Overview
- The five-part series will air on BBC Two and is scheduled to premiere on Monday 13 July at 9pm.
- Each episode focuses on a single emblematic species—elephant, ostrich, horse, bat and dolphin—to illustrate core evolutionary functions across four billion years from the last universal common ancestor.
- Presenter Chris Packham says the show combines up-to-date science, including explanations of DNA, with short narrative units designed to keep viewers engaged without simplifying the material.
- The BBC limited location travel by filming each episode largely in one place—Kenya for elephants, South Africa for ostriches, the UK (and three days by train in France) for horses, the Bahamas for dolphins and Borneo for bats—to reduce the production’s carbon footprint.
- The series balances technical explanation with intimate, emotional moments, such as a baby ostrich hatching into Packham’s hands and his encounter with a dolphin pod, to draw viewers into broader evolutionary ideas.