Earth (2023 TV series)

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Earth
Also known asAncient Earth
Directed byTom Hewitson; Ben Wilson; James Tovell; Duncan Singh; David Briggs
Presented by Chris Packham
ComposerPaul Saunderson
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes5
Production
Executive producersAndrew Cohen; Rob Liddell
Production companyBBC Studios
Original release
Network BBC Two
Release17 July 2023 (2023-07-17)
Network PBS
Release5 October 2023 (2023-10-05)

Earth is a 2023 miniseries presented by Chris Packham, produced by BBC Studios with NOVA and GBH Boston for the BBC and PBS, in partnership with the Open University. It consists of five one-hour episodes. [1] [2] Although a nature documentary, a significant part of the series is made with CGI featuring Chris Packman narrating with voiceovers. More than 200 leading palaeontologists, geologists, climatologists, and other specialists were consulted for the series. [3]

Contents

It first aired on BBC Two on 17 July 2023. [4] [5] [6]

Episodes

Chris Packham explores one of the darkest periods in Earth’s history: the worst mass extinction the planet has ever seen, when as much as 90% of all species died 252 million years ago. This extraordinary moment in Earth’s history took life to the brink, wreaking havoc and destruction on an unprecedented scale. But, somehow, life found a way to bounce back, and a new geological era ushered in the age of the dinosaurs. [7]

How Earth’s terrifying journey into the deep freeze started with fire, not ice. 800 million years ago, long before the age of the dinosaurs, indeed any animal life, the giant supercontinent Rodinia broke up. Earth’s vast powerful tectonic forces ripped the land apart, kicking off a series of events that resulted in huge amounts of carbon dioxide being sucked from the atmosphere and sending global temperatures plummeting. [8]

Chris Packham tells the miraculous story of how plant life turned the Earth from a barren rock into a vibrant green world - a 4.5-billion year-saga of extraordinary highs and lows that almost wiped out all life on the planet. The Earth began as a water world without land masses. Then, a giant asteroid bombardment triggered its plate tectonics, leading to huge fungi, soil and giant swamp forests. But the early plants locked so much carbon dioxide that global temperatures suddenly plunged. [9]

When the Earth first formed from clouds of dust and gas 4.6 billion years ago, it was - like so many other lifeless worlds in the universe - devoid of an atmosphere, an inhospitable rock floating in the black void of space. But as the young planet is pummelled by asteroids, a period of extraordinary upheaval begins. [10]

Today, Earth is a human world, home to eight billion people and counting. Humans now have a greater effect in shaping Earth’s surface than many natural processes. Chris Packham explores how dramatic twists in Earth’s story enabled humans to go from being part of nature to controlling it and what can be learnt from this epic tale before it’s too late. [11]

Reception

The Guardian gave the show four stars. [12] The Daily Telegraph was less happy with the "doom laden" message presented in the show and gave it 3 stars. [13] The Irish Independent was also less than impressed, describing Packham's delivery as "self-righteous" and "annoying" to the extent it undermines the serious message of the show. [14] The Financial Times was more positive, praising the visuals and giving it 4 stars. [15]

Book

Packham published a book with Andrew Cohen titled Earth: Over 4 Billion Years in the Making, which ties in with the show. [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earth</span> Third planet from the Sun

Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all of Earth's water is contained in its global ocean, covering 70.8% of Earth's crust. The remaining 29.2% of Earth's crust is land, most of which is located in the form of continental landmasses within Earth's land hemisphere. Most of Earth's land is at least somewhat humid and covered by vegetation, while large sheets of ice at Earth's polar deserts retain more water than Earth's groundwater, lakes, rivers, and atmospheric water combined. Earth's crust consists of slowly moving tectonic plates, which interact to produce mountain ranges, volcanoes, and earthquakes. Earth has a liquid outer core that generates a magnetosphere capable of deflecting most of the destructive solar winds and cosmic radiation.

Extraterrestrial life, or alien life, is life that originates from another world rather than on Earth. No extraterrestrial life has yet been scientifically conclusively detected. Such life might range from simple forms such as prokaryotes to intelligent beings, possibly bringing forth civilizations that might be far more, or far less, advanced than humans. The Drake equation speculates about the existence of sapient life elsewhere in the universe. The science of extraterrestrial life is known as astrobiology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nature</span> Material world and its phenomena

Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the laws, elements and phenomena of the physical world, including life. Although humans are part of nature, human activity or humans as a whole are often described as at times at odds, or outright separate and even superior to nature.

The Precambrian is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the Phanerozoic Eon, which is named after Cambria, the Latinized name for Wales, where rocks from this age were first studied. The Precambrian accounts for 88% of the Earth's geologic time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Venus</span> Second planet from the Sun

Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is a terrestrial planet and is the closest in mass and size to its orbital neighbour Earth. Venus has by far the densest atmosphere of the terrestrial planets, composed mostly of carbon dioxide with a thick, global sulfuric acid cloud cover. At the surface it has a mean temperature of 737 K and a pressure 92 times that of Earth's at sea level. These extreme conditions compress carbon dioxide into a supercritical state at Venus's surface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paleoclimatology</span> Study of changes in ancient climate

Paleoclimatology is the scientific study of climates predating the invention of meteorological instruments, when no direct measurement data were available. As instrumental records only span a tiny part of Earth's history, the reconstruction of ancient climate is important to understand natural variation and the evolution of the current climate.

The Hadean is the first and oldest of the four known geologic eons of Earth's history, starting with the planet's formation about 4.6 billion years ago, and ended 4.031 billion years ago. The interplanetary collision that created the Moon occurred early in this eon. The Hadean eon was succeeded by the Archean eon, with the Late Heavy Bombardment hypothesized to have occurred at the Hadean-Archean boundary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proterozoic</span> Geologic eon, 2500–539 million years ago

The Proterozoic is the third of the four geologic eons of Earth's history, spanning the time interval from 2500 to 538.8 Mya, and is the longest eon of Earth's geologic time scale. It is preceded by the Archean and followed by the Phanerozoic, and is the most recent part of the Precambrian "supereon".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Attenborough</span> British broadcaster and naturalist (born 1926)

Sir David Frederick Attenborough is a British broadcaster, biologist, natural historian, and writer. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Studios Natural History Unit, the nine nature documentary series forming the Life collection, a comprehensive survey of animal and plant life on Earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rare Earth hypothesis</span> Hypothesis that complex extraterrestrial life is improbable and extremely rare

In planetary astronomy and astrobiology, the Rare Earth hypothesis argues that the origin of life and the evolution of biological complexity, such as sexually reproducing, multicellular organisms on Earth, and subsequently human intelligence, required an improbable combination of astrophysical and geological events and circumstances. According to the hypothesis, complex extraterrestrial life is an improbable phenomenon and likely to be rare throughout the universe as a whole. The term "Rare Earth" originates from Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe (2000), a book by Peter Ward, a geologist and paleontologist, and Donald E. Brownlee, an astronomer and astrobiologist, both faculty members at the University of Washington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Earth</span>

The natural history of Earth concerns the development of planet Earth from its formation to the present day. Nearly all branches of natural science have contributed to understanding of the main events of Earth's past, characterized by constant geological change and biological evolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Packham</span> English naturalist

Christopher Gary Packham CBE is an English naturalist, nature photographer, television presenter and author, best known for his television work including the CBBC children's nature series The Really Wild Show from 1986 to 1995. He has also presented the BBC nature series Springwatch, including Autumnwatch and Winterwatch, since 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Planetary habitability</span> Known extent to which a planet is suitable for life

Planetary habitability is the measure of a planet's or a natural satellite's potential to develop and maintain an environment hospitable to life. Life may be generated directly on a planet or satellite endogenously. Research suggests that life may also be transferred from one body to another, through a hypothetical process known as panspermia. Environments do not need to contain life to be considered habitable nor are accepted habitable zones (HZ) the only areas in which life might arise.

Early Earth also known as proto-earth is loosely defined as encompassing Earth in its first one billion years, or gigayear (Ga, 109 y), from its initial formation in the young Solar System at about 4.55 Ga to some time in the Archean eon in approximately 3.5 Ga. On the geologic time scale, this comprises all of the Hadean eon, starting with the formation of the Earth about 4.6 billion years ago, and the Eoarchean, starting 4 billion years ago, and part of the Paleoarchean era, starting 3.6 billion years ago, of the Archean eon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geological history of Earth</span> The sequence of major geological events in Earths past

The geological history of the Earth follows the major geological events in Earth's past based on the geological time scale, a system of chronological measurement based on the study of the planet's rock layers (stratigraphy). Earth formed about 4.54 billion years ago by accretion from the solar nebula, a disk-shaped mass of dust and gas left over from the formation of the Sun, which also created the rest of the Solar System.

Throughout Earth's climate history (Paleoclimate) its climate has fluctuated between two primary states: greenhouse and icehouse Earth. Both climate states last for millions of years and should not be confused with the much smaller glacial and interglacial periods, which occur as alternating phases within an icehouse period and tend to last less than one million years. There are five known icehouse periods in Earth's climate history, namely the Huronian, Cryogenian, Andean-Saharan, Late Paleozoic and Late Cenozoic glaciations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mars</span> Fourth planet from the Sun

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. The surface of Mars is orange-red because it is covered in iron(III) oxide dust, giving it the nickname "the Red Planet". Mars is among the brightest objects in Earth's sky, and its high-contrast albedo features have made it a common subject for telescope viewing. It is classified as a terrestrial planet and is the second smallest of the Solar System's planets with a diameter of 6,779 km (4,212 mi). In terms of orbital motion, a Martian solar day (sol) is equal to 24.6 hours, and a Martian solar year is equal to 1.88 Earth years. Mars has two natural satellites that are small and irregular in shape: Phobos and Deimos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Future of Earth</span> Long-term extrapolated geological and biological changes of planet Earth

The biological and geological future of Earth can be extrapolated based on the estimated effects of several long-term influences. These include the chemistry at Earth's surface, the cooling rate of the planet's interior, gravitational interactions with other objects in the Solar System, and a steady increase in the Sun's luminosity. An uncertain factor is the influence of human technology such as climate engineering, which could cause significant changes to the planet. For example, the current Holocene extinction is being caused by technology, and the effects may last for up to five million years. In turn, technology may result in the extinction of humanity, leaving the planet to gradually return to a slower evolutionary pace resulting solely from long-term natural processes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mineral evolution</span> Increasing mineral diversity over time

Mineral evolution is a recent hypothesis that provides historical context to mineralogy. It postulates that mineralogy on planets and moons becomes increasingly complex as a result of changes in the physical, chemical and biological environment. In the Solar System, the number of mineral species has grown from about a dozen to over 5400 as a result of three processes: separation and concentration of elements; greater ranges of temperature and pressure coupled with the action of volatiles; and new chemical pathways provided by living organisms.

<i>Seven Worlds, One Planet</i> BBC documentary series

Seven Worlds, One Planet is a television documentary series co-produced by the BBC Studios Natural History Unit, BBC America, ZDF, France Télévisions, Tencent Penguin Pictures and CCTV-9. The seven-part series, in which each episode focuses on one continent, premiered on BBC One on 27 October 2019 and is narrated and presented by naturalist Sir David Attenborough. Over 1,500 people worked on the series, which was filmed over 1,794 days, with 92 shoots across 41 countries.

References

  1. ↑ "BBC Two - Earth". BBC. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  2. ↑ "Earth: The astonishing 4.5-billion-year story of the place we call home". connect.open.ac.uk. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  3. ↑ "Chris Packham on Earth - "One might argue that it's the greatest story ever told"". BBC. 10 July 2023.
  4. ↑ Leach, Noa. "Chris Packham on the mind-blowing science of new BBC Earth series, and his TV legacy: 'I'm not proud of anything!'". www.sciencefocus.com. BBC Science Focus. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  5. ↑ "Earth". BBC Earth.
  6. ↑ "Ancient Earth". NOVA. 4 October 2023.
  7. ↑ "BBC Two - Earth, Series 1, Inferno". BBC. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  8. ↑ "BBC Two - Earth, Series 1, Snowball". BBC. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  9. ↑ "BBC Two - Earth, Series 1, Green". BBC. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  10. ↑ "BBC Two - Earth, Series 1, Atmosphere". BBC. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  11. ↑ "BBC Two - Earth, Series 1, Human". BBC. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  12. ↑ Seale, Jack (17 July 2023). "Earth review – Chris Packham steps confidently into David Attenborough's shoes". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  13. ↑ Singh, Anita (17 July 2023). "Earth, review: Chris Packham's history of our planet ladles on the death, doom and rotten eggs". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 18 November 2023. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  14. ↑ Hourihane, Ann Marie (18 July 2023). "BBC Earth review: self-righteous Chris Packham ruins his own environmental message". Independent.ie. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  15. ↑ Einav, Dan. "Earth, BBC2 — sit down and observe 4.5bn years of history". www.ft.com. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
  16. ↑ Law, Jackie (22 September 2023). "Book Review: Earth, Over 4 Billion Years in the Making". neverimitate. Retrieved 18 November 2023.
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