“Planet Earth II” opens with a chase. A snake hunts an iguana across sand. That scene, from the first episode, is the reason the series still gets talked about a decade later. The BBC One documentary premiered on 6 November 2016 and finished its six-episode run on 11 December 2016. David Attenborough narrates. That is the whole pitch, and it is enough.
Trailer, via BBC.
Attenborough, Zimmer and the 4K Bet
The series is a sequel to “Planet Earth,” which aired in 2006. The BBC announced this one in 2013. It was the first BBC television series produced in ultra high definition, and the stated goal was to use filmmaking technology that had been developed since the first run. Hans Zimmer composed the main theme. The production was co-produced by the BBC Natural History Unit, BBC Studios, BBC America, ZDF, France Télévisions and Tencent, with BBC Worldwide handling distribution.
One season. Six episodes. Each one takes a habitat and shows how animals survive in it. That structure is not new. What changed is what the cameras could hold.
What the Numbers Say
The first trailer landed on 9 October 2016, about a month before the premiere. The series aired on BBC One and BBC One HD in the UK, then internationally on BBC Earth and other networks. The audience score sits at 8.6 out of 10 on TMDB across 973 votes.
| Detail | “Planet Earth” (2006) | “Planet Earth II” (2016) |
|---|---|---|
| Broadcast | 2006 | 6 Nov – 11 Dec 2016 |
| Format | Standard | First BBC series in 4K |
| Composer | — | Hans Zimmer |
| Narrator | David Attenborough | David Attenborough |
| Follow-up | — | “Planet Earth III” (2023) |
The awards followed. BAFTA gave it two Television Awards and two Television Craft Awards. It also took two Primetime Emmy Awards.
Why the Technology Is the Story
A nature documentary lives or dies on access. “Planet Earth II” was built on the bet that new cameras could get closer, move faster and hold steady where earlier crews could not. The iguana-and-snake sequence is the proof. So is the decision to shoot in 4K before most of the industry had committed to it.
The scale of the production matches the ambition — six co-producing organisations, a distributor, a Zimmer score, and Attenborough, who had already narrated the 2006 series and would return for “Planet Earth III” in 2023.
Here is what matters and what does not. The awards are a lagging sign. The 8.6 audience score is a live one, and it is high for a documentary series with no narrative hook beyond the animals. What actually separates this from the 2006 original is not the subject matter. It is the resolution and the reach of the equipment. The snake and the iguana were always there. The cameras finally caught up with them.
The weaker case is that “Planet Earth II” is a tech demo dressed as a nature series. That reading does not survive the six episodes. The technology serves the animals, not the other way around, and Attenborough’s narration keeps the focus where it belongs. A lesser production would have made the 4K the star. This one made it the tool.
The sequel problem is real, though. “Planet Earth III” arrived in 2023, seven years after “Planet Earth II,” and had to justify itself against a series that had already reset the format. That is the cost of being first.
“Planet Earth II” holds up because it does one thing at a scale nobody had managed before, and does it without showing off. Six episodes, one narrator, and new filmmaking technology that changed what a nature documentary could show.
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