Natural World (BBC TV series)
| Natural World | |
|---|---|
2013 series title card
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| Also known as | 'The Natural World' |
| Genre | Nature documentary |
| Narrated by | Various |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 493 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Various |
| Editor(s) | Roger Webb (Series Editor) |
| Running time | 50/60 minutes |
| Production company(s) |
BBC Natural History Unit BBC Studios (2016-present) |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC Two, BBC Two HD |
| Picture format | Film SD: 576i HD: 1080i |
| Audio format | Monaural, Stereo |
| Original release | 30 October 1983 – present |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | The World About Us |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Natural World is a strand of British wildlife documentary programmes broadcast on BBC Two and BBC Two HD and regarded by the BBC as its flagship natural history series. It is the longest-running documentary in its genre on British television, with nearly 500 episodes broadcast since its inception in 1983.Natural World programmes are typically one-off films that take an in-depth look at particular natural history events, stories or subjects from around the globe.
Natural World is produced by the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol under the stewardship of the Series Editor, who is responsible for commissioning or acquiring content. Programmes are a mixture of in-house productions, collaborative productions with other broadcasters or acquisitions from independent producers. There are 10 programmes broadcast each year, of which approximately half are produced in-house. The series has close ties with the US series Nature, broadcast by PBS.
The 2014-15 series of Natural World is the thirty-third, and began on 11 April 2014 with "Africa’s Giant Killers", a film about conflict between lions and elephants in Botswana.
Natural World was initiated in 1983 as a wildlife-specific spin-off to The World About Us, itself a long-running documentary strand on BBC Two. The World About Us was commissioned in 1967 by David Attenborough, at that time the Controller of BBC Two, to promote the new colour television service to British audiences. As the former head of the BBC's Travel and Exploration Unit in London, Attenborough realised that many of its telecine films had been shot in colour and would make ideal subjects for a documentary series, along with natural history content from the Bristol Unit and overseas broadcasters. The World About Us launched on 3 December 1967 to coincide with the first full evening of colour television in Britain, with Attenborough himself acting as Series Editor. The first programme was "Volcano", a film by the French vulcanologist Haroun Tazieff; the Natural History Unit's first contribution was "Forest and Firebird" featuring the brilliantly-coloured scarlet ibis. Programmes such as these were no accident: The World About Us was described by Barry Paine, a frequent producer and narrator during its first two decades, as "a series designed to sell colour television sets".
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