OCEANS MAKE UP 70 PERCENT OF THE EARTH, 100 PERCENT OF AMC NETWORKS WILL CARRY THE PREMIERE OF THE WORLDWIDE PHENOMENON PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II NEXT MONTH

BBC AMERICA Series Will Launch With A Five-Network Premiere Event On Saturday, January 20 at 9/8c

New Official US Exclusive Trailer Released Today – watch here

New York – December 5, 2017 – Planet Earth: Blue Planet II, the next installment of BBCA’s Emmy Award-winning Planet Earth, will premiere on Saturday, January 20, 9/8c, as an AMC Networks simulcast event across BBC AMERICA, AMC, IFC, WE tv and SundanceTV. Subsequent episodes will appear Saturday nights on BBC AMERICA. The new series*, presented by Sir David Attenborough, scored by Academy Award-winner Hans Zimmer and produced by James Honeyborne has already become a major television event around the world.  The series will premiere day-and-date in Canada on the BBC Earth Channel.

Planet Earth: Blue Planet II takes viewers on a revelatory and magical journey into the mesmerizing world of our oceans – the most undiscovered place on our planet. Our oceans are by turn tempestuous and serene, exquisitely beautiful and bleakly forbidding. They cover 70% of the Earth’s surface and hold 97% of all the water in the world. There is more life in the deep sea than anywhere else on Earth. It is said we know more about the surface of Mars than the depths of our own planet. Our final frontier is the deep ocean – Earth’s ‘inner space’.

Ed Carroll, Chief Operating Officer of AMC Networks, said: “Planet Earth: Blue Planet II is rare, event television, an extraordinary series we are so proud to launch as a premiere simulcast across all five of our national networks. AMC Networks prides itself on being a premiere destination for extraordinary storytelling in all of its forms, and this remarkable exploration of our natural world from the BBC is storytelling at its finest.”

Sarah Barnett, President of BBC AMERICA, said: “This next chapter in BBC AMERICA’s nature programming franchise is more incredible than anything yet seen, complete with heart-pounding exploration and incredible cinematography.  The experience is a magical and transcendent trip into unexplored worlds.”

In the UK, the series is the highest rated show of the year and the most watched natural history title in more than 15 years with an excess of 14 million people tuning in for the premiere episode. Already a staggering hit in China, all Planet Earth: Blue Planet II content, including short form, trailers and the first two episodes, was watched over 100 million times in its first 13 days. The series premiere also trended globally on Twitter.

By using breakthroughs in science and cutting-edge technology to explore this final frontier, the series reveals the astonishing characters, otherworldly places and extraordinary new animal behaviors. Warm and compelling stories about marine habitats and their characterful inhabitants will build people’s emotional relationship with our oceans and bring a new perspective to this little-known world.

Over four years in production, the Planet Earth: Blue Planet II teams mounted 125 expeditions, visited 39 countries, and filmed on every continent and across every ocean. They spent over 6,000 hours diving underwater, filming everywhere from familiar shores to the deepest seas. From the Gulf of Mexico to the Seychelles and from South Africa to Norway the team filmed several ‘firsts’ including:

• Producer Orla Doherty and her team were the first humans to dive 3,280 feet into the frigid waters of the Antarctic, in a deep manned submersible, to explore under icebergs the size of a city block and discover creatures so alien they could come from outer space.
• At 2,000 feet deep in the Gulf of Mexico, they filmed methane volcanoes erupting with bubbles the size of basketballs.
• Life was thought to be impossible in the deepest point of the Earth’s ocean, seven miles down, but they filmed creatures living under a pressure equivalent to 50 jumbo jets stacked on top of one another.
• Species such as leaping blennies – fish that live almost exclusively on land; Giant trevally that fly out of the water to snatch seabirds in mid-air; the ingenious coral grouper, a fish that enlists the help of an octopus to hunt little fish hiding among coral and, perhaps most charming of all, the industrious tuskfish, who uses a coral anvil to crack open his clams.

Planet Earth: Blue Planet II will be presented by Sir David Attenborough and is made by BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit, co-produced with BBC AMERICA, Tencent, WDR, France Télévisions and CCTV9 in partnership with The Open University. It is Executive Produced by James Honeyborne and Series Produced by Mark Brownlow, and was commissioned by Charlotte Moore, Director of BBC Content and Tom McDonald, Head of Commissioning, Natural History and Specialist Factual. The score was composed by Hans Zimmer, Jacob Shea and David Fleming for Bleeding Fingers Music.

Notes to editors:

Planet Earth: Blue Planet II is a seven-part series plus an eighth ‘making-of’ episode.

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About AMC Networks

Dedicated to producing quality programming and movie content for more than 30 years, AMC Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: AMCX) owns and operates several of the most popular and award-winning brands in cable television. AMC, IFC, SundanceTV, WE tv, and IFC Films produce and deliver distinctive, compelling and culturally relevant content that engages audiences across multiple platforms. The company also operates BBC AMERICA through a joint venture with BBC Worldwide. In addition, the company operates AMC Networks International, its global division.

About BBC AMERICA

BBC AMERICA is a hub of innovative, culturally contagious programming including the Emmy®-winning Planet Earth II, top-rated science-fiction phenomenon Doctor Who, fan-favorite Orphan Black, ground-breaking unscripted series Top Gear, buzzy and wildly bizarre Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency starring Elijah Wood, as well as the upcoming series Killing Eve from Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and Planet Earth: Blue Planet II, the next chapter in the epic story of our planet.  A joint venture between BBC Worldwide (the commercial arm of the BBC) and AMC Networks, BBCA’s influential shows have attracted critical acclaim and earned Emmy® Awards, Peabody Awards, Critics’ Choice Awards and Golden Globes®. Created in 1998, the irrepressible network has garnered one of cable’s most curious, educated and affluent audiences, with many properties boasting super-fan levels of engagement. Available through cable, satellite TV and streaming services, BBC AMERICA broadcasts in both standard and high-definition. Get caught up, BBCA offers full episodes On Demand across all major digital platforms, BBC AMERICA app and bbcamerica.com.

BBC AMERICA RELEASES PREQUEL FOR PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II, FEATURING A HANS ZIMMER AND RADIOHEAD COLLABORATION

BBC AMERICA RELEASES PREQUEL FOR PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II, FEATURING A HANS ZIMMER AND RADIOHEAD COLLABORATION

WATCH AND SHARE PREQUEL HERE

Following its debut today during the World Premiere of Planet Earth: Blue Planet II in London, a five-minute prequel for the landmark series has become the BBC’s first ever natural history global simulcast – with 75 countries around the world transmitting it on TV at midday (BST) today including on BBC AMERICA in the U.S., China, India, Canada, Singapore, Sweden, Poland and South Africa.

The exclusive curtain-raiser for the seven-part series features a Hans Zimmer and Radiohead musical collaboration, titled (ocean) bloom, which is a fusion of Planet Earth: Blue Planet II’s main theme with a reimagined version of Bloom, a song Thom Yorke was prophetically inspired to write having watched 2001’s The Blue Planet.

The short film is narrated by series presenter Sir David Attenborough, and features an array of some of the most awe-inspiring shots and highlights from the new series, as well as several exclusive scenes that will not feature in any of the seven episodes which are set to air early 2018 on BBC AMERICA.

Planet Earth: Blue Planet II’s World Premiere took place today at the BFI IMAX in London in the presence of His Royal Highness The Duke of Cambridge and guests included Sir David Attenborough, series composer Hans Zimmer, members of Radiohead, UK and international media from 32 countries, and the Natural History Unit team who spent the last four years making the epic series.  

BBC Director-General Tony Hall, who introduced the world premiere screening, called the production team behind Planet Earth: Blue Planet II “True pioneers” and added: “So much has happened since the original series a generation ago, with new production techniques capturing amazing new drama in nature as well as new scientific discoveries. Planet Earth: Blue Planet II’s producers and crews have spent four years and more than 1,000 hours in the deep sea to bring audiences a sublime fusion of creativity, technology and storytelling. And there’s never been a more important time for us to bring nature’s wonders to everybody, to educate children and adults about the planet – and to safeguard it for future generations.”

"At a time when there is more television programming being created than ever before, Planet Earth is that kind of rare, unifying and universal series that continues to stand apart," said Josh Sapan, president and CEO of AMC Networks. "We are so proud to elevate and shine a light on this landmark content, most recently in the form of Planet Earth: Blue Planet II, in the U.S. on BBC AMERICA." 

Planet Earth: Blue Planet II will take viewers on a revelatory and magical journey into the greatest, yet least known part of our planet – our oceans. The seas are by turn tempestuous and serene, exquisitely beautiful and bleakly forbidding, and are the lifeblood of the planet: driving our weather, regulating our climate and ultimately supporting all life on Earth. In recent years, our knowledge of what goes on beneath the waves has been transformed. By using breakthroughs in science and cutting-edge technology to explore this final frontier, Planet Earth: Blue Planet II will reveal the astonishing characters, otherworldly places and extraordinary new animal behaviors.  Warm and compelling stories about marine habitats and their characterful inhabitants will build people’s emotional relationship with our oceans and bring a new perspective to this little-known world.

Broadcast in 2001, multi-award winning The Blue Planet was the BBC Studios Natural History Unit’s unprecedented look at the world’s oceans, the scale and breadth of which had never been seen before. Twenty years on, the Planet Earth: Blue Planet II team have spent four years mounting 125 expeditions, visited 39 countries, and filmed off every continent and across every ocean.

Planet Earth: Blue Planet II, a 7x60’ will air early 2018 on BBC AMERICA, and is made by BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit, co-produced with BBC AMERICA, WDR and France Télévisions in partnership with The Open University. It is Executive Produced by James Honeyborne and Series Produced by Mark Brownlow, and was commissioned by Charlotte Moore, Director of BBC Content and Tom McDonald, Head of Commissioning, Natural History and Specialist Factual.

RADIOHEAD AND HANS ZIMMER ANNOUNCE UNIQUE COLLABORATION TO INTRODUCE WORLD TO BBC AMERICA’S PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II

RADIOHEAD AND HANS ZIMMER ANNOUNCE UNIQUE COLLABORATION TO INTRODUCE WORLD TO BBC AMERICA’S PLANET EARTH: BLUE PLANET II

New York – September 14, 2017 – Radiohead, one of the world’s most acclaimed rock bands, and Hans Zimmer, one of the planet’s most successful movie and TV composers, are joining forces to produce an exclusive track for the forthcoming BBC AMERICA natural history landmark series Planet Earth: Blue Planet II.

The piece will be featured in a five-minute prequel, which will be released globally by BBC Worldwide at midday (BST) on September 27^th. Inspired by the sounds and musical palette of Planet Earth: Blue Planet II, Radiohead and Hans Zimmer are recording an orchestrally reimagined version of the Radiohead song '(ocean) bloom' from their 2011 album The King of Limbs, at London’s iconic AIR studios with the BBC Concert Orchestra. The collaboration, which will also see Radiohead’s Thom Yorke rerecord the vocals, is being produced by Russell Emanuel of Bleeding Fingers Music, the company which also crafted the BAFTA & Emmy-nominated score to BBCA’s Planet Earth II.

This world-exclusive introduction to the show, which is narrated by series presenter Sir David Attenborough, also features an array of some of the most awe-inspiring shots and highlights from the new series, as well as several exclusive scenes that will not feature in any of the seven episodes which are set for broadcast on BBC AMERICA in early 2018. Planet Earth: Blue Planet II will be scored by Hans Zimmer, Jacob Shea and Dave Fleming for Bleeding Fingers Music.

A short tease of the prequel and reworked track, titled '(ocean) bloom,' will be released online on Tuesday, September 26^th and the full prequel will make its debut in stunning 4K at the world premiere of Planet Earth: Blue Planet II at London’s BFI Imax on September 27^th.

Thom Yorke of Radiohead commented on the project: “Bloom was inspired by the original Blue Planet series so it’s great to be able to come full circle with the song and reimagine it for this incredible landmark’s sequel. Hans is a prodigious composer who effortlessly straddles several musical genres so it was liberating for us all to work with such a talent and see how he wove the sound of the series’ and Bloom together.”

Hans Zimmer says: “Bloom appears to have been written ahead of its time as it beautifully reflects the jaw-dropping lifeforms and seascapes viewers are introduced to in Blue Planet II. Working with Thom, Jonny and the boys has been a wonderful diversion and it’s given me an interesting peek into their musical world. They’ve been incredible to work with and I hope everyone likes the track.”

Planet Earth: Blue Planet II Executive Producer James Honeyborne added: “This collaboration between an iconic Grammy-winning band and an Oscar-winning orchestral composer is simply mouthwatering - and '(ocean) bloom' doesn’t disappoint. It’s an incredibly powerful companion to the scenes we’ve spent years capturing. What a great curtain-raiser to the upcoming series that we just can’t wait to share with everyone.”

Bleeding Fingers’ Chief Creative and CEO, Russell Emanuel added: “It is such an honor to be bringing together Hans and Radiohead, who are at the top of their fields. As a longtime fan of Sir David Attenborough’s work, my team and I at Bleeding Fingers are so excited to be producing the music for Blue Planet II and can’t wait for the world to fall in love with this particular piece, just as I have.”

Planet Earth: Blue Planet II will take viewers on a revelatory and magical journey into the greatest, yet least known part of our planet – our oceans. The seas are by turn tempestuous and serene, exquisitely beautiful and bleakly forbidding, and are the lifeblood of the planet: driving our weather, regulating our climate and ultimately supporting all life on Earth. In recent years, our knowledge of what goes on beneath the waves has been transformed. By using cutting-edge breakthroughs in science and technology to explore this final frontier, the series will reveal the astonishing characters, otherworldly places and extraordinary new animal behaviours.  Warm and compelling stories about marine habitats and their characterful inhabitants will build people’s emotional relationship with our oceans and bring a new perspective to this little-known world.

Broadcast in 2001, multi-award winning The Blue Planet was the BBC Studios Natural History Unit’s unprecedented look at the world’s oceans, the scale and breadth of which had never been seen before. Twenty years on, the Blue Planet II team have spent four years mounting 125 expeditions, visited 39 countries, and filmed off every continent and across every ocean.

Planet Earth: Blue Planet II, a 7x60’ will air early 2018 on BBC AMERICA, and is made by BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit, co-produced with BBC AMERICA, WDR and France Télévisions in partnership with The Open University. It is Executive Produced by James Honeyborne and Series Produced by Mark Brownlow, and was commissioned by Charlotte Moore, Director of BBC Content and Tom McDonald, Head of Commissioning, Natural History and Specialist Factual. The series premieres in the UK on BBC One.

BBC AMERICA is the home of the BBC’s landmark natural history series in the U.S. Today’s announcement follows the network’s recent two Emmy® wins for Planet Earth II, including Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series.

NOTE TO EDITORS

Twitter: @BBCAMERICA Hashtag: #BluePlanet2

BBC AMERICA is a hub of innovative, culturally contagious programming including the Emmy®-winning Planet Earth II, top-rated science-fiction phenomenon Doctor Who, fan-favorite Orphan Black, ground-breaking unscripted series Top Gear, buzzy and wildly bizarre Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency starring Elijah Wood, as well as the upcoming series Killing Eve from Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and Planet Earth: Blue Planet II, the next chapter in the epic story of our planet.  A joint venture between BBC Worldwide (the commercial arm of the BBC) and AMC Networks, BBCA’s influential shows have attracted critical acclaim and earned Emmy® Awards, Peabody Awards, Critics’ Choice Awards and Golden Globes®. Created in 1998, the irrepressible network has garnered one of cable’s most curious, educated and affluent audiences, with many properties boasting super-fan levels of engagement. Available through cable, satellite TV and streaming services, BBC AMERICA broadcasts in both standard and high-definition. Get caught up, BBCA offers full episodes On Demand across all major digital platforms, BBC AMERICA app and bbcamerica.com.