With a humorous and surprisingly revealing look at modern farming, this documentary series follows Jeremy Clarkson as he trades fast cars and city life for the unpredictable challenges of running a working farm in the English countryside. What begins as an ambitious new venture soon becomes a constant battle against weather, bureaucracy, livestock, machinery, and the harsh realities faced by farmers every day. Combining stunning rural landscapes with Clarkson's trademark humor, the series offers an entertaining and eye-opening glimpse into life on the land. In the first three episodes, Jeremy finds himself largely on his own as key members of the team are away, forcing him to take greater responsibility for the farm's daily operations. Persistent rain threatens crucial planting schedules, while new equipment, a new farmhand, and even a potential new business opportunity provide fresh challenges and unexpected lessons. As he searches for a local pub to expand his ambitions, Jeremy also faces competition, difficult decisions, and the constant pressure of keeping the farm running in an environment where success often depends on factors completely beyond his control.
In the last in the series Professor Jim Al-Khalili explores how studying the atom forced us to rethink the nature of reality itself. He discovers that there might be parallel universes in which different versions of us exist, finds out that empty space isn't empty at all, and investigates the differences in our perception of the world in the universe and the reality.
In the final part, Professor Al-Khalili uncovers tales of success and heartache in the story of chemists' battle to control and combine the elements, and build our modern world. He reveals the dramatic breakthroughs which harnessed their might to release almost unimaginable power, and he journeys to the centre of modern day alchemy, where scientists are attempting to command the extreme forces of nature and create brand new elements.
Mammals dominate the planet. They do it through having warm blood and by the care they lavish on their young. Weeks of filming in the bitter Antarctic winter reveal how a mother Weddell seal wears her teeth down keeping open a hole in the ice so she can catch fish for her pup.
A powered hot air balloon produces stunning images of millions of migrating bats as they converge on fruiting trees in Zambia, and slow-motion cameras reveal how a mother rufous sengi exhausts a chasing lizard. A gyroscopically stabilised camera moves alongside migrating caribou, and a diving team swim among the planet's biggest fight as male humpback whales battle for a female.
Fish dominate the planet's waters through their astonishing variety of shape and behaviour. The beautiful weedy sea dragon looks like a creature from a fairytale, and the male protects their eggs by carrying them on his tail for months. The sarcastic fringehead, meanwhile, appears to turn its head inside out when it fights. Slow-motion cameras show the flying fish gliding through the air like a flock of birds and capture the world's fastest swimmer, the sailfish, plucking sardines from a shoal at 70 mph. And the tiny Hawaiian goby undertakes one of nature's most daunting journeys, climbing a massive waterfall to find safe pools for breeding.
Birds owe their global success to feathers - something no other animal has. They allow birds to do extraordinary things. For the first time, a slow-motion camera captures the unique flight of the marvellous spatuletail hummingbird as he flashes long, iridescent tail feathers in the gloomy undergrowth. Aerial photography takes us into the sky with an Ethiopian lammergeier dropping bones to smash them into edible-sized bits. Thousands of pink flamingoes promenade in one of nature's greatest spectacles. The sage grouse rubs his feathers against his chest in a comic display to make popping noises that attract females. The Vogelkop bowerbird makes up for his dull colour by building an intricate structure and decorating it with colourful beetles and snails.
In the first three episodes, Jeremy finds himself largely on his own as key members of the team are away, forcing him to take greater responsibility for the farm's daily operations. Persistent rain threatens crucial planting schedules, while new equipment, a new farmhand, and even a potential new business opportunity provide fresh challenges and unexpected lessons. As he searches for a local pub to expand his ambitions, Jeremy also faces competition, difficult decisions, and the constant pressure of keeping the farm running in an environment where success often depends on factors completely beyond his control.