Natural history series exploring the Galapagos Islands, which lie 1,000 kilometres off the coast of South America.

In the early 16th century, the first person in recorded history to set foot on Galapagos, the Bishop of Panama, deemed it a hellish place. He found no water and two of his men and ten of his horses perished.

Through time, this forbidding archipelago became the haunt of pirates and whalers, but as more people came to Galapagos, they began to see it in a whole new light.

In 1835, Charles Darwin's brush with these islands became the catalyst for a revolution that would transform our understanding of life on Earth.

From flightless cormorants hunting underwater to giant tortoises courting on the rim of an active volcano, a look at the hidden side of Galapagos, revealing why it is such a fascinating showcase for evolution.  (BBC)

Presenter:  Tilda Swinton

• Born of Fire (10 Oct 2006)
• The Islands that Changed the World (17 Oct 2006)
• Forces of Change (24 Oct 2006)