Blue Planet two- a BBC classic
You must have seen it last night or maybe you watching something entirely different which is a shame because I think you would have loved it. Every so often TV throws up the kind of programme that is simply unmissable and you have to watch it over and over again. Well, this one hit the mark perfectly. There are TV programmes and there are classic masterpieces that leave you dumbfounded by their sheer artistic merit, their technical brilliance and their stunning photography.
How often have we swooned at the sheer, unblemished genius of David Attenborough. In one of the last of a superlative series of natural life programmes, Attenborough once again gave us a tour de force. Blue Planet two was an astonishing and totally absorbing documentary on the mysterious world of the mammal and fish community. Not for the first time Attenborough gave us beautifully delivered commentaries on Mother Nature at her most tempestuous and turbulent. But this was Mother Nature described in that wonderfully descriptive and multi layered fashion that David Attenborough knows so well and conveys with such crisp clarity.
Last night Attenborough went deep to the bottom of the sea and explored its deepest and most complex of networks, families and, of course, its breathtaking beauty. With the most advanced underwater cameras and vital equipment, he told us about those wonderful underwater creatures in all their sparkling tapestry of colours, their private lifestyles, their very unique habits and idiosyncrasies while never forgetting their never ending search for survival in adversity.
Attenborough gave us huge and careful red crabs who seemed to live most of their lives delicately plodding across sharp rocks and then hiding swiftly when they felt deeply exposed and in danger. There were thick, grey eels that slithered in and out of the rocks, always on the look out for food and always ravenous. But once again here was a programme that clearly underlined our constant quest for self preservation when all the odds are against us.
Throughout Blue Planet two we were given a powerful and revealing insight into the way our sea mammals and birds are just as protective and possessive when it comes to the small matter of staying alive. We saw whole colonies of crabs on a beach just getting on with the simple business of living and trying desperately to find somewhere to go, slowly but surely plodding across acres of sandy beach but always remaining in tightly knit groups.
Then we had my personal favourite. Yes folks I give you the king penguins and puffins, surely the finest of all looking birds and, it has to be said, remarkably amusing. Now, the king penguins and puffins had to be the stand out moments of last night's programme. Of course Blue Planet two had given us both the glories and splendours of mammal and bird life but it also gave us those lovely penguins and puffins, surely Mother Nature's most endearing of all creatures.
In one magnificent scene we were treated to a spectacular exhibition of penguins. But this was no ordinary display of penguins. These were tall, upstanding penguins with an air of nobility about them. These were high ranking, ambassadorial penguins with an air of snobbery and superciliousness about them that you couldn't help but fall in love with. They were penguins with a haughty distinction about them that suggested that they felt their whole environment was too deeply degrading for their liking and that they were mixing in the wrong company. Everything was beneath them so to speak.
There went the king penguins marching confidently onto a beach full of large, blubbery walruses and sea lions, gingerly stepping between the walruses as if terrified of upsetting the walruses. Here we had that terrifically funny moment when TV gets it absolutely right. In the last David Attenborough programme he gave us those fabulous pink flamingos all racing along together in almost impeccably executed formation, whole families of flamingos striding out with thin, stork like legs and never for a moment feeling self conscious.
Once again then the penguins waddled from side to side in an amazingly choreographed act that made me almost weep with laughter. In all innocence small huddles of penguins quickly and discreetly side-stepped the walruses and the walruses reacted in much the way we might have expected with walruses. It was one of those magical TV images that you could hardly write into any sitcom script.
They grumbled and snorted objectionably and then lashed out furiously in a bumping, highly indignant fashion. How the Beatles came to write a song about them doesn't bear thinking about but walruses do have very deeply felt emotions and you daren't disturb them if all they want is a couple of quiet hours or two. But these were severely offended walruses and it would have been as well for those penguins if they'd kept a respectful distance from them. They were forever rolling about from one side to the other clearly upset and incensed at this persistent intrusion into their privacy.
Then there were the puffins, cute and independent but very family oriented birds where young babies wait patiently for their next bite to eat. Last night dad was sent on a mission to find food for their young one. Now we saw both mum and dad debating the merits of fish and chips for that night's feast. Mum engaged in the briefest of chats with dad and before you knew it, dad was off to some far off destination where fishes can be found in abundance but the chips are never cooked.
Dad kept on flying and flying. soaring majestically through the air with effortless ease, dipping and then diving, fully concentrated in its quest for food for its off spring. There then followed the most gripping chase scene ever seen in any TV classic. Forget those car chases in cop films, this was an absolute treasure. One big old bird hurtles towards our friend the puffin, surrounding him threateningly, scenting both blood and a major kill. Our puffin knows exactly what to do, clinging tenaciously for dear life. Amazingly it reaches home without a scratch and everybody cheers loudly.
And then there was the BBC photography, quite the most exceptional photographic imagery ever seen. The BBC captured something that may never ever be repeated in such startlingly vivid detail. This was the mountainous splendour of our mighty oceans, those crashing, storming, monumentally dramatic seas. It was Nature at her boldest and bravest, white foamy crests of water rising up and falling rather like a chapter from a Joseph Conrad sea faring novel. It was stupendous and highly informative TV that may never be equalled.
In the final sequences we witnessed the most incredible array of small black sharks floating together in unison always hunting, always on the move and never less than inquisitive. If there has ever been a more enlightening piece of TV recently then I've yet to see it. On a dark winter's evening it was the most fitting of illuminations. Sunday evenings were meant for programmes like this. Blue Planet two deserves the richest of honours at any future awards ceremony. Auntie Beeb have cracked it again. It's time for Sir David Attenborough to accept yet more lavish praise, more plaudits and more pats on the back. Thankyou Mr Attenborough. A truly delightful piece of telly.
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