# Eyewitness (British TV series)

Eyewitness is a nature and science television series based on the bestselling series of Eyewitness Books by Dorling Kindersley. It was produced by the BBC, DK Vision (the video production arm of Dorling Kindersley) and Oregon Public Broadcasting. Guy Michelmore composed the series' opening and ending themes, as well as the score for each individual episode of Season 1, with Guy Dagul writing the score for each individual episode of Seasons 2 and 3, respectively. Dagul's scores for season 3 also incorporated stock music tracks and cues by Dick DeBenedictis. Following a 1994 UK debut, the series aired from 1995 to 1998 (seasons 1–3) on PBS in the United States and from 1995 to 1996 (seasons 1–2) on Disney Channel in the United Kingdom.

## Premise

Eyewitness is a documentary series. Each half-hour episode focuses on a single subject in the field of natural science, such as the Solar System or the various functions of the human body, similar in form to the book series on which it was based, with most being based, in part or in whole, off of existing book titles at the time, with few exceptions (though some titles, such as "Planets" and "Natural Disaster" started off as episodes and were made into books years later).

## Format

The series takes place in the fictional "Eyewitness Museum", a CGI science museum made to replicate, enhance, and expand upon the much-imitated white and empty signature visual style of the books that made them so successful in the first place. Combining fact with fiction, various galleries within the museum are always featured and change constantly with each season and episode and stock footage, which is usually seen through large windows or other depressions in the walls of the museum is also shown regularly. The original book series is known for its striking visual style involving objects specially photographed against a plain white background, and the accompanying TV series brings this to life through video and audio. In addition, almost every episode features a "Hero". The Hero is an animal, character, or object which drives the action of the episode and is continually referred back to throughout. These include the rooster-shaped weathervane from "Weather", Legs the claymation Tyrannosaurus from "Dinosaur", the shape-shifting paper boat from "Pond and River", the hyena from "Monster", the salmon from "Fish", the crab from "Seashore", the cockroach from "Prehistoric Life", the robotic human mime artist from "Human Machine", Smedley the living human skeleton from "Skeleton", Connell from "Dog", and the husky and king penguin from "Arctic and Antarctic".
The original British version of the series was narrated by the late Andrew Sachs for its entire run, while the American dub had Martin Sheen narrating for the first two seasons. However, Sachs took over narrating both versions (with his voice dubbed into American English for that region) for the third and final season. The series producer was Bill Butt for the first season, Briget Sneyd and sometimes Richard Thomson whenever Sneyd had to serve as editor for the second season, and Martin Mortimore for the third season.
In the US, the series aired in primetime on PBS nationwide. When the series was released onto VHS following the original run of each season, the US version of episodes from the first two seasons featured brief behind-the-scenes "making of" clips, each lasting five minutes after the main program, with the UK version having this feature for episodes of the third and final season. In 2003, eight episodes of the series were released onto interactive DVDs that featured interactive links to brief clips from other episodes of the series during the main program. The UK narration was kept in the American releases of these interactive DVDs, which were distributed by the Library Video Company through its Schlessinger Media division. A few years later, continuing well into the early 2010s, a larger number of episodes were released onto DVD in the US. The US narration was included on these releases, as well as the first special as a bonus feature.
There are also four Eyewitness Virtual Reality software titles based on the series: "Cat", "Bird", "Dinosaur Hunter", and "Earth Quest". One of these, "Shark", although seen on the elevator console, was never made.
Eyewitness has also been dubbed into other languages for broadcast internationally, including Spanish, Italian, French, German, Dutch, Russian, Indonesian, and Finnish, among others.

## Episodes

All original air dates are for PBS, as recorded in Newspapers.com. In the United States, production reports estimated that the series would air in fall 1994, though the series would ultimately premiere in April 1995. According to Christopher Davis, a founding member of DK who published with the company from 1974 to 2005, the Eyewitness television series "was relegated to some obscure kiss-of-death time slot" by the BBC on UK television. Following a 1994 debut, episodes from the first two seasons aired in the UK on Disney Channel, sometimes earlier than their American counterparts.

### Season 1 (1994-1995)

| No. | Title | Original UK air date | Original US air date |
| 1 | "Amphibian" | 5 September 1994 (1994-09-05) | 5 June 1995 |
| Discusses amphibians. ||||
| 2 | "Bird" | 12 September 1994 (1994-09-12) | 8 May 1995 |
| Discusses birds. ||||
| 3 | "Cat" | 19 September 1994 (1994-09-19) | 3 April 1995 |
| Discusses cats, both wild and domestic. ||||
| 4 | "Dinosaur" | 26 September 1994 (1994-09-26) | 12 June 1995 |
| Discusses dinosaurs. ||||
| 5 | "Dog" | 3 October 1994 (1994-10-03) | 1 May 1995 |
| Discusses dogs and their wild relatives and ancestors. ||||
| 6 | "Elephant" | 10 October 1994 (1994-10-10) | 15 May 1995 |
| Discusses elephants. ||||
| 7 | "Fish" | 17 October 1994 (1994-10-17) | 24 April 1995 |
| Discusses fish. ||||
| 8 | "Horse" | 24 October 1994 (1994-10-24) | 10 April 1995 |
| Discusses horses and their wild relatives. ||||
| 9 | "Insect" | 31 October 1994 (1994-10-31) | 29 May 1995 |
| Discusses insects. ||||
| 10 | "Jungle" | 7 November 1994 (1994-11-07) | 19 June 1995 |
| Discusses rainforests. ||||
| 11 | "Reptile" | 14 November 1994 (1994-11-14) | 17 April 1995 |
| Discusses reptiles. ||||
| 12 | "Shark" | 21 November 1994 (1994-11-21) | 22 May 1995 |
| Discusses sharks and their relatives, rays and skates. ||||
| 13 | "Skeleton" | 28 November 1994 (1994-11-28) | 26 June 1995 |
| Discusses the skeletal system and how it varies in different species, including humans. ||||

### Season 2 (1996–1997)

| No. | Title | Original UK air date | Original US air date |
| 1 | "Ape" | 2 September 1997 (1997-09-02) | 21 October 1996 |
| Discusses non-human primates. ||||
| 2 | "Arctic and Antarctic" | 9 September 1997 (1997-09-09) | 2 June 1997 |
| Discusses the Earth's polar regions. ||||
| 3 | "Butterfly and Moth" | 16 September 1997 (1997-09-16) | 2 December 1996 |
| Discusses butterflies and moths. ||||
| 4 | "Desert" | 23 September 1997 (1997-09-23) | 18 November 1996 |
| Discusses deserts. ||||
| 5 | "Mammal" | 30 September 1997 (1997-09-30) | 19 May 1997 |
| Discusses mammals. ||||
| 6 | "Pond and River" | 6 October 1997 (1997-10-06) | 5 May 1997 |
| Discusses rivers and ponds. ||||
| 7 | "Prehistoric Life" | 14 October 1997 (1997-10-14) | 28 October 1996 |
| Discusses the origin and evolution of life on Earth, from the earliest microbes to the appearance of modern humans. ||||
| 8 | "Rock and Mineral" | 21 October 1997 (1997-10-21) | 26 May 1997 |
| Discusses geology. ||||
| 9 | "Seashore" | 28 October 1997 (1997-10-28) | 4 November 1996 |
| Discusses the intertidal zone. ||||
| 10 | "Shell" | 4 November 1997 (1997-11-04) | 25 November 1996 |
| Discusses shells. ||||
| 11 | "Tree" | 11 November 1997 (1997-11-11) | 11 November 1996 |
| Discusses trees. ||||
| 12 | "Volcano" | 18 November 1997 (1997-11-18) | 14 October 1996 |
| Discusses volcanoes and earthquakes. ||||
| 13 | "Weather" | 25 November 1997 (1997-11-25) | 16 June 1997 |
| Discusses weather. ||||

### Season 3 (1997-1998)

| No. | Title | Original UK air date | Original US air date |
| 1 | "Bear" | 25 August 1997 (1997-08-25) | 19 February 1998 |
| Discusses bears. ||||
| 2 | "Flight" | 1 September 1997 (1997-09-01) | 29 January 1998 |
| Discusses the history and properties of flight-both in nature and in human civilization, past, present and future. ||||
| 3 | "The Human Machine" | 8 September 1997 (1997-09-08) | 2 April 1998 |
| Discusses the human body. ||||
| 4 | "Island" | 15 September 1997 (1997-09-15) | 23 April 1998 |
| Discusses islands. ||||
| 5 | "Life" | 22 September 1997 (1997-09-22) | 5 February 1998 |
| Discusses biology. ||||
| 6 | "Monster" | 29 September 1997 (1997-09-29) | 30 April 1998 |
| Discusses both mythical and real-life monsters. ||||
| 7 | "Mountain" | 6 October 1997 (1997-10-06) | 9 April 1998 |
| Discusses mountains. ||||
| 8 | "Natural Disaster" | 13 October 1997 (1997-10-13) | 26 February 1998 |
| Discusses natural disasters-earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, avalanches, drought, wildfires, and asteroid impacts. ||||
| 9 | "Ocean" | 20 October 1997 (1997-10-20) | 16 April 1998 |
| Discusses oceans. ||||
| 10 | "Planets" | 3 November 1997 (1997-11-03) | 22 January 1998 |
| Discusses the planets and other objects in our Solar System, as well as their study and exploration, past present, and future. ||||
| 11 | "Plant" | 10 November 1997 (1997-11-10) | 5 March 1998 |
| Discusses plants. ||||
| 12 | "Sight" | 17 November 1997 (1997-11-17) | 12 February 1998 |
| Discusses the world of vision. ||||
| 13 | "Survival" | 24 November 1997 (1997-11-24) | 26 March 1998 |
| Discusses how animals survive in the natural world. ||||

### Specials

The Making of Eyewitness - A compilation of "making-of" featurettes accompanying season 1 episodes. Aired on 7 October 1995 on Disney Channel (UK). The American version of this compilation (narrated by Martin Sheen) was not scheduled to air in the United States as of 1995, but it was eventually released as a standalone Video CD.
Individual "making-of" segments are attached to their corresponding episodes on home video releases. Compilations for season 2 (The Making Of Eyewitness 2 - Living Earth) and season 3 (The Making Of Eyewitness 3 - Worlds) were briefly available on the now-defunct official Eyewitness YouTube channel.

## Reception

It has won several awards, including at least two Emmys:
* 1994 Parent's Choice Award (for "Jungle")
* 1996 NEA Award
* 1996 1997 and 1998 Golden Gate Awards
* Chicago International Children's Film Festival Excellence in Children's Media