-expense-spared footage of lava. When you can learn more in an hour of TV than in a year's worth of lessons - and be entertained at the same time - sometimes I wonder why schools still exist at all."  - Daily Mirror

"... makes rocks rock."  - The Times

"There really is nothing quite so bodice-rippingly educational to be found on midwinter television as [this] masterclass on The Power of the Planet ... seeking to sex up earth-science ... And it works. As the hour draws to an end, there's a sense of awe." Guardian

"A gorgeous-looking series."  - Sun