Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Blue Planet II is so popular it slowed down the internet in China

'I've been crying all the time... it's just so beautiful,' one viewer wrote

Clarisse Loughrey

Monday 13 November 2017 08:55 GMT

Sharks attack submarine during filming for Blue Planet II

The popularity of BBC One's Blue Planet II knows no limits - or geographical borders, apparently.

The Sunday Times has reported the nature doc has attracted around 80 million viewers in China alone, thanks to viewers on the Tencent Video channel; a boost so large, it temporarily slowed down the country's internet, due to a rush of people attempting to download it.

It proved a sure hit on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, too, with Beijing film blogger Muhou Jun, with a following of four million, writing: "I watched with my mouth hanging open. Blue Planet contains a profound humanistic appeal to protect our environment."

Fankucha Zhendi, also from Beijing, with a following of 1.4 million followers, wrote: "I've been crying all the time... it's just so beautiful."

Kelvin Yau, BBC Worldwide's manager for China, ascribed some of the show's success to the fact it was attracting families gathering to watch the show together. "With the fast growth of cities," he added. "Many Chinese, especially younger generations, want to reconnect with the natural world."

Blue Planet II – in pictures

Show all 10

1/10Blue Planet II – in pictures

Blue Planet II – in pictures

Broadclub cuttlefish

"A broadclub cuttlefish (Sepia latimanus) in Indonesia. Its skin contains millions of pigment cells with which it can create ever-changing colours and patterns to apparently mesmerise their prey."

BBC

Blue Planet II – in pictures

Coral spawning on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia

"Once a year, responding to cues from the cycle of the moon and the temperature of the water, corals simultaneously release their eggs and sperm into the ocean. Tiny coral larvae drift in the ocean currents, some for days, some for weeks, before sinking back down to the ocean floor and settling to become new corals."

BBC

Blue Planet II – in pictures

An aggregation of marbled grouper (Epinephelus polyphekadion), French Polynesia

"Thousands of groupers gather here in one of the few pristine spawning aggregations for this species remaining in the world. By taking up the position closest to a female, the male stands the best chance of fertilising her eggs."

BBC

Blue Planet II – in pictures

Saddleback clownfish (Amphiprion polymnus)

"A male saddleback clownfish uses all the strength it can muster to push a coconut shell to its anemone in Borneo. Unlike their reef relatives, saddleback clownfish live around anemones that are found in the sand, far away from the solid structure of the coral reef. Male saddleback clownfish must use their ingenuity to find a hard substrate upon which the females can lay their eggs."

BBC

Blue Planet II – in pictures

Peters' monocle breams (Scolopsis affinis)

"A group of Peters' monocle breams blow water-jets onto a hiding bobbit worm (Eunice aphroditois) to expose its ferocious jaws. In so doing, they alert other fish to the worm's location, ruining the predator’s chance of a surprise attack. This new behaviour was published for the first time by Jose Lachat and Daniel Haag-Wackernagel in 2016."

BBC

Blue Planet II – in pictures

Green turtles (Chelonia mydas)

Green turtles in Sipadan, Borneo, jostling for their place at a cleaning station. Here, turtles are serviced by blennies and surgeonfish who rid them of algal growth, parasites and dead skin. In return, these fish receive a nutritious meal.

BBC

Blue Planet II – in pictures

Bumphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum)

"Bumphead parrotfish feeding on coral and algae in Borneo. These parrotfish use their large forehead to ram corals, thereby breaking them into pieces that are more easily ingested. Each fish ingests over 5 tons of structural reef carbonates per year and after they digest the edible portions from the rock, they excrete it as sand, helping to create small islands and the sandy beaches."

BBC

Blue Planet II – in pictures

Coral garden

"A fish's-eye view of a coral garden on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. New underwater probe lenses, developed for Blue Planet II, allow the viewer to immerse themselves into the coral reef city like never before."

BBC

Blue Planet II – in pictures

A coral grouper (Plectropomus leopardus)

"A coral grouper on the Great Barrier Reef in Northern Australia. Groupers use a gesture dubbed the ‘headstand signal’ to reach across the vertebrate-invertebrate divide and encourage another species to help it hunt. Gestures such as this are thought to only occur in the largest-brained species. The discovery of this behaviour in groupers indicates that some fish are able to think flexibly to achieve their goals."

BBC

Blue Planet II – in pictures

Bigeye trevally (Caranx sexfasciatus)

"A school of Bigeye trevally gather at the outer edge of the reef wall in Sipadan, Borneo. These trevally are a schooling species, widespread in the tropics and usually found in large- slow moving schools during the day. They eat a variety of smaller fish, crustaceans and marine invertebrates."

BBC

China certainly isn't alone in its love of the show; Blue Planet II swooped in to steal the crown left vulnerable by The Great British Bake Off's move to Channel 4, becoming 2017's most-watched programme.

Including catch-up on BBC iPlayer, the first episode of the wildlife series sequel has been seen by 14.1 million viewers since debuting on 29 October. That phenomenal figure also saw the episode become the third most-watched programme of the last five years, behind only last year’s Bake Off finale and the 2014 football World Cup final.

Follow Independent Culture on Facebook for all the latest on Film, TV, Music, and more.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies