John Murray

Roam the Wild West frontier land of the Rio Grande’s Big Bend alongside its iconic animals, including black bears, rattlesnakes and scorpions.

Colin Stafford-Johnson journeys through one of the most bewitching islands in the world, featuring the wildlife and wild places that make it so special. In the first part of this two-part mini-series, Colin explores corners of Cuba that few outsiders have seen. Amongst the wonders he encounters is the bee hummingbird, the world’s tiniest bird, found nowhere else on the planet, and the spectacle of thousands of crabs migrating en masse. Cuba’s isolation has helped preserve many of its natural riches, creating unspoiled landscapes that are home to many enchanting animals living under the bluest skies in the Caribbean. In this authored odyssey, the natural magic of one Earth’s most intriguing countries is revealed.

As the largest island in the Caribbean, Cuba is host to spectacular wildlife found nowhere else on the planet: from the jumping crocodiles of the Zapata swamp to the world's tiniest hummingbird, from thousands of migrating crabs to giant, bat-eating boas that lie in wait for easy prey. Decades of a socialist, conservation-minded government, American embargoes and minimal development have left the island virtually unchanged for 50 years. As international relations ease, what will become of this wildlife sanctuary?

The captivating tales of the people and events behind one of humanity's greatest achievements in exploration: NASA's Voyager mission.

8.1/10
10%

The Shannon is Ireland’s greatest geographical landmark and longest river. It is both a barrier and highway, a silver ribbon holding back the rugged landscapes of the west from the gentler plains to the east. On its journey south, the Shannon passes through a huge palette of rural landscapes, where on little-known backwaters, Ireland’s wild animals and plants still thrive as almost nowhere else. For a year, wildlife cameraman Colin Stafford-Johnson lives on the river, camping on its banks, exploring its countless tributaries in a traditional canoe, following the river from dawn to dusk through the four seasons, on a quest to film the natural history of the Shannon as it has never been seen or heard or experienced before.

7.4/10

From PBS - The Shannon is Ireland's greatest geographical landmark and the longest river. It is both a barrier and highway - a silver ribbon holding back the rugged landscapes of the west from the gentler plains to the east. On its journey south, the Shannon passes through a huge palette of rural landscapes; where on little-known backwaters, Ireland's wild animals and plants still thrive as almost nowhere else. For a year, wildlife cameraman Colin Stafford-Johnson lives on the river - camping on its banks, exploring its countless tributaries in a traditional canoe, following the river from dawn to dusk through the four seasons, on a quest to film the natural history of the Shannon as it has never been seen or heard or experienced before.

8.9/10

One day, Broken Tail, the tiger, simply disappeared. A year later, there's news that Broken Tail was killed by a train, 100 miles away from Ranthambhore. This raised a question, how did Broken Tail travel so far and why did he leave?

Natural World is a nature documentary television series broadcast annually on BBC Two and regarded by the BBC as its flagship natural history brand. It is currently the longest-running series in its genre on British television, with more than 400 episodes broadcast since its inception in 1983. Natural World is produced by the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol, but individual programmes can be in-house productions, collaborative productions with other broadcasters or films made and distributed by independent production companies and purchased by the BBC. Natural World programmes are often broadcast as PBS Nature episodes in the USA. Since 2008, most Natural World programmes have been shot and broadcast in high definition.

8.6/10

The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 resulted from a Cold War standoff between two of the world's most powerful nations. Director Emer Reynolds revisits a time when nuclear war was a very real threat through revelatory interviews with former soldiers and government advisers.

8/10