Best nature documentaries to stream

By Carys Matthews

Published: Tuesday, 26 October 2021 at 12:00 am

With so many streaming platforms offering stunning nature documentaries on demand, the world really is your oyster. We’ve searched high and low to bring you a list of the very best television series and films that showcase our fascinating planet – and the people striving to protect it.

Get the low-down on the best new nature documentaries of 2021, from The Mating Game, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, which explores how species tackle nature’s ultimate quest – the pursuit for a partner, to the adorable Wild Animal Babies with Patrick Aryee.

But we didn’t want to leave out some classic gems from the past. Discover our round-up of the best nature documentaries of all time. Delve into the archives and get lost in David’s Attenborough’s ground-breaking Life on Earth BBC series from 1979, or learn all about the work of Jane Goodall in Jane, which celebrates the life of the renowned primatologist.

Take your pick from BBC, Netflix, Disney +, Amazon Prime Video and NOW TV, and witness the world’s most incredible wildlife from your armchair.

Best nature documentaries to stream on BBC, Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV, and more

Best nature documentaries released in 2021

Shark with Steve Backshall (autumn 2021)

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Discover more about sharks with Steve Backshall. © Getty Images

Join shark expert Steve Backshall as he dives into our seas and comes face to face with this powerful predator. Journey from tropical coastlines to the open ocean and discover the truth about these much-maligned creatures and what can be done to protect them.

Backshall is well known for his extreme expeditions and fearless dives with the likes of anacondas, hippopotamus and, most recently, a great hammerhead shark on Blue Planet Live. This three-part series promises to be just as jaw-dropping.

The Mating Game (2021)

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Two male ruffs fight for dominance in a lekking arena, Finland. © Barrie Britton/Silverback Films/BBC

This series explores how species tackle nature’s ultimate quest – the pursuit for a partner. We meet some familiar faces of natural history documentaries but with new and thrilling footage, from singing humpback whales in Hawaii to chimpanzees in Uganda.

Narrated by Sir David Attenborough and produced by the renowned Silverback Films company, this is an enthralling glimpse into the variety of mating wildlife spectacles on our beautiful planet.

Earthshot: Repairing Our Planet (2021)

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HRH Prince William. © Erica Wilson/Silverback Films/BBC

This documentary series covers the five Earthshots from The Earthshot Prize, a global environmental prize launched by Prince William and The Royal Foundation in October 2020.

It features a number of members of the Earthshot Prize Council, including Sir David Attenborough, singer Shakira Mebarak and footballer Dani Alves.

The prize aims to turn the current pessimism surrounding environmental issues into optimism, by championing inspiring leadership and helping to scale incredible cutting-edge solution, and was inspired by President John F. Kennedy’s ‘Moonshot’ programme in the 1960s.

Each episode focusses on one of the missions and the series reveals the 15 prize finalists, with the prize ceremony announcing the winners as the sixth episode.

Attenborough’s Life in Colour (2021)

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David Attenborough with a toucan in Costa Rica. © Gavin Thurston/Humble BeeFilms/SeaLight Pictures/BBC

Sir David Attenborough started his career describing the appearance of animals to audiences viewing black and white footage. Now, with decades of experience on the cutting edge of camera technology, he’s the perfect guide to show us some of the world’s most spectacular species.

Classic questions such as “why are tigers orange, zebras stripey and flamingos pink?” are all answered with nuance and the latest science is applied to a host of other familiarly flamboyant characters from peacocks to poison dart frogs.  Things get even more interesting when we look beyond our limited human perception and consider species from their own unique visual perspectives.

It’s another must-watch Attenborough mini-series, delivering maximum visual impact and a poignant conclusion that we must protect the vibrancy of the natural world.

Chris Packham’s Animal Einsteins (2021)

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Chris Packham with Bran the Raven. © Lucy Bowden/BBC

In this classic Packham-esque nature series, he is on the quest for nature’s most intelligent species and the adaptations they use to survive. Sassy and savvy, the programme challenges us to reconsider our perceptions of animal intelligence. Some stories have been well-documented before, like corvids and chimps, whilst others might surprise you!

 

Natural History Museum: World of Wonder (2021)

  • Watch on Natural History Museum: World of Wonder on My5
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Hope with public visitors. © Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London

“Welcome to the Natural History Museum as you’ve never seen it before,” says the narrator of this new four-part series. While many viewers will have visited the museum (NHM) in London, few will have been lucky enough to get a glimpse inside the 140-year- old building during the pandemic. Watching the programme, though, feels almost exactly like stepping once again into the Hintze Hall, where the skeleton of Hope, a whale, hangs from the ceiling. She is truly the inanimate star of episode one, with her story the subject of intense scientific research. Through chemical analysis, principal curator of mammals Richard Sabin is able to reveal the path of Hope’s final journey and discovers she wasn’t alone on the trip.

There are appearances from the NHM’s stars, including Dippy the Diplodocus, along with new additions for the museum’s Fantastic Beasts exhibit. But as the museum’s collection contains more than 80 million items, many have never been, and might never be, on display. One such item in episode two is shown by senior insects curator Dr Erica McAlister and it requires a microscope to truly appreciate: fleas, dressed in tiny outfits, as if attending a wedding, all handmade by nuns in 19th-century Mexico. Of all the fascinating specimens brought to life by the series, these are without a doubt the best dressed.

I Am Greta (2021)

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Greta Thunberg outside the Swedish parliament, August 2018. © Anders Hellberg

It’s been three years since Greta Thunberg embarked on her first school strike outside Sweden’s parliament, yet in that short space of time, the activist has helped spawn a seismic global movement, inspiring millions to heap pressure on the planet’s worst polluters. This fly-on-the-wall documentary chronicles Thunberg’s ascent to fame, spanning her early campaigns in Stockholm in August 2018 to her transatlantic voyage to address the United Nations in New York 13 months later.

 

A Perfect Planet (2021)

 

Aired in early 2021, this series focuses on the natural forces which shape our planet, and enable life to flourish here: the sun, volcanoes, oceans, and weather. In addition, the programme takes a look at how humans have impacted the planet and its environments and wildlife.

“Together, these forces have shaped our perfect planet, but it’s a fragile system.” says Attenborough in the trailer. “Today there is a new force. One so powerful, it threatens life on Earth. Human activity is now so dominant that it’s disrupting the forces of nature, and the vital habitats that life needs to survive on Earth. To preserve our planet, we need to act now. And if we do that, there will still be time to restore the ecological balance that once made this Earth our perfect planet.”