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Sir David Attenborough’s Asia

by Max

29th October 2024

Sir David Attenborough presents Asia, a seven-part series exploring the amazing wildlife and natural wonders of our planet’s largest continent.

Across seven episodes exploring each corner of this remarkable part of our planet, audiences will journey through Asia’s most stunning landscapes, witness a wealth of wildlife, and uncover stories of extraordinary unseen animal behaviour. Filmed over the course of nearly four years, this is the first time that Asia – home to the highest mountain range, the deepest ocean, the tallest jungles, and the biggest cave – has been the focus of a landmark BBC wildlife series.

In Nepal, we’ll follow rhinos playing ‘kiss chase’ in a bizarre courtship ritual. In the foothills of the Himalaya, amidst forests of bamboo, we’ll meet Asia’s shyest and possibly cutest mammal: the red panda. Five thousand metres up on the Tibetan Plateau, we’ll witness a lone wolf relentlessly hunting a herd of antelope for hours on end.

In Sri Lanka, we’ll join elephants that have learnt to become highway thieves – holding up buses to get food from the passengers. And in the rich waters of the Western Pacific, we’ll swim with sea snakes that have learnt to team up with fish to hunt.

Asia will also explore the conservation challenges facing the continent, and shine a light on the potential solutions being championed by the region’s conservation heroes. From the vast Gobi Desert, to the jungles of Borneo, and from the polar wilderness of Siberia to the coral seas of the Indian Ocean, this series will showcase the breath-taking diversity of Asia’s wildest places.

Asia, a 7×60’ for BBC One and iPlayer, is made by BBC Studios Natural History Unit, co-produced with BBC America, France Télévisions and ZDF. It was commissioned by Jack Bootle, Head of Commissioning, Specialist Factual. The Executive Producer is Roger Webb, the Series Producer is Matthew Wright and the Commissioning Editor is Sreya Biswas, Head of Commissioning, Natural History.

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When is Asia on TV and BBC iPlayer?

Watch all episodes of Asia on BBC iPlayer from Sunday 3 November and add to your Watchlist now.

Watch Asia on BBC One from Sunday 3 November.

Asia Episodes

Episode 1 – Beneath The Waves

Asia has the longest coastline of any continent, and the most abundant coral reefs on Earth. Its seas are connected by some of the world’s most powerful currents, and are home to over sixty percent of all marine species. This ground-breaking film features the charismatic creatures of Asia’s oceans, never- seen-before spectacles and brand-new animal behaviour. From giants in the deep ocean, to tiny fish that climb trees, squid that glow in the dark, and grey reef sharks that hunt in their hundreds. Asia’s waters are as spectacular as they are diverse.

Episode 2 – Above The Clouds

Asia is the most mountainous continent on earth. From the forested slopes of the tropics to the hostile heights of the Himalaya, Asia’s mountains are home to an astonishing abundance of specialised plants and wildlife. In India, elephants live in high-altitude tea plantations; and in Thailand, mountainous caves hide the planet’s greatest gathering of swifts. In Pakistan, markhor live life truly on the edge, fighting for mates atop towering cliffs; and in Nepal, the forested foothills of the Himalaya provide hiding places for one of Asia’s shyest but most adorable mammals, the red panda.

Episode 3 – The Frozen North

In northern Asia, life defies hostile extremes. In Russia’s Lake Baikal, a seal pup must take evasive action when its ice den starts to melt. Hokkaido’s thermal springs are a haven for dancing red-crowned cranes. On the Tibetan Plateau, a lone Himalayan wolf hunts antelope. Fish owls thrive in the forests where Russia and China meet. On the Kamchatka Peninsula, brown bears hunt salmon in preparation for winter. Elsewhere in Japan, bats hibernate beneath snow, while red foxes and sea eagles compete for food. In Arctic Russia, polar bears wait on isolated islands for the return of sea ice.

Episode 4 – Tangled Worlds

Asia’s jungles are exceptionally diverse, but whilst they provide shelter, food, and opportunity, they are also full of dangers and hidden threats. In monsoon forests, tigers tenaciously hunt their prey, and prehistoric-looking rhinos play courtship games akin to kiss-chase. In tropical rainforests, female orangutans must search far and wide to find their perfect mates. And in the little-known forests of Iraqi Kurdistan, a new Persian leopard population is growing amidst minefields.

Episode 5 – Crowded Continent

In Asia, the most densely populated continent, animals have developed extraordinary ways to seize the opportunities of the human world. From tigers entering a city to hunt easy prey, to elephants stopping traffic to demand food from motorists. A small park in central Bangkok supports three hundred giant lizards whilst a flying squirrel in Taipei has made a cosy home in a school. Yet, the changing human world creates unprecedented challenges: proboscis monkeys are forced to venture uncomfortably closer to humans and swifts in Jerusalem face tough competition for nest sites.

Episode 6 – The Arid Heart

In the heart of Asia lie vast arid lands. These deserts and dry grasslands are so hostile, they push life to the limit. Here, one of the rarest animals on earth, the Gobi Bear, searches desperately for water, and bizarre looking long-eared jerboas use their striking features to catch insects. Asiatic lions must do whatever it takes to find food and juvenile cormorants resort to cannibalism to survive. On the arid grasslands, Pallas cats need ingenious ways to get close to their prey, Mongolian Gazelles must battle harsh winters and human barriers, and takhi horses are terrorised each night by Mongolian wolves. Life in the Arid Heart demands extraordinary resilience – those that live here are Asia’s great survivors.

Episode 7 – Saving Asia

Remarkable people are dedicating their lives to saving Asia’s extraordinary wildlife, using ingenious solutions. In Borneo, we follow a sun bear being released back into the wild; and in Java, we see how a breeding programme is saving the Javan green magpie. In Japan, orphaned shark embryos are being raised in an artificial uterus. And off Bali, fishermen are trialling new technology that could stop rare species being caught in their nets. We witness a Nepali police raid disrupting the illegal wildlife trade, and also join a 24-hour wildlife rescue team saving Sunda pangolins in urban Singapore.

Asia in Numbers

• Total number of filming days: 2,287
• Total number of shoots: 120 shoots
• Total number of countries filmed in: 21 countries

Interview with Roger Webb (Executive Producer)

What was the genesis of this series?

The Natural History Unit made the series Seven Worlds, One Planet, five years ago now. The team on that did a tremendous job. And obviously one of the episodes was Asia, which did really well. It became clear that there are so many stories there beyond what was possible to do in a single hour for Seven Worlds, One Planet.

Everybody who was involved in that particular episode just kept talking about it and the riches that were on offer there. Then it came to light that no one’s really done an in-depth series about Asia and its wildlife, taking the continent as a whole. So we started doing more work collating what other stories might be possible and realized we had such a rich list. Also, there’s a certain mystique and romance about Asia.

So many of the places in Asia are on people’s bucket lists to visit. You’ve got that element as well as an incredible cast of animals in incredible places. So we took it to BBC Commissioning, and they were similarly excited about what we proposed. No disrespect to any other continent on the planet, but as Sir David says at the top of the series, there’s nowhere with more untold stories.

For us as wildlife filmmakers, there’s nothing more exciting than that. So that was it. We were just energized and excited. We ran with it, and we’ve had the most amazing four years making the series. The team have done an incredible job.

Why have these stories from Asia been untold for so long, do you think?

When people think of wildlife or wild places, they don’t necessarily jump straight to Asia. But the animals you find in Asia are as big and as charismatic as any you might find in Africa. There are rhinos there, there are elephants, there are, of course, tigers. There are also lions, which I don’t think some people realise. So the riches on offer are on a par with anywhere else in the world.

But for whatever reason, our cameras have not heavily focused on those animals in Asia before. So it’s just such an exciting opportunity for us. Also, technology has moved on so fast in the last five or ten years. To be able to apply that to filming stories that have rarely been told or not told at all is just super exciting for us.

What does Sir David’s involvement add to the project?

David brings so much to anything we do. We were so pleased having him voice Asia. I think he was similarly excited about the stories. It’s always lovely when you get feedback from David and he says, “Oh, I really enjoyed that.” For example, he loved the Moorish idol sequence with the sharks in the Oceans episode “Beneath the Waves.” His enthusiasm never seems to dwindle. If you’re getting a big smile and a thumbs up from Sir David, you’re in a good place!

He’s been an absolute delight to work with. He’s painstakingly gone through every script and fed back to us. He interrogates every word and will review things in great detail. It’s been a great dialogue. Together we’ve been truly able to hone the scripts. He’s 98, and his performance in the commentary is as good as anything I’ve heard before. He still has the same hunger that I believe he had all those years ago. He motivates us as well, which is lovely. To work with him is an honour. He’s an incredible human being, and it’s just so fantastic to be working with him again on this.

Which sequences stand out for you in this series?

The opening sequence in the whole series where a school of Moorish idols are chased by grey reef sharks is quite extraordinary. That has been on quite a few wildlife filmmakers’ bucket lists, but producer Mark [Wheeler] really went for it. He will probably say he got lucky, but he planned everything down to the nth degree, and he worked with a brilliant team. They managed to capture something that’s never been captured before. The fish themselves are beautiful.

They’re little characters with their pursed lips. They remind me of some of the fish in Finding Nemo. They are just instantly charismatic. Then the sharks are also remarkable. The way they pursue the Moorish idols en masse in this frenzy is amazing. The energy and the music and, of course, Sir David’s narration combine with that to create a very powerful and engaging sequence. It is an incredible story, and it really sets us up on the right path for the series.

Which other highlights would you pick out?

The cave swifts in Thailand which feature in the Mountains episode, “Above the Clouds”. That is an amazing spectacle in itself. It’s the greatest concentration of swifts anywhere on the planet. But as they’re nesting in this cave, there’s a little twist to the story. In the water that sits at the bottom of the cave are these big catfish. They are not just minding their own business. They’re looking for a chance to feed. As the swifts duel for a nesting site, they do on occasion fall into the water, and that’s a dangerous place for them to be with these big fish lurking there. Of course, the fish are ready. They’re waiting for these opportunities.

If there are any ripples in the water, they literally pounce upon them. The poor swifts are basically helpless in the water, doing their best to flap their wings and try to get out. But within moments, they’re dragged beneath the surface and disappear from view. Not only is that incredible behaviour – and to be able to document for the first time is amazing – but it’s also a very powerful story. And yes, of course, we feel for the swifts who are taken, but millions do make it through. And ultimately, theirs is a success story. It’s a great sequence, really well filmed by the team led by the producer Sara [Douglas].