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The South Pacific islands - the most remote in the world - are home to some of the most curious, surprising and precarious examples of life found anywhere on Earth, from giant crabs that tear open coconuts, to flesh-eating caterpillars that impale their prey on dagger-like claws. Human culture is different here, too. The men of Pentecost Island celebrate their annual harvest by leaping from 20-metre-high scaffolds, with only forest vines to break their fall. And on the tiny island of Anuta, possibly the most remote community of people on the planet, the locals survive entirely on what they can grow and catch. The South Pacific's innumerable islands look like pieces of paradise, but the reality of life here is sometimes very different, with waves the size of buildings, brutal tropical storms and, in the far south, even blizzards. This is the real South Pacific.
In the South Pacific there is no such thing as a deserted island. They may be the most isolated in the world but every one of the region's 20,000 islands has been colonised - from New Guinea, home to birds of paradise and the tribe whose brutal initiation ceremony turns young warriors into 'crocodile' men, to Fiji, French Polynesia and Hawaii. This is the story of the ultimate castaways - from saltwater crocodiles and giant eels to crested iguanas and weird frogs - who succeeded against all odds to reach islands thousands of miles apart. These journeys were no mean feat. It has been estimated that an average of one species every 60,000 years makes it to Hawaii. Incredibly, many of these colonisers made it to these islands on the back of the most violent forces of nature, like cyclones and tsunamis. The voyages of the South Pacific's first people, the Polynesians, were no less remarkable. These journeys were undoubtedly some of the greatest acts of navigation ever undertaken, and they changed the nature of the South Pacific forever.
A large part of the remote, blue wilderness of the South Pacific is a marine desert. Many animals that live in the ocean, among them sharks, whales and turtles - must go to extraordinary lengths to survive. Tiger sharks travel hundreds of miles to feast on fledging albatross chicks and, every year, sperm whales journey from one side of the South Pacific to the other in their search for food and mates. Theirs is a journey that can end in tragedy. But the South Pacific is not all desert. New Zealand's super-rich coast supports huge pods of acrobatic dolphins; its coral reefs are some of the most diverse on earth; and there are few places richer in wildlife than the quirky Galapagos Islands, home to tropical penguins and surfing sea lions. Using the greatest shipwreck story of all time - an event that inspired Moby Dick - the huge challenges of survival in this seemingly endless blue ocean are revealed.
Witness the birth, growth and death of an island in the greatest ocean on Earth. Millions of years are condensed into an hour revealing unforgettable images of an erupting underwater volcano; rivers of lava exploding below the waves; roads and houses buried by molten rivers of rock. From these violent beginnings emerge coral reefs of unparalleled richness supporting large groups of grey reef sharks and giant manta rays. The rising lands of the South Pacific have also given life to some very strange creatures, from the vampire bug that thrives in tropical snow, to the megapode, a bird that uses volcanic springs to incubate their eggs; and vast swarms of jellyfish trapped forever by a coral mountain.
Witness the birth, growth and death of an island in the greatest ocean on Earth. Millions of years are condensed into an hour revealing unforgettable images of an erupting underwater volcano; rivers of lava exploding below the waves; roads and houses buried by molten rivers of rock. From these violent beginnings emerge coral reefs of unparalleled richness supporting large groups of grey reef sharks and giant manta rays. The rising lands of the South Pacific have also given life to some very strange creatures, from the vampire bug that thrives in tropical snow, to the megapode, a bird that uses volcanic springs to incubate their eggs; and vast swarms of jellyfish trapped forever by a coral mountain.
The South Pacific is still relatively healthy and teeming with fish, but it is a fragile paradise. International fishing fleets are taking a serious toll on the sharks, albatross and tuna, and there are other insidious threats to these bountiful seas. This episode looks at what is being done to preserve the ocean and its wildlife.
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South Pacific is a British nature documentary series from the BBC Natural History Unit, which began airing on BBC Two on 10 May 2009. The six-part series surveys the natural history of the islands of the South Pacific region, including many of the coral atolls and New Zealand. It was filmed entirely in high-definition. South Pacific was co-produced by the Discovery Channel and the series producer was Huw Cordey. It is narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch. Filming took place over 18 months in a variety of remote locations around the Pacific including: Anuta, Banks Islands, French Frigate Shoals, Papua New Guinea, Palmyra, Kingman Reef, Tuvalu, Palau, Caroline Islands, Tuamotus and Tanna Island in Vanuatu. On 6 May 2009, BBC Worldwide released a short clip of big wave surfer Dylan Longbottom surfing in slow motion, high-definition footage as a preview of the series, attracting extremely positive reactions on the video sharing website YouTube. The series was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on 15 June 2009. At the end of each fifty-minute episode, a ten-minute featurette takes a behind-the-scenes look at the challenges of filming the series. The series was released by Discovery International in the USA under the title Wild Pacific, with narration provided by Mike Rowe.
Filmed over the course of two decades, this beautiful portrait of North America's Pacific Coast will show off its abundance of marine life. But it wasn't always so. The richly illustrated action sequences of whales, seals, dolphins, sharks, sea otters and seabirds combine to make this an unforgettable and inspirational story.
Driven was a motoring television programme launched by Channel 4 in 1998 as a rival to the successful and long-running BBC series Top Gear. The style was similar to its rival, but with additional features such as the "Driven 100", a road test of three cars in the same class, where each car would be given marks for qualities such as practicality, desirability and cost of ownership. The car with the highest total score would be the winner. The programme launched with the concept that the presenters should interact with each other rather than present items on their own, as was then the case on Top Gear. The first series also featured a "headquarters", a racing team truck, set on a former air force base at which cars were put through their paces. These concepts resurfaced in the reborn Top Gear soon after.
At Your Service is an Irish makeover television programme, the first series of which was broadcast on RTÉ One in 2008. It is a creation of Waddell Media, who are behind How Long Will You Live? and Looking For Love. Presented by expert hotelier brothers Francis and John Brennan of the five-star Park Hotel in Kenmare, County Kerry, the premise of the show is that business makeovers are given by the duo to B&Bs, guesthouses and small hotels across Ireland. The advice given covers various aspects of management, including staffing, catering arrangements, menus, room inspections and indoor and outdoor redecoration. Francis is responsible for the main inspection, whilst John investigates financial issues, searches for new marketing opportunities and advises on how to develop in the future. Francis is particularly known for his meticulous attention to detail.
