Life on Earth

Where did life on the planet begin and why is it so diverse? David Attenborough begins his landmark natural history series in the South American rainforest which contains an incredible variety of life forms. He investigates Charles Darwin’s theories of natural selection and looks at the evolution of tiny plants which began an invasion from the water, closely followed by the first animals.

The development of the backbone was a crucial advance in evolution. In this remarkable natural history documentary, David Attenborough explores how this evolutionary leap probably came from a most unlikely source, a little jelly-like creature called a sea squirt. He investigates when fish crawled from the water onto the land and became amphibians, plus the growth of reptiles and birds.

Mammals have proved to be one of the most adaptable products of evolution. David Attenborough looks at their growth from reptiles 200 million years ago in this classic natural history documentary. He investigates the huge variety of mammals and explores the eternal duel between the hunters and the hunted. And he seeks to explain how humans were the animals that came to dominate life on earth.