This list has been updated. *New additions are indicated with an asterisk.
You can capture the passage of time in the crisp high definition (and beyond) of nature documentaries, but you can also capture it in the upheaval of streaming services. Only a couple years ago, Discovery+ was the sole streaming home to a vast array of reality TV shows as well as nature-based docuseries, the latter of which often bore the standard for the brightest, most colorful cutting-edge filmmaking tools. But as Warner Bros. Discovery overlord David Zaslav — in one of his many head-scratching decisions — expanded the scope of Max (formerly HBO Max), many of those same docuseries are readily accessible on both services. (Fair warning: You may need to jump between the two services to find a few select titles, presuming you subscribe to both, something Zaslav almost certainly hopes is true.)
Throughout the past two decades, the BBC Natural History Unit has made must-see documentaries that offer some of the most hypnotic pieces of 21st-century filmmaking. Though some of these documentaries present an unflinching depiction of survival of the fittest, the professorial yet strangely soothing voice of Sir David Attenborough sets a tone of matter-of-fact calm that counterbalances even the tensest animal attack. Now that they’re accessible — for the most part — on two services, let’s highlight the 15 best nature docs to stream on either Discovery+ or Max.
The Blue Planet (2001)
Though the BBC Natural History Unit had a long filmography prior to the 21st century, it was with The Blue Planet that it approached another level of exploration of the natural world. With the iconic Attenborough as the calm and steady narrator, The Blue Planet goes underwater to highlight the denizens of the deep, with creatures from dolphins to sardines to blue whales getting a turn in the spotlight. The one major difference between The Blue Planet and all of the other titles on this list is technological: the eight-episode docuseries was filmed in standard definition, limiting the grandeur of what’s detailed.
Planet Earth (2006)
For many viewers, the value of HDTV came courtesy of this remarkable 11-episode docuseries. Planet Earth reunited the team behind the groundbreaking 2001 series The Blue Planet, including Attenborough and producer Alastair Fothergill, but the scope of this project was much larger. First, where The Blue Planet was still filmed in standard definition, Planet Earth went high (def). As it hops from forests to jungles to the Arctic, Planet Earth is as much a travelogue as it is a document of how myriad species live in a modern world that’s being ravaged due to climate change. Planet Earth stands out nearly two decades later as an HD template for future docuseries, offering jaw-dropping clarity to the most beautiful creatures and landscapes on our planet.
Nature’s Great Events (2009)
Though many of the BBC nature docuseries currently on offer typically fall into a recognizable subcategory of nature documentaries — offering a wide overview of natural life on the entire planet or in a specific area — Nature’s Great Events zigs instead of zags. As the title implies, the six-episode series focuses on six specific events in the animal kingdom that occur each year. Some may be vaguely familiar to non-nature buffs, such as the salmon run on North America’s western coast or the migration of animals on the Serengeti. But Nature’s Great Events stands out because it highlights the BBC Natural History Unit’s novel approach to documenting the natural world without always relying on the same formula.
Life (2009)
What do animals have to do to survive to another day? Survival of the fittest is a familiar phrase, but the way in which the BBC Natural History Unit drilled down on the concept in its follow-up series to Planet Earth is cleverly handled, while offering some of the most breathtaking high-definition photography of animals and wildlife ever recorded. As always, Attenborough’s steady voice guides the audience through the lives of everything from reptiles to birds to insects (with miniature HD cameras capturing incredible footage of the latter).
Frozen Planet (2011)
Just as The Blue Planet focused squarely on the world underwater, Frozen Planet turns its attention to the Arctic and Antarctica. The seven-episode series is no less urgent 12 years later: The thematic undercurrent of these installments is the devastating effect of climate change, a scourge keenly felt in the iciest of environments. Though Frozen Planet offers up the requisite beautiful nature imagery, it’s most striking because the impact of climate change is impossible to ignore. Even though neither Max nor Discovery+ have made the final episode available — fittingly titled “On Thin Ice,†it features Attenborough onscreen — the rest of the series grapples with the future of this frozen tundra in blunt and direct tones.
Africa (2013)
So many of the BBC docuseries are wide and expansive, looking at the entire world in just a matter of hours. Africa, by its very title, has a more limited point of view. Over six episodes, this series drops down onto the continent to explore its distinctive locations and how wildlife survive in places like the Congo and the Sahara Desert. Africa gets up close in sometimes-painful ways, as in an episode that depicts the starvation death an elephant calf. Though scenes like that are heartbreaking, they represent an important commitment on the filmmakers’ part to observe without meddling, especially at the most difficult moments.
Life Story (2014)
Though Life documented the various struggles of animals to survive in their natural habitats, Life Story focuses more on the circle-of-life theme. The six-episode series follows animals from the time they’re born to when they become parents themselves. There’s still plenty of the same action that typifies these series, in which predators stalk their prey, but the most beautiful footage is in the quiet moments. Consider the puffer fish highlighted in one episode, as it makes crop circles in the sand as part of the courtship ritual — behavior rarely seen before. You can’t find this kind of hypnotic, unforgettable imagery anywhere else.
The Hunt (2015)
One of the most visceral scenes in any nature doc is the depiction of animals on the hunt (or, conversely, animals attempting to avoid being hunted). The Hunt is a seven-episode series that’s chock-full of these scenes, focusing on how hunting plays out in environments as distinct as the Arctic, the jungle, and everywhere in between. As with series like Frozen Planet, conservation and climate change are a running current throughout; here, the final episode is dedicated to following the scientists trying to save an endangered predator. The finale provides a necessary glimpse into the desperate situation many animals face.
Planet Earth II (2016)
Yes, even documentaries aren’t immune to sequels. Ten years after the stunning international success of Planet Earth, the BBC Natural History Unit and David Attenborough returned with Planet Earth II. And just as Planet Earth felt groundbreaking for its high-definition depictions of the natural world, so too does Planet Earth II, which was the first TV series produced by the BBC in 4K HD. Even if you don’t have an ultrahigh-definition television, you’ll spot the difference. The clarity of images in the six-part series is frankly awe-inspiring. The climactic episode documents how animals’ natural habitats are endangered by urban sprawl, highlighting anew Attenborough’s focus on conservation in a high-tech world. Though Planet Earth II is shorter than its predecessor, it’s no less a feast for the eyes.
Blue Planet II (2017)
And one sequel leads to another. Blue Planet II, of course, offers a much more pronounced shift forward compared to the 2001 docuseries The Blue Planet. The 2017 seven-episode series is a 4K HD production, whereas its predecessor was an SD affair. The series is more effective and forceful in highlighting how our modern lifestyle damages marine environments. Most of us know that pollution and littering can destroy sea life, but Blue Planet II shows us this destruction in grim and unsparing detail. Let this serve as a reminder to recycle and conserve.
*Dynasties (2018)
The popularity of Planet Earth spread beyond the BBC Natural History Unit, to places like the Walt Disney Company. Producers such as Fothergill worked on some of Disney’s recent nature documentaries, which are roughly as cuddly and playful as you might expect. In the framing of the BBC documentary Dynasties, you can see some similarities with Disney’s approach — each episode focuses on a group of particular animals (chimpanzees, penguins, lions, etc.) and how they attempt to survive and raise a new generation to keep the circle of life moving. Hell, Attenborough even identifies some of the animals by name (even though they don’t … really have names the way we name pets). But doesn’t hold back in depicting the harsh realities of the circle of life, as in capturing internal battles that leave literal scars and paint the world with blood. Dynasties spawned a recent sequel (which has yet to arrive on either Discovery+ or Max) but is impressive and unrelenting enough on its own.
*Seven Worlds, One Planet (2019)
The size and scope of so many of the nature docuseries produced by the BBC Natural History Unit has proven to be immense and vast over the last 15 years especially. So it makes sense that many of the studio’s recent efforts try to establish some level of focus beyond just capturing the world as a whole. Seven Worlds, One Planet essentially has things both ways: as its title implies, its scope is as vast as the planet, but each episode drops into one of Earth’s continents to explore the different ways that wildlife survives. With Attenborough guiding us as narrator, Seven Worlds, One Planet hones the house style of the BBC — giving us vignettes about all sorts of animals from the penguins of Antarctica to even real-life roadrunners in the southwestern United States — but doing so in a way that feels as full and detailed as the best standard-bearers of the nature genre.
*Serengeti (2019)
That Serengeti is doing something a little different — at least relative to the usual fare from the BBC Studios Natural History Unit — is evident within the first few seconds of its opening episode. A title card specifies that this is a “dramatized story†about the “most charismatic animals,†and then actor John Boyega takes over, emphasizing this as a story versus the truth. (Notably, he’s also credited as “storyteller†instead of as “narrator.â€) But while Serengeti is aiming for a bit more dramatic license with its presentation, what it presents is the same type of effective imagery that lines every other title on this list. Serengeti, as you would expect, is more limited in its location, but that only allows the filmmakers to capture lions, elephants, and other African creatures with jaw-dropping clarity, sometimes with the camera at an impossibly close distance. Serengeti inspired a recent sequel (with Boyega’s Star Wars co-star Lupita Nyong’o taking over behind the microphone), and while Serengeti II is available on both streamers, the original is still the best.
*The Mating Game (2021)
It’s all but a guarantee that most of the docuseries on this list, especially the more recent ones, feature a bracing warning from Attenborough or whoever else serves as narrator about the dangers of climate change and how those dangers negatively impact the ability of various creatures to survive and thrive in their various ecosystems. Of course, the whole idea of being able to survive and thrive means that these creatures have to mate, which can pose its own set of challenges. Enter the recent five-episode docuseries The Mating Game, which is a bit more playful in tone (if only slightly) as its title suggests. With Attenborough once again behind the microphone, this shorter series flits among different animals and ecosystems, from the oceans to the rainforests, to capture just how it is that the animals of the world can actually spawn new life.
A Perfect Planet (2021)
When Discovery+ went live at the start of 2021, one of the many new series highlighted is the latest from the BBC Natural History Unit, A Perfect Planet. Though not everything from Discovery+ has survived to live on Max, A Perfect Planet thankfully transitioned over but in the process has actually been displaced from its original streaming home. Narrated again by Attenborough, this five-episode series was the first major docuseries from the unit made at the initial height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Though Attenborough narrated this one from the confines of his home, it doesn’t affect its quality. A Perfect Planet focuses as much on the natural environment itself as it does on its denizens. Title aside, the series remains as clear-eyed as others from the BBC about our own impact on nature. A Perfect Planet is a reminder that if we enjoy the documentation of Earth’s beauty, it’s up to us to keep it beautiful.