(BBC iPlayer)
Covering almost a third of our planet, Asia’s biodiversity and vast range of environments were ripe for the David Attenborough treatment. He narrates this seven-part series, which touches on everything from the rocky outcrops that snow leopards call home to cannibalistic cormorants hiding out in the desert.
(Disney+/FX)
Technology has reshaped childhood for the first generation of so-called digital natives. This five-parter was filmed in the US in 2021 as schools returned to in-person classes, following the peak of the covid-19 pandemic. It is a revealing and occasionally terrifying look at being a teenager today.
(Apple TV+)
Listen to some of the world’s most vocal creatures in this 12-part series, which examines how animals use and respond to sound. Whether it is the extraordinary mimicry of the lyrebird or how thunder signals the start of migrations across Africa, you will be surprised how many unusual and remarkable uses of sound there are in the animal kingdom.
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(BBC iPlayer)
Our universe is unimaginably vast and strange, but there are plenty of extraordinary and bizarre phenomena in our own cosmic neighbourhood. Over five episodes, Brian Cox explores the weirdest, wildest places in the solar system, from the ice worlds of the Oort Cloud to Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io.
/Attenborough and the Jurassic Sea Monster (BBC iPlayer/Amazon Prime Video)
At the start of the year, we learned of an extraordinary discovery in the cliffs of Dorset, UK: an intact pliosaur skull. With Attenborough as your guide, take a trip back 150 million years to a time when these colossal sea creatures ruled the waves.
/Space Shuttle Columbia: The Final Flight (BBC iPlayer/CNN)
In 2003, damage caused during the launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia led to the deaths of seven NASA astronauts upon re-entry. This three-part series uses archival footage to piece together what went wrong and provides a glimpse of some of the final moments of the astronauts’ lives.
(Netflix)
2024 has been a record-breaking year for the climate, and for all the wrong reasons. That’s one more reason to watch this four-part series about the interconnectedness of the living things on our planet. It is a great guide to some of Earth’s most important ecosystems and how they are threatened by rising emissions.
(BBC iPlayer)
A new bill working its way through the UK parliament would allow terminally ill people to choose to end their lives. Some welcome it as a win for bodily autonomy, while others fear it is the beginning of a slippery slope of coercion and discrimination. This documentary from actor and disability rights activist Liz Carr is largely a look at the latter camp, providing a much-needed platform for people with disabilities to share their views on this issue.
(Netflix)
The world’s oceans are the extraordinary engines of all life on Earth. The footage captured in this five-parter absolutely does them justice – Our Oceans ranks among the most visually epic documentaries of recent years.
(Apple TV+ – arriving 18 December)
Ignore the slightly clichéd title – this 10-part series about animal intelligence is beautifully shot and pitched just right for family viewing. You’ll be hooked from the very first animal on screen, a curious fur seal pup sent tumbling down some rocks. Later highlights include a remarkable transformation by a bluehead wrasse and the wind-surfing escapology employed by orb-weaving spiders.
(BBC iPlayer)
One final Attenborough pick for the road. Since the extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago, mammals have come to rule the roost pretty much everywhere on our planet. But what might happen now that the most successful mammals of all, humans, have upset the balance of life on Earth? Find out in this lusciously made six-part series.
