This series, narrated by Cate Blanchett, explores the Millennium Seed Bank (MSB). What started as a small freezer has become the world’s largest seed reserve, storing over 2.5 billion wild seeds to protect plant life and global food systems. The series follows the process of collecting seeds in the field and reveals how the seeds are carefully dried, cleaned and X-rayed before being stored underground. We also hear about the MSB’s global partnerships and their role in restoring ecosystems. The final episode looks to the future by exploring space experiments that test plant survival in extreme environments and cryogenic techniques that preserve fragile seeds. Ultimately, the series suggests that these tiny seeds could hold the key to solving major problems facing the planet in the future. Fascinating and full of hope.
“… and there is my favourite bit in the preamble, which says that lack of full scientific certainty should not be a reason for not acting.”
Four episodes of approximately 30 minutes each.
Special episode with His Majesty the King
Episode 1 – The Past: The vision that got us here
Episode 2 – The Present : Inside the world’s largest seed bank
Episode 3 – The Future : Future-proofing seeds