Earth

I often lamented how the demise of BBC's Horizon represented an inability and lack of confidence in the BBC to aim high when considering how to present a documentary. Well, perhaps there is a resurgence on the way. I binged all 6 episodes.

This series is presented in a logical mature style where the story of the earth unfolds 6 episode, with each episode covering the essential elements that supported the creation of Life. From the atmosphere , to the evolution of plants and humans. There are gaps in the narrative and a few leaps of faith, but the story is well presented by Chris Packham in a personal but still scientific manner.

Now what is absolutely surprising, and a credit to the BBC, is that it was co-produced by US based NOVA and GBH-Boston and does not suffer from being dumbed down but most importantly there are no talking heads interfering with the narrative. The producers have sensibly pushed them to the end of each episode, so that if you want to listen to them if you want to get some further background you can or not. Thank goodness they were not part of the main episode, their style of of presentation would have detracted from the integrity of the Packham's delivery.

This was all over the place, if you're after a decent version of our Earths history, that's in layman's terms for us dumb a**es, this isn't in, half the sentences in this show made little sense in correlation to what was actually on screen.

Apparently, primates learnt to walk because of the huge new distances between trees (due to asteroid impact) and that's why gorillas & chimps can't get about without swinging from tress, because they were not met with this issue...excuse me! What! I'm no expert on primates, but I'm pretty certain I've seen both gorillas and Chimps roaming the flats without the need of a branch.

I enjoyed the series - this is such a fascinating subject for sure. As others have said though, condensing so much into a few episodes means at times it's just scratching the surface.

My main irritation though was the tone - it's pitched mainly at a school age audience is my guess. Every event has to have dramatic music behind it to make sure you understand whether it's a Sad Thing or a Wonderful Thing, the script at times is very silly - 'the world had become so hostile that to plant life is must have seemed a hopeless struggle, but just as they were on the point of giving up the struggle, they realised they had a friend, and a friend who wanted to help. And that friend was called...'. Cut to Packham staring resolutely into the camera. 'Fungus.'

It also gives the impression at times that evolution always had the aim to create humans, and that to do so it needed a lot of help from random disasters, a bit of a Lord Of The Rings quest. In fact humans are just the random place to which all the random disasters led.

But enjoyable in small doses (the music really gets to you after about 30 minutes).

Once in a long eon (or so it seems) there is a moment in TV history that puts your faith back into the idea that there is some kind of plebian brain cells left somewhere at the bbc! 'EARTH' the 5 part brilliant, informative, expertly presented (by Chris Packham) tv series has been a long awaited revelation! Out of the Crass, Vile, cheap mush that clogs up all the channels a beautifully constructed series about how our cold ball of rock transforms into the amazing Blue/Green pearl over millennia is so gratifying. Chris Packham is gradually progressing to fill the shoes of the 'Father of the planet' David Attenborough. Deep praise to all concerned.

Chris Packham does a fantastic job of explaining our planet's deep history and how fleeting we are but also how resilient life is.

Thoroughly engaging and immersive.

Great visuals and story telling. The places he visits really help put the different pieces of the geological jigsaw together.

The science behind the story telling is highly credible and Chris uses easy to understand language that makes this series accessible to all.

I have been an avid science documentary watcher, and the BBC have added another masterpiece to their already extensive list of other documentaries such as Planet Earth. This is up there!

Brilliant.