Move over X Factor, Strictly Come Dancing and even Love Island, the incredible nature documentary that is Blue Planet II has been crowned as the most popular show of 2017 in Britain.

A whopping 17 million people have tuned in to watch the BBC epic, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, on their telly or on some other type of device.

Credit: BBC/Blue Planet II

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When the BBC series kicked off in October, it drew an audience of 10.6 million at its peak, which was about half a million more than the celebrity dancing competition, Strictly Come Dancing. But fans have come in their hordes each and every week to get a glimpse at what lurks on, below or deep below the surface of our oceans.

Paul Dempsey, president of global markets at BBC Worldwide, said: "We are seeing phenomenal demand for Blue Planet II and we expect it to sell to well over 200 territories. Where it has already been shown internationally it has been a huge hit with audiences of all ages."

It's probably welcome news for the crew who put in a shit load of work to bring this project to life. Sure, saying it's taken four years to produce sounds like it's been a lengthy process - but that doesn't even scratch the surface.

Blue Planet 2

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Credit: BBC/Blue Planet II



Each week, the series explains how they managed to capture one of their epic scenes, and it's fucking impressive.

Crew members would describe waiting for weeks for an animal to make their move or do something that was camera worthy. Research teams have spent an untold number of hours sourcing stories, scouting locations and making sure they're in the right place at the right time.

Not only that, but they had to design and create new equipment and technology that would help them achieve the shot they wanted.

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That was truly illustrated in the episode where they covered the 'Big Blue' of the open ocean and tried to film the rarely witnessed 'boiling sea' which was a dolphin feeding frenzy.

Episode producer John Ruthven said: "Over the next three weeks, the crew didn't find a single lanternfish. It transpired that the team had been filming at the very start of El Nino - an unpredictable climatic event that can suddenly raise sea temperatures and disrupt the spawning behavior of fish.



Blue Planet

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Credit: BBC/Blue Planet II



"It would be 18 months before conditions would normalise and the team could continue their quest. But rather than searching for their prey, this time the team would look for their predators, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, off Costa Rica."



This is the issue with filming nature; it's difficult to predict when very little is known about the specimens.

It's good to know that the people of Britain are more interested in nature and everything it has to offer than celebrities dancing, singing or trying to get with each other.