BBC Two viewers have accused Chris Packham of spouting “bile” after the first episode in his epic Earth biography series was rebroadcast. The five-part miniseries is narrated by the presenter and initially aired last summer.
On Wednesday (August 21), BBC Two showed the introductory instalment of Earth, titled ‘Inferno’. The chapter sees the 63-year old naturalist exploring of the deadliest volcanic events in our history, thought to have took place around 252 million years ago.
During the hour-long broadcast, fans witnessed harrowing scenes, many of which were created using CGI. Over the top of the clips, Chris explained that the devastating event eventually caused around 90 percent of all species on the globe to die out.
Inferno is followed by second episode, Snowball—covering the Ice Age— and Green, which sees the star explaining how plant life turned Earth from a “barren rock into a vibrant green world.” The penultimate instalment in the first season of Earth is titled Atmosphere while the fifth and final is on the rise of humanity.
All are available to stream on BBC iPlayer, but it appears the rerun of Inferno has irked some viewers. Taking to social media to have their say, one watcher wrote: “New program just started called Earth with Chris Packham. 15 minutes in and I'm totally depressed listening to his voice droning of. I think we all know how this will end. Can't watch his voice is to depressing.”
Other fans accused him of being a hyprocrite for jetting off to another country after warning about climate change, as one typed on X: “Chris Packham currently spewing out climate catastrophe fearmongering bile on BBC1 under the pretense of science. #ClimateScam.” (sic)
“When they running with ‘Chris Packham the hypocrite’,” commented someone else. “Long haul flying elephant riding hypocrisy?”
However many others have come out to praise the conservationist’s 2023 TV effort, with one fan penning: “What an engaging program Earth is! My 11 year old son, and avid Palaeontologist-to be, is glued!!! Thank you Chris, you’ve got a new fan. #earth #chrispackham.”
“If you watch Earth with Chris Packham, you will realise that the planet will always win,” said another.
During Inferno’s rebroadcast, Chris revealed it was “nice” for his recent Channel 4 documentary Chris Packham: Is It Time to Break the Law to be nominated for the 2024 Edinburgh TV Awards.
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“Nice to see our @Channel4 documentary ‘Is it Time to Break the Law’ has been nominated at @EdinburghTVFest in the ‘Climate Impact Award’ category,” he wrote to his 628,400 X followers.
The documentary sits alongside BBC’s Planet Earth III in the category alongside Sky Arts’ Landscape Artist of the Year: Winner’s Film, Netflix’s Spirit Rangers.
Farm Rebellion on Disney+ and Channel 4’s The Great Climate Fight have also received nods.
All nominees have a chance at scooping the Edinburgh TV Awards gong when the ceremony takes place at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre on Thursday, August 22.
Last year, Chris’ Is It Time to Break the Law documentary caused a multitude of viewers to complain to Ofcom as he questioned whether or not it was ethically acceptable to break the law to protest climate change.
Ofcom received 267 complaints, most of which are believed to be related to the programme condoning and inciting lawbreaking.
All five episodes of Earth are available to watch on BBC iPlayer now.
