Watch Life in the Undergrowth(2005) Online Free, Life in the Undergrowth All Seasons

Seasons & Episodes

EP1 Invasion Of The Land Nov 23, 2005

David Attenborough tells the story of the land-living invertebrates. He delves into the private life of Europe's dramatic leopard slug, a common garden resident with a truly bizarre end to its marathon mating ritual; watches the courtship ballet of tiny springtails on the underside of a leaf; sees swarms of bright red South African millipedes find partners, and in the caves of Venezuela meets the giant bat-eating centipede.

EP2 Taking to the Air Nov 30, 2005

As the early June sun begins to set over a calm river in Central Hungary, masses of ghostly shapes emerge from their larval cases to take to the air for the first time. They are mayflies and in a spectacular display, thousands of them demonstrate how the very first wings were used. From the stunning aerobatics of hoverflies in an English garden to the mass migration of purple crow butterflies in the valleys of Taiwan, this episode tells the tale of the first animals ever to take to the air. Unique footage reveals the lightning fast reactions of bluebottles and hoverflies, filmed with one of the world's fastest cameras, and David Attenborough handles the world's largest (and perhaps most ferocious) insect - the Titan beetle.

EP3 The Silk Spinners Dec 07, 2005

Silk is the invertebrates' great invention, used in a range of ways from from the protective stalks of lacewing eggs to the amazing hanging threads of New Zealand's 'glow worms'. Spiders, though, have taken silk-spinning to extremes. The common wolf spider has no web, but the female is a gentle parent, encasing her eggs in silk and carrying the precious bundle wherever she goes. The bolas spider uses a ball of sticky silk soaked in a copy of moth pheromone to lure its prey. Millions of communal spiders live and feed together in a vast, towering web - an arachnophobe's nightmare.

EP4 Intimate Relations Dec 14, 2005

The world of invertebrates exists in a web of relationships with plants and other animals. Unique footage of the world's smallest insect (a fairy wasp only quarter of a millimetre long) shows it flying underwater to find the eggs of water beetles in which to lay its own brood. Some ants 'farm' the trees that give them shelter, creating areas known as 'Devil's gardens'. To make sure these grow without competition, they kill off other seedlings in the surrounding vegetation. The blister beetle's larvae huddle together on the end of a piece of grass and mimic a female bee. When a male bee tries to mate with the 'female', the larvae grab on to his belly. Confused, he flies away and searches for a real female. When he eventually finds her and mates with her, the beetle larvae hurriedly swap from his front on to her back, and hence get carried back to her nest where they eat her pollen supplies.

EP5 Supersocieties Dec 21, 2005

Invertebrates don't always operate alone. True society was the last feature to evolve in invertebrates, as recently as the time of Tyrannosaurus. In the last programme see the tensions below the surface in some of the great social structures built by insects, and witness the carnage when an ant colony and a termite colony wage war.

9| 0h30m| TV-PG| en| More Info

Released: 23 November 2005 Ended

Producted By: BBC

Country: United Kingdom

Budget: 0

Revenue: 0

Official Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/lifeintheundergrowth/

Synopsis

David Attenborough reveals the amazing stories behind the tiny lives of invertebrates, exploring their incredible miniature world with ground-breaking camerawork and technology.

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Cast

David Attenborough

Director

Producted By

BBC

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David Attenborough as Self

Reviews

TheLittleSongbird David Attenborough is nothing short of a national treasure. He may apparently dislike the term, but it is hard to not say that about such a great presenter who has contributed significantly to some of the best programmes (of the documentary genre and overall) the BBC has ever aired/produced.It is really hard picking favourites, let alone a definite favourite, among what Attenborough has done because he has done so many gems, it is the equivalent of trying to choose your favourite ice cream flavour or your favourite operatic role (for examples) and finding you can't pick. To me though, 'Life in the Undergrowth' is up there with his crowning achievements and one of the best documentaries ever viewed, and as has been said already there are a lot of great ones. Also for a documentary exploring insects/invertebrates 'Life in the Undergrowth' is very much ground-breaking. It has everything that makes so much of his work so wonderful, hence some of the reiteration of my recent reviews for some of his work (being on a nature documentary binge in my spare time), and deserves everything great that has been said about it.First and foremost, 'Life in the Undergrowth' looks amazing. It is gorgeously filmed, done in a completely fluid and natural, sometimes intimate (a great way of connecting even more with the invertebrates), way and never looking static. In fact much of it is remarkably cinematic with some of the shots being unique for a documentary series, making one forget that it is a series. The editing is always succinct and smooth and the scenery is pure magic, similarly really admired the wide-ranging diversity of the different landscapes rather than restricting it to just one habitat. The music score fits very well, never overly grandiose while never being inappropriate.Again, like so many Attenborough nature/wildlife documentaries, 'Life in the Undergrowth' fascinates, teaches, moves, entertains and transfixes. In terms of the facts there was a very good mix of the known ones and the unknown, some facts being familiar to us while going into detail about the different invertebrates. Insects give me the heebie jeebies on the most part, but still found myself learning a lot about them, how they behaved and adapted and why on top of having misconceptions about them explored and cleared up. Despite still not being a fan, found myself appreciating them more.Narration by Attenborough helps significantly. He clearly knows his stuff and knows what to say and how to say it. He delivers it with his usual richness, soft-spoken enthusiasm and sincerity, never talking down to the viewer and keeping them riveted and wanting to know more. The "behind the scenes/making of" scenes too gave some humanity to the series and allowed us to get to know those behind the camera as well as in front.The insects are wide in range and big in personality. The conflict has genuine tension and suspense, there is some fun and a lot of emotionally powerful moments done with a lot of tear-jerking pathos. Found myself really caring for what we're told. Like much of Attenborough/BBC's other work, each episode doesn't feel like an episodic stringing of scenes, but instead like the best nature documentaries each feels like their own story and journey, with real, complex emotions and conflicts and animal characters developed in a way a human character would in a film but does it better than several.In conclusion, truly wonderful and saw me seeing a misunderstood group in a whole new light. 10/10 Bethany Cox

David T Attenborough's commentary seems a little unnecessary at times, however, I cannot praise the fine camera work enough, just so beautifully done and so wonderful in capturing the luscious colours of The Undergrowth. Each segment is wonderful yet I yearned for more. If you love colour and form this will amaze you. The sound track, too is very fine, gorgeous. I had no real idea that the plant and insect kingdoms were so interlocked, the scientists that. I assume, provided the technical data must be congratulated. Had my lessons in Biology been this interesting I might've paid more attention. If you get the jitters looking at bugs, then this probably will upset!

gologo112 I am not much into this kind of stuff: worms, snails,spiders etc. but "Life in the undergrowth" has really enchanted me! A superb, captivating and informative storytelling,breathtaking scenes of a world beyond our natural perceptions and the genius of Attenborough: this is what the 5 episodes are about. It is astonishing how the new technologies can reveal the everyday life of creatures that we usually think of being too primitive to deserve our attention and interest. However, the actors in this series have roles in the complex interplay called life as important as ours or maybe even more. The solutions they found regarding their survival, reproduction and adaptation are really amazing, though in many senses completely different to what we are accustomed to in the macro-world.

Anton Petrov This is an ingenious documentary about creatures of this world we often forget exist. It features amazing camera work, incredibly realistic, life like colours, mesmerizing scenes, good selection of music and even a sort of a storyline like progression for each episode that make this mini TV series by far the best wildlife documentary I have ever seen. David Attenborough doesn't just make us clearly understand the complexities of life in general, but also relates many things that we witness to human experience. Struggle, formation of societies, communication and continuity of life are amongst the main ideas he presents, but espionage, war, theft, deceit and even anarchy, and breakdown of order are also present. He really does go far and wide to present us with an extremely rich experience of the miniature world beneath our feet. Such an incredible amount of footage from all over the world, shot with such an incredible skill left me amazed. I couldn't wait to get my hands on more of his movies, just to see what else I could learn from such an interesting man and definitely a great teacher.10/10 for a perfect cinematographic creation.