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Natural World

  • TV-PG
  • 1983–2020
  • 39 seasons
  • Documentary
  • 7.4

Natural World is a nature documentary television series broadcast annually on BBC Two and regarded by the BBC as its flagship natural history brand. It is currently the longest-running series in its genre on British television, with more than 400 episodes broadcast since its inception in 1983. Natural World is produced by the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol, but individual programmes can be in-house productions, collaborative productions with other broadcasters or films made and distributed by independent production companies and purchased by the BBC. Natural World programmes are often broadcast as PBS Nature episodes in the USA. Since 2008, most Natural World programmes have been shot and broadcast in high definition.

Episodes

20 episodes
  1. 1Land of the Tiger

    Sep 15, 1985

    Land of the Tiger looks at the protected species of the Kanha and Ranthambore National Parks, celebrating these elusive and endangered big cats and exploring the delicately balanced ecosystem they inhabit. Interweaving footage of monkeys, deer and the tiger’s main competitor, crocodiles, the couple’s impressive cinematography brings the private world of tigers to life, as these magnificent creatures swim, play, mate, suckle their young and stalk their prey.

  2. 2Namaqualand - Diary of a Desert Garden

    50 minSep 22, 1985

    In all Africa there is no stranger riddle than the flowering of the land of the Nama. Those bushmen were the first to see their desert land burgeon into a blaze of color. But this paradise was always short-lived; a spectacular bloom that quickly withered away, not to be seen again for many years. RODNEY BORLAND filmed the most recent of these stupendous and mystifying displays. To a landscape already weird with huge halfmens plants, elephant ears and baboons' fingers, suddenly came vast arrays of nodding daisies and wave upon wave of mesembryanthemums, wild geraniums, gladioli and amaryllis. The landscape was bathed in brilliant hues, a natural garden whose glory may not shine again before the end of this century.

  3. 3Horns of Dilemma

    Sep 29, 1985

    Documentary on the illicit trade in Rhino horns, which is threatening the five kinds of rhinoceros with extinction.

  4. 4On the Verge of Life

    Oct 6, 1985

    Documentary about wildlife which lives around Britain's motorways.

  5. 5The Man Who Loves Frogs

    Oct 13, 1985

  6. 6Emas - The High Plains of Brazil

    Oct 20, 1985

  7. 7The Flight of the Whooping Crane

    Oct 27, 1985

  8. 8White Rock, Black Water

    Nov 3, 1985

  9. 9Never Stay In One Place

    Nov 10, 1985

  10. 10City of Coral

    Nov 17, 1985

  11. 11Kingdom of the Ice Bear: The Frozen Ocean

    Nov 24, 1985

    First in a three part series examining Arctic ecology, The Frozen Ocean focuses on the spring to summer months, providing an intimate portrayal of life in a land of relentless ice and intense cold.

  12. 12Kingdom of the Ice Bear: The Land of Beyond

    Dec 1, 1985

    Hywel Bennett narrates the second of an award-winning trilogy of films about the Arctic. The winter is long and harsh, but for eight weeks of the year the midnight sun warms the frozen earth, nurturing lush vegetation and a rich variety of flowers, and transforming the barren wastelands into fecund breeding grounds so the life of the Arctic can renew itself.

  13. 13Kingdom of the Ice Bear: The Final Challenge

    Dec 8, 1985

    Documentary series about the Arctic and its inhabitants.

  14. 14Aspen - A Dance of Leaves

    Dec 22, 1985

    The wild life of the prairies of Canada during the winter months.

  15. 15The Plant Hunters

    Dec 29, 1985

  16. 16Short Grass Country

    Jan 5, 1986

  17. 17The Forgotten Garden

    Jan 12, 1986

  18. 18Inside Stories

    Jan 19, 1986

  19. 19Masked Monkeys

    Jan 26, 1986

    Documentary on Guenons, a species of African forest monkey, and their place in the evolutionary hierarchy.

  20. 20Sky Hunters

    Feb 2, 1986

Where to watch Natural World

Stream

Included with a subscription

Availability from JustWatch, via TMDB. Full listing for United States

Series cast

David AttenboroughNarrator (voice)61 episodes
Barry PaineSelf - Narrator21 episodes
Juliet StevensonNarrator (voice)14 episodes
Andrew SachsSelf - Narrator (voice)13 episodes
John HannahNarrator (voice)12 episodes
John ShrapnelNarrator10 episodes
Ian HolmNarrator7 episodes
Tim Pigott-SmithNarrator6 episodes
Colin Stafford-JohnsonPresenter6 episodes
Jeremy NorthamNarrator (voice)5 episodes
Paul McGannNarrator5 episodes
Simon KingPresenter4 episodes
Sean Pertwee4 episodes
Ian McShaneNarrator3 episodes
Stephen FryNarrator3 episodes
Martyn ColbeckParticipant3 episodes
Anthony Valentine3 episodes
Cynthia MossNarrator3 episodes

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