The series is shot entirely in high-definition film with revolutionary new aerial photography. From the highest mountains to the deepest rivers, you are taken on a daily struggle for survival in the most extreme habitats. The input has certainly paid off as Planet Earth has won a total of 34 awards, including four prime-time Emmys.
Friday's at 7.30pm AEST on BBC Knowledge FOXTEL and AUSTAR Channel 612
Programme 1: Pole to Pole
This programme looks at our planet as a whole. Without fresh water there is no life on land, while the sun dominates the lives of all animals and plants on earth and defines their habitats.
Programme 2: Mountains
Explore the geological and volcanic forces that shaped the land and its mountain chains. Humans like to think that once they've climbed a peak, they have somehow conquered it. But we can only ever be visitors to this hostile world.
Programme 3: Fresh Water
Just 3% of the planet's water is fresh, and it is our most precious resource. Where it flows or falls it controls the distribution of all terrestrial life. This programme focuses on the unique and dramatic wildlife found within its unexplored waters.
Programme 4: Caves
Caves are one of the only habitats not directly driven by sunlight, but this doesn't mean there is no wildlife. A look at this perpetual darkness in the unknown underground world of caves, caverns and tunnels.
Programme 5: Deserts
When astronauts peer down at the world, the one environment they all notice are the deserts, which make up a staggering 30% of the land's surface. From space they look empty and lifeless, a closer look reveals a very different picture.
Programme 6: Ice Worlds
This programme takes you on a journey of geographical extremes. For most of the year the Arctic and Antarctic are locked in ice, but, as the sun abandons one pole and journeys to the other, these frozen worlds undergo the most extreme seasonal transformation on the planet.
Programme 7: Great Plains
The vast open wildernesses of the African savannah, the Asian steppes, and the Arctic tundra and North American prairie are the great plains of the planet. Together they cover more than a quarter of the land on Earth and one living thing is at their heart - grass.
Programme 8: Jungles
Beautiful floating aerial shots introduce the world's most spectacular forest vistas and high-definition cameras. This enables unprecedented views of the species that live on the dark jungle floor.
Programme 9: Shallow Seas
The newly discovered coral reefs in tropical Indonesia are some of the richest in the world. They are also home to fascinating creatures - such as the head-butting pygmy seahorse, the flashing 'electric' clam and bands of 30-strong sea snakes...
Programme 10: Seasonal Forests
From the evergreen forests of the frozen north to the deciduous dry forests of the equator, This programme reveals the greatest woodlands on earth.
Programme 11: Ocean Deep
Oceans cover two-thirds of the planet, yet largely remain unexplored.Planet Earth travels the world to reveal the extraordinary lengths life takes in its bid to survive this immense mass of water.
