Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life
Encyclopedia
Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life is a 2009
television documentary about Charles Darwin
and his revolutionary theory of evolution
through natural selection
, produced by the BBC
to mark the bicentenary of Darwin's birth. It is part of the BBC Darwin Season
. The presenter, David Attenborough
, outlines the development of the theory by Darwin through his observations of animals and plants in nature and in the domesticated state, visiting sites important in Darwin's own life, including Down House
, Cambridge University
and the Natural History Museum
, and using archive footage from Attenborough's many nature documentaries
for the BBC. He reviews the development of the theory since its beginnings, and its revolutionary impact on the way in which humans view themselves - not as having dominion over the animals as The Bible says, but as part of the natural world and subject to the same controlling forces that govern all life on Earth
.
, at 9pm on Sunday 1 February. Official ratings from BARB
show that it attracted an audience of 6.34 million viewers, a healthy figure for a factual programme. Overnight data suggested 23% of the available audience was watching.
The programme drew effusive praise from critics:
2009 in British television
This is a list of events taking place in 2009 related to British television.-Events:-BBC:-ITV:-Channel 4:-Five:-Subscription Channels:-New channels:-Defunct channels:-Rebranding channels:-Changes of network affiliation:...
television documentary about Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
and his revolutionary theory of evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
through natural selection
Natural selection
Natural selection is the nonrandom process by which biologic traits become either more or less common in a population as a function of differential reproduction of their bearers. It is a key mechanism of evolution....
, produced by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
to mark the bicentenary of Darwin's birth. It is part of the BBC Darwin Season
BBC Darwin Season
The BBC Darwin Season is a series of television and radio programmes commissioned by the BBC to celebrate the bicentenary of the great naturalist Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his revolutionary book, On the Origin of Species in November, 1859...
. The presenter, David Attenborough
David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...
, outlines the development of the theory by Darwin through his observations of animals and plants in nature and in the domesticated state, visiting sites important in Darwin's own life, including Down House
Down House
Down House is the former home of the English naturalist Charles Darwin and his family. It was in this house and garden that Darwin worked on his theories of evolution by natural selection which he had conceived in London before moving to Downe....
, Cambridge University
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
and the Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
, and using archive footage from Attenborough's many nature documentaries
Nature documentary
A natural history film or wildlife film is a documentary film about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures, usually concentrating on film taken in their natural habitat...
for the BBC. He reviews the development of the theory since its beginnings, and its revolutionary impact on the way in which humans view themselves - not as having dominion over the animals as The Bible says, but as part of the natural world and subject to the same controlling forces that govern all life on Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
.
Reception
The programme was aired in a primetime slot on BBC OneBBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
, at 9pm on Sunday 1 February. Official ratings from BARB
Barb
Barb may refer to:* A backward-facing point on a fish hook or similar implement, rendering extraction from the victim's flesh more difficult* Wind barbs for each station on a map of reported weather conditions...
show that it attracted an audience of 6.34 million viewers, a healthy figure for a factual programme. Overnight data suggested 23% of the available audience was watching.
The programme drew effusive praise from critics:
- In The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, Sam Wollaston describes how Attenborugh tells the story of natural selection "through the life and work of his hero, and also through his own life and work, which has always had Darwinism at its core. The two strands have been artfully twisted together, into a beautiful double helix of television that makes perfect sense. Except to the creationist loons." - In The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, Andrew Billen praises Attenborough's "grace and fluency," in demonstrating "that what always comes to Darwin's rescue is scientific evidence," and David Chater remarks on how, through the use of archive clips, "the viewer also sees Attenborough himself evolve from a young presenter to a latter-day sage." - In The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, Tom SutcliffeTom Sutcliffe (broadcaster)Thomas Sutcliffe is a British journalist and arts broadcaster.Sutcliffe studied English at Emmanuel College, Cambridge...
also praises the presenter: "Not everyone is up to the humility evolutionary theory demands of us, but David Attenborough is, and he made the case well." - In IrelandIrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Pat Stacey of the Evening HeraldEvening HeraldThe Evening Herald is a mid-market tabloid evening newspaper published in Dublin, Ireland by Independent News & Media. It is published Monday-Saturday, and has three editions — City Edition, City Final Edition and National Edition...
describes it as "a stunning piece of television - epic television - that brilliantly pulled together with pin-sharp clarity the different strands of Darwin's awesome, irrefutable discoveries, as though Attenborough were constructing a model of the double helix. It was beautifully made and utterly thrilling."
Associated material and DVD
- The region 2DVD region codeDVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region...
DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
has been released by 2 Entertain2 Entertain2 Entertain is a British video and music publisher, formed by the merger of BBC Video and Video Collection International in 2004....
on 2 March 2009 (BBCDVD2938) containing the full 60-minute documentary.
- The Open UniversityOpen UniversityThe Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
has produced supporting material on its website. The Wellcome TrustWellcome TrustThe Wellcome Trust was established in 1936 as an independent charity funding research to improve human and animal health. With an endowment of around £13.9 billion, it is the United Kingdom's largest non-governmental source of funds for biomedical research...
made the animated "Tree of Life" from the documentary available online.