Bear Grylls has said his new National Geographic nature documentary will remind audiences that nature is “brutal, tough and unforgiving”.
Hostile Planet sees the makers of popular BBC series Planet Earth II and The Blue Planet show nature at its most extreme.
The six-episode series will explore a different environment – mountains, oceans, grasslands, jungles, deserts and the poles – in each instalment.
What's the most important tool to have with you in the jungle? #HostilePlanet @beargrylls #WednesdayWisdom pic.twitter.com/Wc7MetND8h
— Nat Geo Channel (@NatGeoChannel) April 17, 2019
Bear Grylls, host, narrator and executive producer of the show, said: “Hostile Planet is not gonna make your friend want to pet anything.
“It’s really going to remind your friend that nature is brutal and tough, and unforgiving.”
Episode one will follow how inhabitants in the mountains survive, using breakthrough camera technology to access some of the most remote and hostile environments on earth.
The TV adventurer called the new series “refreshing”, adding that it was a reboot of the wildlife series genre.
“Hostile Planet sometimes works out, and then sometimes it’s heartbreaking and really tragic. But that is the nature and the reality of the world,” he said.
“I think what’s incredible about ‘Hostile Planet’ is that we’re showing life really on the edges.
“Not just the spectacular, beautiful stuff, but how hard it is for many animals to work together as a family to survive.
“Seeing it from that angle, for me, was mesmerising.”
Executive producer Guillermo Navarro, who won an Academy Award for his work on Pan’s Labyrinth, said: “This had to become a visual language, a visual narrative, and the lens had to be in the place for you to be able to connect emotionally with the struggle that the species go through.
“That’s what I see. I see the incredible opportunity to convey this to an audience and to see how these species are actually doing their part.
“This planet is also their planet, and we all have to do our part now. The structural transformation of the narrative is what’s very important for me. It has to be the visuals that lead you and talk to you and teach you.”
Hostile Planet premieres on Sunday April 28 at 9pm on National Geographic.