Original Series

Planet Earth is a stunning planet, with spell-binding natural wonders and the only life known in the Solar System. But it doesn't exist in magnificent isolation. The Space Age has brought new worlds of wonder into view. Dramatic images sent back by a fleet of probes, orbiters and landers have proved these worlds to be more spectacular than we ever imagined.

Physicist Professor Brian Cox ventures to some of the most extreme locations on Earth – including the tallest mountain, the bottom of the Pacific Ocean and the world’s driest desert - to paint a dazzling picture of a Solar System we are only now beginning to understand.

Brian’s love of the Solar System started young. When he was just 1 year old, he’s told, he was captivated by live TV images of the first lunar landing. That love developed into a passion for science and a career in particle physics.

Now Brian is a Professor and Royal Society University Research Fellow at the University of Manchester, as well as researcher on one of the most ambitious experiments on Earth, the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. Brian lives in London with his wife Gia, her son from a previous relationship and their new baby, whose middle name "Eagle" is testament Brian’s enduring relationship with space. Eagle was the first craft to land on the Moon.

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Watch video clips from classic BBC television programmes about the Solar System. The videos cover topics including the planets, moons and astronauts from series such as The Planets, The Sky at Night and Horizon.

Learn more about the Solar System with clips from the BBC archive