Running Time: 120 minutes

Volume 1: The Building of the Earth
David Attenborough reveals how huge forces formed the earth, how continents move and how the planet has become so amazingly varied. He visits an erupting volcano in Iceland, finds giant plants on Mount Kenya and investigates the re-colonization of wildlife in Krakatoa and Mount St. Helens, two scenes of the earth's awesome power.

Volume 2:The Frozen Earth
From the snowy peaks of the Andes to Antarctica and the Arctic, David Attenborough explores remote places and sees how plants and animals survive in the most extreme conditions.

Running Time: 120 minutes

Volume 3:The Northern Forests
Trees of the coniferous forests have special adaptations that enable them to survive long cold winters. Many animals that inhabit these vast forests are dependent on the trees for leaves, cones or bark. Further south, in the deciduous woodland, we see how bears, skunks, raccoons, squirrels and opossums put on fat for the winter.

Volume 4: Jungle
Attenborough makes a vertical journey down a kapok tree, whose crown emerges above the jungle canopy. He descends by ropes through various layers to the forest floor below, finding en route some of the most colorful and extraordinary plants and animals on earth.

Running Time: 120 minutes

Volume:5 Seas of Grass
Grass grows all over the world, sustaining a host of creatures, particularly the African grasslands, which are home to the greatest collections of Savannah animals. Here, antelope, zebra and wildebeest reside with their predators, lions and cheetahs.

Volume 6:The Baking Deserts
Desert animals must survive two demanding conditions - heat and drought. They have solved these problems in a variety of ingenious ways. Beetles and strange plants in the Namib Desert collect fog. Lizards gear their life style precisely to the position of the sun and spadefoot toad tadpoles turn cannibal to complete a life cycle before their pool dries out.

Running Time: 180 minutes

Volume 7:The Community of the Skies
The atmosphere is a covering that is constantly on the move with current of air, often global in scale, manufacturing the world's weather. In order to drift and fly plants and animals must overcome gravity, a force that we take for granted but without which the world would be a chaotic place --a fact Attenborough dramatically demonstrates by becoming weightless.

Volume 8:Sweet Fresh Water
The world's largest river system - the Amazon - is followed by David Attenborough from its source in the Peruvian Andes to its huge coastal delta in Brazil. Great waterfalls such as the Angel Falls in Venezuela and Iguassu in Brazil demonstrate the power of rivers to shape the landscape.

Volume 9: The Margins of the Land
Life between the tides makes great demands on the inhabitants, yet many creatures have made their home in this shifting world of mud and sand. Mangroves with their roots help to expand the coastline, and in Bangladesh a varied community inhabit the largest mangrove swamp in the world.

Running Time: 180 minutes

Volume 10: Worlds Apart
Despite their often-small size and isolation many islands are inhabited by wildlife. How do plants and animals arrive at such remote locations and how do they survive when they get there? Attenborough lands on Aldabra Island in the Indian Ocean to visit giant tortoises that have reached their zenith in a hostile landscape of jagged coral rock where survival may mean eating your neighbor.

Volume 11:Oceans
Over 70% of the Earth's surface is covered by sea. This program looks at the oceans in their broadest aspects - from drowned plains and hidden mountains to minute drifting plankton and forests of kelp. The food webs of the oceans and the evolution of fish and mammals that live there are featured.

Volume 12:New Worlds
Man has changed the face of the planet in many ways, causing willful damage and destruction while also creating new habitats for plants and animals. Adaptability is the key to success, and this program looks at the mixed fortunes of a wide variety of wildlife. David Attenborough also considers the fortunes of man himself and his impact through a time on the earth, and provides a glimpse into the possible future of the 'Living Planet.'