David Attenborough could describe someone making a cup of tea to me and I’d still think it was the most amazing sight to ever grace my screen. The long-awaited release of Blue Planet II lead to whole a nation overwhelmed with love and fascination of surfing dolphins, leaping Manta rays and Attenborough himself, with the show getting chart-topping ratings higher than Strictly and a peak of 10.6 million viewers.
6000: The number of hours of underwater footage filmed in the making of Blue Planet II
In comparing the show to it’s predecessor, Blue Planet, what amazed me is how much more advanced the technology of this series was. It only feels like a mere few years have passed since the last season of Blue Planet aired, and shocked me to realise it was in fact 13 years ago. What isn’t surprising is that it’s taken this many years to produce a second series. With the show’s filming adding up to 6,000 hours of underwater footage, the series has taken care and craft to produce, which definitely shows.
"Attenborough regularly reminds us that this planet and our oceans will only be so fascinating and beautiful as long as we preserve them"
But it’s not only the stunning shots and brightly coloured funny faced fish that make Blue Planet so great. Throughout the show Attenborough regularly reminds us that this planet and our oceans will only be so fascinating and beautiful as long as we preserve them. It is a show that both entertains and informs us of the wonders of the ocean and how necessary it is for us to preserve it. A particularly favourite moment of this first episode had to be what we thought was a False Killer Whale versus Dolphin chase, which turned into two bunches of old friends chatting and joining forces. Occurrences like these are fascinating ones which millions of people who watch the show would never find out about without it.
So thank you, Blue Planet - we owe you big time.