I've managed to get my hands on a sneak preview of the BBC Natural History Unit’s new blockbuster landmark series, ‘LIFE’ which is due to go out this autumn on BBC1.

There is not a lot on TV that excites me quite as much as these epic documentaries shot using the latest filming technologies and taking years to complete. The Open University (whom i work with occasionally) are co-producers on this programme, which so far has been four years in the making and has been filmed in some of the most extreme environments on Earth. This is what good TV is all about.

It's planned to be a series of 10 one hour programmes telling the definitive story of life on Earth. The following video clip shows Mike Gunton, the Executive Producer of the series, explaining how the production team intend to build on the awe, spectacle and epic scale of the Planet Earth footage..

I spotted this promo while at the Open University talking with Dr Janet Sumner. She let me don a pair of headphones and I submersed myself in the amazing HD footage.. The pullback using the Heligimbal took my breath away. The incredible score combined with the macro work and high definition time lapse shows me how big money production does it right.

I love to create my own video content and the kind of tools at my disposal today could only have been dreamed of 10 years ago. These guys with the kit they have at their disposal are probably the only people who can confidently say they want to create "..a definitive story of wildlife on this planet."

This is a massive undertaking. But never-the-less it's something that has to be done.. Who knows for how long we will be able to wonder at these animals. I am so glad the BBC and The Open University can get together to work on projects of this magnitude.

I have been very lucky to travel with some of that time spent observing animals in their natural habitat. I hope my future child gets to see with his own eyes some of the amazing natural history captured in this incredible body of work.. and as Mike Gunton says.. it really does "..celebrate the wonderful diversity of life."

(This footage is used with the kind permission of Dr Janet Sumner)