Square Eyes - Film & TV Blog
Life: The New Series on BBC1
Life: The New Series on BBC1
Britain’s best known natural history film maker David Attenborough recently appeared on ‘Friday Night with Jonathon Ross’ to promote his new BBC series ‘Life’. On the show he claimed if he could be one animal he would be a sloth. The 83 year old then proceeded to demonstrate by lying backwards and sticking his legs in the air as if he were hanging from a tree. He even managed to make the way in which sloths meet their friends around poo piles at the bottom of the tree sound charming.
I cannot confess to watch many nature programmes but I gave this one a try. I have to admit it surprised me. The series portrays the lengths animals go to in order to survive and the ways in which they are adapting. What suppressed me was the human way in which these animals must think in order to evolve their hunting tactics in the way they have. The idea that one type of monkey knows to take the outside layer off its nut and leave it for a week before it will be able to use its own makeshift hammer and anvil to crack it open. One type of fish has even managed to avoid its predators by learning to fly: the flying fish can glide 200 meters above the ocean in order to escape.
The camera work was stunning, although I suppose this can be attributed to the fact that the 10 part series took 4 years to make. Even if this is not the kind of programme you would usually watch I would suggest just trying out one episode. You can stream the first episodes from iPlayer here and you can watch the clip from Jonathon Ross here.
‘Life’ is shown on BBC1 on Sunday at 18:00.
Frederica Dixon
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