The Best Episodes Written By David Attenborough

Every TV Episode Written by David Attenborough Ranked from Best to Worst by Thousands of Voters

  1. Background image for The First to Fly
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #1 - The First to Fly

    Missing info
    S1:E1

    David Attenborough embarks on an extraordinary journey to unravel one of nature’s most gripping stories – the evolution of flying animals. He begins by exploring the unexpectedly advanced world of the very first flyers – the insects. Stunning new images give us fresh insights into an astonishing story – from the first dragonfly-like creatures that emerged from the water to fly on four wings, to the beetles that built hard wing-cases to colonise the land, and butterflies capable of migrating halfway round the globe. He concludes by investigating the remarkable skills of jet fighter of the insect world – the humble but surprisingly acrobatic fly.

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  2. Background image for Triumph
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    #2 - Triumph

    Missing info
    S1:E3

    David Attenborough concludes his epic history of the evolution of flight with an exploration of the highly advanced fliers that dominate our skies today – the extraordinarily diverse skills of the birds, and the sonar-guided precision of the bats. He encounters some of our planet’s most remarkable fliers – from peregrine falcons dive-bombing starlings over Rome, to hummingbirds hovering in the cloud forests of Ecuador. In a spectacular finale, he visits Gomantong cave in Borneo to witness the mass exodus of a million bats.

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  3. Background image for Autumn
    9.0/10(7 votes)

    #3 - Autumn

    Missing info
    S1:E4

    Polar landscapes are transformed as the big freeze returns. Most animals leave on epic journeys, some now battle to breed, and, for the hardy few, it’s a time of opportunity.

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    Director:N/A
  4. Background image for Kalahari
    8.8/10(8 votes)

    #4 - Kalahari

    Missing info
    S1:E1

    The series opens in Africa's south west corner and features the wildlife and landscapes of the Kalahari and Namib deserts. Starlight cameras reveal previously unfilmed nocturnal behaviour of black rhinos as they socialise at a Kalahari waterhole, and super slow motion footage captures a fierce battle between two male giraffes. Other sequences show Namibia's famous and mysterious fairy circles, how a fork-tailed drongo's talent for mimicry allows it to steal a meal from a meerkat clan, how ostrichs help their chicks find water, and how red-billed queleas defend their nests from marauding armoured bush crickets. Also, for the first time, cameras enter the world's largest underground lake in Dragon's Breath Cave and film the critically endangered golden cave catfish. Eye to Eye looks behind the scenes of the rhino and giraffe filming.

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  5. Background image for On Thin Ice
    8.8/10(5 votes)

    #5 - On Thin Ice

    Missing info
    S1:E7

    A look at how scientists measure changes in the polar regions and what those changes mean for the animals and people who live there, as well as the rest of the planet.

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    Director:N/A
  6. Background image for Savannah
    8.4/10(7 votes)

    #6 - Savannah

    Missing info
    S1:E2

    East Africa is the subject of the second programme, from the glaciated peaks of the Rwenzori Mountains to the savannahs and caustic soda lakes of the Great Rift Valley. The filmmakers focus on the life and death decisions animals must make in this ever-changing region. On the savannah, agama lizards play a game of dare as they approach a sleeping pride of lions to catch flying insects. A shoebill chick is filmed attacking its weaker sibling, forcing the parents to abandon it. On the plains of Amboseli, the worst drought for 50 years claims the life of an elephant calf, one of hundreds which perish from starvation. Their resilience and adaptability is highlighted by the returning rains, which bring together large herds to socialize. In Eye to Eye, cameraman Mark Deeble discusses the ethics of filming the dying elephant calf.

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    Director:N/A
  7. Background image for Congo
    8.4/10(5 votes)

    #7 - Congo

    Missing info
    S1:E3

    The third episode visits the Congo basin and features some of the creatures which inhabit its two million square miles of jungle. In the canopy, a chimpanzee is filmed extracting honey from a bees' nest using a variety of branches as tools, whilst underground, a female African rock python incubates her eggs by coiling her warm body around them. Rare footage shows the nesting behaviour of Picathartes and a gathering of forest elephants at Dzanga bai. Other sequences show African skimmers, leaf-folding frogs and luminous fungi. Loango in Gabon is one of the few remaining places where the jungle meets the ocean. African forest buffalo, hippo, elephants and red river hogs emerge from the forest to sunbathe and swim. Eye to Eye shows the difficulties of filming in the Congo.

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  8. Background image for Cape
    8.4/10(5 votes)

    #8 - Cape

    Missing info
    S1:E4

    The fourth instalment shows how Southern Africa is influenced by two very different ocean currents. The warm Agulhas Current generates rainfall in Mozambique's interior, where butterflies gather on the summit of Mount Mabu to court and breed. The cold Benguela Current influences the Western Cape, where little rain falls. The intense heat makes incubating eggs a difficult prospect for African penguins. In spring, as Namaqualand is transformed into a desert garden, the drama of a monkey beetle's love life plays out in a single flower. Great white sharks and a 15 m Bryde's whale are filmed in the rich feeding grounds of the Atlantic. Eye to Eye reveals how the opening sequence, documenting the first few minutes of a green turtle hatchling's life, was constructed.

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  9. Background image for Sahara
    8.4/10(5 votes)

    #9 - Sahara

    Missing info
    S1:E5

    The penultimate episode opens in the cedar forests of the Atlas Mountains, where Barbary macaques have become isolated from other primates by the expanding Sahara. Aerial photography shows the Sahara is a landscape dominated by rock. Animals featured include Grévy's zebra, addax and naked mole rats, each found on the desert's fringes. Two million barn swallows are forced to cross the Sahara on their migrations, congregating at a poisoned oasis to feed on flies. The last remaining freshwater pools are home to stranded desert crocodiles, filmed hunting tilapia fish. Macro photography reveals the struggles of dung beetles and silver ants, the latter able to survive exposure to the brutal midday sun thanks to their reflective body coating. Eye to Eye shows how an 18-month time lapse sequence of Libya's sand dunes was filmed.

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  10. Background image for From Pole to Pole
    8.4/10(37 votes)

    #10 - From Pole to Pole

    Missing info
    S1:E1

    A global tour examining the behaviors of animals and revealing the effects of climate change on their environments.

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    Director:N/A
  11. Background image for Caves
    8.1/10(28 votes)

    #11 - Caves

    Missing info
    S1:E4

    Although often overlooked, caves are remarkable habitats with bizarre wildlife. Explore the structures created inside the earth as well as the adaptations animals have made to thrive in these environments.

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  12. Background image for Fresh Water
    8.1/10(30 votes)

    #12 - Fresh Water

    Missing info
    S1:E3

    Although merely 3% of water on earth, fresh water plays an important part in the planet's weather and erosion. It is immensely important for all non-marine wildlife, which drinks fresh water and swims, procreates, hunts in it. Its concentrations, such as rivers, lakes and swamps, abound in aquatic and other species, often adapted to 'wet' life.

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  13. Background image for Deserts
    8.0/10(26 votes)

    #13 - Deserts

    Missing info
    S1:E5

    Despite the lack of rain, deserts are the most varied of our ecosystems. In fact, about thirty percent of the earth's land surface is covered in desert. Explore the unique conditions present in deserts as well as the survival mechanisms developed by the animals that inhabit them.

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  14. Background image for Origin
    8.0/10(1 votes)

    #14 - Origin

    Missing info
    S1:E1

    David Attenborough explores the extraordinary riches of Galapagos, beginning with the story of the birth of the islands and how it became populated with life.

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  15. Background image for The Future
    8.0/10(3 votes)

    #15 - The Future

    Missing info
    S1:E6

    David Attenborough meets a baby rhino and wonders what the future holds for it.

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  16. Background image for Mountains
    8.0/10(31 votes)

    #16 - Mountains

    Missing info
    S1:E2

    An exploration of the world's major mountain ranges and the habitats they create.

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  17. Background image for The Cold Blooded Truth
    7.0/10(1 votes)

    #17 - The Cold Blooded Truth

    Missing info
    S1:E1

    The first episode discusses the keys to success of reptiles and amphibians, looking at thermoregulation, parental care and the time-scales on which reptiles operate.

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  18. Background image for Land Invaders
    7.0/10(1 votes)

    #18 - Land Invaders

    Missing info
    S1:E2

    The second programme explores the world of amphibians, of which there are some 6,000 known species. Attenborough visits Australia to illustrate how they became the first back-boned creatures to colonise land: the lungfish, which is capable of breathing air, and whose ancestors became the first amphibians. The largest of them is the Japanese giant salamander and two are shown wrestling for territory. In North America, the marbled salamander spends most of its life on land, yet is still able to retain the necessary moisture in its skin through the damp leaf litter. A female caecilian is filmed with her young, whose rapid growth is discovered to be the result of eating their mother's skin — re-grown for them every three days. The most successful amphibians are frogs and toads. Their calls are most active during the breeding season: females are impressed by both volume and frequency. However, gestures are sometimes needed and the poisonous Panamanian golden frog uses a conspicuous form of 'semaphore'. Most other frogs rely on camouflage and the South American red-eyed tree frog is an example. An African bullfrog is shown defending its exposed tadpoles by digging a canal for them. Meanwhile, the male marsupial frog keeps its young moist by carrying them in its skin pouches. Under the Skin examines the filming of the last population of Panamanian golden frogs, which is threatened by a fungal disease.

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  19. Background image for Dragons of the Dry
    7.0/10(1 votes)

    #19 - Dragons of the Dry

    Missing info
    S1:E3

    The third instalment takes a look at the immense diversity, social skills and displays of the lizards. While they are highly adept at camouflage, occasionally there is a need to break cover in order to ward off rivals. Attenborough holds up a mirror to an anole and causes it to extend its colourful throat flap as a warning sign. Madagascar is host to over 60 species of chameleon but one of the largest, Meller's chameleon, is native to Malawi and two rival males are shown jousting. A female South African dwarf chameleon demonstrates its ability to change colour when communicating to a potential mate, and the chameleon's muscular tongue is depicted lassoing its prey. In southern Australia, Attenborough uses a baited fishing rod to attract the attention of a rare pygmy bluetongue skink, thought to have been extinct for over thirty years until it was rediscovered in 1992. Shinglebacks are among the most devoted lizards and breeding pairs can reunite each year for up to two decades. Alongside South Africa's Orange River, large groups of flat lizards feed on the swarms of black flies, but the males also use the occasion to indulge in social squabbling. The Mexican beaded lizard is one of the few with a poisonous bite, but males do not employ it when wrestling each other. Finally, Attenborough comes face to face with a perentie, Australia's largest monitor lizard. Under the Skin focuses on filming in Australia.

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  20. Background image for Sophisticated Serpents
    7.0/10(1 votes)

    #20 - Sophisticated Serpents

    Missing info
    S1:E4

    The fourth episode focuses on the most modern reptiles, the snakes, exploring how they have managed to become successful despite their elongated body shape. Attenborough explains how they evolved from underground burrowers to surface hunters, losing their limbs in the process. With the aid of infrared cameras, a timber rattlesnake is shown lying in wait for a mouse and sensing its repeated path before despatching and eating it. A snake's constantly flickering tongue is used to gather and evaluate the molecules of its surroundings, and Attenborough visits Carnac Island to witness a population of blind tiger snakes, which feed on the chicks of nesting gulls. He also confronts a Mozambique spitting cobra, which quickly sprays venom over the presenter's protective face visor. The similarities in colouration between the harmless kingsnake and potentially lethal coral snake are highlighted. An example of a snake that can tackle unusual prey is the Queen snake, which almost exclusively hunts newly-moulted crayfish. A pair of rival male King cobras are seen battling and infant cobras are shown hatching: their venom is immediately as fatal as that of their parents. In Argentina, a yellow anaconda evades nearby caimans to give birth to live young. Finally a turtle-headed sea snake feeds not on fish, but on their eggs laid on a coral reef

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  21. Background image for Armoured Giants
    7.0/10(1 votes)

    #21 - Armoured Giants

    Missing info
    S1:E5

    The final programme covers the most ancient of the reptiles: the crocodiles and turtles. In the Galápagos Islands, among the giant tortoises, Attenborough explains how the creatures came to develop their shells as a defence against predators. This is demonstrated by the eastern box turtle, whose shell includes a hinged 'drawbridge'. The aquatic pig-nosed turtle is unusual in that its eggs need to be submerged before hatching, whereas those of other species would drown; Attenborough illustrates this by dropping an egg into a jar of water: it immediately hatches. In the open ocean, male sea turtles attempt to separate a rival from its mate by attacking and overwhelming the pair, stopping them from taking in air. In northern Australia, Attenborough observes a large gathering of crocodiles at a flooded coastal road: they time their arrival to ambush migrating mullet. The complex communication and body language of the American alligator is investigated and in Argentina, the calls of young caimans help their mother locate and lead them to a nursery pool. The mother's maternal instinct extends to releasing unhatched babies by gently crushing their eggs in its jaws. In Venezuela, a female spectacled caiman in charge of an entire crèche leads the infants from a drying river bed on a trek to permanent water

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David Attenborough Ratings Summary

"The First to Fly" is the best rated episode written by David Attenborough. It scored 10/10 based on 1 votes. It was directed by David Lee. It aired on 1/3/2015 and is rated 0.0 points higher than their second-best episode, "Triumph".