Netflix to explore Our Planet

Netflix has made its most significant move into factual programming yet, commissioning an eight-part blue-chip wildlife series from the producers behind Planet Earth.

Alastair Fothergill

Our Planet sees the US streamer team up with Silverback Films and conservationists the WWF. The series will combine photography techniques used in Planet Earth with a look at the planet’s remaining wilderness areas and the creatures living there.

The programme will include footage shot deep underwater, on ice caps, and in deserts and remote rain forests. It will be filmed using 4K camera technology.

Its debut to Netflix subscribers is set for 2019. The company is billing the four-year project as one of the largest and most ambitious ever attempted in natural history filmmaking.

The venture is being led by Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey, who created David Attenborough-fronted series Planet Earth, Frozen Planet and Blue Planet for the BBC before setting up Silverback Films in 2012. All three series are available to Netflix subscribers.

Frozen Planet

The pair have also previously worked on Disney nature films Earth, Bears, African Cats and Chimpanzee.

They will be granted access to WWF projects in protected areas around the world. The conservation group is active in more than 100 countries and has in excess of five million members.

Lisa Nishimura, VP of Netflix Original Documentaries, said: “The Planet projects have enjoyed great success on Netflix and have helped launch new technologies for viewing at home. We think watching Our Planet, fully on-demand in 4K, will be an unforgettable experience for our members.”

Fothergill added: “Our Planet is going to raise the bar for natural history landmarks. We will reveal the most amazing sights on Earth and show them in ways they have never been seen before.”