New Zealand Earth’s Mythical Islands is a three part BBC Two series inviting viewers to explore the wonder and magic of New Zealand. One of the planet’s most isolated islands and with no native land-based predators New Zealand hosts some very curious creatures indeed! From a range of flightless birds to fascinating insects, ancient forests and vast mountains it really does have it all… it’s certainly not just sheep!

But perhaps one of it’s better known exports are ‘New Zealand’s fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo’, the Flight of the Conchords, aka Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement.

And so it wasn’t long before the BBC’s Natural History Unit approached them to ask if they would do us the honour of providing alternative commentary to some of the more iconic clips from the series in their own inimitable way. We wanted to reach new audiences, combine comedy with nature and provide a new perspective on our stories – working together with BBC Taster, BBC Earth & Flight of the Conchords has opened up new routes to those who might not usually settle down to BBC Two.

With Bret & Jemaine in a recording studio in New Zealand and the BBC team in a studio in Bristol, UK, we recorded their voiceover down the line at midnight GMT before giving the audio files to a team of animators to bring to life.

The resulting films combine stunning HD footage from the series with new animations and comedy voiceover from Bret & Jemaine. If you like them, share them!