Natural World: Saving the Panda

Series 1, episode 1

Granted exclusive access to the world's number one panda research centre and reserve at Chengdu, this film follows the life of a mother and cubs from conception through birth and hand-rearing, to play and young adulthood - and the international team that care for them - over the course of 18 months. With archive footage, the film looks back at the extraordinary East-West collaboration that brought giant pandas back from the brink of extinction, and ahead to the radical, controversial and risky next phase: reintroduction into the wild