Tom Hanks & Hans Zimmer Combine to Highlight the Beauty & Diversity of The Americas

Narrated by Tom Hanks, with music by Hans Zimmer and Executive Produced by Planet Earth II helmer Mike Gunton, 10-part epic The Americas brings the beauty of the largest land mass in the Western Hemisphere to screens in South Africa on M-Net (Channel 101) from Sunday, 6 April at 6pm.

Produced by the creators of the critically acclaimed and multi-Emmy Award-winning Planet Earth and Blue Planet, in association with Universal Television Alternative Studio, The Americas showcases the wonders, secrets and fragilities of the supercontinent that comprises North and South America.

The show uses cutting-edge technology to uncover never-before-seen behaviour amongst the continents’ fauna and flora, highlighting extraordinary, untold wildlife stories. Five years in the making and filmed over 180 expeditions, the series reveals the spectacular landscapes of Earth’s most varied landmass – the only one which stretches between both of the planet’s poles.

Each one-hour episode explores a different iconic location, taking in the Atlantic Coast; Mexico; the Wild West; the Amazon; the Frozen North; the Gulf Coast; The Andes; The Caribbean; the West Coast and Patagonia. 

Narrator Hanks says he was drawn to the show by the opportunity to learn. “I think I’ve lived for that opportunity… I wanted to be on the front line. I feel lucky to be a part of this extraordinary project – of capturing something that is so real that it’s irrefutable to anybody who watches it. And it’s just glorious to be a part of that,” he explains. “It is a cavalcade of wonder, an hour of discovery where you will be enthralled, enlightened, educated and – foremost – entertained. This is TV at its absolute best, because – number one – you can’t make this stuff up. It’s the truth. It’s real.”

The Americas is executive produced by renowned Emmy and BAFTA Award-winning wildlife producer Mike Gunton for BBC Studios Natural History Unit, the best-known and most respected producers of natural history content in the world, in association with Universal Television Alternative Studio, a division of Universal Studio Group.

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