What did it take to film the series, The Blue Planet ? How do you film the largest animal ever to have lived? Read about the producers who made this stunning series. You can download RealPlayer for free here follow the links for the basic player.

Making Waves takes you behind the scenes of the making of The Blue Planet. In the first programme, we hear of the challenges met by cameramen Rick Rosenthal and David Reichert filming blue whales. Being so close in a tiny boat is an awesome experience as the tail is as wide as a light aircraft's wings and hundreds of gallons of water pour off it as the whale dives.

Rick says: "It was one of those Moby Dick moments. The massive body just kept on coming and finally the enormous tail rose up above me. In all my years of filming whales this was the moment."
Catching the Big One - how do you film the largest waves on Earth?

You go to Hawaii and head for one particular beach and its waves - appropriately called Jaws. Massive rollers build up out in the Pacific Ocean and the shape of the land acts like a funnel concentrating the swells and producing massive 30-metre waves. These are the waves that surfers dream of but very few are brave enough to have a go at Jaws.

Many people have died just trying to stay upright on their surf boards in these conditions let alone filming the giant waves. The Blue Planet worked with Hawaiian cameraman Yuri Farrant who has spent his life trying to film the perfect wave. He has to be patient because the real giants only build up on a few days each year when the weather and sea conditions are just right. Yuri is not just a talented cameraman, he's also a great surfer. Strapping his 35mm camera onto his surf board he films the waves from every possible angle - including right within the tube of a massive breaking roller.