SUNDAY 05 MARCH
Documentary
Planet Earth
9:00pm - 10:00pm
BBC1 London & South East
VIDEO Plus+: 3679
Subtitled, Widescreen
1/11 - From Pole to Pole
This latest blockbuster from the natural history unit is liable to give you the shivers - and not just because half of it is set in the snow. Scene after scene makes the hairs on your neck stand up: baby polar bears taking their first steps; Japanese cherry trees coming into blossom; an elephant lost in the desert; a vast flock of geese. The idea, and it's a thrillingly ambitious one, is to give an overview of the whole teeming planet. And it works. It really is as if someone wanted an intergalactic tourist board video to sell the glories of Earth to the rest of the cosmos, then persuaded a team of geniuses to shoot it. And it's not all ponderous, majestic stuff, by any means. There are red-in-tooth-and-claw sequences (a couple of which might upset younger viewers) and one very funny moment where we see a troop of baboons wading anxiously into the flood waters of the Okavango, holding their front paws above the water like dainty Larry Graysons. But mostly it's haunting, sublime TV, painted on a grand canvas. And not to be missed.
RT reviewer: David Butcher
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