Plot Synopsis

Natural scientist Sir David Attenborough travels the globe looking for fossils and living animals from an extraordinary period in Earth's history, half a billion years ago, to document how nature's first animals evolved and ultimately gave rise to modern animals. From the first eyes that saw, to the first predators that killed and the first legs that walked on land, these were creatures that evolved the traits and tools that allow all animals, including human beings, to survive to this day. Blending state of the art CGI with stunning photography and an array of exotic locations, Attenborough explores the origins of our past by looking at a wide variety of animals -- some almost alien looking, but still at the foundation for life today -- including everything from a millipede once larger than a car to creatures with multiple eyes. Attenborough called FIRST LIFE "the missing chapter to LIFE ON EARTH," a program he did 30 years earlier, because "we've now extended the story back another 500 million years."