
Earth Story
1998 · BBC Two · 50 min · 1 season
S01E08 · A World Apart
Mon, 28 Dec, 7:00 am
Why is Earth a living planet when Mars is a deep freeze and Venus an inferno? The answer to this question reveals the intimate links between Earth and life itself.
About
Aubrey Manning, professor emeritus of natural history at Edinburgh University, sets out to explore how understanding of the planet and the life it sustains is undergoing a revolution.
Episodes
- E01
The Time Travellers
Mon, 2 Nov· 50 minAubrey Manning finds out how old our planet is and what it looked like when it was newly formed.
- E02
The Deep
Mon, 9 Nov· 50 minAubrey Manning follows a submarine dive to the world's longest mountain range, a mile underwater, to see how volcanoes shape the continents.
- E03
Ring of Fire
Mon, 16 Nov· 50 minBillions of years ago Earth was covered by a single ocean. Today nearly a third of the land is dry. Aubrey Manning follows a trail of clues from Bolivia to Alaska and New Zealand to find out how the change came about.
- E04
Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Mon, 23 Nov· 50 minAmong the active volcanos of Hawaii and Iceland, Aubrey Manning uncovers events deep within the planet that have reshaped the surface. What drives the Earth's restless volcanic activity?
- E05
The Roof of the World
Mon, 7 Dec· 50 minMountains are among the most spectacular features of our planet. Aubrey Manning looks at an extraordinary theory about how they rise and fall.
- E06
The Big Freeze
Mon, 14 Dec· 50 minAubrey Manning traces the history of the Ice Age. The tranquillity of Switzerland conceals a violent past - 12,000 years ago the Alps were buried under three kilometres of ice.
- E07
The Living Earth
Mon, 21 Dec· 50 minAubrey Manning travels to the jungles of Indonesia, the Rocky Mountains in Canada, the gorges of Western Australia and the African plains to illustrate that geology has a direct impact on evolution.
- E08
A World Apart
Mon, 28 Dec· 50 minWhy is Earth a living planet when Mars is a deep freeze and Venus an inferno? The answer to this question reveals the intimate links between Earth and life itself.
Cast

Aubrey Manning
Aubrey Manning