Human Planet is the first natural history documentary series to turn the camera on ourselves, the human species. Taking the same approach as Planet Earth, it will explain how human beings have learnt to live on every habitat, from our origins in the Jungle to our domination of Grasslands to the Desert, Ocean, Rivers, the creation of our own environment, Urban, and the challenges of the Arctic mountains.
But this is also a story about how we have learnt to adapt to the most inhospitable landscapes and work in partnership with other animal species. From the Bajau sea gypsies to the Korowai tribe of West Papau who live in treehouses, the honey birds in Kenya that lead the Masai people to honey, the men who fish with dolphins in Brazil and the Papuan tribesmen who mimic the courtship dances of the birds of paradise, this is the remarkable story of our relationship with nature.
Brian Leith is an executive producer in the BBC. He has worked in wildlife and environment film-making for more than 20 years, in the BBC Natural History Unit, as a director of Scorer Associates and as Head of Granada Wild. BBC series he has had responsibility for include Ganges, Wild China and Nature's Great Events. Brian's award-winning films include Congo, The Cultured Ape and The Wolf That Changed America, and he has also presented many programmes for Radio 4. Dale Templar was the series producer of Human Planet. Now in the BBC Natural History Unit, she has worked over the past 20 years in the News and Current Affairs, Science and Documentary departments, on series such as the The Money Programme, Vet Safari and Pacific Abyss. She specialized in filming in remote locations with humans and wildlife and has travelled to more than 50 countries in the process. Timothy Allen was the official photographer for Human Planet. He started his career working for the broadsheet newspapers, including the Sunday Telegraph and The Independent, mainly on features and portraits. In 2002, he joined Axiom to cover a spectrum of global stories, and in recent years he has specialized in documenting the diversity of the humanity's cultural heritage, working with indigenous communities worldwide. Timothy recently won the One Planet, Many Lives award in the Travel Photographer of the Year and is the winner of six Picture Editors' Guild awards, including the Arts Photographer of the Year Award.