Renowned naturalist Sir David Attenborough is set to return to television for a new series of BBC's award-winning Blue Planet.

The seven-part series will mark 20 years since the channel's natural history unit first set out to explore never-before-seen wildlife in the deepest and darkest realms of the world's oceans.

Now Blue Planet II will see the team follow a fresh cast of aquatic animals with even more ambitious filming techniques.

Sir David said: "I am truly thrilled to be joining this new exploration of the underwater worlds which cover most of our planet, yet are still its least known."

http://www.breakingnews.ie/showbiz/blue ... 78092.html

"It will provide a timely reminder that this is a critical moment for the health of the world's oceans."

I hope they really do touch on the devastation we're causing rather than just have it as a footnote.

A lot of discussion of negative human impact upon crabs on Christmas Island, devastated by invasive ants.

That was Planet Earth 2. Which reminds me. I have to watch the rest of it.

Animavore wrote:That was Planet Earth 2. Which reminds me. I have to watch the rest of it.

Oops - yep, my mistake.

Animavore wrote:I hope they really do touch on the devastation we're causing rather than just have it as a footnote.

I disagree. They're far better served by showing the wondrous world of the oceans and narrating about the intricate, but fragile, web of interactions these creatures live within as the focus for the series, rather than going on and on about human effects. That will just make the series look preachy and patronising.

Better to save that message as a concluding footnote. A "punchline" where all its emphasis and gravitas comes from everything they've already shown about the wonders beneath the waters surface. Although some of the stuff about environmental damage can be easily interwoven into the narrative of each episode. I'm pretty sure in the Blue Planet they did that, talking about species which live on jellyfish, choking to death on plastic bags.

Maybe a final episode in the series focusing on the harm we do and, more positively, what we can do and are doing to undo that damage. Get people to see that our ability to influence the environment swings both ways and it isn't something we're powerless to stop.

Why have they started doing sequels to nature documentaries?