Blue Planet III (BBC1)
Rating: Five Stars
Pub Quiz Question: What is the largest city on Earth? The answer depends on how you measure it: Shanghai is home to the world’s largest population of 25 million; New York covers more than 5,000 square miles; Tokyo is at its widest at about 100 miles.
But they are all dwarfed by undersea cities.
Blue Planet III took us to tropical coral reefs, unimaginably massive structures thousands of miles long, created by trillions of tiny inhabitants called polyps – a type of miniature jellyfish that feed on seawater’s nutrients and excrete them as limestone particles.
Water covers almost three-quarters of our planet – but that doesn’t explain the vastness of the habitat. On land, we all live at ground level, while the oceans can span miles from waves to bottom and be teeming with life in three dimensions.
This is mind boggling.
‘There are more animals in the ocean than anywhere else on Earth,’ announces the unmistakable voice of Sir David Attenborough, introducing the first episode of this six-part series – filmed on 100 expeditions spanning four years and thousands of hours of high-definition video.
Blue Planet III took us to tropical coral reefs, unimaginably huge formations thousands of miles long, larger than any major city on land.
His delivery is as sure and assured as ever, his timing perfect so that we have time to absorb every fact.
The script informs and entertains, giving context and meaning to what we’re watching, but never withholding the images.
He looks like a man half his age. What comes through is how fascinated he is with all types of animal behavior.
He’s genuinely thrilled by what he’s seeing, as much by the harlequin shrimp and sharks.
For sheer cruelty, shrimp is the winner. A pair of them went to work on a starfish, nibbled off one of its arms and took it back to their den on the rock.
For the starfish, this was an inconvenience but not fatal. It simply developed a new hand. If scientists ever work out how it does this, hip replacements could become a lot less troublesome.
It was a devilish trick of a dolphin. He picked up sponges from the sea floor and stuffed them into the crevices of the coral where his prey liked to hide – thereby cutting off their escape routes.
But the most amazing technology was perfected by a school of slow-moving nurse sharks. These silent hunters gather close to the shore in groups of up to 40, and pretend to sleep.
Sir David Attenborough’s delivery is as assured and confident as ever, his timing perfect so that we have time to absorb every fact.
Throughout his career, Sir David has demanded new and unseen behavior from intrepid film crews, and once again the Blue Planet teams have delivered.
As the tide goes out, large clouds of herring and silversides gather, oblivious to the danger.
With a sudden pounce, the sharks wake up and form a line, driving the small fish to the water’s edge. Predators simply have to open their mouths and let their food in.
The drone filming revealed the scale of the scene and its amazing choreography. Throughout his career, Sir David has demanded new and unseen behavior from intrepid film crews, and once again the Blue Planet teams have delivered.
The editing is also enjoyable. Shots are chosen that show marine life reacting in a very human way.
When a fiddler crab awakens to the lurking threat of a scarlet ibis patrolling the sand, it appears to throw up its pincers in terror. Its eyes, naturally protruding on the stalks, make it look even more intimidating.
My eyes were also fixed on the stalks.
Every time you think Attenborough The Extraordinary has shown us all the wonders of the world, he presents us with even more we could have never imagined.