Human Planet

***Human Planet*** is an eight-part British television documentary series produced by the BBC with co-production from Discovery and BBC Worldwide. It describes the human species and its relationship with the natural world by showing the remarkable ways humans have adapted to life in every environment on Earth. It was broadcast in the United Kingdom, and subsequently in the United States, in 2011.

## Broadcast

*Human Planet* was originally broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One starting January 13, 2011. This broadcast was made up of eight episodes that consisted of the main program followed by a ten-minute featurette entitled "Behind the Lens", which provide insight into how a specific sequence was filmed. The series was narrated by John Hurt.

In the United States, the series premiered on the Discovery Channel on April 10, 2011. For this broadcast, Mike Rowe replaced Hurt as narrator. In addition, modifications were made: the episodes "Oceans" and "Rivers", as well as "Grasslands" and "Jungles", were condensed into two new episodes, entitled "Rivers and Oceans" and "Grasslands and Jungles", respectively, presenting the series as six episodes rather than the original eight, and the episodes were broadcast in a different order and the subheadings were dropped from the titles. Additionally, the "Behind the Lens" featurettes were dropped to accommodate for commercial breaks and compiled into a new episode entitled "Life at the Extremes", and the "Cities" episode was left unaired. The broadcast was on Sundays in three two-hour blocks.

## Episodes

*This is the series as it was originally presented in the United Kingdom, prior to its North American broadcast. Following is a presentation of the series in the United States.*

### American version

1. Rivers and Oceans (April 10, 2011)
2. Mountains (April 10, 2011)
3. Arctic (April 17, 2011)
4. Grasslands and Jungles (April 17, 2011)
5. Deserts (April 24, 2011)
6. Life at the Extremes (April 24, 2011)

## Controversy and inaccuracies

While *Human Planet* was generally well received, it drew attention for alleged fakery of some scenes. The BBC issued multiple statements about inaccuracies within the series and acknowledging that a number of scenes were inaccurately depicted or misleading. A first statement admitted that a sequence in the "Jungles" episode, which portrayed the Korowai tribe moving into a treehouse as a real home, is not accurate and that the tribe built it in commission for the episode. A second statement was that a scene in the "Oceans" episode, in which a Lamaleran whale hunter name Benjamin Blikololong is depicted supposedly harpooning a sperm whale, is also inaccurate, although the BBC did admit that the sequence reflects how they partake in whale hunting.

The BBC also later disclosed that a scene from the "Deserts" episode, which supposedly showed a wild wolf being shot at by Mongolian herders, actually showed a semi-domesticated wolf running to its handler, who was kept offscreen; the wolf itself was not shot at. Another scene depicting Venezuelan children hunting tarantulas, while implied to be taking place in the jungle, was actually shot in a television studio. In light of the inaccuracies, the BBC withdrew *Human Planet* from distribution pending a full editorial review.

## Home media

Main article: *Human Planet (videography)*