Evolution

Series 1

2026 · 5 episodes · 4h 51m in all · 9.8/10

Episodes

1. 

   1. The Elephant

   13 Jul 2026 · 58 min · 9.0/10

   How did the elephant get so big? Chris Packham explores the four-billion-year story of how a tiny cell evolved into complex, gentle giants.

2. 

   2. The Ostrich

   20 Jul 2026 · 58 min · 10.0/10

   How did the ostrich come to lay the biggest egg on Earth? Chris Packham explores the way reproduction has shaped life on Earth and the surprising evolutionary origins of sex, eggs and birds. It's a four billion year journey contained within a shell.

3. 

   3. The Bat

   27 Jul 2026 · 58 min · 10.0/10

   How did the bat get so hungry? Chris Packham explores how the drive to find food has shaped animal life. The origin of bums, guts, jaws and super-hearing.

4. 

   4. The Dolphin

   3 Aug 2026 · 58 min · 10.0/10

   How did the dolphin get so smart? Chris Packham explores the origins of senses, brains and intelligence, in an evolutionary odyssey that ventures from ocean to land and back again.

5. 

   5. The Horse

   10 Aug 2026 · 59 min · 10.0/10

   How did the horse become so fast? Chris Packham sets out on a slithering, swimming, sprinting odyssey that explores the evolutionary beginnings of animal movement and how it reached its peak in one of the most elegant and athletic animals on Earth: the horse.