Life (TV Miniseries)

Life is a nature documentary series from the BBC Natural History Unit, which began transmission on BBC One and BBC HD on 12 October 2009. Four years in the making, the series has been shot entirely in high-definition and comprises ten 50-minute episodes. A ten-minute making-of feature Life: On Location is aired at the end of each episode in the UK, taking the total running time to 60 minutes. According to The Times, it has a budget of £10 million, though this has not been confirmed by the BBC. It was the first series commissioned by the then controller of BBC One, Peter Fincham, just weeks after he took up the post in March 2005. In April 2008, the BBC announced a co-production deal on three major series with Greek broadcaster Skai TV, including Life and a second natural history production, The Frozen Planet. The executive producer of Life is Mike Gunton, and, after initially announcing that they were seeking a replacement for David Attenborough, the BBC subsequently revealed that the veteran narrator was collaborating on both this series and The Frozen Planet.