Earth

This was all over the place, if you're after a decent version of our Earths history, that's in layman's terms for us dumb a**es, this isn't in, half the sentences in this show made little sense in correlation to what was actually on screen.

Apparently, primates learnt to walk because of the huge new distances between trees (due to asteroid impact) and that's why gorillas & chimps can't get about without swinging from tress, because they were not met with this issue...excuse me! What! I'm no expert on primates, but I'm pretty certain I've seen both gorillas and Chimps roaming the flats without the need of a branch.

Once in a long eon (or so it seems) there is a moment in TV history that puts your faith back into the idea that there is some kind of plebian brain cells left somewhere at the bbc! 'EARTH' the 5 part brilliant, informative, expertly presented (by Chris Packham) tv series has been a long awaited revelation! Out of the Crass, Vile, cheap mush that clogs up all the channels a beautifully constructed series about how our cold ball of rock transforms into the amazing Blue/Green pearl over millennia is so gratifying. Chris Packham is gradually progressing to fill the shoes of the 'Father of the planet' David Attenborough. Deep praise to all concerned.

A very illuminating survey of the often rocky path of life on Earth through geologic time.

The evolution of life has been heavily dependent on the environment, many times independent of life such as plate tectonics, asteroid collisions, volcanic activity, ice ages. Interestingly, often in concert and through the medium of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Also, often via the environmental impact of life itself in a feedback loop. For instance, the abundant oxygen in our atmosphere, so essential to our existence, only came about due to other life forms.

A profound picture emerges that has never been so clearly expressed before.

The final episode focuses on ourselves. Both putting our environmental impact in context with the long chain of other dramatic changes and emphasising the uniqueness of our situation. Lessons to be drawn for sure.

However, for me, the main take away is the wonder of the mind-boggling series of random events, unforeseeable consequences and feedback-loops that have led to creatures such as ourselves. Humbling. Also, perhaps, of relevance regarding life in the wider universe.

Chris Packham is a genius, I think he is the natural successor to David Attenborough, this programme is full of facts, some easy to understand others not so easy, so people may now better understand the 'stop oil' activists (they are fighting for us) when he explains how unique and fragile our Earth actually is.

No one should be in doubt how passionate and determined Chris Packham and the other activists are and will not let Earth or us die without a fight.

From beginning to end crammed full of non-stop interesting facts presented in a straightforward honest matter of fact way, thank you Sir Chris.

I enjoyed the series - this is such a fascinating subject for sure. As others have said though, condensing so much into a few episodes means at times it's just scratching the surface.

My main irritation though was the tone - it's pitched mainly at a school age audience is my guess. Every event has to have dramatic music behind it to make sure you understand whether it's a Sad Thing or a Wonderful Thing, the script at times is very silly - 'the world had become so hostile that to plant life is must have seemed a hopeless struggle, but just as they were on the point of giving up the struggle, they realised they had a friend, and a friend who wanted to help. And that friend was called...'. Cut to Packham staring resolutely into the camera. 'Fungus.'

It also gives the impression at times that evolution always had the aim to create humans, and that to do so it needed a lot of help from random disasters, a bit of a Lord Of The Rings quest. In fact humans are just the random place to which all the random disasters led.

But enjoyable in small doses (the music really gets to you after about 30 minutes).