David Attenborough's Great Barrier Reef

Almost 60 years after his first visit to the Great Barrier Reef, Sir David Attenborough returns to unlock new secrets about the largest living structure on Earth. Working with a team of experts aboard a state-of-the-art research and exploration vessel, David takes us to mysterious depths for an up-close look at the wonderfully diverse community that calls this place home. Through computer modeling and radiocarbon dating, we uncover surprising details about the reef’s origins, which are more recent than once believed.

Sixty years after his first visit to the Great Barrier Reef, naturalist Sir David Attenborough returns, this time aboard a research vessel equipped with the latest technology. He examines some of the million migrating animals that visit this marine paradise every year and how each of the reef’s habitats attracts a very different set of visitors. Follow David from the Osprey Reef, a huge mountain hidden beneath the waves, to Raine Island, the green turtle’s favorite nesting area, to Lady Elliot Island, the beauty salon for manta rays.

Within the last few decades, the residents of the Great Barrier Reef have seen their habitat decline rapidly. Almost half the coral has disappeared, and at the current rate, we risk losing the reef altogether. But revolutionary technology has made it possible for scientists to make new discoveries that may hold clues to its survival. Join host Sir David Attenborough and teams of researchers and scientists as they use cutting edge techniques to help overcome some of the serious challenges that lie ahead.

Almost 60 years after his first visit to the Great Barrier Reef, Sir David Attenborough returns to explore the iconic coral kingdom, this time with new research equipment, highly specialized cameras, and a film crew ready to enter uncharted, unpredictable waters. Go behind the scenes as we show how David and his team of filmmakers and scientists shot the footage for this landmark series, a yearlong venture that placed them on remote islands, into shark-infested seas, and nearly 1,000 feet underwater, the deepest dive ever attempted on the reef.