Evolution: Premiere Date Announced for PBS and BBC Series That Will Trace the History of Life Itself

(PBS/BBC)

Evolution has its premiere date. The new documentary series will arrive this October on PBS and BBC.

PBS revealed the following about the series:

“The award-winning PBS science series, NOVA, part of the GBH documentary unit, today announced EVOLUTION, a new five-part series that traces the epic journey of life, from a single ancient cell to the amazing variety of species alive today. The series will premiere Wednesdays, October 14 – November 11 at 9pm ET/8c on PBS (check local listings) and stream at pbs.org/nova, NOVA on YouTube, and the PBS App.

EVOLUTION is an epic tale revealing the twists and turns of our existence over billions of years. In this landmark series – featuring passionate scientists, gorgeous photography, and stunning animations of long-lost ancestors – discover how every animal we know and love today sprang from creatures that looked nothing like them. This landmark series follows five of these remarkable stories.

“Evolution can feel like an abstract concept, but the stories at the heart of this series make it viscerally real,” said NOVA Co-Executive Producer Chris Schmidt. “Whether it’s tracing how the first light-sensing cells eventually led to a dolphin’s brain wired for complex thought, or how ancient jaw bones became the bones in our ears – these are discoveries that fundamentally change how you see your own body and every living thing around you.”

Drawing on genetic analysis and fossil records from vastly different eras and environments, with gorgeous photography and animations of long-lost ancestors, EVOLUTION shows audiences how the smallest mutations – repeated and inherited across countless generations – can ultimately reshape life itself.

“Every animal alive today is connected by a single thread of ancestry stretching back billions of years, and yet the creatures that gave rise to modern life would be almost unrecognizable to us today,” said NOVA Co-Executive Producer Julia Cort. “This series gives viewers a front-row seat to these extraordinary chains of events – mutations, adaptations, and evolutionary leaps – that ultimately produced the astonishing diversity of life on our planet.”

The series’ five one-hour episodes are as follows (check local listings):

NOVA “Evolution: Brain Power” Premieres October 14, 2026 at 9pm ET/8C on PBS

Brains might be the most complex structures on our planet – so how did evolution build them? To find out, rewind the clock three billion years to trace the evolutionary story of the dolphin, one of the smartest animals alive today. Discover how the first light sensing cells led to eyes that helped wire bodies to think, how a fluke viral infection supercharged the speed of thought, and how the neocortex emerged as early mammals re-wired their brains to attune to the night. Together, these breakthroughs reveal how evolution transformed simple perception into the most powerful organ on Earth – a structure capable of thought, communication, and empathy.

NOVA “Evolution: Need to Feed” Premieres October 21, 2026 at 9pm ET/8C on PBS

The relentless pursuit of energy, the very act of eating, has profoundly shaped life on Earth. Follow the evolution of the bat to discover the untold story behind every bite we take – one marked by astonishing evolutionary leaps revealing the strange origins of fundamental body parts like powerful jaws. See how a prehistoric feeding frenzy might have sparked mass extinction, and marvel at the unlikely journey of bones from our ancestors’ jaws into our ears, giving us the incredible gift of hearing. The story of how our planet’s diverse creatures became the furious feeding machines they are today is full of surprises.

NOVA “Evolution: Body Builders” Premieres October 28, 2026 at 9pm ET/8C on PBS

Earth teems with life in every imaginable form – creatures that walk, swim, slither, and fly. Some grow to astonishing size, like the elephant, while others boast extravagant adaptations, like the hummingbird’s long beak. How did evolution craft such a dazzling variety of body plans? To find the answer, trace life back to its ultimate ancestor, LUCA, and follow the innovations that shaped complexity. See how single cells learned to cooperate, forming the first multicellular animals, and how evolving better ways to capture oxygen – first with gills, then lungs – allowed animals to grow larger and stronger. Explore why the four-limbed blueprint became nature’s most versatile design. And uncover the evolutionary twists that gave rise to peculiar yet defining features – like the elephant’s trunk – that make Earth’s living tapestry so remarkable.

NOVA “Evolution: The Mating Game” Premieres November 4, 2026 at 9pm ET/8C on PBS

Sex changed everything – evolutionarily speaking, that is. By shuffling the genetic deck it unleashed variation, fueling diversity and throwing evolution into overdrive. But how did this radical innovation begin? From the first exchange of genes to the origins of males and females, uncover the evolutionary leaps that reshaped life. Follow the ostrich to reveal how the egg became a breakthrough that allowed life to conquer land – and how feathers transformed into tools of courtship before they were ever used for flight.

NOVA “Evolution: On the Run” Premieres November 11, 2026 at 9pm ET/8C on PBS

Run. Leap. Swim. Pounce. Slither. Fly. Life moves in countless ways – but it wasn’t always this way. When animals first emerged, they clung to the seafloor, until a single twitch sparked a revolution. From the first muscle to the first heartbeat, from lobe fins that pushed life onto land to legs built for speed, movement reshaped the planet. Follow the horse – perhaps the ultimate icon of power and endurance – as its limbs evolved into precision tools for running, and see how humans harnessed that power to amplify their own. This is the untold story of how life learned to move.

NOVA “EVOLUTION,” a five-part series, premieres Wednesdays, October 14 through November 11, 2026 at 9pm ET/8c on PBS (check local listings), streaming at pbs.org/nova, NOVA on YouTube, the PBS Documentaries Prime Video Channel, and the PBS App, available on iOS, Android, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO. PBS station members can view many series, documentaries and specials via PBS Passport. For more information about PBS Passport, visit the PBS Passport FAQ website.

NOVA “EVOLUTION” is a BBC Studios Science Unit Production with NOVA and GBH for PBS and BBC. The partnership provides a pipeline of the high-quality, entertaining factual programs that PBS and BBC audiences have come to expect. Series Producer is Milla Harrison-Hansley. Executive Producers for BBC are Rob Liddell and Andrew Cohen. Series Producer for BBC is Alice Jones. Head of Production for BBC is Laura Davey. EVOLUTION was commissioned for BBC Two by Jack Bootle, Head of Commissioning, Specialist Factual. The Commissioning Editor is Tom Coveney, Head of Commissioning, Science. Executives in Charge for PBS are Geoff Daniels and Diana El-Osta. Executive Producers for NOVA are Julia Cort and Chris Schmidt. Senior Producer for NOVA is Caitlin Saks. NOVA is a production of GBH.”

What do you think? Will you watch this new series on BBC and PBS this fall?