Plot Synopsis

Hosted by Sir David Attenborough, THE GREEN PLANET is a five-part documentary series about Earth's biodiversity told through the fascinating story of plants. Using pioneering new filmmaking technology and the latest science, THE GREEN PLANET takes viewers from the deepest jungles to the harshest deserts, revealing the strange and wonderful world of plants as never before. Living secret, unseen lives, plants are often overlooked. Yet they are as aggressive, competitive and dramatic as animals -- locked in life-and-death struggles for food and light, taking part in fierce battles for territory and desperately trying to reproduce and scatter their young. In the series, Sir David travels the globe, from deserts to mountains, from rainforests to the frozen north, to present a fresh understanding of how plants live their lives. He meets the largest living things that have ever existed, trees that care for each other, plants that hunt animals and plants that breed so fast they could cover the planet in a matter of months. He finds time travelers -- seeds that can outlive civilizations and plants that remain unchanged for decades. By examining our relationship with plants past, present and future, THE GREEN PLANET reveals how all animal life, including ours, is totally dependent on plants. THE GREEN PLANET made its U.S. debut on Wednesday, July 6, 2022 at 8pm on PBS (check local listings), with a new episode premiering each Wednesday through August 3:

"Tropical Worlds" (U.S. debut on Wednesday, July 6, 2022): More kinds of plants are crammed together in the tropical rainforests than anywhere else on earth. The result is astonishing beauty and intense competition -- a plant battleground. From fast-growing trees to flowers that mimic dead animals, from life and death battles to reach the light to the secret behind every raindrop, take a journey into a magical world that operates on a different timescale to our own.

"Water Worlds" (U.S. debut on Wednesday, July 13, 2022): Water plants create some of the most beautiful, bizarre and important habitats on earth. Some are armed with killer spikes to use as weapons, while others use nature's super-glue to hold on. Yet others escape their enemies by forming spheres and rolling away. Plants turn into animal hunters where nutrients are washed away, laying traps and even counting to ensure their success. Brilliantly-colored flowers smother lakes, and in one magical river in Brazil, the water bubbles like champagne as plants create the atmosphere itself.

"Seasonal Worlds" (U.S. debut on Wednesday, July 20, 2022): Between the tropics and the frozen poles lies a region dominated by relentless change from the four seasons. Each presents plants with enormous challenges -- from ice and snow to raging fires, from intense competition to surprising enemies, both animals and plants. To survive in this world of astonishing variety and vibrant color, plants must use strategy, deception and remarkable feats of engineering. Most importantly, they must get their timing right.

"Desert Worlds" (U.S. debut on Wednesday, July 27, 2022): Deserts are hostile. Temperatures soar and water is rare. Yet plants find extraordinary ways to survive. They may grow imperceptibly slowly or travel the landscape looking for water. Others wait decades in suspended animation for rain to power an explosion of color across the dunes. Desert plants protect their water stores from animals and each other, using camouflage, vicious spines or forging surprising alliances with animals. Plants have invaded the most dangerous deserts on earth, overcoming salt, fire and toxic bird droppings to bring life and color to these harsh landscapes.

"Human Worlds" (U.S. debut on Wednesday, August 3, 2022): We rely on plants for almost everything, including the air we breathe and the food we eat. Two in five wild plants are threatened with extinction, but people are finding new ways to help them, from projects in Africa to re-seed the landscape to rebuilding a tropical forest in Brazil, tree by tree. In David Attenborough's words: 'We can all work with plants to help make our world a little wilder. Our future will be safer and healthier, and, in my experience at least, we will also be happier. Plants are our most ancient allies."