#BLUE PLANET THE DEEP FULL#
#BLUE PLANET THE DEEP SERIES#
#BLUE PLANET THE DEEP TV#

You spent 500 hours underwater to film the series. That’s what to me really makes it stand out.

#BLUE PLANET THE DEEP SERIES#

I think we’ve taken the time in this particular series to focus purely on the ocean.

#BLUE PLANET THE DEEP FULL#

It’s full of incredible and different worlds. The ocean isn’t just one giant blue thing. But really, if you look at the Earth and think about it in terms of sheer statistics, we’d actually be spending an awful lot more time looking at the ocean and learning more about what lives in it and what kind of struggles they’re facing. It’s just that our lives are on land, therefore our attention goes there. But in fact, when you look at it in terms of its volume, it’s actually more than 90 percent of the living space on planet Earth. The ocean covers 70 percent of the surface of our planet. There are so many nature documentaries out there. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. The Verge spoke with Doherty about the series, the new camera technology used by the crew, and how humans are changing the oceans. Her first expedition with the leaking sub started on the wrong foot, but ended well: within 20 minutes, she and the rest of the crew were able to seal the faulty pressure gauge, and continue their descent into what she calls “the black void of the deep ocean.”

“It’s very, very heartwarming.” Photo: AMC Networksĭoherty herself spent 500 hours underwater, becoming one of the first humans to ever venture 3,280 feet (about 1,000 meters) beneath the surface off the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. “All that really says to me is that we did the job right,” Doherty says. The Blue Planet II footage is leading to 13 scientific papers, Doherty says, about everything from Mobula rays hunting schools of lanternfish, to silky sharks and blacktip sharks rubbing against whale sharks to clean themselves. Over four years, Doherty and the BBC America crew spent over 6,000 hours diving underwater alongside scientists from all over the world.

Orla Doherty (left) in the submersible 'Nadir', capable of reaching depths of 3,280 feet (1,000 meters). If you thought fish were boring, wait until you see a tuskfish use tools to open a clam or a female kobudai morph into a male. With its mesmerizing shots of bioluminescent creatures and deep-sea dwellers straight out of a sci-fi comic book, Blue Planet II will change the way you see the ocean. Ed Yong at The Atlantic called it “the greatest nature series of all time,” and it’s hard to argue with that statement. The sequel to the 2001 The Blue Planet takes viewers into a seven-episode tour of the world’s oceans, from coral reefs to the bottom of the sea.

#BLUE PLANET THE DEEP TV#

“That made my heart start beating quite fast,” says Doherty, a producer for BBC America.ĭoherty braved the perilous Antarctic waters for the TV series Planet Earth: Blue Planet II, which premieres in the US on January 20th. That meant it wasn’t drinking water spilled by one of the crew members it was saltwater leaking into the sub - at 1,476 feet (450 meters) below the surface.

So she did what she was supposed to - she stuck a finger in the puddle at her feet and licked it. On her very first dive into the frigid waters of Antarctica, Orla Doherty’s yellow submarine began taking on water.

Blue planet the deep