Madagascar

From Executive Producer Mike Gunton (Life, Galapagos) comes a fascinating exploration of one of the most unique habitats in the world, Madagascar! For 65 million years, Madagascar was lost to the world, isolated, undiscovered and untouched by humans. Left to its own devices it became a hotbed of evolution, resulting in the greatest concentration of unique creatures anywhere on the planet. More than 80% of Madagascar's animals and plants are found nowhere else on Earth. Recognized as one of the world's most important biodiversity hotspots, this is an Alice-in-Wonderland island of eccentric animals, outlandish plants and extraordinary landscapes. It is a truly remarkable island. In this three-part landmark series from the BBC, viewers will discover what makes Madagascar different from the rest of the world, and how evolution created an island rivaling the Galapagos for mystique, beauty and scientific wonder.

This three-part series explores the extraordinary wildlife and dramatic landscapes of the world's fourth-largest island. Lying just off the coast of Africa, Madagascar is a land of misty mountains, tropical rainforests and weird spiny desert scrub. Here the wildlife has evolved in splendid isolation to become bizarre and totally unique.
Island of Marvels
The great mystery of Madagascar is why it has such a unique and varied flora and fauna - a diversity of life that makes even the famed Galapagos Islands fade into insignificance by comparison. What is it that makes Madagascar so different from the rest of the world?
This first programme finds clues from Madagascar's extraordinary animals, plants and landscape to discover how the island's remarkable past has produced its intriguing present, like the Tsingy - a series of jagged limestone peaks which have cut off animals in isolated gorges, allowing them to evolve into their own unique species.
Lost Worlds
On the east side of the island, rugged mountains rise dramatically from the palm fringed Indian Ocean. These uplands catch drenching rains almost all year round - steep and inaccessible, they are the most diverse part of the island. This programme travels from the highest mountains, where trees are few and it's cold enough for frost, through the lush, cloaking rainforests, down to the tropical coast, discovering the ringtailed lemurs, the jewelled geckos and the predatory wasps. So what is it that has made this narrow eastern strip in particular so rich in life?
Land of Heat and Dust
The south of Madagascar is home to its most extraordinary landscapes - from forests of ‘upside down' trees, to alien ‘spiny deserts'. In stark contrast to the east, this is a place that's bone-dry for most of the year - but it's extraordinarily rich in wildlife. Here only the toughest and most opportunistic survive - and some of the strategies for survival are ingenious. This programme follows the long dry season of this arid landscape to see how life copes, as it waits for the brief rains.
Madagascar is country that has never been filmed in such detail before. It's one of the few places left on Earth where there are still wildlife mysteries. This series brings the weird and wonderful, the beautiful and unique qualities of this island to the screens for the first time.

Narrator
David Attenborough
Life in Cold Blood, First Life, Frozen Planet

Producer
Mary Summerill

Executive Producer
Mike Gunton
Life, Great Rift, Life in the Undergrowth

"You're hooked, effortlessly and elegantly" Independent

"As always with these types of programmes it's a tossup whether we'll be more bowled over by the wonders of nature or the skills of the cameraman. They combined in this case" Daily Express

Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world, and is home to 5% of the world's plant and animal species, of which more than 80% are found only there.

New species are still being discovered every year, and with conservationists currently placing Madagascar as a top priority, now is the perfect time to paint the definitive portrait of this truly remarkable island continent.