Life (2009 TV series)

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See also: Life (2020 TV series)

Life
Skai tv
Original release
NetworkBBC One
Release12 October (2009-10-12) –
14 December 2009 (2009-12-14)

Life is a British nature documentary series created and produced by the

The Open University. It was first broadcast as part of the BBC's Darwin Season[1] on BBC One and BBC HD from October to December 2009.[2] The series takes a global view of the specialised strategies and extreme behaviour that living things have developed in order to survive; what Charles Darwin termed "the struggle for existence". Four years in the making, the series was shot entirely in high definition.[3]

Life premiered on 12 October 2009 in the United Kingdom consisting of ten 50-minute episodes. The opening programme gives a general introduction to the series, a second look at plants, and the remainder are dedicated to some of the major animal groups. They aim to show common features that have contributed to the success of each group, and to document intimate and dramatic moments in the lives of selected species chosen for their charisma or their extraordinary behaviour. A ten-minute

making-of
feature Life on Location aired at the end of each episode, taking the total running time to 60 minutes.

Life is produced by the

The Open University. It is distributed under licence by the BBC in over 50 other countries, including by the Discovery Channel in the United States and Skai TV in Greece. The original script was written and narrated by David Attenborough
.

Production

Production team

Life was the first series commissioned by the then Network Controller of BBC One, Peter Fincham, just weeks after he took up the post in March 2005.[4] It was reportedly one of the most expensive documentaries ever ordered by the broadcaster, with a budget of £10 million (though the BBC have never confirmed this figure).[5] The Natural History Unit's production team includes series producer Martha Holmes (Life in the Freezer, The Blue Planet) and executive producer Mike Gunton (Galápagos, Life in the Undergrowth). Individual episodes were produced by Rupert Barrington, Adam Chapman, Martha Holmes, Neil Lucas, Patrick Morris and Ted Oakes. The specially-commissioned score was composed by George Fenton and performed by the Band of Life. The opening titles and brand imaging were created by Burrell Durrant Hifle.

In February 2007, Gunton revealed that the BBC were looking for a new narrator for the series owing to Attenborough's imminent retirement.

Frozen Planet.[6]

Filming

The first year of production was spent researching possible stories for the series. The Life team contacted scientists and experts around the world in search of new discoveries to film, and new approaches to familiar subjects. Nearly three years of filming followed, involving 150 shoots on all seven continents, many of them full-scale expeditions to remote wilderness areas.[7]

New camera technology was used to build on the cinematic techniques first employed in Planet Earth, notably the pioneering use of stabilised helicopter-mounted cameras. The Life crew succeeded in using gyroscopic stabilisation to create steady shots from moving vehicles, even on rough terrain, allowing the cameras to track alongside reindeer and elephant herds for the first time. Miniature high-definition cameras were used extensively for the "Insects" programme. In the forests of Mexico, the crew erected a spider's web of cables in the canopy to give the sense of flying alongside millions of monarch butterflies. In Zambia, they filmed from a hot air balloon to avoid disturbing the huge flocks of straw-coloured fruit bats.[8]

Following recent debate[9][10] about the use of artifice in natural history programmes, the BBC were more candid about sequences which had not been filmed in the wild. Close-ups of wild clownfish would have disturbed their natural behaviour, so captive animals were filmed in an aquarium at a Welsh university.[11]

Despite the best efforts of the film-makers, some sequences ended up on the cutting room floor. Scientists in Arctic Scandinavia had accumulated enough evidence to suggest that golden eagles were the main predators of reindeer calves, but an attack had never been witnessed. After two summers tracking the herds in Finland, cameraman Barrie Britton finally filmed a hunt in full. However, the attack had taken place nearly a mile away, and the footage was too distant to be considered for broadcast.[12]

Television firsts

The budget and timescale for the series enabled the producers to set ambitious filming challenges, and expedition crews brought back several sequences which have never been shown before.

Some involved highly specialised hunting behaviour that has only recently been discovered. In the shallow, muddy waters of Florida Bay, one pod of bottlenose dolphins have learned a unique hunting technique called mud-ring feeding. Aerial photography shows the lead dolphin circling a shoal of mullet, flicking its tail flukes to disturb mud on the seabed. The fish trapped inside the mud ring panic and leap out of the water to escape the trap, straight into the waiting mouths of the pod.[13] In Kenya's Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, three cheetah brothers have learned to take on prey many times their own size. They are filmed bringing down an ostrich, but also hunt zebra, eland and oryx.[14] A film crew travelled to the Falkland Islands to follow up reports of an orca that had learned to take elephant seal pups from a nursery pool. On the Indonesian island of Rinca, the first footage of Komodo dragons hunting a water buffalo corroborated new scientific evidence suggesting the dragons used venom to kill their prey.

Other sequences had previously proved too difficult to film. The humpback whale heat run has been dubbed "the biggest battle on Earth", but the whales move so fast that underwater cameras struggle to keep up. The Life crew used cameras mounted on helicopters and boats along with a team of

free-divers to follow the action.[8] The biggest filming challenge was to show a year in the life of an oak woodland using timelapse photography. After capturing real-world footage of a Devon wood, the crew rebuilt the entire scene in a studio in Exeter and digitally superimposed 96 separate layers of footage to create the final one-minute sequence. The whole project took two years.[15]

Super

marvellous spatuletail and flying fish leaving the water. The first footage showing Antarctic killer whales hunting a crabeater seal
, but the seal survived.

The

pebble toad
's strange escape method had been caught on tape for the first time.

Broadcast

Life debuted on British television on 12 October 2009, with a standard definition broadcast on BBC One and a high-definition simulcast on BBC HD.

The series was sold to international broadcasters by the BBC's commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, and marketed under the BBC Earth brand used for all BBC-produced natural history content. The global success of Life was noted as one of the key factors behind BBC Worldwide's record profits in 2010.[17]

The series received its North American premiere on

Discovery Channel Canada on 15 November 2009.[18] In the US, the series premiered on 21 March 2010 on Discovery Channel with Attenborough's narration replaced by Oprah Winfrey reading from a different script tailored to American audiences.[19]
Each episode was curtailed in length to accommodate commercial breaks. The behind-the-scenes shorts were dropped for the same reason, and instead were compiled into an eleventh episode.

Life was also acquired by several Latin American broadcasters[20] and debuted on 18 March 2010 on Discovery Channel Latin America and Discovery HD Theater, with narration by Colombian singer Juanes.[21]

In Israel the series aired in July 2010 as part of the new IBA channel Channel 1 HD and it was narrated by Orna Banai.

In

NTV (Turkey). It was narrated by famous Turkish actor Tuncel Kurtiz
.

In Australia, an edited version (without Life on Location) with Attenborough's narration aired on

ABC1 each Sunday at 7:30 pm from 25 July 2010.[22]

In Croatia the series aired each Saturday from 2 October 2010 on

HRT1
.

Episodes

"Our planet may be home to 30 million different kinds of animals and plants, each individual locked in its own lifelong fight for survival. Everywhere you look, on land or in the ocean, there are extraordinary examples of the lengths living things go to stay alive."

— David Attenborough's opening narration
No.TitleOriginal air dateUK viewers
(millions)
1"Challenges of Life"12 October 2009 (2009-10-12)[23]6.84 million viewers[24] (26.4% audience share)[25]
"Challenges of Life" documents the capture of a young chinstrap penguin by a leopard seal (pictured).

The opening episode introduces the series by showing examples of extraordinary feeding, hunting, courting and parenting behaviour from across the animal kingdom and around the globe.

Venus flytrap plants ensnare their unwitting insect victims to gain nutrients in North Carolina.

  • The mating behavior of stalk-eyed flies is discussed.
  • Two male
    hippos clash over the territorial mating rights to a remaining deep stretch of the Luangwa River in Zambia
    .
  • In Oregon, male Clark's grebes put on a spectacular mating performance with their mates.
  • A female
    giant Pacific octopus
    makes the ultimate sacrifice, starving to death as she guards her eggs.
  • In some species, parents go to great lengths to protect their young. A mother
    bromeliad
    pool, then provides them with nutritious unfertilised eggs.
  • On Deception Island, young chinstrap penguins are trapped on a beach by ice-strewn seas. Abandoned by their parents, they must reach open water to feed. A lone chick fights its way through the ice, only to be ambushed by a leopard seal. Life on Location: Ice Alliance shows how the filmmakers collaborated with a French yachtsman and the Royal Navy to film Antarctica's top predators.[23]
2"Reptiles and Amphibians"19 October 2009 (2009-10-19)[26]4.93 million viewers[24] (18.9% audience share)[27]
"Reptiles and Amphibians" documents how a group of Komodo dragons (pictured) kill and eventually eat a water buffalo using venom.

In the opening sequence, a solitary male Komodo dragon battles another male during the breeding season on Komodo. This, states Attenborough, is the last place on Earth still ruled by reptiles. Though they may seem primitive, reptiles and amphibians still thrive thanks to diverse survival strategies.

3"Mammals"26 October 2009 (2009-10-26)[28]5.55 million viewers[24] (21.9% audience share)[29]
A breaching humpback whale, a species featured in "Mammals".

Intelligence, warm blood and strong family bonds have made mammals the most successful group of animals on the planet.

4"Fish"2 November 2009 (2009-11-02)[30]4.56 million viewers[24] (18.1% audience share)[31]
"Fish" documents the breeding cycle of a clownfish, pictured hiding amongst the tentacles of an anemone.

Fish, the most diverse group of vertebrate animals, thrive in the world's rivers, lakes and oceans.

  • Slow-motion footage reveals the behaviour of some of the fastest fish in the sea, sailfish and flying fish. The latter gather in large numbers to lay their eggs on a floating palm frond, which sinks under the weight.
  • The eggs of
    weedy sea dragons
    , found in the shallow waters off southern Australia, are carried by the male.
  • In the Southwest Pacific, a Convict fish makes its group of thousands of young juveniles to do all the work for him.
  • In the fertile seas of the western Pacific, competition is fierce. A sarcastic fringehead defends its home, an old shell, from a passing octopus and a rival.
  • In Japan, mudskippers have carved a niche on the rich mudflats.
  • hippos
    and feed on their rich dung in return.
  • jacks also remove parasites by scratching against the rough skin of silvertip sharks
    .
  • ragged tooth sharks are shown attacking sardines
    trapped in shallow waters off South Africa.
  • In Belize, Snapper fish disperse their eggs out in the open, but some of the eggs fall victim to the surrounding hungry whale sharks.
  • Life on Location: Fish Out of Water looks at the efforts of underwater cameramen to capture the sailfish and flying fish sequences.[30]
5"Birds"9 November 2009 (2009-11-09)[32]4.33 million viewers[24] (17.6% audience share)[33]
"Birds" shows how lammergeiers in the Simien Mountains collect bones from animal carcasses and smash them by dropping them on to rock slabs.

Birds, whose feathers have made them extremely adaptable and enabled them to fly, are the subject of the fifth episode.

6"Insects"16 November 2009 (2009-11-16)[34]3.80 million viewers (14.6% audience share)[35]
monarch butterflies (pictured) hibernate in a small area of alpine forest in Mexico
.

The sixth episode enters the world of insects. By assuming a variety of body shapes and incorporating armour and wings, they have evolved diverse survival strategies and become the most abundant creatures on Earth.

7"Hunters and Hunted"23 November 2009 (2009-11-23)[36]4.04 million viewers (15.9% audience share)[37]
killer whale
's unique hunting strategy is revealed in "Hunters and Hunted".

Mammals have adopted diverse strategies to hunt their prey and evade predators.

  • As well as revisiting the cheetah hunt first shown in Challenges of Life, the episode shows how a sure-footed ibex kid escapes a hunting fox by bounding across a precipitous mountainside above the Dead Sea.
  • Slow motion footage reveals the fishing behaviour of greater bulldog bats in Belize.
  • The play-fighting of juvenile stoats helps train them to run down prey such as rabbits, which are many times their own size.
  • After the dolphin hunt from Challenges of Life is revisited, in the
    salmon
    so they can feast with enough fat to survive the winter.
  • The alpha female of an Ethiopian wolf pack stays at the den to wean her cubs while other adults hunt rats on the highland plateau.
  • The extraordinary nasal appendage of a star-nosed mole enables it to hunt successfully underground and, by using bubbles to detect its prey, underwater.
  • In
    langur
    , watching from above, raises the alarm.
  • The final sequence shows a female killer whale taking elephant seal pups from their nursery pool in the Falkland Islands. This is a risky strategy as she could easily become beached in the shallow water. She is the only killer whale known to hunt this way, but her calf shadows her moves, ensuring her knowledge will be passed on. Also close by were the film crew, who reveal how the sequence was shot in Life on Location: Rock Pooling.[36]
8"Creatures of the Deep"30 November 2009 (2009-11-30)[38]3.95 million viewers (15.6% audience share)[39]
The Australian giant cuttlefish is one of the marine invertebrates featured in "Creatures of the Deep".

Marine invertebrates
, the descendants of one billion years of evolutionary history, are the most abundant creatures in the ocean.

9"Plants"7 December 2009 (2009-12-07)[40]4.30 million viewers[24] (18.0% audience share)[41]
The dragon's blood tree survives in semi-desert conditions by collecting moisture from mist and fog.

Plants endure a daily struggle for water, nutrients and light.

  • On the forest floor where light is scarce,
    ivies, creepers
    , and passion flower vines climbing into the canopy using sticky pads, hooks or coiled tendrils.
  • Epiphytes grow directly on the topmost branches of trees. Their bare roots absorb water and trap falling leaves, which provide nutrients as they decompose.
  • Animals can also be a source of food: the sundew traps mosquitoes with sticky fluid, and venus flytraps close their clamshell leaves on unwitting insects.
  • Sandhill milkweed defends itself against feeding monarch caterpillars by secreting sticky latex from its leaves. The milkweed endures the onslaught because, like most plants, it produces flowers, and the newly hatched butterflies pollinate them.
  • In Dominica, the purple-throated carib hummingbird has beaks long enough to reach the energy-rich nectar of the Heliconia.
  • After flowering, brunsvigia plants in South Africa are snapped off by strong winds, sending their seed heads cartwheeling across the ground.
  • In Borneo, Alsomitra is a plant that produces winged seeds.
  • Saguaro cacti produce succulent fruit to attract desert animals which ingest and disperse their seeds.
  • Some plants have adapted to survive environmental extremes. Dragon's blood trees and desert roses thrive on arid Socotra, and coastal mangrove trees survive by filtering salt from seawater.
  • Bristlecone pines live above 3,000 m in North America's mountains. They have a six-week growing season and can live for 5,000 years, making them the oldest living things on Earth.
  • Grasses are the most successful of all plants. Of their 10,000 varieties, two cover more land than any other plant: rice and wheat. Life on Location: Time Warp goes behind the scenes of a time-lapse sequence in an English woodland. Because actually growing plants outdoors would prove a challenge to film (with constantly changing conditions) this scene used plants grown in a studio on a bluescreen duplicating a real outdoor backdrop. The entire process took two years to make.[40]
10"Primates"14 December 2009 (2009-12-14)[42]5.14 million viewers[24] (21.9% audience share)[43]
Japanese macaques are the most northerly primates, enduring winter temperatures of −20 °C (−4 °F) in the Japanese Alps.

Intelligence, curiosity and complex societies have enabled primates to exploit many different habitats.

  • In Ethiopia, male hamadryas baboons restore discipline after a skirmish with a rival troop.
  • In
    thermal springs
    in winter; others are left out in the cold.
  • Examples of primate communication include a silverback gorilla advertising his territory though vocalisations and chest-beating, and the piercing calls of spectral tarsiers which help keep their group together.
  • In Thailand's rainforests, lar gibbons use song to reinforce sexual and family bonds.
  • Baby Phayre's leaf monkeys are born bright orange, so the grey adults can keep an eye on them.
  • By contrast, ring-tailed lemurs in Madagascar broadcast sexual signals using scent glands.
  • A young orangutan's upbringing equips it with all the skills it needs to survive in the forest, including finding food, moving through the canopy and building a shelter.
  • On South Africa's
    shark eggs and mussels
    .
  • tool use in chimpanzees. Dextrous hand movements enable them to dip for ants and termites using plant stems. They have also learned to crack nuts using precise and efficient blows with a stone. One male chimp is filmed sharing his stone with a female.[42]

Inside Life

Main article: Inside Life

A complementary children's TV series, Inside Life, aired on the

CBBC Channel and followed young volunteers as they go behind the scenes with the Life production team and accompany the film-makers on expeditions in the field.[44]
It began airing on 13 October 2009.

One Life

In 2011, BBC Earth used Attenborough's footage of animals to create a documentary film called One Life, narrated by Daniel Craig.

Reception

The series was nominated for six

Primetime Emmy Awards in July 2010. These included a nomination for Outstanding Nonfiction Series along with selections in a number of technical categories.[45]
The episode "Challenges of Life" went on to win the Outstanding Cinematography for Nonfiction Programming award.

In June 2010, Life won two Rockies at the

Banff World Television Festival for best wildlife and natural history programme and best documentary.[46][47][48]

In October 2010, Life was awarded the Jury's Special Prize at the

Wildscreen Festival.[49]

DVD, Blu-ray Disc and book

The series was released in the UK as

2Entertain on 30 November 2009.[50][51] Region 1 DVD and Blu-ray Discs of both the BBC and Discovery versions of the series were released on 1 June 2010. In Australia, a Region 4, four-disc DVD and Blu-ray Disc was released by ABC DVD/Village Roadshow on 7 October 2010.[52]

A hardcover book written by producers Martha Holmes and Michael Gunton accompanies the television series. Life was published in the UK by

ISBN 9781846076428) on 1 October 2009.[53]

References

  1. ^ "BBC - Darwin".
  2. ^ "Life Press Pack – Introduction". BBC Press Office. 18 September 2009.
  3. ^ Khan, Urmee (10 July 2009). "David Attenborough Life series goes deeper than ever into world of the wild". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 14 July 2009.
  4. ^ Snoddy, Raymond (14 July 2007). "Peter Fincham: The reluctant controversialist". The Independent. London. Retrieved 4 April 2010.[dead link]
  5. ^ a b Sherwin, Adam (5 February 2007). "Is anyone a natural to replace Attenborough?". The Times. London. Retrieved 4 April 2010.
  6. ^ Holmwood, Leigh (21 September 2007). "Attenborough is back – again". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 4 April 2010.
  7. ^ Barrington, Rupert (November 2009), "Life", BBC Wildlife, vol. 27, no. 12
  8. ^ a b "BBC "Life" – Mammals". WildlifeExtra.com. Retrieved 15 November 2009.
  9. ^ Nikkhah, Roya (11 November 2007). "New TV scandal as BBC foxes viewers again". The Daily Telegraph. London.
  10. ^ Foggo, Daniel (7 January 2008). "Nature film not entirely natural". The Australian.
  11. ^ "BBC is finding Nemo... in Swansea". BBC News Online. 3 November 2009. Retrieved 17 November 2009.
  12. ^ "Eagles filmed hunting reindeer". BBC Earth News. 20 October 2009. Retrieved 17 November 2009.
  13. ^ Clarke, Tom (November 2009), "Life: Dolphin Genius", BBC Wildlife, vol. 27, no. 12
  14. ^ Chapman, Adam (November 2009), "Life: Cheetahs hunting Ostriches", BBC Wildlife, vol. 27, no. 12
  15. ^ Collins, Fergus (November 2009), "Life: A Year in a Minute", BBC Wildlife, vol. 27, no. 12
  16. ^ Blakeney, Simon (November 2009), "Life: Delicate Sword-work", BBC Wildlife, vol. 27, no. 12
  17. ^ Sweney, Mark (5 July 2010). "BBC Worldwide reports record profits". The Guardian. London.
  18. ^ Daswani, Mansha (23 October 2009). "BBC Worldwide announces Canadian slot for Life". Worldscreen.com.
  19. ^ Stelter, Brian (2 November 2009). "Oprah to Narrate Nature Series on the Discovery Channel". The New York Times.
  20. ^ "BBC Worldwide brings Life to Latin America". BBC Press Office. 6 October 2009.
  21. ^ "Juanes narró 'Vida', un nuevo documental de Discovery y la BBC". El Tiempo. 15 March 2010.
  22. ^ "ABC1 Programming Airdate: Life". ABC Television Publicity. 23 September 2010.
  23. ^ a b Produced by Martha Holmes (12 October 2009). "Challenges of Life". Life. BBC. BBC One.
  24. ^
    BARB
    . Retrieved 14 November 2009. (data available for Life broadcast weeks by searching archive)
  25. ^ Deans, Jason (14 October 2009). "TV ratings: Life begins with 6.5m viewers". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 4 April 2010.
  26. ^ a b Produced by Rupert Barrington (19 October 2009). "Reptiles and Amphibians". Life. BBC. BBC One.
  27. ^ "ITV1's 'Murderland' dents 'FlashForward'". DigitalSpy.co.uk. 20 October 2009.
  28. ^ a b Produced by Ted Oakes (26 October 2009). "Mammals". Life. BBC. BBC One.
  29. ^ "2.7 million see latest 'FlashForward'". DigitalSpy.co.uk. 27 October 2009.
  30. ^ a b Produced by Adam Chapman (2 November 2009). "Fish". Life. BBC. BBC One.
  31. ^ "Poor start for Pamela Anderson series". DigitalSpy.co.uk. 3 November 2009.
  32. ^ a b Produced by Patrick Morris (9 November 2009). "Birds". Life. BBC. BBC One.
  33. ^ "1.2 million see Gary Glitter 'hanged'". DigitalSpy.co.uk. 10 November 2009.
  34. ^ a b Produced by Rupert Barrington (16 November 2009). "Insects". Life. BBC. BBC One.
  35. ^ "Katie Price 'Celeb' entrance draws 9.4m". DigitalSpy.co.uk. 17 November 2009.
  36. ^ a b Produced by Adam Chapman (23 November 2009). "Hunters and Hunted". Life. BBC. BBC One.
  37. ^ "9.5m see Katie Price quit 'I'm A Celeb'". DigitalSpy.co.uk. 24 November 2009.
  38. ^ a b Produced by Neil Lucas (30 November 2009). "Creatures of the Deep". Life. BBC. BBC One.
  39. ^ "'FlashForward' hits series low of 2m". DigitalSpy.co.uk. 1 December 2009.
  40. ^ a b Produced by Neil Lucas (7 December 2009). "Plants". Life. BBC. BBC One.
  41. ^ "'I'm A Celeb' special draws 6.9 million". DigitalSpy.co.uk. 8 December 2009.
  42. ^ a b Produced by Patrick Morris (14 December 2009). "Primates". Life. BBC. BBC One.
  43. ^ "'Move Like Michael Jackson' opens to 637k". DigitalSpy.co.uk. 15 December 2009.
  44. ^ "BBC Press Pack – Inside Life – Introduction". BBC Press Office. 18 September 2009.
  45. ^ "Emma, Cranford and Life nominated for Emmy Awards". BBC America Shop. 16 July 2010. Archived from the original on 13 June 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
  46. ^ Strauss, Marise (15 June 2010). "U.K. dominates Banff's Non-Fiction Awards". realscreen.com.
  47. ^ "2010 Rockie Award Winners: Non-Fiction". banff2010.com. Retrieved 26 October 2010.
  48. ^ "2010 Rockie Award Winners: Best of Show". banff2010.com. Archived from the original on 13 January 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2010.
  49. ^ "Wildscreen Festival 2010: Panda Award Winners". wildscreenfestival.org. Archived from the original on 19 April 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
  50. ^ "David Attenborough: Life (DVD)". bbcshop.com. Retrieved 5 October 2009.
  51. ^ "David Attenborough: Life (Blu-Ray)". bbcshop.com. Retrieved 5 October 2009.
  52. ^ "ABC Shop presents: Life – DVD, Blu-ray & Book". abcshop.com.au. Archived from the original on 7 September 2010. Retrieved 23 September 2010.
  53. ^ Life (hardcover), by Martha Holmes and Mike Gunton. ASIN 1846076420.

External links

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