Blue Planet II a big hit with younger audiences

Posted on 10 November 2017 • TV and radio

Recent figures show the first episode of Blue Planet II was watched by 2.3 million viewers aged 16 – 34, with a total of 14 million throughout the UK tuning in.

The new series produced by the BBC Natural History Unit in partnership with OU and narrated by Sir David Attenborough, brings audiences closer to an array of fascinating creatures and environments, some of which seem out of this world. It is also inspiring younger generations as more young people watched episode one of the series than X Factor that evening or any single episode of Love Island.

The OU has produced a wall poster, which has been extremely popular with 450,000 requests in total. There is also lots to explore on OpenLearn as over 615,000 visitors have seen.

The seven-episode series, which began on Sunday 29 October 2017 on BBC One, is supported by four academic consultants from the OU, including Reader in Polar Oceanography, Dr Mark Brandon; he said: “We know less about the shape of the ocean floor than we do about surface of Mars and Venus.”