Natural World (1983)
Natural World is a nature documentary television series broadcast annually on BBC Two and regarded by the BBC as its flagship natural history brand. It is currently the longest-running series in its genre on British television, with more than 400 episodes broadcast since its inception in 1983. Natural World is produced by the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol, but individual programmes can be in-house productions, collaborative productions with other broadcasters or films made and distributed by independent production companies and purchased by the BBC. Natural World programmes are often broadcast as PBS Nature episodes in the USA. Since 2008, most Natural World programmes have been shot and broadcast in high definition.
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Episode 1 - Sperm Whales: Back From the Abyss
Release Date: 1996-10-06Wildlife film about sperm whales, revealing the secret lives led by these often misunderstood ocean giants. Scientists all over the world are now learning about the secret lives of sperm whales, the world's largest hunters that spawned the legendy of Moby Dick. Although Mellville painted them as fearsome beasts of the sea, they are actually shy creatures, and cameraman Rick Rosenthal needed patience and persistence to film them at close quarters. They turn out to be efficient hunters with a close family network involving sophisticated and vocal social lives.
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Episode 2 - Mara Nights
Release Date: 1996-10-13The first ever production to record animal behaviour at night without the use of lights, Mara Nights is an intriguing insight into a whole host of unseen nocturnal antics in Kenya's Masai Mara National Park. The normally astute hunting techniques of the lion are replaced by complete reliance on scent and sound, and in the words of the filmmaker Martin Dohrn "bumping into things then jumping on them".
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Episode 3 - Penguins In and Out of Water
Release Date: 1996-10-20Documentary on penguins- not looking at their traditionally viewed habitat Antartica, but at those penguins who have adapted to life in the deserts of Peru, and the cities of New Zealand.
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Episode 4 - Mandrills: Painted Faces of the Forest
Release Date: 1996-10-27A look at the complex social behaviour of a mandrill troop in Gabon, West Africa and associated rainforest species - many of which are relatively unknown.
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Episode 5 - Beetlemania
Release Date: 1996-11-03Documentary investigating beetles - which account for a quarter of all animals on earth.
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Episode 6 - The World in a Wood
Release Date: 1996-11-10An investigation into Wytham Wood outside Oxford, which has been studied by biologists for more than fifty years to examine the dependence between plants and animals.
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Episode 7 - Himalaya
Release Date: 1996-11-17Documentary about the geological and natural history of the Himalayas, the highest and youngest mountain range in the world. The landscape is home to a remarkable diversity of wildlife, including red pandas, snow leopards and iridescent pheasants.
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Episode 8 - Wolves and Buffalo: an Ancient Alliance
Release Date: 1997-01-19Documentary on the Wood Buffalo National Park in Northern Alberta in Canada. Follows the buffalo herds in the last place where they roam freely and the timber wolves who prey on them.
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Episode 9 - Benguela and the Burning Shore
Release Date: 1997-01-26Documentary looking at the wildlife found in the Namib Desert in Africa- where baking sand dunes lie beside an ocean cooled by an icy current - The Benguela.
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Episode 10 - A Lemur's Tale
Release Date: 1997-02-02A touching and intimate portrayal of the ring-tailed lemur, award-winning wildlife filmmaker Adrian Warren spent five months in Madagascar's Berenty forest exploring the fascinating world of these distinctive animals. Providing a captivating glimpse into a year in the life of a lemur, the production starts just after the birthing season, focusing on fragile new arrival, Sapphire, an unusual pure white lemur. Capturing the troop's daily struggle to survive, the film offers an interesting insight into their evolution, behaviour and incredible teamwork.
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Episode 11 - Grand Canyon: From Dinosaurs to Dam
Release Date: 1997-02-16Looks at the wildlife that inhabits the Grand Canyon today, and how the ecology of the area has been affected by the building of two huge dams. Originally home to dinosaurs, it is now occupied by a strange mixture of species from bighorn sheep to ravens, lizards and tarantulas.
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Episode 12 - Wings Over the Serengeti
Release Date: 1997-02-23Documentary on the vultures who live on the plains of the Serengeti in Africa.
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Episode 13 - New Guinea: An Island Apart
Release Date: 1997-03-02New Guinea is the world's largest tropical island and is home to one of the most unusual collections of animals and plants on earth.
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Episode 14 - The Wild Dog's Last Stand
Release Date: 1997-03-09Looks at the wilderness existence of packs of African wild dogs, filmed in Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania and Kruger National Park in South Africa. Shows their hunting techniques, peculiar social lives and co-operative behavioural habits. They are considered to be one of the world's most endangered species.
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Episode 15 - Postcards From the Past
Release Date: 1997-03-16Examines the landsacpe of the British isles and how it has been affected by its journey from the South Pole where it was located 600 million years ago.
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Episode 16 - People of the Sea
Release Date: 1997-03-30Documentary about Newfoundland and the centuries-old reliance of its inhabitants on harvesting cod, whales and seals from the surrounding seas. Argues that increasing pressure from international fishing and advances in technology have had a profound effect on the marine wildlife of the area, pushing them to the edge of extinction. Considers what conservation methods have been taken or need to be implemented to retrieve the situation.
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Episode 17 - Echo of the Elephants: Africa's Forgotten Elephants
Release Date: 1997-04-06Following film-maker Cynthia Moss in her search for the unknown elephants of Africa.