First Life (TV series)
| First Life | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Documentary |
| Narrated by | David Attenborough |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 2 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Release | 5 November – 12 November 2010 |
First Life is a 2010 British
Cambrian Explosion. Trace fossils of multicellular organisms from an even earlier period, the Ediacaran biota, are also examined. Attenborough travels to Canada, Morocco and Australia
, using some of the latest fossil discoveries and their nearest equivalents amongst living species to reveal what life may have been like at that time. Visual effects and computer animation are used to reconstruct and animate the extinct life forms.
Attenborough's Journey, a documentary film profiling the presenter as he journeyed around the globe filming First Life, was shown on BBC Two on 24 October 2010. A hardback book to accompany the series, authored by Matt Kaplan with a foreword by Attenborough, was published in September 2010.
Production
The series was directed by freelance film-maker Martin Williams and series produced by Anthony Geffen, CEO and Executive Producer of
Sky. It was produced in association with the BBC, the Discovery Channel and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
. During production, it had the working title The First Animals.
Reception
At the
BAFTA Craft Awards earlier the same year.[2]
Episodes
| No. | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Arrival" | 5 November 2010 | |
|
The first ancient living being mentioned in the episode is
| |||
| 2 | "Conquest" | 12 November 2010 | |
|
One of the first big velvet worm, still lives in the tropics including the rainforest in Queensland, Australia.[20] The oldest known fossil of an air-breathing arthropod is the 428 million-year-old Pneumodesmus,[21] a millipede.[22]
| |||
David Attenborough's Rise of Animals: Triumph of the Vertebrates
In December 2011, a second series of First Life was announced by media website
Realscreen. The new series focused on the evolution of the earliest fish, reptiles, amphibians and mammals, and aired on the BBC in 2013, as David Attenborough's Rise of Animals: Triumph of the Vertebrates.[23]
References
- ^ Rosser, Michael. "Attenborough doc wins Emmy hat-trick". Broadcast. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
- ^ "Television Craft Awards Winners in 2011". BAFTA. 8 May 2011. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
- ^ 1st episode, 04:30
- ^ 1st episode, 08:12
- ^ 1st episode, 32:50
- ^ 1st episode, 39:00
- ^ 1st episode, 40:40
- ^ 1st episode, 43:15
- ^ 1st episode, 47:30
- ^ 1st episode, 55:30
- ^ 1st episode, 56:50
- ^ 2nd episode, 09:55
- ^ 2nd episode, 06:17
- ^ 2nd episode, 07:37
- ^ 2nd episode, 08:33
- ^ 2nd episode, 13:43
- ^ 2nd episode, 20:49
- ^ 2nd episode, 33:49
- ^ 2nd episode, 37:50
- ^ 2nd episode, 38:05
- ^ 2nd episode, 42:00
- ^ 2nd episode, 43:40
- ^ Rajesh, Monisha. "Exclusive: Attenborough, Atlantic teaming up for second "First Life"". Realscreen. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
External links
- Official website for David Attenborough's First Life
- First Life at BBC Online
- First Life on the Eden website
- First Life at the BBC Press Office website (see "Nature" panel on right hand side of page)
- David Attenborough's First Life at IMDb
