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''Natural World'' is a strand of British wildlife documentary programmes broadcast on BBC Two and BBC Two HD and regarded by the BBC as its flagship natural history series.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/bbcworldwide/worldwidestories/pressreleases/2009/11_november/Neil_Nightingale_joins_BBC_Worldwide.shtml )〕 It is the longest-running documentary in its genre on British television, with nearly 500 episodes broadcast since its inception in 1983.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher=BBC Press Office )〕 ''Natural World'' programmes are typically one-off films that take an in-depth look at particular natural history events, stories or subjects from around the globe. ''Natural World'' is produced by the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol under the stewardship of the Series Editor, who is responsible for commissioning or acquiring content. Programmes are a mixture of in-house productions, collaborative productions with other broadcasters or acquisitions from independent producers. There are 10 programmes broadcast each year, of which approximately half are produced in-house. The series has close ties with the US series ''Nature'', broadcast by PBS.〔 The 2014-15 series of ''Natural World'' is the thirty-third, and began on 11 April 2014 with “Africa’s Giant Killers”, a film about conflict between lions and elephants in Botswana.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnnh/episodes/guide#b01ljvfc )〕 ==History== ''Natural World'' was initiated in 1983 as a wildlife-specific spin-off to ''The World About Us'', itself a long-running documentary strand on BBC Two. ''The World About Us'' was commissioned in 1967 by David Attenborough, at that time the Controller of BBC Two, to promote the new colour television service to British audiences. As the former head of the BBC's Travel and Exploration Unit in London, Attenborough realised that many of its telecine films had been shot in colour and would make ideal subjects for a documentary series, along with natural history content from the Bristol Unit and overseas broadcasters. ''The World About Us'' launched on 3 December 1967 to coincide with the first full evening of colour television in Britain, with Attenborough himself acting as Series Editor. The first programme was "Volcano", a film by the French vulcanologist Haroun Tazieff; the Natural History Unit's first contribution was "Forest and Firebird" featuring the brilliantly-coloured scarlet ibis. Programmes such as these were no accident: ''The World About Us'' was described by Barry Paine, a frequent producer and narrator during its first two decades, as "a series designed to sell colour television sets".〔(【引用サイトリンク】 publisher= WildFilmHistory )〕 Due to the difficulty of sourcing colour films at the time, ''The World About Us'' started out with a broad remit of geography, anthropology and natural history as subject matter. Gradually, the contributions from the Travel and Exploration Unit diminished and the Natural History Unit's programmes grew in prominence. This was acknowledged by the BBC when the series was re-launched as ''The Natural World'' in 1983; the title subsequently shortened to its current form in 2003. The first episode under the new title was "Save the Panda", broadcast on 30 October 1983 in what would become a regular time slot on Sunday evenings (where Series Editor Peter Jones claimed audiences were "hungry for natural history").〔 ''The World About Us'' continued until 1986. The early Series Editors benefited from a generous budget, courtesy of a co-production partnership with the US broadcaster WNET.〔 The American channel was keen to commission material for its recently launched ''Nature'' strand on PBS. The first programme to benefit from the partnership was the 1982 mini-series ''The Flight of the Condor''. At the same time, researchers and field biologists were publishing many new discoveries about wildlife in scientific journals, providing the BBC with plentiful material for new programme ideas. As a result, the strand quickly expanded from 10 to 20 slots by 1985 and a number of special programmes were commissioned, helped by additional funding from BBC Enterprises (now BBC Worldwide).〔 Among them were the award-winning mini-series ''Kingdom of the Ice Bear'' (1985) and ''Vanishing Earth'' (1986). David Attenborough has maintained a close association with ''Natural World'' throughout its long history, narrating or presenting around 50 episodes to date. In 2008, on the strand's 25th anniversary, he commented "I have no doubt that Natural World is not only the doyen and founding member of the 50-minute natural history genre but is still the one with the best and most distinguished record."〔 In recent years, the number of ''Natural World'' programmes has reduced to 10 per series, and the strand no longer occupies a regular place in BBC Two's schedule. High-definition broadcasts of ''Natural World'' programmes started in 2008 on the BBC HD channel and following its closure are now simulcast on BBC Two HD. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Natural World (TV series)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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