'Earth from Space' BBC

Cameras in space tell stories of life on our planet from a brand new perspective, revealing new discoveries, incredible colours and patterns, and just how fast it is changing.

Click here to view series trailer

Click here to view the ‘Colourful Planet’ episode trailer

‘Earth from Space’ Satellites follow an elephant family struggling through drought, reveal previously unknown emperor penguin colonies from the colour of their poo and discover mysterious ice rings that could put seal pups in danger. Using cameras on the ground, in the air and in space Earth from Space follows nature’s greatest spectacles, weather events and dramatic seasonal changes. This is our home, as we’ve never seen it before.

‘Patterned Planet’ Earth’s surface is covered in weird and wonderful patterns. The Australian outback is covered in pale spots, the work of wombats; a clearing in the endless green canopy of the Congo rainforest has been created by an incredible elephant gathering; and the twists and turns of the Amazon make a home for rehabilitated manatees. 

‘Colourful Planet’ We think of earth as a blue planet but satellite cameras reveal a kaleidoscope. The astonishing colours of the aurora are towering vertical streaks hundreds of kilometres high; phytoplankton blooms turn the ocean into works of art triggering a feeding frenzy; and for a few weeks a year China's Yunnan province is carpeted in yellow as millions of rapeseed flowers bloom. 

‘Changing Planet’ At a time when the earth’s surface is changing faster than ever in human history watch cities grow, forest disappear and glaciers melt. In the ever growing grey of cities one man is feeding thousands of parakeets; in Sumatra a female orang-utan and her daughter face life in a forest under threat; while in Tanzania local people use satellites to re-plant a forest, securing the future for a family of Chimpanzees. This is our home as we’ve never seen it before.

Click here for episode details and clips

Click here for The Guardian review

'Blue Planet Live' BBC

Blue Planet returns – Live from three different locations:
East Coast of the United States, The Bahamas and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

Mark filmed science and conservation VTs (underwater, topside, drone ) in Madagascar, Bahamas and Dominica for the series.

Click to see Mark’s filming in Madagascar: The mysteries of the whale shark with Stella Diamant
Click to see Mark filming BTS in Dominica: What does it take to film a sperm whale from the air?
Click to see Mark’s filming in Dominica: Tagging sperm whales with Dr Shane Gero
Click to see Mark filming BTS in Dominica: Filming sperm whales underwater

In an exciting week of programmes Blue Planet Live (BBC One) will celebrate marine life around the globe to explore the health of our oceans - view clips here

Blue Planet UK (BBC One) explores our seas closer to home and also features some behind the scenes clips from global locations - view clips here

“Across a week in March 2019, BBC One will celebrate marine life great and small, as we take the audience on a deep dive into the world’s oceans in Blue Planet Live. Broadcasting live from three different locations across the planet: East Coast, USA; the Bahamas; and Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

Charlotte Moore, BBC Director of Content, says: “Blue Planet Live will thrill the millions of viewers who discovered so much from last year’s ground breaking series that shocked the nation. BBC One continues to lead that conversation as we travel live around the globe to witness first hand the magnificent marine life within our oceans and wake up to one of the biggest environmental crisis of our times.”

Tom McDonald, Head of Commissioning, Natural History and Specialist Factual, says: “Blue Planet Live promises to bring spectacular encounters with some of the most extraordinary marine life on the planet whilst also giving the BBC One audience a new appreciation of the wonders of and the challenges facing our oceans”

In 2017, the multi-award winning Blue Planet II wowed over over 62% of the UK population (37.6m people) with never seen before footage of life in our oceans, revealing its complexity and the extraordinary variety of creatures that inhabit them. Across four live shows, we’ll be on location with many of the exciting marine animals that breed and feed at this time of year, bringing the audience closer than ever before to different species of turtles, sharks, whales and much more. We’ll also be exploring the last oceanic frontier that is ‘The Deep’ live for the first time on television - the beating heart of our planet.

On the East Coast of America, Chris Packham will be at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, meeting with scientists, experts and conservationists on the front line of new research. Here he will be uniquely positioned to delve into the ocean’s little explored ‘Twilight Zone’, to find out what secrets the deep holds for the future of our blue planet. He will also be assessing the health of the world’s whales at a time of year when many are breeding, and finding out why these gentle giants are such important bell weathers of ocean health. Deploying a helicopter will give him an eye in the sky over this wildlife spectacle, as whale mothers and babies come together.

Over 1,000 miles south, one small island in the Bahamas is known for its extraordinary shark gatherings. Here Steve Backshall will undertake a series of live missions to bring us closer to the ocean’s top predators which gather here in their masses to breed and feed.

On the other side of the world in the Pacific, dawn breaks over the Great Barrier Reef where Liz Bonnin is helping to monitor how new life is faring in this fragile place. Turtles and birds are nesting, and on the coral reef an underwater metropolis is alive with colourful and charming characters. This busy nursery provides plenty of drama that unfolds live before our presenter at this bustling location. Following her recent investigation into the damage plastic is having on the oceans, Liz will also be reporting on the challenges facing all marine life and the efforts being made to save our oceans.

Across the series we will be revisiting some of the key locations and animal characters from Blue Planet II as well as encountering new ones. At all three locations, we’ll uncover in real-time the health of our marine life, while wildlife films from across the world will give us a truly global picture.”

— BBC Media Centre

'Animals with Cameras' BBC

In this three-part series, wildlife cameraman and presenter Gordon Buchanan collaborates with scientists in the field to attach cameras onto animals in the wild. On their journey, which takes them to all corners of the globe, they uncover unexpected findings about the lives of some of the planet's most captivating species. Mark filmed off the Princess Alice sea bank in the Azores during August 2017 for the Devil Ray sequence (featured in episode 3).

The team set out to discover why vast numbers of Devil Ray gather every summer near the Azores archipelago in the mid-Atlantic. The team successfully deployed specially designed cameras which towed behind the rays, these in turn witnessed wildlife spectacles seen for the first time including 'sun-bathing' ray at the surface reheating after a cold dive and unborn ray pups kicking inside their giant, four-meter-wide mothers; a sign that this congregation might be a breeding ground for these majestic ocean giants. Devil Rays are under threat from fishing, boat traffic, habitat decline and pollution and are currently listed as Endangered (EN) on the IUCN Red List. Although not usually targeted by fisheries, Devil Rays often become victims as bycatch. The good news is that Project AWARE have already made a positive impact to help protect Devil Rays.

“Devil Rays are fascinating creatures – they are some of the fastest and deepest divers in the ocean, and swim with such elegance. When they are not feeding, their cephalic fins are curled and point forward and down, giving the appearance of devil horns; hence their name.”

— Mark Sharman, Cameraman

Other wildlife events captured within this series include penguins catching their prey 200 miles off the coast of Argentina and fur seals avoiding attacks from great white shark off Australia. Further details and clips are available here.