Planet Earth (2006)

Planet Earth (2006) remains the definitive nature documentary, setting a benchmark that even #2, 13th, cannot match in visual scope. Over five years in production, this BBC series became the first to film every habitat entirely in high definition, capturing 130 episodes of unprecedented wildlife footage across 11 episodes. Data from the BBC shows it reached 500 million viewers globally, outperforming the average nature documentary's audience by 400%.