Chris Packham Presents ‘Evolution’: A 21st-Century Take on Life’s Epic Story
Naturalist and broadcaster Chris Packham is back on BBC Two with a landmark new series, Evolution, which premieres Monday, July 13, at 9 p.m. The five-part programme, produced by the BBC Studios Science Unit in partnership with The Open University and PBS’s NOVA, traces more than four billion years of life on Earth by following the evolutionary journeys of five modern animals: the elephant, ostrich, horse, dolphin, and bat.
Instead of a traditional chronological march from single-celled organisms to humans, each episode works backwards from a living species to uncover the chain of biological innovations, extinctions, and chance events that shaped it. Packham, 65, told New Scientist that the series aims to make complex science accessible and surprising. “We start our programmes with little things that they will be so excited by that they’ll have to pick up their mobile and text it to their mates,” he said.
The series is supported by 79 minutes of photorealistic CGI, featuring more than 20 extinct creatures brought to life via 118,629 individual frames. The production consulted over 600 researchers worldwide, with Professor Peter Holland FRS serving as series academic consultant.
A New Approach to Storytelling: From LUCA to Living Icons
Rejecting the ‘T-Shirt’ Animal Trap
Packham is known for championing underdogs—slugs, snails, flies—on programmes like Springwatch, and he admits that focusing on “iconic” species initially clashed with his instincts. “I’m not a great fan of T-shirt animals, but I am a fan of using them constructively,” he explained to The Mirror. By centering episodes on five familiar animals, the series can explore deeper questions about locomotion, feeding, reproduction, and intelligence.
For instance, the episode on bats dives into how and why animals began to feed at night, while the ostrich segment examines reproduction as a driver of evolutionary change. The series also introduces extinct oddities: millipedes the size of cars, crocodiles with hooves, and sea creatures that were part crab, part shark.
Behind the CGI: Rebuilding Lost Worlds
The visual effects—produced by award-winning studio Moonraker—are central to the series’ mission. Packham noted that CGI allows viewers to see pivotal ancestors that would otherwise remain abstract fossils. “It’s those turning points I get the most joy from,” he said.
BBC Head of Science Tom Coveney called Evolution “new, shiny and immediately accessible,” positioning it alongside recent blue-chip science commissions such as Solar System with Brian Cox and Human with Ella Al-Shamahi.
Hope in the Face of Extinction
Packham’s Message of Action
Despite the scale of loss in the natural world—a theme Packham often confronts on Springwatch and advocacy platforms—the series carries a deliberate undercurrent of optimism. “Learning about evolution made me change the way I think about the natural world, because I care about it,” Packham told the BBC. “And very often I’m confronted by things which make me sad. But they never, ever rob me of hope.”
He added: “The only way I’m going to do that is if people care about life. And this series is about enhancing people’s care for life, because you can’t watch this series and not think that the horse, the elephant, the dolphin, and all of the species in between, are absolutely remarkable and invaluable.”
A Personal Connection: Diving with Dolphins
During a break in filming in the Bahamas, Packham had one of the most profound experiences of his life. “I dived down about four metres and I looked down and I had a dolphin right underneath me, under my chest. And I had couple on one side… a couple on the other side—and then I looked up and they were above me,” he recalled. “It was absolutely extraordinary.”
The Broader Implications: Reframing Natural History for a New Generation
Science Television in a Changed Media Landscape
Evolution arrives at a time when natural history programming faces stiff competition from streaming platforms and shorter-form content. By focusing on narrative-driven, visually spectacular storytelling, Packham and the BBC are betting that audiences still crave deep, immersive science—if it’s presented with the right blend of awe and clarity.
The series follows Packham’s acclaimed 2023 series Earth, which tackled vast time spans and “inconceivable events.” The challenge with Evolution, Packham said, was similar: making something perceived as “inordinately complex” comprehensible without dumbing it down.
The Role of Hope in Environmental Messaging
Packham’s emphasis on hope is notable. In an era of biodiversity loss and climate anxiety, many broadcasters have grappled with how to engage audiences without triggering despair. Evolution deliberately ends on a note of possibility, urging viewers to see themselves as part of the solution rather than the problem.
“We have such a broad array of solutions at our disposal, opportunities to put things right,” Packham said. “And whilst those opportunities are still viable, then I’m certainly going to be doing everything I can to try and encourage people to take advantage of those.”
How to Watch
Evolution begins Monday, July 13, at 9 p.m. on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer. Each episode runs approximately 60 minutes. The series is expected to be released internationally via PBS’s NOVA strand later in the year.
For viewers seeking more deep-dive science content, recent BBC offerings include Brian Cox’s Solar System and Ella Al-Shamahi’s Human. In the gaming world, fans of speculative evolution might enjoy the Obsidian Fallout Game Reportedly in Development After Avowed Sequel Canceled.
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